PennSilverTaco's Aspergers (and general BS) thread!

My first vehicle was originally supposed to be a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4, but a lot of factors played into my dad's decision to ultimately trade it for a new Tacoma.

My dad bought the Pathfinder brand new at Rothrock Nissan in Allentown, in May 1996. It was cobalt green with a gray leather and pretty much every available option. It is notable as the first vehicle my family bought that had a CD player.

My dad originally had his heart set on a new Toyota 4Runner. All Toyota fans know that 1996 was the year that 4Runner was redesigned to look like the Tacoma, and the first year for the 3.4L V6. The 4Runner was a popular vehicle, and dealers knew this. No dealer in the area was willing to sell below sticker! At a dealership in Allentown, there was this green 4Runner Limited my dad particularly liked, and I remember asking the salesman how much it cost. I was only 7 at the time, quite small, and unable to see the window sticker. The salesman told me this particular cost $32,000! This was 20 years ago!

I noticed an ad for the then all-new 1996 Pathfinder on the back of a magazine and suggested to my dad that he check it out. My dad did some research and found that he did like the Pathfinder. On top of that, dealers were actually willing to negotiate! However, the exact Pathfinder my dad wanted was very hard to find. The color he wanted was cobalt green, and he wanted the spare tire underneath like a truck. Most of the Pathfinders with his desired options seemed to be the wrong color or had the spare tire mounted on the back. The options my dad had to have were the off-road package, leather seats, and a sunroof. The off-road packaged added blackout trim, fender flares, upgraded suspension, and a limited-slip rear differential. My dad finally found the exact Pathfinder he wanted and brought it home one night in May 1996.

In 13 years of ownership, we never had any significant problems with the Pathfinder.

The two most significant problems were a sticking gas pedal in 1998-1999 (may have been a recall) and the air-conditioner needing a recharge in 2003. Everything else was wear and tear.

The windshield had to be replaced twice because it cracked (Possibly a flawed design?), once in 1999 and once in 2003 or 2004.

The factory CD player started acting weird and overheating in 2002-2003, so we had a Sony xPlod CD player installed at Best Buy in 2003. My dad thought the buttons on the Sony were too small and replaced it with an Alpine CD player from Circuit City in 2005.

When the A/C quit working in about August 2003, my dad got rear-ended by a Dodge Neon while driving it to the shop to get fixed. The Pathfinder needed a section of the rear bumper replaced, and the Neon needed a new hood and some significant front end work. Once the A/C was recharged, it continued to work flawlessly and was still blowing cold when we traded it for the Tacoma in September 2009.

Everything else that needed to be replaced on the Pathfinder was the result of normal wear-and-tear or minor fender benders.

I initially got my learner's permit in December 2005 at the age of 16 (almost 17). We had a 2004 Honda Odyssey, a 2003 Honda S2000, and the Pathfinder at the time. I mostly practiced in the Pathfinder. In May 2006, my dad replaced the S2000 with a 2002 BMW 325i convertible. The BMW, unlike the S2000, was automatic. My parents gave me lessons in both the Pathfinder and the Beemer at that point. It did not occur to me that a learner's permit was only good for a year, and if it did expire, one had to take the test all over again. I did not even realize my permit was expired until like April 2007. I got lazy and didn't bother to get a new one for two years. I finally took the test got a new permit in August 2009.

By 2009, the Pathfinder was still for the most part going strong, but starting to show it's age. It had about 113K miles, and it was starting to nickel-and-dime us. It also took 91 octane fuel and only averaged about 16 MPG. My dad initially considered trading in the Pathfinder under Cash for Clunkers, which was in full swing at the time, and getting a new pickup truck. When I found out the fate of the so-called "clunkers," I refused to let a perfectly good Pathfinder meet that awful fate. However, I still loved the idea of a new truck. Keep in mind that I would have been happy if my dad simply bought a new radio with an iPod hookup in the front, which would have been the Pathfinder's THIRD (3RD) radio!

In September 2009, my dad and I took the Pathfinder to Peruzzi Toyota and traded it for the 2010 Tacoma I still have. We got $2,300 for the Pathfinder, and within a week of us trading it, the dealer had sold it.

 

Thanks for sharing Charlie!

 

You're welcome!

 

Working a bar, you won't believe the sh*t people tell you..

There's this one guy I know who plays guitar at the bar where I work; Roofer by day; Great guy!

