I Put a "Veterans for Biden" Bumper Sticker on My 1996 Ford Ranger - Results

[MineralMan]

18. Yes, but that's a different kind of love.

I missed owning a beater truck for several years. Then, last year, my wife and I started cleaning things up. We rented a big roll-off dumpster, and I bought my Ranger to haul away stuff they don't allow in those dumpsters. I looked at several rangers, all priced under $1500. Most needed expensive repairs just to be usable. Then, I found one being sold by the son of a man who had died a few months before. It was sitting unused in his late father's driveway. It was hard to start, idled terribly, and had a clutch that was a bit grabby. Still, I took it for a test drive and as I drove, it started running better, and the clutch began to behave better.

The son told me that his father had replaced the battery, brakes and exhaust system before he became ill. Because it ran poorly and had a grabby clutch, he sold it to me for just $1100. I handed over the cash, went with him to transfer the title, and then had my wife drive me back over there to pick it up. It had less than 1/4 tank of gas, which was at least six months old, and probably considerably older than that. So, I stopped at a gas station, bought a can of STP Gas Treatment, and filled the truck's tank with Premium gas. By the time I got home, about 30 miles later, the engine was running smoothly, but was still idling poorly. The clutch as working fine again, once the rust on the pressure plate had been scrubbed off by the clutch plate. The tires were unmatched and pretty worn out, so I took it the next day to a tire shop and had them install four new tires for $300. I ordered a new Idle Air Control valve for the truck, and the idling problem was fixed, once that was installed.

So, for $1450, I got a good-running Ranger. It's odometer says 277,000 miles, but it's obvious that someone had replaced the entire instrument cluster from a different year of Ranger, so that's not it's actual mileage. Based on other wear, I estimate that it has about 125,000 actual miles. It uses no oil, and has no serious rustouts on the body or frame. Since I won't drive it more than 1000 miles per year, I figure it should be good for another 10 years or so with no serious work needed. Heck, the AC even still blows cold air.

For a beater, it's a decent little truck. I'll probably find a replacement side window for it on eBay and do the work to replace it at some point, but it doesn't really matter.