Rare Finds

[Bear Chow]

A bit of my weekend.

Often you hear about rare finds, but never do they land in your favor. A little backstory.

Last year I sold my vehicle and decided I would just drive the motorcycle until I couldn't take it anymore. Well I drove that thing from July to January. When it was sunny and warm, I drove it to work. When it cloudy and cold, I drove it. When it rained and when it snowed I drove it. From Oxford to Fairfield monday thru friday. I drove everywhere I needed to go. To the hangover run at Haspin, yep I drove it and than hitched a ride with someone with heat. Now please note this is a 230cc dirt bike and I live 42 miles round trip from where I work.

In late January I got a jeep, but no title. It was a good family horse swapping deal and the tags where good so I added insurance and drove it all summar. Right up until September when the tags expired. Hmmm - still waiting on the title and/or new tags. Since they have not arrived it's now parked out in the field. So I pulled the bike out of mothballs. I bet I drove it 3 times all summar. Hoped on it October 1st. Arrived at work and my boss says, "Do you only drive that thing in crappy weather?" I guess it was drizzling or something. I puffed out may chest and said. "Yes, and as long as you agree to keep paying me I will use any necessary means of transportation to get here." And than of course I told him about the title issue.

I decided that day to find a new vehicle and not wait for the possibluility of a title. So I made up my list of criteria. Truck, < $10000, 4x4, long bed, v8, mechanically sound everything else negotable. It just amazed me how many sons on craigslist have offered to sell good old dad's garage kept and well maintened 175,000 mile trucks. What a load of crap these people spew. I went to one house in Milford, do you know how long it takes to get to Milford on a dirtbike? Cash in my pocket only to find the picture in the ad was different than the vehicle and the guy had so much crap in the garage you couldn't fit a bicycle let alone a truck in it.

After going and looking at 6 vehicle I decide craigslist is for suckers. And I can't afford to be taken advantage of or wasting my time. That meant looking at a dealership. Now I seriously considered just buying a new F150, I can afford it, but there was just no way I was going to spend 1/2 the dollars I spent on my 1st home without it having a toilet installed. I tried a few of the smaller, Abdula Akeem Aquamarine, dealers but the langauge barrier that kept translating, "let me see the carfax" to "There's nothing wrong with this truck". Kind of pissed me off. I also went to a couple Carlos Juan and Martina dealers, well there is something about young spanish ladies that can distract you, until you see their mothers of course. But eventually I would look at the truck. I see that we still have a lot of vehicle coming up from Lousiana with rust up behind the dash boards.

This only left one option than and the end of October was approching, major car dealers. So I bumped up my allowable spending to $15000. Every lot out there has a dodge, chevy or ford truck with 170,000+ miles on it and these dealers still want $17-$18000. I could step up to $20000 and pick up something with something less than 100,000 miles. Which means 97,000. Unbelievable, who in their right minds are paying these prices for a full size truck with that many miles on it. I was stuck. I thought I'll never find what I wanted.

But

Than

I

Looked

Again

This past Saturday, I found a truck, 4wd, v8, long bed, 76000 miles. It is the pinnical of garage kept and mainained bought in mason and serviced according to the carfax every 3000 miles including the 25000 and 50000 services. For under $10000. I raced down there 9 am and struck a deal with the dealership. We couldn't come to terms initially but eventually the agreement was written. I paid $8100 to have my wifes Acura detailed and they threw in a truck for free. As I had to barrow some of the money initially the bank refused my loan for a car detail.

Anyways, I thought I would share. Mind you this truck looks 100 times better than the ad shows. This truck looks brand new inside and out.

[URL="http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u&car_id=270371872&dealer_id=85316&car_ year=2000&rdm=1258383814205&lastStartYear=1981&mod el=TUNDRA&num_records=25&systime=&make2=&highlight FirstMakeModel=&start_year=1999&keywordsfyc=&keywo rdsrep=&engine=&certified=&body_code=32&fuel=&awsp =false&search_type=both&distance=50&marketZipError =false&search_lang=en&sownerid=1366467&showZipErro r=y&make=TOYOTA&keywords_display=&color=&page_loca tion=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&min_price=&body_s tyle=TRUCKS&drive=&default_sort=priceDESC&seller_t ype=d&max_mileage=&style_flag=2&sort_type=priceDES C&address=45056&advanced=&end_year=2002&doors=&tra nsmission=&max_price=&cardist=27&standard=false"]

And to top it all off where do you think I found it. Yep on Craigslist.

[tjjeepjeep]

I love your write ups...and congrats on the truck.

I believe my first face to face meeting with you was the Hangover run...figured you were crazy riding a bike on Jan 1, so we were bound to get along ok..

[94Dodge Truggy]

great truck! u wanna sell the jeep?

[Bear Chow]

No, I'm still hoping for a title until then it's on plow duty this winter.