- Feb 8, 2015
- 207
Lemme set the scene for you... My kid is 16. Just got his license a few months ago. Anticipating this monumental milestone in his life, my wife and I had managed to squirrel away a little bit of money to buy a third vehicle for the household. As homeowners, and parents of a 16 year old boy, the only vehicle that made sense to us was a pick up. So we set out, scouring Craigslist to find a pick up that would be just right, for under two grand. We happened across this little Dakota that ticked off most of the boxes, and decided to go ahead and roll with it for $1700. She wasn't a beauty queen, but had solid bones, and a lot of potential for improvement over time as the boy's disposable income increased.
Then our plan for the truck was derailed on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016. The Dodge fell victim to a 62 year old man named King Kong* (pronunciation, not spelling) who rolled a stop sign and pulled out in front of my kids on the way home from church on Easter Sunday. Fortunately, the boy did everything he could to stop, but the old dude just kept coming. My wife and I were following the kids home that day, and let me tell you, watching my kids be involved in an accident is not something I EVER want to experience again! Fortunately, my son did everything he could to avoid the accident, and King Kong's insurance company agreed, so they wrote us a check for the damage. The damage wasn't hateful, but it did tweak the frame a little bit, so I took the insurance money, and sold the truck as is, with full disclosure of the frame damage.
With the insurance money, and cash from the sale of the truck, it was time to start shopping again. Only thing now, is that the wife had some requirements for the replacement truck. It would seem that it never occurred to her that the Dakota only had one airbag. Not to say that she felt like they should have gone off, or anything, just that if they were needed, my daughter in the front seat of the truck wouldn't have benefited from that particular piece of safety equipment. So the wife says; "He didn't do anything wrong, it seems really not right to take the truck that he loves so much (first car, you know?) because of something someone else did, and not try to get him another truck." So the search parameters were established: Pick up truck, dual airbags, needs to have enough space to put the kids backpacks and son's guitar out of the weather, and it can't cost more money than we've got.
After a week of scouring Craigslist, and a weekend of looking at a bunch of junk, I happened to refresh the screen at just the right time to spot the ad that would become the latest addition to our GM fleet. I knocked off work a little early, and drove about an hour to see, test drive, and ultimately make a deal on the rig you see below.
She's a 2000 Silverado Z71, with a 5.3 Automatic. Only mods are wheels, tires, steps, toolbox, and tint. It's done over 200k, but runs and drives great. Needs a couple of odds and ends; at least one hub and bearing assembly, windshield wiper control module, 4wd switch, and the like, but that's all stuff that we can do as time and money allow.
I think we did okay, and the boy is STOKED!
Now I've got a reason to visit another section of GMTN! As if I needed to spend any MORE time here... LOL!
**Edit** Forgot to mention: I STOLE this truck for $2900!!!
Then our plan for the truck was derailed on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016. The Dodge fell victim to a 62 year old man named King Kong* (pronunciation, not spelling) who rolled a stop sign and pulled out in front of my kids on the way home from church on Easter Sunday. Fortunately, the boy did everything he could to stop, but the old dude just kept coming. My wife and I were following the kids home that day, and let me tell you, watching my kids be involved in an accident is not something I EVER want to experience again! Fortunately, my son did everything he could to avoid the accident, and King Kong's insurance company agreed, so they wrote us a check for the damage. The damage wasn't hateful, but it did tweak the frame a little bit, so I took the insurance money, and sold the truck as is, with full disclosure of the frame damage.
With the insurance money, and cash from the sale of the truck, it was time to start shopping again. Only thing now, is that the wife had some requirements for the replacement truck. It would seem that it never occurred to her that the Dakota only had one airbag. Not to say that she felt like they should have gone off, or anything, just that if they were needed, my daughter in the front seat of the truck wouldn't have benefited from that particular piece of safety equipment. So the wife says; "He didn't do anything wrong, it seems really not right to take the truck that he loves so much (first car, you know?) because of something someone else did, and not try to get him another truck." So the search parameters were established: Pick up truck, dual airbags, needs to have enough space to put the kids backpacks and son's guitar out of the weather, and it can't cost more money than we've got.
After a week of scouring Craigslist, and a weekend of looking at a bunch of junk, I happened to refresh the screen at just the right time to spot the ad that would become the latest addition to our GM fleet. I knocked off work a little early, and drove about an hour to see, test drive, and ultimately make a deal on the rig you see below.
She's a 2000 Silverado Z71, with a 5.3 Automatic. Only mods are wheels, tires, steps, toolbox, and tint. It's done over 200k, but runs and drives great. Needs a couple of odds and ends; at least one hub and bearing assembly, windshield wiper control module, 4wd switch, and the like, but that's all stuff that we can do as time and money allow.
I think we did okay, and the boy is STOKED!
Now I've got a reason to visit another section of GMTN! As if I needed to spend any MORE time here... LOL!
**Edit** Forgot to mention: I STOLE this truck for $2900!!!