Back in the 80s when he was a teenager, he drove a Subaru Brat. Anybody remember those? Anyway, once on a snowy night, he took it to a parking lot and purposely slid it into a guardrail just because he thought it was fun. Yes, damage to the Brat actually did result.

Same guy, about 4 to 5 years ago... He was very drunk and driving his BMW M5 E60 at about 110 MPH. He hit a deer dead center at this speed. Knowing he would never pass a breathalyzer, he just kept going. The BMW was amazingly still operational after hitting a deer at over 100 MPH, but the smell of dead deer flesh eventually came through the A/C vents and stunk up the car. This guy made it home alive, but the BMW was totaled. His insurance wrote him a check, and surprisingly the car was bought at an insurance auction, repaired, and resold!

 

That time an argument over where I parked my Tacoma turned into a beautiful friendship...

So, my boss also happens to be one of my closest friends. She is the general manager of the bar where I work, but we were friends before I became her employee.

She moved to Pennsylvania from Nebraska and got a job as the assistant manager at the bar in April 2011. I got my driver's license in May 2011, and my Tacoma was indirectly responsible for our first meeting. I believe we met sometime between June and August of 2011. At this point in my life, I was just a regular customer who came to the bar to see his friend's band perform at open mic night every week.

There are two "manager's spots" right in front of the bar, but the outgoing general manager never used them, and I was given the okay by numerous employees to park in them. For months, I never had a problem. One night, I pull up into one of these spots, and who I can only describe as a "Fiery young Asian woman" comes out and starts yelling at me. She tells me I can't park there and an argument and shouting match ensue, but I ultimately moved the truck. After I moved the truck, one of the bartenders told me I probably shouldn't argue with this woman because she's the new manager. My "oh shit" senses started tingling and I immediately went into full ass-kissing mode. After all, this bar was my favorite hangout and I didn't want to get banned for arguing with the manager. Turns out the manager was cool, and would years later tell me that she respected me for standing up to her authority. She even bought me a drink that night to show all was cool, and we've been friends ever since! About 3 years after we met, she hired me as her personal assistant, and now in addition to being her personal assistant, I work as a bar-back and errand runner at this bar.

So yeah, I met quite possibly the best friend I've ever had because I parked my Taco in the manager's spot one Wednesday evening!

 

Twas 2 days before Christmas, and all through the DMV...

So, this was just days after my boss hired me as her personal assistant, on December 23, 2014 to be exact. My boss moved from Nebraska in 2011 but procrastinated on getting her driver's license transferred to Pennsylvania. Before long, her license was two months from expiring! Then one month! Then, boom! It expired! I ended up taking her to the DMV to get it transferred, and by the time I actually did take her to the DMV, her license had been expired for almost a month! But wait, it gets better!

She'd actually lost her wallet which contained her expired Nebraska license! She had to send away to Nebraska DMV for a certified copy of her driving record. Luckily, Pennsylvania has a grace period. If your out-of-state driver's license is valid or has been expired 6 months or less, you don't have to take the written or road test!

I drove her to the DMV 2 days before Christmas in 2014, and it was surprisingly not all that crowded. My friend showed her social security card, birth certificate, and all that BS, and had to take a vision test. Then, they took her picture and she got a Pennsylvania driver's license! No tests! We were in and out of the DMV in like an hour! Again, she had no physical license in her possession, just a piece of paper from the state of Nebraska saying she had an expired license but that her driving privileges were not suspended or revoked.

As we walked out to my Tacoma, I asked her if she wanted to take her first official drive as a Pennsylvania licensed driver. She said yes, and I tossed her the keys.

Keep in mind that I am an overweight 5'11" guy who weighed about 260 pounds at the time. My boss is a 5'3" Asian woman. As many of you know, base model regular cab Tacos have bench seat that does NOT have separate adjustments for driver and passenger. My boss adjusted the seat to her height and my knees were up against the dashboard!

One complaint my boss always had about my driving prior to that day was my excessive use of the brakes in stop-and-go traffic. At the time, she'd been driving an old GMC Safari owned by the owner of the bar. This, of course, had less-than-stellar braking performance. Before we even made it out of the DMV parking lot, my boss taps the brake pedal and says "Damn! You have good brakes!" She then proceeds to tell me that she will never criticize my braking ever again.

So yeah, it's a Christmas miracle! The one time the DMV actually provided good service!

