Fancy Trucks

[deerefan]

That is aggravating...I hate to see a nice vehicle not taken care of. That is why I love the rubber floors. Get it muddy, wash it out. A little armor all goes a long way to making it look better.

 

[Volfandt]

My all time favorite truck was an 84 F150 XL 4x4. It had a 302 2bbl and the options were auto PS & PB and rubber floormats. It had that long bench seat that 4 men could fit on in a pinch and I added a rear slinding window for A/C /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I didn't care to take it anywhere and it would just about go anywhere it wanted.
Since it only got around 10mpg I eventually traded it for an 87 Ranger 4x4 and I traded that one for a brandnew 1998 F150 4x4 Off Road XLT with power everything.
That ole 85 F150 still rates as my fav....

 

[HGM]

Surely everyone will have their own opinion, but you can keep the carburator /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.... It's funny how so many forks would like to have a simple truck with power windows. If they only made one.......... Nice '98 by the way, they did prety good...

 

[DUMBDOG]

Two months ago, bought one of the two last 05's on the lot, a Silverado, with the rebates, etc, the price was under 25K, with the GM card rebate and a 88 Jag, which I did not know what else was going to go wrong next, the boot was under 20k. The insurance is less on the new pu than on the Jag.

Did we need a pickup with sat radio, electric locks and windows and extended cab? No, we did not, but with the just the wife and I and a couple of trips to Florida each year, we like the big vehicle out on the road just in case. It is also more cofortable and a lot better visibility. The additional value retention over a car will more than pay for the difference in gas.

 

[Volfandt]

Thanks, it's got around 116K on it now and it's still going strong. Gotta admit, I do like all those creature comforts tho.

Those old carbs worked pretty good once you had the "proceedure" down pat. For my ole 84 I'd stomp the excellerator 3 times to get enough gas squirted in and also to set the choke, it would start right on up every time /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Course now adays you don't have to learn a vehicles nuances, that fancy fuel injection and all those sensors takes care of it for ya /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Volfandt

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I'd stomp the excellerator 3 times )</font>

The automatic choke on the old '81 F250 I had worked fine when I bought the truck, but sometimes it sat for a month without being used. Then the automatic choke quit working and I had to pump the gas pedal to start it. I probably did that for a couple of months before I got around to checking to see what it might take to fix it. When I removed the air cleaner, I found a very large mud dauber nest on the linkage; removed that and the automatic choke worked fine again. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif And while I was at it, I found and removed two mud dauber nests from the inside of the air filter housing. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[HGM]

Yea,
I came into it with fuel injection. It is much easier for me to tune and repair a modern EFI than mess with a carb. I just never really had any luck with them..With routine maint, you shouldnt even have to raise the hood... Prety cool, I think... Problem is I spend alot of time under other peoples hoods...
Greg

 

[Unclebuck257]

I got in on this thread late, but here's my 2 cents worth. First, I agree with the guys with older or lesser equiped pickups, IF you're only going to use it around the place or for nothing but physical work type work. I've never been able to do that though, unless it was back when I had an expensive car to use in my business too. When I got down to only having one vehicle, I figured I'd combine and have the best of both worlds. A 4 wheel drive pickup, loaded to the max, with leather, crewcab, auto this and auto that. My trucks have even had the woodgrain dashes now for the last three.

You see, not only do I use it around my place hauling whatever, but I also use it to go call on and entertain clients for lunch and dinner too. Right now, I'm driving an 05 F-150 crewcab, King Ranch, 4X4, with every option available on an 05. (moonroof, heated seats etc) I've got the bed spayed with LineX , colormatched to the Arizona Beigh bottom color, and had the bug shield sprayed with the color coordinated LineX too so it matched. I've had a number of clients remark how beautiful that KR interior is, and how good looking the truck is generally inside with the console auto stick shifter, woodgrain etc. Some even compared it to a Mercedes. Oh, and when working my truck, I put it through some rough stuff too.

Again, if I could get away with something less fancy, I honestly probably wouldn't now that I've gotten used to the fancy trucks, but the fancy sure can serve a business/financial purpose too, if you have a need for it.

 

[getut]

Only one thing bothers me about the fancy trucks. So many people are buying into the fanciness that you CAN'T buy certain features anymore without getting the full tricked out rig.

I want air conditioning. On a full size truck I also want power windows. On a small truck it is nothing to reach across and roll down the passenger window. On a full size, power windows and door locks are nice because they are so wide and reaching across is a pain.

Other than that everything is fluff to me but I am forced to buy it because I want two premium features.

I want a straight front axle and don't care about independent front suspension. I don't want to sacrifice even a month of longevity for the better ride that IFS gives. I don't want sun rooves or leather or automatic transmission (unless it is an Allison). I don't want airbags or antilock brakes (I'd take them if free, but they aren't so I don't want them). I want as absolutely few electronic items on it as possible... especially in the engine compartment.

I can't get any of those things any more though. Everything is packaged. Its also bad that my local Ford and Chevy dealers stock only the popular items. They each have 25 identical trucks on the lot with the only difference being the color.

A little bit of chrome sets off a nice truck, but many trucks are WAAAAAY over glittered and get to the point of being gawdy looking. Might as well put those hubcaps that keep spinning when you stop on them.

 

[Jagmandave]

You could order a "base" truck and just add the options you wanted, couldn't you? As for the air bags and other safety items, you're gonna get those not because the automakers insist but because your government insists, you're complaining to the wrong group......... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif