What to do
 

So maybe you've seen it, maybe you haven't. Anyway, I posted my '71 in the for sale ads the other day. Here's what prompted that move:

98 Ford F-150 4x4 Off Road

That's my '98. The first pickup I had. I drove it for 5 years in high school and college. The current owner has only put about 45,000 on it since I got rid of it. I'd love to have it back but I'm sure it won't happen because I don't have the cash right now or the space for it.

But it did get me thinking.....maybe I should get rid of the awesome old beast and find something newer, better gas mileage, more creature comforts, better ride, better handling. My wife has been driving my '09 off and on through the winter and it's really nice to have another 4wd around but if I had something from say the 90's she could drive the the '09 and I could drive the whatever I got and it wouldn't matter if I had to go farther than 30 miles away with it. Don't get me wrong, I trust the '71 to make it but it seems like I'm always putting gas in it.

On the other side, we could keep the '71, make it through the winter, spend a little money on it and fix some things to make it drive better. Save money and buy her something that will be better by next winter and then I can have both my pickups back.

I think we might do the latter. From the older, more experienced, wiser people.....what do you think?

-Jake

Can't believe I used the word "wiser" in the NE chapter.......:-X04

Also had the idea last night of selling the '71 and using that money for the '75. Get a flat bed or a decent box and fender for it and paint it. I dunno. Mileage wouldn't be much better but it is an auto so that adds to the comfort a little, but usually I just have to shift between 3rd and 4th with the '71 anyway....

-Jake

Wiser.....Hmmmm..Not sure if I qualify for that one....but here goes!! I guess it depends on your money situation, Jake. If gas is causing you an issue, then maybe moving up to something newer would be the way to go, and get another older truck later (hey, this sounds familiar!) But, are you planning on paying cash for the newer one, or making payments? If your going the cash route, and can find a rig that is reliable, and gets better mileage, then you'd be set.

If it were me, I'd figure how must more I'd spend on a newer truck, compare that to the cost of driving the older one, then calculate in how much I like the old one compared to a new one, multiply by 6, add the tire size difference, and divide by √π.

That's just my $.02 so take it for what its worth :)

Cool, Tyler is a math wiz!!LOL!

Haha, yeah. I'm trying to figure out how much money I know I'll spend in parts on the '71 so we'll see.

-Jake

What all do you need to do to it Jake?

Speaking from experience... I used my 79 as a daily driver for 2 months... $500+ per month in gas alone, and that was when gas was around $2.60/gallon. Even though I loved driving it every day, it wasn't worth the cost.

It's tough on the image driving a car daily, but I love the 31mpg the Milan is getting.

The Harley gets around 49mpg, so you might want to think about that as an option, lol. ;)

The thing is Rob, this is needed for farm use. Don't think a Harley would do too good pulling a trailer in the mud :-X04

Besides, wife usually drives the gas sipper. At a consistent 35-36 mpg that car will die before we get rid of it. It's not worth anything anyway.

So, back to the task at hand. I need tie rod ends, new steering box as mine are loose, new steering hoses as mine leak, new oil pan as mine leaks. I figured I could get all that taken care of for a little under $500 in parts. That is, until the front hubs blow up. They're noisy when locked in so I'm sure someday I'll need to look into that. Then if I'm doing all that I just as well put a cam, lifters, and timing set in it. It runs fine, but that lifter tick is dang annoying. Then I suppose I'll want to go to adjustable rockers while I'm in there. I think I'm easily over $1000 now. Plus the fact that I don't drive it daily, but it is my main rig if I'm staying with in 20 miles or so of home, farther if the wife has the GMC due to road conditions, etc. gas is somewhat of a factor. So, now that I've done all of THIS, I might as well paint the thing too.

Just keeps adding up. I can see myself easily spending $1000 on this thing yet. That's not including anything else that flys apart in the mean time. It is a very reliable rig, but after 40 years things start happening.

Now, this isn't saying that whatever I bought would be perfect from the get-go because I'm sure I'd want mud tires, loud exhaust, who knows what all else off the bat. Then things will start breaking on it to. Plus most of what I'm finding out there has more rust than all of my pickups combined (that's the '69, '71, '75, and '09 GMC).

So, while this $1000+ seems depressing, I know that I don't have to do it all at once. I can spread it out, where as buying a vehicle would be a good chunk of money all at once. I can spread it out and if something happens in the mean time I will get the '75 on the road. It's just about there. Tinkering with the HVAC trying to get all that vacuum crap to work right and then she's ready to go. Just need to get the title and all that junk from my uncle.

I digress....

-Jake

This is the way I see it, as Im in a similar boat. Any car you get that wont need a stead flow of repairs, and that gets better mileage, is going to be quite a bit newer and more expensive, meaning payments of a couple hundred a month, plus higher insurance. I have an '09 Fusion for DD and child transport, but I'm realizing that the higher insurance and payments EASILY offsets the saved gas $ and repair costs of say a retired crown vic. If I had to do it over again, I would go with the older car and use my truck as a backup in case the DD goes down and I would use the significant $ saved from payments and insurance to fix the DD. Plus I'd have more than enough to pretty much do a frame-off Resto of the truck, plus have some left over.

Well I've pretty much reached my decision. Sell the '71 and focus on the '69 and the '75. I like the '71 but it needs too much money dumped in it for where I'm at right now. The '69 and the '75 will always stay around, Grandpa bought both of them brand new! The '75 was his first 4 wheel drive!!! I will take the money from selling the '71 and use it for the '75 and/or the '69. I'm still making plans for exactly what I'm going to do. It's for sale as of a week ago, but I'm not going to advertise it yet because I need to figure out exactly what I want for it, and if there's anything from it that I'd like to keep.

-Jake

Jake, good luck with the 71 sale, hopefully you'll get a good price out of it.

Sounds like a good plan Jake!