My old man's truck...

[charleswrivers]

So my old man got a 2001 F-150 back in 2002... and drove the hell out of it. It was going strong, doing stuff when he was still working full time on the farm at around 60... and was what he took back and forth when he got his job at Walmart though... 'semi-retired'... and had to of brought untold tens... maybe hundred plus thousand pounds of food from distribution centers for a food bank he help bring to like back in my home town. He and I had looked at the odometer climbed higher and higher and remarked he'd be cracking 200k miles soon. When he passed unexpectedly couple years ago (went into the hospital thinking he had the flu and pnenomia, got sedated from difficulty to breath... and never woke up from the leukemia he actually had that did him in just a couple days later)... it was around 192k as I recall. So... now a couple years later, and a bunch more food bank and random runs and at ~196k... my mom had me come get it and take it home to be mine. She didnt want the liability of other folks driving it and another fella with a truck stepped up and said he'd use his truck to do the runs.

So... I suppose I'll have to see it over 200k. Its a old, basic F-150. No frills. 2wd. V6. It's starts everytime... goes with the gas and stops with the brakes... so, I put it on my insurance and I'll start ticking some miles on it here and there. As I drove it back to GA a few days back, all I could think of was when Bobby Hill got to drive Hank's truck for the first time...

It's interesting the emotional connection you can place on a automobile. My mom had offered it a few times a while ago and I said no... as it wasn't something I was ready to have, mainly because I knew I'd pour money in it to keep it going no matter what and it's worth maybe $1000 or so realistically. Now.. if it goes in a big way... I'll have it hauled off as an old truck not worth the $$$... and be ok and rational about it.

I am looking forward to seeing 200,000 one of these days though. I think it's got a few thousand miles left in it.

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[Chief 08]

Great story, it's nice to have a good memory of your dad that you can see/use everyday.

 

[ElementalHonda]

Great story! Thanks for sharing!

 

[charleswrivers]

Home stretch... a thousand (and one) more to go!

 

[Civics4Ever]

Great story, man. Cherish the memories. Good old Ford pickups!

 

[MavicTB]

Nice man, good story. You never know how long they will keep going. I have a 1995 Isuzu Trooper that currently has 268k+ I got it at just over 200k from the original owner for $1,000 expecting to maybe get a winter out of it before it bit the dust. Near 70k miles and 4 years later... still not a single issue other than normal wear items. Everything on it still works... cold ac, power mirrors windows etc... it even has power folding mirrors... still works. 4x4, still good. Pretty crazy considering it has the worst idle lifter tick I have ever heard on a gasser... sounds like a diesel.

 

[charleswrivers]

Next week will be the week. If that tired 4.2 blows up before 200k... I'll tie a damn rope to it and pull it another 100 miles to get it there!

 

[jred721]

American reliability isnt something to behold but damn it if theres one thing they can make right its trucks, especially those older ones. I totally agree with the emotional attachment to cars my first car which was an '03 Toyota taco is still at my parents house which my dad uses for his projects and I actually love that truck more than any of the cars I own. This was a great story, thanks for sharing.

 

[charleswrivers]

Done! Now I'm expecting it to...

...but that'd be ok. It made it!

For many of us... we only get one set of parents. While you have them, don't take them for granted. Once they're gone, they're gone. It's the natural order of of things for children to outlive their parents... but one thing I never considered until my dad was gone was how much children could miss their parents once they're gone. I always will.

I don't mean to be a Debby Downer. My dad and I were in good shape and left nothing unsaid... but it would bother me if we weren't in that position.

That's it for my thread... unless I hit some other high mileage milestone or the truck blows up in some cool kind of way.

As it is, it's still just an old truck. I'm glad to have hit the big 200,000 that he talked about and didn't quite manage to get to himself. It's the first truck I've ever had (I don't count the Xterra though it's Frontier-ish). I hauled my crappy Craftsman mower and mowed a soccer field last Sunday when the county didn't come through for the local soccer club we're a part of and I used it to haul dirt to fix the road for the lot we all park in... so it let's me do good stuff, like he would have done, by virtue of it's truck-ness.

 

[racer]

Careful, it could last another 100K miles and you hand it down to one of your kids.