 

I would first like to point out that this truck was parked on the street near a very close friend's house. Most of my friend's neighbors know me and like me, and know that photography is a hobby of mine. Normally I would not take so many pictures of someone's vehicle outside of a car show, but this truck was here for days and I wanted to get pics before it got towed away...

I posted these on the "Let's see those wrecked Tacos" thread, but I decided to give them their own thread just for the heck of it. I spotted this Taco parked on my friend's street several days in a row back in December 2015 and decided to take a few pictures. My Tacoma has it's share of dents and scratches, but I'd say it's in "Good" condition. I have seen many Tacomas that were involved in accidents and have damage concentrated to one area of the vehicle (two areas if it was hit and pushed into something). This truck seems to have damage just about everywhere, from numerous accidents. I believe this is a 2011 based on the front end design, but it looks much older than that based on the condition.

This angle shows the extent of the damage to the right side of the truck (broken and taped right taillight, dents and rust on rear bumper, scuff on left rear fender near taillight):


Up close pic #1 (Busted window, large rusty gash in C-pillar, dent above fuel door, scuff on left rear door):


Up close look at the rusty gash in the C-pillar:


Another pic of the left rear door scuff plus scuffs on left rear fender flare:


At least $1,500 in damage (probably more) to left front (front bumper dented in, left front fender crumpled, scuffs on bumper and fender flare, hood slightly damaged); Also note that inspection stickers were expired by more than a year at the time pictures were taken:


Up close look at left front damage:


"Head on" front view, showing additional scuff marks on right side of front bumper:


Damage to the right side not as bad, just a few scuffs and dents:


Scuff on right rear door and right rear fender, couple of dings on lower cab corner:


Busted right taillight:

 

This was WAYYY back in 2013, I think like May-June? Just about any vehicle enthusiast who lives in the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley area probably remembers the cruise night held at Shady Brook Farm every Tuesday from May to August, and also remembers how mad they were when they found out 2013 was going to be the last year. I believe the cruise night started in like 2006, and then they shut it down because of a combination of things. I've heard everything from the owners of Shady Brook wanting to charge admission for both spectators and people showing their vehicles, up to and including residents and local police complaining about the traffic generated by the show. Anyway, I only found out about the cruise night when it was in it's last year, and I went just about every week. This was back when I lived in Furlong, and I used to take Almshouse Road but discovered that taking Swamp Road was a much quicker route.

ACCIDENT #1 (May-June 2013):

The first accident occurred on Almshouse while I still taking Almshouse. I was right behind a rear-end collision. A vehicle several cars ahead needed to make a left, but it was a 2-lane road there were cars coming from the opposite direction. Some of the vehicles were moving slowly, and teenage guy in a white GMC Acadia rear-ended a brand new Honda Civic. I was right behind the GMC and did not initially know that an accident had occurred. The GMC just stopped suddenly with a jolt, and the driver threw their hands up in frustration. After a while, I put two and two together when I realized traffic wasn't moving. I put my truck in park, turned on the hazards, and got out to investigate. The teenage driver of the Acadia (probably his parents' car) was sobbing uncontrollably, and my first instinct was to ask him if he was hurt. He told me he was not hurt. The Acadia had pretty much no damage, but this brand new Civic probably had a couple grand in damage. The rear bumper was damaged slightly, and the trunk lid would probably have to be replaced. The driver of the Civic was very chill for someone whose brand new car had just been rear-ended, as was his friend. The kid in the GMC, still crying, said "I'm sooo sorry!" The guy who'd been rear-ended cared more about the well-being of the kid than his brand new car, which I find commendable. Both the teen and the guy with the Civic pulled into the parking lot of a nearby baseball field, along with myself and another witness. It was quickly determined that nobody was injured, damage was incredibly minor, and it was pretty obvious who was at fault. The guy in the Civic told me that all was good, and I didn't have to stick around if I want didn't want to, so I continued to the car show.

 

Accident #2:

So, not long after I witnessed the rear-ender on Almshouse, I realized that taking Swamp Road was a far quicker way to get to Shady Brook Farm.

Five to ten minutes after I left my house (this was my parents' old place in Furlong), I witnessed a single-car accident.

