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We 'Rustbelters' gotta love those 'sunburned' rust-free trucks! LOL!!! See my 'sunburned/peeling clear-coat' truck above!
That reminds me I need to find some new seat covers. After 30 years mine were toast so I threw them out and revealed the spotless seats underneath. Then my dash pad cracked last summer so I need to look into replacing rhat this year and installing some window tint around the same time.
That reminds me I need to find some new seat covers. After 30 years mine were toast so I threw them out and revealed the spotless seats underneath. Then my dash pad cracked last summer so I need to look into replacing rhat this year and installing some window tint around the same time.
I may have my front seat repaired since it has a torn cover.
I have some fabric samples that I got from a supplier in MN. One is a close match to the OE fabric... another just a bit different. Plus I got two solid color samples just to see how they look.
Got to find a good shop to do the work. I may opt to do the front and rear seats since they all are sun faded.
I always try to buy rust free vehicles if possible...
What I really liked about my F350 was the price... FREE!
Cost me a $280 flight to LAX, three days at Motel 6, $400 in pretrip repairs and $600 in fuel cost to get home.
OK that isn't free but almost!
Mine was a $39 Cleveland-Tampa flight on Frontier, a $30 Lyft ride the 25 miles to the truck in to Valrico (inland from Tampa), bought the truck with $5500 in cash... then to the nearest Walmart to build a roadside emergency tool kit, install new wiper blades, a gallon of washer fluid, munchies, pop, cooler, ice and make extra keys...
Originally, I was planning to drive halfway home up I-75 and overnight at my 'usual' Motel 6 in Marietta GA (This would be my third vehicle purchase from the Tampa area, and I break the 1200-mile drive in half) BUT,...
The tires on the truck were severely dry rotted from sitting in a storage lot for years. I was hoping to make it home, and then replace them. Nope. The left front tire decided it had had enough and blew out just as I was approaching an exit ramp to a rest area in Northern Florida. I flop-flop-flopped up the ramp and parked to asses the situation. I had a jack, and thankfully this truck had a spare tire (my previous '97 F250HD, bought new, never came with one - just the jack!) ... But those blasted factory bottle jacks don't have enough stroke to raise the truck from flat to where a new tire could be put on - I had to jack the truck up in stages! That, and my spare tire had a factory lock on it, that used the same key as the truck. Of course the lock was stiff, and tried to break the key off. Nope. Did I mention that by now it had started to rain lightly? I used the tire iron and He-man pretzled the lock bracketry to the point where I could get the spare down. It had maybe 20 pounds pressure in it, oh joy! By the time I got back on the road, it was nearing 5:45pm and the nearest town with a tire shop was a half hour away - they'd be closing at 6... I took the back roads (not highway speeds) the 15 miles into Lake City FL, where I got a room at a cheap motel and researched the internet to see the tire stores in town, and who HAD the tires in stock...
First tire store that indicated that they had the tires opened at 7am. I was there when they opened. Nope. None in stock, but if I went 60-miles the wrong direction to their other store... Nope, not happening on my 'may-pops'... Next tire store opened at 8. I again was first in. I was assured they had them in stock - truck pulled in and wheels off... They were throwing tires down from the mezzanine, then stopped. Only THREE of the four claimed tires... BUT they 'upgraded' me to a complete set of the more expensive brand for the same price. I was on the road by 9am with four brand new Michelin LTXs! another $850!!
Another issue with the truck was the front fuel tank was inop, so I only had the 18 gallon rear tank. At ~10.5mpg, that doesn't get me very far!!! I had to make many, many fuel stops. So many that my credit card got 'denied' for too many out-of-state charges in a day. Good thing I had another valid card! It rained like a SOB between Chattanooga and Knoxville - boy, was I glad I had brand new tires and wiper blades!! When it started to get dark when I was just past Lexington KY, I turned on the lights - only one, and that one was misaligned, looking for groundhogs on the side of the road. I pulled over into an Autozone and replaced both headlight bulbs in the dark at 9:30-10pm ($40) and adjusted the headlights (remember, I had built up an emergency tool kit, right?)... I pulled in the driveway at 3:15 am.
That reminds me I need to find some new seat covers. After 30 years mine were toast so I threw them out and revealed the spotless seats underneath. Then my dash pad cracked last summer so I need to look into replacing rhat this year and installing some window tint around the same time.
I've had covers from several vendors/sources, and the best I've found has been from WetOkole. https://www.wetokole.com/ I've tried others but they just don't hold up for a daily driver. The cheaper 'premium' brands wore through in less than a year, and forget the Walmart crap.... The Wet Okole covers still look good, and offer full protection even after three years. I turned in a 3-year lease vehicle and they were amazed at the condition of my 'turn-in' - it was like new!...
This was my grandpa's 1995 F150. He bought it used in the early 2000's, my mother has had it for the last 20 some years and used it as a dump truck and loner for anyone who wanted to use it. Now I have inherited it and starting to put some love back into it. Already fixed a lot of little things. Really a good truck for it's age.
