Well, Saturday was a very bittersweet day for me. The "bitter" part of it was that the time had come to finally say goodbye to my faithful old '97 Ford Ranger. The "sweet" part of it was that the new owner will be my favorite niece of all time, who has been begging me to give her this truck since she was 14-years-old!



To be honest, I really didn't want to give the truck up. I have owned it since it was new, have maintained it religiously, and have traveled many, many miles in it without so much as a whimper from my reliable old friend! But, my SIL and her husband were in a bit of a bind for vehicles, and I didn't want to wait so long to finally give it to her that all I was doing was turning over a bunch of problems to her, so I felt the time was right.

I told her mom that I would give her the truck -- the only condition was that she had to reimburse me to go through the vehicle and fix anything that I felt needed to be done to make sure it would be a safe and reliable vehicle for my niece. So I put on new tires, installed new shocks, put in a new battery, fixed the A/C, changed the oil and air filter, and repaired a few other minor little things that needed to be done.

Driving it over the past week and seeing how good it purred along (especially with the new tires and shocks!) sometimes made me question my sanity, but I am comfortable with my decision and couldn't think of anyone else in the whole world who I would rather have own my little Ranger than my favorite little niece!

Note to Stealth and Bluejay: My old Ranger will call Burleson, TX, its new home, so keep an eye out for it around town! And if you see my niece out running around in it and you can catch her ear, tell her how much her uncle hated to give-up his little Ranger and that he sure hopes she is taking good care of it!!!

 

Clean looking ranger. Family always comes first

 

Nice of you to do that. I'll keep an eye out for it. What part of Burleson do they live in?

 

That was a cute little story

 

They live a block or two off Alsbury just west of I-35 -- she is a Junior this year at Centennial.

 

That's an area I frequent, plus I pass the high school almost everytime I leave the house. I watch for her.

 

What are you going to use for your DD now?

 

Well, I've got some options. I have an '09 Ranger that I have been using as my daily driver during the summer the past 4-5 years since the air was not working in my '97 until I just fixed it for my niece. I have also been toying with the idea of picking up a low-mileage '97 Cavalier from my aunt that I could use as a little "runner" to keep the miles off of the newer Ranger. My wife will also be due to get a new car in the next year or so, and I could just take over her '05 Escape which would still be a very decent "run around vehicle" to use for awhile.

I also could grow a "wild hair" and pick up another toy vehicle -- the only dilemma with this route is that I would then be out of garage stalls, and would have to park the '09 Ranger outside, which I really don't want to do. I have always had in the back of my mind that I'd like to get an '02-'05 Thunderbird to go along with my F-150 and my Mustang, or I could be caught in a weak moment and nab something like this off of ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-Other-Pickups-ShortBed-1968-dodge-d-100-shortbed-sweptline-v-8-restored-classic-pickup-truck-/181363554531?forcerrptr=true&hash=item2a3a1c38e3&item=181363554531&pt=US_Cars_Trucks
So as usual, the answer with me when comes to cars is "God only knows" -- to which my wife would resoundingly agree and just roll her eyes.....

 

WOW!!! Somebody in Kalifornia certainly has life and BS confused with that Dodge. Says it has zero rust but the floor on both sides has been replaced. Mileage shows just over 10,000 but the engine has been reworked along with new upholstery. And a few after market parts under the hood. All that and you too can own this clunker for $15,500.00.....WOW. I have a few vehicles this clown needs to buy!

I think a Ranger truck just gets in the blood. I had a 98 that I drove 54,000 miles and then it got caught in a major hail storm. Did over 10 grand damage. The only panel not destroyed was the drivers door. Everything else looked like a drunk with sledge hammer got to it. I traded it in for a POS Dakota. Yeah, that lasted for a little more than a year and then it finally left me on a deserted road out of cell phone range in 110F heat. That was the last time I saw it. I ended up finding my old ranger that had been fixed and looked like new. A retired guy bought it from a Ford dealer who pretty much put a new body on it. He had only put 2000 miles on it. I paid him what the insurance company paid me for the damages and we both were happy. Put another 100,000 miles on it and then it was time for it to go. I probably would have bought another one in 2002 but they had cut content so much. The last years of Ranger production were nothing like the older ones. Good news for you is that you probably have visitation rights on yer old friend.

 

David,

I didn't think you'd ever get rid of that truck. Then again, I'm still not sure you did. (Selling / giving it to family doesn't count.) Sounds like it went to a very good home though.

Look a the bright side. Your (old) truck was still in great shape. Up here in the Great White North, you'd be hard pressed to find a 1997 anything that wasn't pretty well rusted into pieces. We've got a couple of 2000 F-350's in the plow fleet that would absolutely scare you to death with how much rust they've got. Even the 2005 has rusted through rear wheel well lips on the box.

Tom

 

Nice. - Og

 

Believe me -- I know what you're talking about. As a native Minnesotan, one of the things I still can't get used to down here in Texas are 20-year-old-vehicles that aren't rusted into oblivion! When I was under the truck last week changing the fuel filter, I glanced at the backside of the rocker panels and saw that they were as pristine as new and thought to myself, "Back home in Minnesota these things would have rusted completely away by now!"

To this day, my wife still looks at me like I'm crazy when we're walking through a parking lot somewhere and I will instinctively start feeling under the wheel openings of older cars looking for signs of rust. And to this day, it still amazes me that cars can be this clean after so many years! I've gotten used to "y'all" and cowboy hats and the heat (sort of) -- but rust free cars, no way......

 

Nice story. Look at how happy she looks! Good for you.

 

A real honorary Texan! Well, almost.

 

Yep -- it won't be official until I buy a pair of cowboy boots! I'm not there yet, but I'm beginning to warm-up to them.......