 

[charleswrivers]

Careful, it could last another 100K miles and you hand it down to one of your kids.

Ha... naw... I'll just poke around town with it until it needs so much money put in it, it's time to let it go. It's a regular cab with the small 4.2 V6... so it's kind of underpowered and won't fit the family, and I'd *never* have bought one like that, but as a gift (and for nostalgia's sake), it was fine. I'd probably get one of those King Ranches that are quad cab with the 5.0 if I was getting a 1/2 ton. I really don't know anything about trucks... I've never wanted one... never followed them... but now that I've had this one, I can see the appeal of a old beat up truck to get dirty and do truck-stuff with. I can't imagine buying a new one to then, turning around, and getting it dirty and doing truck-stuff with it. A King Ranch looks like it goes for around $50k new w/o any extra options.

Plus... ever see a crash test on a '01 F-150? They turn into an accordion. I don't think anyone did all that good on overlap tests at that time... but it's pretty abysmal. The results were so favorable on the Odyssey later, it's one of the big reasons I got one in '14.

https://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/ford/f-150-extended-cab-pickup/2001

My oldest turns 8 in a another week. If I still have the Civic... I'll pass that to her and get my wife something else that's bright, shiny and new. She can learn to drive a manual right off the bat. I'll definitely be sticking my kids into a reasonably safe vehicle. The way I drove as a kid... well... I'd violate forum rules telling my war stories.

 

[MavicTB]

Ha... naw... I'll just poke around town with it until it needs so much money put in it, it's time to let it go. It's a regular cab with the small 4.2 V6... so it's kind of underpowered and won't fit the family, and I'd *never* have bought one like that, but as a gift (and for nostalgia's sake), it was fine. I'd probably get one of those King Ranches that are quad cab with the 5.0 if I was getting a 1/2 ton. I really don't know anything about trucks... I've never wanted one... never followed them... but now that I've had this one, I can see the appeal of a old beat up truck to get dirty and do truck-stuff with. I can't imagine buying a new one to then, turning around, and getting it dirty and doing truck-stuff with it. A King Ranch looks like it goes for around $50k new w/o any extra options.

Plus... ever see a crash test on a '01 F-150? They turn into an accordion. I don't think anyone did all that good on overlap tests at that time... but it's pretty abysmal. The results were so favorable on the Odyssey later, it's one of the big reasons I got one in '14.

https://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/ford/f-150-extended-cab-pickup/2001

My oldest turns 8 in a another week. If I still have the Civic... I'll pass that to her and get my wife something else that's bright, shiny and new. She can learn to drive a manual right off the bat. I'll definitely be sticking my kids into a reasonably safe vehicle. The way I drove as a kid... well... I'd violate forum rules telling my war stories.

Funny you mention the F150 crash tests... I came across this lastnight.

 

[charleswrivers]

*Wow*. An ejectable cab. That's not a feature I realized they had.

Trucks have their uses, and I think the later ones are built better/safer than earlier ones. The idea that a truck, being heavy (4000-5000 lbs) and higher up off the ground makes it safer isn't universally supported by the crash tests. Just because it carries a lot of energy that'd put a hurting on whatever they hit... I'd take an accident in my Odyssey or Civic over the F-150 any day. I know a lot of folks that talk up their trucks as being safe compared to little cars on the road... and ask them if they've ever looked at crash tests on them, or even know their ratings and they have no idea. They just assume big and heavy = safe in accident.

 

[turbo dragon]

great story, thanks for sharing. my dad was gong to leave me his old truck until he traded it for a 30th anniversary Z28. hes done a lot of things to it, to many to name really. but he says its a death trap now and Ill never get it when he passes away.

 

[racer]

My point was that it is just a simple honest truck. Not a king ranch or whatever they sell for $80K. Its these very simple trucks from the 70's and '80s riding a wave of nostalgia to collectors. In a few more years, even your old F150 will appeal to someone. Simple, honest, run forever with hardly any maintenance would be my guess. Rust will get it first.

fwiw, i have one of my dad's old cars too.. he bought it new in 1970... looking forward to teaching my boys how to drive it in a couple of years.

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