I'd just turned right from Lower Mountain Road onto Swamp Road, and I was just cruising along without a care in the world. It was warm out, but not unbearably hot, so I had the windows down and the A/C on in my Tacoma. I had my iPod plugged into the stereo and was jamming to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. I was paying attention to the road, but I'd kind of fell into a trance. There was a gray late model Honda Civic in the opposing lane, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw this Civic lose control, swerve, and go right off the road for seemingly no reason. The Civic swerved to the right, going off the road and into a ditch; then it got airborne briefly, slammed down hard into the adjacent cornfield, and slid across the cornfield. The Civic then found it's way back to the road, going back over the ditch and landing hard on the pavement, straddling the double yellow line about a car-length-and-half in front of my truck. This all took place in under a minute, but it seemed to take longer.

There was this extraordinarily brief period of time where I was thinking "Did that just happen, like, right in front of me?" Then, I threw the truck in park, turned on the hazards, and ran full-steam to the Civic. The guys in the Mini Cooper behind me also got out to help.

This gorgeous 30-something woman who had been driving got out of the car crying, and ran around to the right rear door, where her daughter was sitting. Her daughter was crying too, but both were wearing seatbelts and neither was hurt. Turns out the girl, who was like 7, was upset because she'd been watching a movie on her iPad and the impact of the crash sent the iPad flying. Once it was apparent nobody was hurt, everybody but me and the two guys in the Mini had realized they weren't needed and left. Now we were left a seemingly disabled 2010 Civic partially blocking the road.

The damage to the Civic was weird. The body of the car was not really damaged at all, but the front bumper was pushed up, there were clumps of dirt and grass stuck in various parts of the car, and the suspension and undercarriage seemed to be damaged. The wheels were at odd angles and the car was sagging to one side. The impact did not disable the vehicle, nor did the airbags deploy, and the engine remained running for a good 10 minutes after the actual accident. The engine was making weird noises and there was a small amount of steam coming from under the hood, but the car was running. The woman was too shaken up to drive, so one of the guys from the Mini got behind the wheel of the Civic and pulled it off the road into a driveway, then shut off the engine. I pulled my truck into the driveway and one of the guys moved the Mini into the driveway as well. The Civic ended up getting towed, but I don't think it was totaled. I've seen vehicles damaged much worse than that Civic that weren't totaled (but probably should have been).

One of the guys from the Mini called the police, and the first cop on the scene was an older man who I didn't know. This was still in Buckingham township and I actually knew most of the Buckingham Township Police, specifically the sergeant (who has since been promoted to lieutenant) because I'd interviewed him for an article for my college newspaper about a year and a half earlier. This first officer to respond was very nice and noticed that the little girl was still pretty upset, so he joked around with her to cheer her up. With a big grin on his face, he asked "you weren't driving were you?" The little girl cracked a smile and told him no. Remember how I said I knew the sergeant? He was the next to respond and immediately recognized me. Knowing I was a journalism major, he was hoping I'd write a good witness statement that would reduce the amount of paperwork he'd have to fill out. The officers of the Buckingham Township PD are awesome, period.

Anyway, I filled out a witness statement saying what I'd seen, and also wrote down my name and phone number. Both the guys from the Mini did the same thing. I honestly think the woman was texting or messing with the radio or A/C or something, because I do not think there is any reason that Civic should have just lost control. The weather was perfect, and the Civic did not blow a tire or anything, but nobody was hurt and that's what's important. The sergeant stopped traffic so I could back my Tacoma out of the driveway, and after a thank you from the other responding officer, I continued on my way to the car show.

 

All of these were taken in June 2010, when we'd barely owned my truck for a year and it probably had about 5,000 miles on it.

 

My Grandma used to have a 1987 Mercedes 300E that she special ordered and bought brand new. This car had a driver's side airbag only (I think passenger side airbags became optional in the W124 Benzes in 1988 and standard in all models in 1989). The reason I believe this is because back in 1998-2000 when I was in 4th and 5th grade, one of my teachers had a 1988 300E. Being the gearhead I was, even back then, I was always asking her questions about her car and that's how I knew it had airbags.

My uncle had a 1989 Mercedes 560SEC that he bought used in the mid-1990s, and that car had dual airbags.

Anyway, my grandma's 1987 300E had a sticker in the glovebox saying either to check or replace the airbag in March 1997. I'm assuming the car was manufactured in March 1987, so that was exactly 10 years. That Mercedes was Grandma's daily driver from 1987 until 2002. My Grandma never had an accident. The air-conditioner started leaking in about 1998-1999, and my grandpa got incredibly sick. My Grandma decided an SUV would be easier for my Grandpa to get in and out of, and bought a brand new 2002 Lexus RX300. 15 years and about 80,000 miles later, she still has that Lexus, and it's never given her any problems. What I'm wondering is if the airbags in the Benz or the Lexus would still function properly.

