Latest Project on the Truck

Yesterday I finished working on my truck (for now). I took the old fender off and put another fender on. The fender had had a line of rust showing thru the paint like the right fender in the last picture below. The other year a deer ran into the side of my truck and hit the fender just behind the front wheel and knocked the rust lose which then accelerated the deterioration of the fender.

Old fender showing rust damage.

Closer look at the rust.

The above picture shows how bad the rust had become. I got a fender from a junkyard (or is it a salvage yard) in Hot-Lanta before we moved back UP on the Tundra last year. It was too late in the year to replace the fender by the time we got things sorted out then as I don't have a garage and do my mechanicing outside.

Replacement fender installed.

This is the replacement fender in place (did a pretty good job of matching paint, don't you think??). Still need some kind of supervisor tape (that two-faced shit) to attach the F-150 emblem and the lower trim piece. Didn't bother putting the chrome trim piece around the wheel opening as it isn't in that good shape and all it would do is attract rust.

While the fender was off, I replaced the emergency brake cable. The end had pulled off the cable where it hooks up to the pedal mechanism. When I took the fender off in the junkyard, I also took the brake cable off and figured the easiest time to replace it was when the fender was off. It was a lot easier than it would have been if the fender was still in place. The total at the junkyard for fender and cable was less than $50. Not a bad deal!!

Right front fender with some rust showing thru the paint.

This is the right fender. The other fender looked like this before the deer hit it. Looking at the truck now, I'm wishing I'd got both fenders. The truck I got the fender from only had the one, would have had to find another truck for the right fender.

Car Show

Last week I decided to go to the car show to see what I could see.  On Thursday it was geezer day and those over 55 could get in half-price.  We only have one vehicle here (my truck is still buried in the snow UP on the Tundra at my brother's house) and The Old Lady uses it to get to her place of employment (she hasn't worked out a tele-work deal yet, even tho she could do her job here at home [or anywhere where there is internet access] using her computer).  So I thought I'd use public transportation to get to the car show.  First, the weekend before I went and put some more money on my "Breeze" card so I wouldn't have to do it on the bus if there wasn't enough on it for the fare.  The trip was uneventful, the bus was crowded for being the middle of the morning (10:30am).  I then transferred to the train and later transferred to a westbound train to reach my destination.  The bus was full and I had to stand all the way to where I transferred to the train, but I got to sit on the trains.

Because the show was scheduled to start at noon, I figured I'd get something to eat either there or somewhere in the area.  WRONG!!  Nothing between the train station and the building where the car show was being held.  Inside there was a huge area labeled "FOOD WORLD" with it's doors locked shut and most of the lights turned off.  The only thing I found in the building outside of the area where the car show was a Starbucks.  So I got a coffee and a fritter.  Once inside the car show, I saw where there were a couple of places selling Papa John's pizza, DAMN!!  Also noticed something I'd never seen before at a car show.  There were a couple of kiosks selling booze, cold beer and a variety of mixed drinks, but only close to the high-dollar cars, Jaguar, Cadillac, Infiniti.

Anywho, once inside the show I was mildly disappointed.  I thought maybe there would be some concept models or something other than what were in the dealer's showrooms, Wrong Again.  I'm glad I only paid half-price ($5 instead of $10), but I still felt ripped-off.  The people representing the various car makers weren't very knowledgeable.  At the Chevy area, I asked about their contest where you use the "On Star" feature of one of their vehicles to enter a contest to win a GM vehicle.  She had to go ask someone about it and it turned out you couldn't use one of their vehicles to enter the contest.(There goes my 'Vette!!)  At the GMC area I asked, "Why they were pushing the four door pickups" (all the models on display were four door models.  In the whole car show, I only saw 2 regular cabs pickups, a Ford Ranger and a Chevy shortbox) and the answer I got was, "They like the cruise."  What a fucking idiot.  You don't need to buy a four door pickup to get cruise control, my '95 regular cab F-150 has cruise.  I asked, "Why would anyone want a truck with a box so small that you can't haul riding mower in it without leaving the tailgate down."  Again the answer, "They like the cruise."  I just shook my head and walked away as it would have been useless to argue with someone that stupid.

Extended Cab

Recently we have been discussing the possibility of replacing our 14 year old F-150 with something a little newer. The question is which way to go, another pickup or an econobox that would be cheap on gas??? The last time we talked about it, The Old Lady said she had been looking online at prices of new trucks. She said she found some that were going for $50,000 and at that price it would have to be an extended cab as we would be living in it!!!!!!