In my quest to try and save money, I've been looking at how I can save when it comes to vehicles. The biggest expense is not necessarily fuel but insurance. Even when a car is sitting in storage, in order for the vehicle to be covered with comprehensive it still needs liability, in this state. This is bullshit, since it makes no sense to pay $75 or more to make sure I can protect a car from getting crushed by a tree while it sits unused on the side of the driveway.
Because of this, my only real option is to acquire vehicles that #1 are antique so they qualify for antique plates, which once bought, no longer require yearly tags, and #2, because of their antique/collectible status can be insured by specialty insurance companies like Hagerty. One good thing about this insurance company is the idea that classic or collectible cars that don't see much use can be covered for decent amounts of coverage for not a lot of money. Now while most coverage that I've done through these guys for existing classics is a paid in full/yearly, when you break it down, the monthly amount is rather small. The amount to cover a regular bucket of a used car over 3 or 4 months can cover some low end classic for the whole year. Also when you have existing coverage any new coverage is discounted, a win/win. Anyway, this brings me to the trucks we have here. We have a 94 F250 truck that because of its weight class didn't make it eligible for antique plates despite its meeting the age requirement. Last time I tried to get Hagerty insurance for the truck and was rejected. I later on found out it was because of the classification of the uses for the truck. I put down that it would be used for hauling/towing, not knowing that I should've just put down pleasure use. After talking to a guy from the company, they concurred that limited towing (hauling a car to/from a show, hauling car parts back to the shop) fits into the pleasure use category. Hauling/towing is more for what would be classified commercial use. So with that cleared up I was able to get antique insurance for the truck. Before this though, I had decided that my best bet would be to downgrade from the F250 to an F150 truck. What I did look at was to help simplify things and be a little more legitimate, I would look for a short bed single cab F150, something that fits into the category of a collectible desirable truck and not just some old work truck. I searched far and wide through facebook marketplace for trucks that fell into this category, finding everything from the plain old work trucks with long beds, ones with 6 cylinder engines and manual transmissions (which I wouldn't have minded), all the way to true blue collectibles such as flaresides. After getting insurance for the F250 I slacked a little in my search but then ran across an 88 F150 that was a short bed, 6 cyl/5 spd. While I was searching for trucks from 92 to 96, the guy had this 88 listed for $450. It needed a clutch (prob needed some other shit too). I was ready to give it a chance though since it was so cheap. At the same time I also looked at a 96 F150 that had a dead and disassembled engine for $600. I wanted a secondary option in case the first one fell through. I had rented a truck to go pick up the 88 since it was over 100 miles away. We hitched the trailer to the F250 to haul the rig to the rental place so we can switch to the rental truck when I texted the guy to confirm we were still on. He texts me back saying that due to the rain the pasture where the truck was sitting was too wet so he'd have to meet some other time. Of course I was annoyed since it would've made sense to pull the fucker to a better spot knowing that someone was coming to get the damn thing. Well with that we ended up cancelling the rental truck but still went ahead and texted the other guy about the 96 truck. The 96 was only 45 min away and so allowed us to just drive over there to look at it and if purchased, we could come back the next day with the F250 and the trailer to pick it up. Well the guy texted back, said that since the truck belonged to his old man, he'd be available sometime in the early afternoon. Fast forward to the early afternoon, we go check out the truck. After putting my eyes on the truck I was pleasantly surprised. Yes the engine was shot, it was disassembled, and cylinders were rusty due to being exposed to moisture. Everything else was still there. Besides the powertrain issues, this truck checked all the boxes and then some. Besides being a short bed single cab truck, it had extra features like side running bars, dual exhaust, aftermarket headlights and taillights, chrome grille, tailgate with silver accent panel, power windows, two tone paint, carpeted interior, aftermarket rims and a class 3 hitch. Obviously I had to get this truck. Even with the missing engine, this truck was more than I was asking for. To get this truck I was more than ready to go find a replacement engine. With that I was able to get the truck for $500, $100 less than asking, perfect. We came back with the F250 the next day and hauled the F150 onto the trailer and took our time hauling the truck back to base. I backed the truck into a suitable spot between the house and garden and rolled the truck off the trailer. I did find out that I would have to fix the driver's door as the interior lever is not hooked up and the window regulator needs to be repaired/replaced. I almost thought I was locked in the truck when the lever wouldn't open the door. Luckily the window was able to be pushed down so I could open the door from the outside. With that I finally got my truck. I did find out that the hookups are all there, vacuum hoses, EFI lines, etc are all there. If I choose I could find a replacement EFI engine and just drop it in and hook everything back up as its supposed to be, but my real plan was to make an old school setup for this body. I wanted to install a carbureted top and older distributor to the replacement engine and later on I would replace the E4OD tranny with an AOD since the AOD is not computer controlled. I did find out that I could run the E4OD with a minimum of hookups such as a TPS (throttle position sensor) speed sensor, the EEC-IV distributor which has some extra stuff to satisfy the computer so it will control the transmission properly. OR, I can just buy a standalone controller that hooks up to the transmission and eliminates any of that other shit. I did find one of these controllers on Walmart.com of all places, for $250, which really isn't that bad, all things considered. I'll have to see where the winds take me as far as what I choose to do. Until then, I'll at least work on the other shit that needs attention on the body to get it ready for whatever I choose to do later on.
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