In the summer of 2003, my best friend rear-ended somebody in his 2003 Toyota Highlander Limited, at about 40 miles per hour. The airbags deployed, which is probably why my friend didn't get hurt at all. The Highlander was 10 years old and had about 185,000 miles on it at the time, so the insurance company totaled it. The airbags definitely did their job.

Now, the very first vehicles to have at least one airbag standard are about 30 years old, and I'm betting that many of them have never been wrecked or had the airbags serviced. What I'm wondering is if a 1987 Mercedes was involved in a major accident, would the airbag still work?

 

I will post pics if I can find them...

As I stated in my airbag post, my Grandma bought a Mercedes-Benz 300E brand new back in 1987. She special ordered it, tuxedo gray with a tan leather interior and pretty much every option except heated seats. She lived in Arizona at the time so she did not see a need for heated seats. My Grandma is a prolific air-conditioning user who hates the heat, so I don't think she would use them anyway...

Anyway, my Grandma bought this Benz brand new and paid cash. It was her daily driver from 1987 until 2002. When she moved from Arizona to Pennsylvania, the hood ornament mysteriously went missing while the car was being shipped. She believes it was stolen, and the shipping company's insurance paid for a new hood ornament.

My Grandma claims to have had the car at 120 mph on a deserted stretch of a highway during a trip from Tempe, Arizona to Las Vegas.

By the time I was born, the Benz was 2 years old, and I have vague memories of riding in it on one of only two visits I made to see my Grandma when she lived in Arizona. Once my Grandma moved to Pennsylvania in 1994, that car played a pivotal role in my childhood. My Grandma took me and my cousins everywhere in that car.

My Grandma was never involved in any accidents with the Mercedes, and it never had any major problems. My grandma and cousins got stranded by a dead battery at least once, and one of the rear power windows quit working, and the factory Becker AM/FM cassette started having problems in 1997 or so. My Grandpa took it to a car stereo place and had a Kenwood tape deck put in.

The A/C just suddenly stopped blowing cold in the summer of 1999. My dad was still in the Navy, and he and my mom had left me with my Grandparents at their lakehouse in Maine while they went house hunting in Washington state (where my dad's next tour of duty would be).

If I remember correctly, the A/C just quit working abruptly after 12 years of problem-free service. This was the 1990s, so most mechanics still had a stash of R-12 in their possession. My Grandma was friends with this woman who owned a convenience store just over the line in New Hampshire, and she happened to rent a garage on the property to a mechanic named Jeff. My Grandpa and I took the Benz to Jeff's shop and he filled it up with R-12 while we waited. My Grandpa new just about everybody in this tiny New Hampshire town so he chatted with friends, while I wandered around the vast lot next to the garage and looked at all the cars he had back there. It cost about $130 just to recharge the Benz with R-12, and I remember thinking even after a fresh shot of Freon, it still wasn't blowing that cold. Needless to say, the Benz was otherwise just fine, so my Grandma paid to have the system juiced up with R-12 every summer. The charge would last the summer, and then she'd repeat the following spring. My Grandpa had heart problems and wasn't doing very well, and getting in and out of that low Mercedes was not easy for him. My Grandma bought a brand new 2002 Lexus RX300 Coach Edition in the summer of 2002, and the Mercedes was left to languish in the driveway of one of my Grandma's houses in Florida for over a year.

My dad decided he wanted the car and in 2003 flew down to Florida where his brother who lived there helped him get it up and running again. The mistake they made was starting the car with all that old gas in it as soon as they got the battery jump-started, and then drove it to a garage where the gas tank was removed and drained. They should have called AAA and had it towed. Anyway, after a tuneup the Benz was seemingly read to go. My dad bought some new CDs and a car kit adapter to play them through the tape deck, and drove it from Florida all the way back to Northern Virginia (where we were living at the time) in August with NO AIR-CONDITIONING!

My dad took the Benz to a local Mercedes dealership where the A/C and the parking brake were fixed, and then it was off to Best Buy where the Kenwood cassette deck was removed and replaced with a Kenwood CD player. The car was more or less reliable for about a year and a half. The A/C leaked and had to be recharged every summer at a cost of $300, but it blew freezing when charged. It was in 2004-2005 when the car starting having problems.

