Pop Pop's Truck

"ImmoralMinority" (araimondo) 01/09/2018 at 20:18 • Filed to: None

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My Infiniti is having issues due to the accident from a while back, so the Sport Trac gets some exercise. My dad bought this thing new, and drove it regularly until he died in 2008. It still feels like his, and I can almost see him driving it.

Ford was all in on the plastic, but it has held up surprisingly well.

I can’t help but dig the code locks.

I thought it was goofy when he bought it, but I actually have come to think it is a pretty good looking car. Like all of his cars, he took care of it and maintained it meticulously.

Are any cars still using white guages?

I offered to replace the stock radio with a touchscreen unit for my son, and he looked at me like I had told him I was going to kill the dog. He loves the stock unit. I think he may be an Opponaut.

You can see from this still-intact interior repair the kind of guy he was.

My dad was really into cars, and led me to it. But he was never a truck guy. He had a couple of different Celicas, an Acura Integra, a V8 Mustang convertible, and a BMW Z4 over the years, among others. When he had a sedan, it was a Maxima, and he even had a pre-fake scandal Audi 5000. He always bought cool cars.

Some of my best memories are of car shopping with him. In the days before internet and cell phones, he was a workhorse. We would get up early in the morning on a Saturday and drive to car dealers all over Southern California looking for what he wanted.

Once he had done his test drives and we had pored over brochures and he knew what he wanted, there was another marathon of visiting every dealer of the brand to haggle and see who would give him the best price. Buying a car was a slow and deliberate process to him - he had to be sure to get what he wanted at his price.

Those are the times that made me love cars, and I wish he was here to help me with my fleet. He would have loved it, while telling me at all times everything I am doing wrong with these cars.

With his love of coupes and sports cars, it always seemed weird to me that he bought this truck, but I think he loved it more than the rest. He certainly kept it longer than any of his other cars, which he usually tired of after 2-3 years.

He talked to me about the truck at the time, having carefully considered trim levels. He had his budget, and he passed on 4WD because he lived in a California beach town, and he’d rather have leather seats. He knew what he could use.

I am rambling a bit, as it has been a rough week so far, and I am feeling a bit reflective. Thanks for indulging me.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > ImmoralMinority 01/09/2018 at 21:07

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Stock radio when you could have a double din. I like the style.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ImmoralMinority 01/09/2018 at 21:28

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My daughter’s boyfriend called me in early December asking if he could marry my daughter. (He’d already proposed, she’d accepted, and if she chose him, I had no worries.) I told him sure, so long as their children call me Pop Pop. My wife, laid back sort that she is, doesn’t care what they call her, so long as they call.

shop-teacher > ImmoralMinority 01/09/2018 at 22:46

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A good honest truck, is a wonderful thing :)

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > ImmoralMinority 01/10/2018 at 12:05

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Those interior shots take me back to the 96 Ford Explorer we had growing up. Because it was tow vehicle, it was a 5.0/AWD one. It was actually the vehicle I learned to drive on.

Back in the day, those console armrest covers wore through in the spot where your elbow rests on them frequently enough that Ford dealers kept them in stock for years. Ours was replaced before the warranty even ran out.