From an old hard drive: My old truck

"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond)
11/25/2018 at 12:15 • Filed to: None

1997 S-10 LS. ZQ8 package meant very nice wheels and handling. 4.3, automatic. Complete with 90's spec GM rust package...

Thanks GM. These were the pics I was preparing for sale of this truck...in 2008. I guess ten years of age and 75,000 miles was too much to ask. A persistent electrical smell only during left turns was probably another sign. It was a GM electrical system. Aaaand this is where I mention It’s been an upstate New York truck it’s whole life, so then the burden of the rust is not on GM. However the electrical smell and 3 wiring harnesses (First crapped out at 55k, second was not installed properly aparently, and third was good enough I guess) definitely ARE! Now, I did like that interior!

Fuel cutoff was at 95mph with a whole hell of a lot more to give. But then on Snow Tires around Lake Placid, that would be a stupid thing to do. The stealership wanted to give me $2,500 trade-in value even though the Blue Book said $4,000. Black Books weren’t yet published and I let them know how much crap they were delivering. It’s said that the perfect deal happens when both sides feel screwed. I’m not so sure they felt screwed.

DISCUSSION (21)

fintail > Grindintosecond
11/25/2018 at 12:39

Having just returned from a couple weeks in the upper midwest-ish region, can confirm. These appear to be well into the realm of “vanishing”, and it seems late 90s/early 00s GM trucks rust like a 70s Japanese car, maybe made from the same compressed rust as a Sprinter.

Being from the best coast, some of the sights were quite alien to me.

shop-teacher > fintail
11/25/2018 at 12:49

The reason you didn’t see a bunch of jellybean F-150's and old rusty Dodge Rams , is most of them have long since been relegated to the junkyard.

fintail > shop-teacher
11/25/2018 at 12:57

Yeah, I recall jellybean F-series were quite rare. The 2004+ models seemed to fare a lot better. I can’t say the same for GM trucks, as I saw some sketchy looking “angry appliance” face models. I also recall a 2003+ Dodge that appeared to be made from Swiss cheese.

If I lived in that part of the world, I think I’d just lease, or run a winter car.

Grindintosecond > fintail
11/25/2018 at 13:41

Lived in Buffalo for six years. A ten year old car had a ten inch hole somewhere. Leasing would suck because in three years the snow/ice chunks would scratch up enough things youd probably get dinged extra fees. The only saving grace up in that city was the Delta Sonic car washes and if you RELIGIOUSLY used them whenever the weather got just warm enough, the car would live a long happy life. I don’t know how they do it, but they got it clean where a hand wash never could. So it wouldn’t rust anytime soon.

fintail > Grindintosecond
11/25/2018 at 14:25

Not that I was planning on it, but my recent visit has me not wanting to move to that part of the world. I gripe when my car gets dirty from plain old rain - I’d really have to reset my clean car OCD. The old car wouldn’t be able to come out at all 5 months out of the year.

I noticed many car washes in Detroit, advertising cheap (compared to the PNW), monthly unlimited passes. I guess in that climate, it is a necessity.

shop-teacher > Grindintosecond
11/25/2018 at 14:48

Its the underbody sprayer they use. I live in Chicagoland, and whenever it warms up above 40, I get one of those. The rockers on my 12 year old Sierra are only just starting to go because of that.

shop-teacher > fintail
11/25/2018 at 14:57

The angry face era extended cab trucks aged very poorly. The angry faced trucks are all at least 12 years old now . The crew cabs a nd regular cabs have faired much better. The problems that the ‘04-’10 F-150s had are engine related, do a lot of them have met their fate prematurely.

Leasing is tempting, bu t my truck has been paid off for seven years now, and it has many left in her. While she may not look pretty anymore, thems the breaks . I don’t like the idea of saddling myself with a car payment for the rest of my life. I am going to have to get the rockers cut out and replaced within the next couple years, but that’s still a lot cheaper than a payment.

shop-teacher > fintail
11/25/2018 at 14:59

Typically the old cars go away from October to April. Sometimes you get lucky, and they can stay out until Thanksgiving (not this year, fall has just been winter part 1), or come out by mid March.

fintail > shop-teacher
11/25/2018 at 17:42

I never liked that style anyway, IMO the pre-facelift and GMC variants looked better. So not much loss, to me anyway. Oh yeah, I recall those Fords having something bad with spark plugs and coil packs, I think.

I am single with only one DD, so I am sometimes frivolous with cars - leasing, using AMGs as daily drivers, etc. If you lived out here, you could have a squarebody as a daily with little thought of rust. I am also scared enough of rust that the thought of cutting out rockers would make me run away, unless I was restoring a classic.

fintail > shop-teacher
11/25/2018 at 17:43

Yep, I was in Chicago when it snowed over 2 weeks ago, then it snowed in Indiana, then several days when I was in Detroit. It was fun, but it made coming home to 50F and nothing more than occasional rain that much sweeter.

shop-teacher > fintail
11/25/2018 at 17:50

Yeah, I hate the angry eyes look. When I got a new truck in ‘06, it had to be a GMC. Those Ford’s also had problems with the cam phasers.

If I were single, I'd probably have a leased DD, and a driveway and garage full of beaters to play with :)

fintail > shop-teacher
11/25/2018 at 19:01

Oh you bought it new, that explains the attachment. Might as well drive it as long as possible then.

If I lived in an area with more affordable housing, I’d have some kind of hoard, no doubt. Unfortunately, a piece of property with that space within a reasonable (to me) commute here would be the greater part of 7 figures, even if the house was modest - not gonna happen. As it is, I rent a space for the old car, as even in this climate, a 55 year old MB will slowly dissolve after a couple winters outside.

shop-teacher > fintail
11/25/2018 at 21:06

Yep, I bought it shortly after I started my teaching career. It’s taken me through so many major life changes, that it’s the only vehicle I’ve ever developed a deeply sentimental attachment to. I hope to keep it until the rust claims it for good.

In exchange for dealing with this climate, our 4-bedroom house with a 2-1/2 car garage, a big driveway, and room to add a 3rd garage stall, in a lovely neighborhood with great schools, was under $200k. You win some, you lose some.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > shop-teacher
11/26/2018 at 00:17

Don’t worry. They’ll still driving around New Mexico in big numbers , and most of them don’t even have surface rust on the threads of suspension fasteners . O f course, the trade off is that it has been a decade since they had intact clear coats and interiors that weren’t trashed from nearly constant high- altitude sunshine.

shop-teacher > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
11/26/2018 at 08:59

That’s mind bending to me.

I need to see if I can get a rust free GMT-800 front drivers side door in silver birch sent over to me one of these days.

fintail > shop-teacher
11/26/2018 at 09:23

I guess that’s the tradeoff, the savings will buy a lot of rust repair :)

If you want another, you could always go west and find one. Rust literally isn’t a thing on local vehicles that age here.

shop-teacher > fintail
11/26/2018 at 12:48

Pretty much, yeah.

TFritch and I have talked in the past about sending me a door from California. I'm not ready to tackle the rust yet though.

fintail > shop-teacher
11/26/2018 at 14:16

Eventually it might be easier to just ship out an entire truck .

shop-teacher > fintail
11/26/2018 at 14:27

That’s cold man!

Aaaaand possibly true :P

fintail > shop-teacher
11/26/2018 at 15:47

If it gets bad enough, eventually maybe you could just find a good western body/interior with a tired engine, and swap yours out, or something similar.

shop-teacher > fintail
11/26/2018 at 16:41

We'll see how things go down the road.