Georg and I are thinking about buying a truck. I feel uncomfortable about a two person household owning three vehicles, but we kind of need one. In temperate weather we could use a truck every weekend, sometimes more often, for landscaping and also some renovation projects I've been wanting to do. In the past I've always borrowed David's truck, but I'm feeling kind of uncomfortable about that in the future, for three reasons. First and most importantly, because of the problems last time. Second, it's now his only car, so he's stranded whenever I've got it. (For some bizarre reason he won't drive my car.) Third, it really doesn't feel safe, even when I haven't stripped teeth off the transmission.
So all of this has been running through my head, and I've been wondering what I was going to do next time it warmed up and I needed to get mulch or soil. When I happened to overhear M. at Stoneline talking about his 1992 Ford Ranger to another guy here, a former auto mechanic who has worked on the truck. The Ranger needs repair and M. was thinking about selling it anyway and he said he might as well get rid of it now.
I thought at first that the truck had blown a head gasket, which made me nervous, but I just found out today that it actually blew a freeze plug. I never even heard of freeze plugs before. (I hope the car-literate reading this will correct anything inaccurate that I say next.) Apparently freeze plugs are tiny parts that are located very inconveniently. It's an expensive repair because the entire head has to be removed to get to them. B., the mechanic, recommended remilling the heads while they were off anyway, due to the car's age. It seems prudent to do that now, rather than waiting until it blows a head gasket. B. thinks this will cost about $1,000, except in the unlikely event of a cracked head, which would cost about $500 more. He thinks that's not likely but he wanted to warn me that it was a possibility.
M. wants to sell the truck for $1000 but B. advised me to offer him $800. $2k seems fairly reasonable to me for the truck we would have after the repair, but B. seems to feel that on principle you should never pay $1000 for something that isn't currently running. B. also seemed to feel that what I really need is an F150, but it's hard to get one that hasn't been run into the ground. The nice thing about the Ranger is that I know the owner, I know its history and I know the mechanic who's been working on it.
What I really want is a truck that will be reliable for weekend use. And then either sell it in a couple of years when we've finished our landscaping projects, or keep it for years and years. I'm going to compare prices on cars.com and see what the going rate is for Rangers.
[ETA: I told M. I was interested and he offered it to me for $800 if he didn't have to clean it! woo hoo! So what are we going to call this new truck? I vote Phantom 309.]
2 Comments
my friend in Va has the same vehicle and it dropped it's freeze seals a few years ago. That's the only major repair he's spoken of it needing, and it's still reliable to drive down here, although he'll be getting a new daily driver soon, but keeping the truck for the same reasons you want one.
i don't see why you need an F150; it seems like any pickup is going to be great for the landscaping uses you have, and this isn't a lot of money for a vehicle in good running condition. for perspective, i paid more for the camper (though not by much), and it's a rust bomb.
i also don't see a problem with having a third vehicle (although of course, i wouldn't :) but really, it's not like you're putting more miles on the road. you're still driving the same number of miles, and reserving the cars with better fuel economy for your commutes and road trips (a ranger gets around 20mpg).
one of the realities of being a homeowner with a yard is that you either have to have a pickup truck or you have to hire a landscaping service.
Totally unrelated to anything: I sent out a request on Craigslist for a pair of 3D glasses from the TV guide that came out a week or two ago so that I could watch the special "3-D" episode of Medium... Someone actually sent me four pairs, and when I saw your LJ icon just now I put them on and saw you in your full 3d glory.