Truck Shopping

You know, it's funny how people have a different perspective about what something is worth. No, maybe different isn't the right word. Skewed, stupid, idiotic, screwy... Yeah, now we're getting closer...

Anyway, on to the truck search.

I was hopelessly living in the past apparently, because I chose to narrow my search to a particular range of Chevy and GMC pickup trucks: 1967 through 1972. I always liked those body styles. Well, the problem is obviously age. As I grew older my love for that range of truck didn't age, but the trucks most definitely did. I stopped looking when I investigated 2 trucks last week--Both advertised at $1000 each--Finding trucks that literally should have been in the junkyard.

The first one was over in Port Orchard. No problem I thought, I could go over on a Saturday and that would also give me the excuse I needed to visit my sister and her husband. When we found the place and I walked up to it, the first thing I notice (obviously) is how much worse it looked in person. Then I open the driver's door, noting the obvious age when it immediately dropped down about an inch and a half after I opened it. My experience told me that any door that was worn that badly meant it had a good 200k of miles on it. The next thing that greeted me was the lovely aroma of essence of cat. One quick walk around it and away we went.

At least I got to see my sister. Unfortunately, it was not a great day at their house because Gary's dad had died earlier and their phone was ringing off the hook. Oh well, at least Suzie got to meet him and see their interesting home.

Okay, on to the final investigation of trucks in my chosen year range. This one was a 1971 and was nearby up the hill from me in Covington. It was out in a lot behind the owners' house, and as I neared it wondered why I kept going. Curiosity? Maybe. I had to make a path through blackberry vines, grass, and other assorted overgrowth just to get near the truck. Yes, it was straight all right, which is no small feat for something that old. There was a thick carpet of moss lining the entire bed of the truck. I mean thick. Moss grows everywhere around here, but it takes a long time for moss to grow to over 3" thick. The windows were so greenish that I couldn't see through them. When I tugged on the door (afraid of what I might find) it refused to open, even though she insisted it was unlocked. She couldn't open it either. Everything that wasn't painted white, which meant every speck of bare metal, was a lovely shade of orange rust.

No thanks.

It was after that truck that I opened my eyes and threw out the desired year range of truck that I had been looking for, instead opting for a certain price/feature range. I wanted a lot of things in my "new" truck, among them simplicity--Not too many features to go wrong, I wanted it to be a half ton, I wanted it to be old enough to be "pre-emissions", and I wanted something in decent shape.

I found one. It's a 1984 Chevy half ton "plain Jane" pickup. The guy wanted $1500 for it, but we did some serious haggling and I got him down to $1100. The main bargaining thing that was in my favor as the buyer was the fact that his truck still required an emissions test and wouldn't pass it. It would be it's last one because it would be over 25 years old when the next test time rolled around for it. The reason it wouldn't pass? He had put a V8 in it when its original 6-cylinder engine died. What that does is this: When you go to take your emissions test, the first thing they do is punch in the VIN of the vehicle you're driving. That loads all the baseline test data for your vehicle. The bottom line: The emissions test station thinks your truck should only be emitting the pollution of a 6-cylinder engine, and in actuality you're way over that because of the bigger engine.

So what will I do? I've talked with Melinda about it, and I'm going to title it using her address down in Chehalis. Maybe some day I'll get it changed, maybe not. Hell, I never know how long I'm going to own a vehicle anyway.

I haven't picked it up yet. Suzie and I will go get it tomorrow night. It's been weird (but kinda nice) having the extra driveway space, but it's already been somewhat of a problem not having a truck when I want to haul things. Even though the old one didn't start all the time, when it did start I could use it. I had the need for a truck a few days ago when I bought a used radial arm saw. Because we moved it using Suzie's Camry wagon, we had to disassemble the legs to get it to fit. What a hassle. I hate hassles.

Anyway, here's a couple of shots of the truck. I think it's a pretty fair deal considering the condition it's in.





When you've owned a truck it's hard to be without one. Funny too--When you own a truck everyone wants to borrow it. Oh well... Maybe I can keep it's gas tank full that way...