It was a classic "Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde" situation. A lot of the time, the car would run fine. However, every once in a while, the car would start bucking then sputter and die, typically at stop lights about 10-15 minutes into the drive. The car would then refuse to start again until several hours later. I was taking auto shop in high school at the time, and my instructor agreed to have some of the more advanced students look at and possibly fix the car for a discounted price.

The Benz of course conked out on the way to the high school. A busy road in Fairfax County is NOT A fun place to break down at a 8pm on a weeknight. We did not have AAA at the time either, so my dad had to call a tow truck and pay $70 to get the car towed a few miles. We dropped it right outside the garage at auto shop and I handed the keys to my teacher the next morning.

I do believe they fixed it, but my dad just didn't want the headache of anymore potential problems. The car had less than 100K on it at the time, but keep in mind the A/C leaked, one of the windows didn't go down, and the car had numerous other electrical problems. Basically, the car remained in my Grandma's name while my dad drove it and decided whether he wanted to buy it and keep it or not. My dad paid the insurance and all routine maintenance. The Benz remained registered in Maine the whole time.

My dad and Grandma decided to sell it for $2,500, and wound up selling it to one of the maintenance guys at my high school. I got 10% of the profits for helping sell it. The last time I saw that Benz, the new owner had already put Virginia plates on it and was driving away. I remember being a little upset because the CD player had a detachable faceplate and I'd removed that prior to the car being dropped off so nobody would steal it. My mom was a little late in bringing the faceplate and the buyer drove off with the car before I could give him the faceplate. My shop teacher wound up giving the faceplate to him later, but I remember feeling bad that buyer took that first drive in his new-to-him Benz without any tunes.

 

My dad had two of these trucks when I was a kid, both bought secondhand and used as second vehicles for him to commute to work while my mom drove whatever newer vehicle we had at the time.

My dad's first Mazda was a 1986 B2000 that he bought used in 1990. His brother bought it from an insurance auction with minor front end damage, fixed it, and sold it to my dad for $2,000. My dad is pretty sure my uncle took a loss on that truck. It was a no-frills truck. It had a carbureted 4-cylinder engine, 5-speed stick, no A/C, no power steering, and no power brakes. It didn't even have a back bumper. It was black with white wheels. But it was only 4 years old at the time and it was cheap reliable transportation. The truck only had an AM/FM radio in it when my dad bought it and he seems to remember getting a cassette player installed at Circuit City. My dad absolutely loved that truck, and it never gave him any trouble in the 2 years he owned it. However, like I said, it was black and it did not have air-conditioning! Our primary vehicle at the time was a fully loaded 1990 Toyota Camry LE that did have A/C, but for some reason in 1991 or 1992 my dad decided to drive the Mazda up to Connecticut to see my Grandma in the middle of a heat wave. My dad drove, my mom rode shotgun, and I was in the middle in my carseat. My mom said "Never again!" My dad looked it getting A/C installed in the Mazda, and while it was very doable, it would have cost a thousand bucks (half of what he paid for the truck). He ultimately sold it to a family friend for what he originally paid for it, and in June 1992 bought a brand new Dodge Dakota LE that did have air. He had the Dakota for barely a year before deciding he wanted a 4x4 and trading the Dakota for a new S-10 Blazer in June 1993.

The Blazer was eventually traded for a brand new Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4 in May 1996. We would have the Pathfinder for 13 years and end up trading it for the 2010 Tacoma I have now. My dad sold the 1990 Camry in 1998 before we moved from California to Virginia Beach. My mom started driving the Pathfinder, and my dad bought a 1990 Mazda B2600i LE-5 4x4 from the original owner. Compared to the 1986 Mazda, the 1990 was downright luxurious. The A/C in that truck was absolutely freezing, by the way. The Mazda had over 90K miles on it at the time my dad bought it, and it was a little beat up and rusty, but the guy selling it was the original owner and had all the service records. My dad bought the truck the same day he test drove it.

The 1990 Mazda had an oil leak, and the rear leaf springs had to be replaced, but the damn thing just would not die. It never failed to start, never left us stranded, and was the absolute epitome of father/son weekend fun. My dad replaced the factory tape deck with a cheap aftermarket CD player in January 2000 after months of nagging from me. In spring 2000, my mom rear-ended some idiot in a 1988-1990 Chevy 1500 who freaked out after seeing a cop in a nearby parking lot and stopped at a green light. The Mazda needed a new bumper at a cost of about $500 and the Chevy had no damage at all. Nothing under the hood was damaged, but the day after the accident in a completely unrelated incident, the thermostat went and the Mazda overheated.

