PennSilverTaco's Aspergers (and general BS) thread!

Good to see it restored to it’s former glory.

 

Glad to see it back in action. There's something about that truck that I really like. It just says "capable chore truck" or "trustworthy fishin' and huntin' truck".

 

How about "Truck with nine lives"?

There have been a few incredibly minor fenders benders that were my fault, some involving other vehicles and some just involving me...



A couple resulted in absolutely not damage to my truck! However, most of the accidents I've had with my truck, and the ones that resulted in the worst damage, have NOT been my fault...

March 2015: Rear-ended by a texting driver at a traffic light; $1,200 for new rear bumper and some paintwork!

October 2015: Sideswiped by a drunk old man in a Mercedes who ran a stop sign at a 3-way intersection while I was making a left turn; $2,200 for YET ANOTHER NEW REAR BUMPER, a new fender, and even more paintwork!

March or April 2017 (I forget): Careless woman flung open the front passenger door of her husband's Honda Pilot and sliced my left mirror off; $126 for a new mirror!

September 2020: Hit by inattentive young woman in 2012 Chevy Equinox; $450 for new front bumper!

February 2022: This goddamn scrapyard incident; Almost $3,000 for a door from a totaled truck, repairs to the fender, and repainting basically the entire passenger side of the truck!

 

Thank you for your kind words, and no, it is NOT for sale!

I have a high-functioning form of autism called Aspergers Syndrome. I initially got my learner's permit at the age of 16 but didn't think I was ready to drive, let it expire, and kept putting off getting my license until I became embarrassed that my cousin who was my age and most of my friends all had their driver's licenses. Then, my cousin is 3 years younger than me got her license at 16, and at 19 years old I still didn't have one. In 2009, at the age of 20, I retook the test and got a new learner's permit. My first vehicle was originally supposed to be a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4 that my dad bought brand new; My dad gave me many driving lessons in the Pathfinder in 2005-2006. By 2009, the Pathfinder had 113K miles and starting to nickel and dime us; It also got horrible gas mileage and lacked certain safety futures that most new vehicles had in 2009. I got my learner's permit for the second time in August 2009 and started taking lessons in the Pathfinder again, but my parents decided to buy me something new instead; I wasn't picky, and the only two features I cared about were A/C and a stereo with an AUX input for my iPod. I really wanted a pickup or another SUV, but as long as my parents didn't buy me a shitty subcompact, I would have been happy.

My dad decided to buy a pickup, and we narrowed our choices down to the Ford Ranger and the Toyota Tacoma; It's obvious which one I ended up with! The sticker price on my truck was like $17,715 or something; My dad negotiated a bit and ended up paying something like $14,900. I forget whether this included the deduction of the $2,300 he got for the Pathfinder on trade.;He put $2,000 down and financed the remainder for three years at just 0.9% APR, through Citadel.

I finally got my license in May 2011, at the age of 22, and even took the test in this truck! In 2013, I finally became fed up with the lackluster factory stereo and saved up my money to put a Pioneer system in; Building an insane stereo for my truck quickly became an addiction, and if I had to guess I'd probably say I have close to a thousand bucks in the whole system, including the backup camera.

My truck has gotten the following upgrades and enhancements in the last six years or so:

• Complete custom stereo with Pioneer head unit, JBL component speaker system fed by Rockford Fosgate prime external amplifier, and Kicker 8" powered subwoofer
• Backup camera
• Intermittent wipers
• Cruise control
• Tinted windows
• 2" add-a-leaf suspension lift
• Weathertech rain guards and bug deflector
• Trailer hitch
• Custom headlights and taillights
• Red brake calipers
• Custom wheel skins for that 1980s "Marty McFly" look
• So much more that I am too tired to remember it all!

 

@Outbound

My dad just outright gave me the truck in December 2016, by which time it had been paid off for like four years; We went to a notary and he signed the title over. $15,000 truck and he just gave it to me!

In November 2021 my truck got a whole new frame, along with lower control arms, brake lines, fuel lines, and some other stuff free of charge as per Toyota's frame perforation recall!

I am going to hit 147K miles tomorrow; In over 12 years and nearly 150K miles, the two most expensive things my truck has ever needed are a master cylinder in February 2014 and an A/C evaporator core in September 2018. I also had to replace the alternator in December 2021 after it spontaneously decided to shit the bed while I was driving for DoorDash. The only thing directly related to the engine that has ever been replaced, aside from the spark plugs, has been the PCV valve; MY truck was "using" oil at a rate of roughly one quart every 3,500 miles and I couldn't figure out why. Someone on TacomaWorld suggested that I replace the PCV valve, so I bought one for a surprisingly cheap $8.50 at the same dealer that replaced my frame, and paid my mechanic to swap it out since I'd never done it before; My truck does burn a tiny bit of oil due to its age and mileage, but not at the rate it was prior to replacing the PCV valve!

I opted to have the water pump replaced when the dealer did the frame due to the age and mileage, because the entire engine had to come out of the truck and I didn't have to pay any labor. Literally everything under the truck, except for the upper control arms and obviously the drivetrain, is brand spanking new!

 

My ultimate goal was to build myself the ultimate 5-lug regular cab Tacoma, "Built the way Toyota should have built it" if you will; Since I'd say more than half of the truck has been replaced at absolutely no cost to me, I would be crazy to buy a new truck at this point and have opted to hold onto this one while I save up to buy a house!

Major items replaced on my truck FOR FREE AT NO COST TO ME as a result of pure good luck...

• Entire frame
• Lower control arms
• Rear leaf springs
• Brake lines
• Fuel lines
• Passenger door
• Right rear fender/bed panel

 

Should have painted the whole truck MGM...

 

very curious if the corn starch method worked? I have an ozone machine but it leaves an odor even days after its been run

 

Originally a thread called Visited one of the most famous houses on television yesterday!...

 

Also visited Johnny Sack's house...

 

And Livia Soprano's house!

 

Couldn't think of a more appropriate time to play this song...

 

The Sopranos!

 

New York area traffic while driving to Casa Soprano; The brownish gray CRV in front of me has Newfoundland and Labrador plates, the silver one ahead to the right has Nevada plates, and my truck is obviously registered in Pennsylvania. I have never seen so many out of state (and in the case of the one CRV, out of country) license plates in one area!

 

This is how close I got to NYC; The blue marker is the location of my truck, and the red marker is the location of the Soprano mansion...

 

Better pictures taken with the Nikon D5500...

 

The address of this place is no secret...

 

It's even automatically listed as "Sopranos House" in the Maps app on my iPhone...

 

While the actual house was used for exterior shots in the series (interior scenes were done on a closed studio set in NYC), the property was given the fictional address of 655 Stag Trail Road (albeit still in North Caldwell), and you can see that address on Tony's driver's license in a season three episode where he gets pulled over for speeding...

 

The culdesac on which the house is located seemed a lot bigger on TV than it did when I was actually parked in it...

 

Casa Sacrimoni through my Nikon...

 

A very nice house, but not as iconic or imposing as the Soprano place...

 

I do not know why the picture of Tony's mom's house turned out so weird; I believe I might had it set to "square"...



Anyway, I didn't take a picture with the SLR because the living room is in the front of the house and there were people right there watching TV; I know they saw me take a picture, and they probably know the provenance of their house, but I felt like using the SLR would possibly bring unwanted attention. The strip club that served as the Bada Bing for the duration of the series (called Satin Dolls in real life) was like 20 minutes from the Soprano house, and I'm kinda regretting not going there...