The Pathfinder was only 4 years old, so my dad decided to keep it, and traded the Mazda for a brand new GMC conversion van in May 2000.

What do you guys think of the 1986-1993 Mazda B-series trucks? I absolutely love them and think they are very reliable and well put together. I rarely see them driving around anymore, but I see at least 2 whenever I go to the Carlisle Truck Nationals. Owners I speak to absolutely love them.

 

My dad's first brand new car was a Toyota, a 1983 Celica GT he bought in California right after he finished boot camp. He had it for 6 years with no trouble.

The first new car my parents bought after getting married was a 1990 Toyota Camry LE V6, fully loaded with everything except leather seats. It was super white with a blue cloth interior. Believing his 1986 Mazda pickup was too underpowered, my dad had a trailer hitch installed on the Camry and used it pull his 16-foot boat. The Camry did this without trouble until my dad bought a brand new Dodge Dakota in 1992 and used that to pull the boat.

My dad wanted so badly to get a new 4Runner in 1996, but no dealer in the area would go below sticker because they were in such high demand. My dad settled for a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder that ended up being the best vehicle we ever owned.

In 2009, I finally got my learner's permit, and my dad traded the 1996 Pathfinder for my 2010 Tacoma. Between 2013 and and 2015, that truck has been backed into a concrete wall (no damage), gotten caught in two hailstorms, clobbered by a drunk driver in a Mercedes ($2,600 damage to Taco; Mercedes totaled), been driven off the road in a snowstorm (no damage), and been driven over curbs and sidewalks, among other things. But you know what? It's never needed anything more than tires, brakes, and fluids.

 

I am 5'11'' and almost 260 pounds. My Tacoma has the standard bench seat. I am comfortable in my truck with the seat almost all the way back.

One time I let my boss, a 5'3'' Asian woman, drive my truck. I was in the passenger seat and she had to pull the seat up so far that my knees were touching the dashboard.

On a few occasions, I've given the aforementioned boss's ex-boyfriend a ride, and he is 6'4". His knees were almost touching the dashboard.

One time when I had a few too many to drink, my cousin was my designated driver. My cousin is a roughly 5'4'' woman, and when she drove my Taco my knees were touching the dashboard.

 

A lot of people have called me crazy for letting an Asian woman drive my truck. Some people would call that a double threat. I personally believe that driving skills are defined by what's on the inside and not on the outside. One of my best friends is Asian and aside from rear-ending somebody when he was a teenager, he's never been in accident since or been pulled over. No tickets or anything.

Anyway, my boss moved here from Nebraska back in 2011 but didn't get her driver's license transferred until 2014. By the time she finally did transfer her license, it had been expired for a month, and she'd misplaced her wallet (never found it). She had to send away to Nebraska for a certified driving record, and Pennsylvania has a grace period of 6 months for expired out-of-state licenses. I drove her to the DMV in my truck. All she had to do was show her birth certificate, social security card, and the driving record, and then take a vision test, and she got a license. She did not have to take a written or road test. It was two days before Christmas and amazingly we were out of the DMV in about an hour.

I asked my boss if she'd like to take her first drive as a Pennsylvania-licensed driver, she said yes, and I tossed her the keys. As I said in this post, my boss is a tiny 5'3'' Asian woman and I am a huge 260lb 5'11'' guy. She had to move the seat almost all the way forward and my knees were pretty much touching the dashboard.

She had been primarily driving a 1999 GMC Safari owned by the bar she manages (the bar used the old van as a rolling billboard for advertisement). Obviously the difference in braking performance between an old GMC Safari and any Tacoma is going to be night and day. One of my boss's biggest complaints when riding with me was that I was a bit hard on the brakes, particularly in stop-and-go traffic. Before we even made it out of the DMV parking lot, my boss was like "God damn, you have good brakes!" Again keep in mind she'd been driving a 15-year old van. She never gave me shit about braking skills again.

 

One of my favorite pastimes to this day is to explore auto salvage. A friend of mine owns one in Morrisville but I haven't done any serious adventuring there since October 2013.

Anyway, my best day of "junkyarding" was on a hot July day in 2006. My uncle (the well-connected hubcap and wheel entrepreneur) knows a guy who owns a junkyard in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area. Details were discussed, and the owner arranged for my dad and me to come out to the junkyard.

One vehicle I remember in particular was an early 80s MOPAR 4-door of some sort. I distinctly remember that it was a 1983, but I forget whether it was a Chrysler New Yorker, a Chrysler Fifth Avenue, or a Dodge Diplomat. I know it wasn't a Plymouth. For having been languishing a junkyard for God knows how long, this car was not in bad shape. The paint was terribly faded and peeling, but there was no body or structural damage to be seen. There was very little if any rust. Written in the windshield in white chalk was "NO BRAKES" or "BAD BRAKES." The car was partially settled into a mixture of mud and weeds, so it probably would not roll. I opened the door, got behind the wheel, and turned the key...

Not surprisingly, the car pretty much fired right up. A good number of the cars on the property, even significantly damaged ones, started and ran just fine. Most notable was a red 1990s Buick Skylark that had the entire rear end smashed in but not front end damage. It was well over ninety degrees that day, so my first inclination was to see if the A/C worked. To my absolute amazement, the A/C not only worked, but actually started to get cold fairly quickly!

This car had the 2-barrel 318cid V8 under the hood, and based on what I smelled it seemed to be running rich. The car stalled out a few minutes after I first started it, but I started it again and it actually stayed on this time. The A/C, probably still R-12, was blowing FREEZING. The factory AM/FM radio still worked too, so I tuned to 96.1 (the Lehigh Valley's country station), and the quality of the 23-year old speakers was actually pretty good. I cranked up Toby Keith, reclined that fine "Corinthian leather" bench seat, and took a break from the heat in air-conditioned comfort.

All this car seriously needed as a tune up and new brakes to be a viable daily driver. I'd had my learner's permit for about 6 or 7 months at the time and I had a couple grand in the bank, so my immediate thought was to buy this car to fix up. It had a clear title and had been sold to my uncle's friend, but it was merely being stored at the junkyard. Unfortunately, it was already spoken for and destined for the demolition derby...

Good times!

 

I entered my truck in the non-judged section of the Carlisle Truck Nationals in August 2016, primarily so I could go back to my truck and take a break with the A/C in between hours-long sessions of walking around the grounds. While sitting in my truck taking breather and blasting Def Leppard, a guy about my age approached me and asked if I wanted a free set of lowering blocks (I think that's what they were) for my truck. This guy was a local guy who was there with friends, and he owned a black 2005 regular cab short bed 2WD 5-speed. At least that's what it started life as. He bought it used while living in Florida, and by the time he paid it off it was a basket-case by Tacoma standards. It had over 100K miles, the A/C didn't work, and the frame was rusted. He started to tear it down in his garage. Unfortunately it was not until after he completely tore the truck down to the frame that he got a recall notice about the rust. At this point the recall would have been void. It didn't matter to him because he intends on building a new frame largely from scratch, with some salvageable pieces from the original frame as well. He plans on building a new interior from scratch, lowering it, and I think he said something about adding a 6-speed manual from a Corvette to compliment the new engine. He intends to add a stereo and reinstall the heat, but he does not plan on putting the A/C back in. The interior will supposedly be built from scratch. He showed me pictures of the truck in a complete state of disassembly on his phone. I wish I had pictures.

 

@4x4_Angel
@Marty McFly
@Sunnier

I have over 500 pages of posts to go through and I'm only on page 15! I promise to continue tomorrow!

 

Soubds good!

 

June 14th, 2018:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

@4x4_Angel
@Marty McFly
@Sunnier

To my three biggest viewers on this forum...

Greetings from the Outer Banks! I'll be here with my family for a week, I haven't even been here three days, and I've already got a shit-ton of Tundy pics!

 

June 18th, 2018:

Nags Head, North Carolina

 

June 19th, 2018:

Nags Head, North Carolina

 

June 19th, 2018:

Nags Head, North Carolina

 

June 19th, 2018:

Nags Head, North Carolina

 

June 19th, 2018:

Nags Head, North Carolina

 

Enjoy that vacation, Charlie! (I'm still wrapped up in house cheap-ass house renovation. When I reach a stoping point, I'll get caught up.)

 

Why is it cheap...? Did you go with laminate kitchen counters instead of granite?!?!

 

June 19th, 2018:

Nags Head, North Carolina