The opener was a statement, not a question, and I'm not sure what kind of response you were looking for. I'll respond in similar fashion to everyone else.
The Ranger will do about 90% of what I need to do, but not 100%.
I started with a first gen 2wd Ranger as my first vehcile in 2000 and (aside from lack of A/C) it was my favorite driver to date. I'd still drive it if it hadn't been totaled in 2009. It did nearly everything I needed in a vehicle except for having an AC, was a little less reliable than I wanted, and lacked AC. I miss it so much that I picked up an 85 last year to eventually build into a similar truck.
The 99 was slightly more capable. It had AC. It got a little better gas mileage. It had 4wd, not that I ever really used it. It was a little more reliable... most of the time. and did I mention that it had AC. The 84 was still more fun to drive, but with the temps in the high 80s and matching humidity for much of the year, the 99 with it's AC is what I usually grabbed the keys for.
Even with the Rangers doing 90% of what I needed there were still occasions where I wish that I had a full sized truck. Mostly when towing a load. With the Ranger if I needed to pull anything larger than a utility trailer I was asking for help from dad with his full size truck. Generally I'd be towing something vehicular and I didn't feel comfortable with that load behind the Ranger.
In 2017 (or 18?), with my 99 Ranger having a blown headgasket again, I decided it was time to get a full size truck. I've kept a car for a daily driver since 2009, so the advantages of a small truck were no longer that important. It was time for a more capable truck. I wanted either a 9th gen (your 93's body style) or an 11th gen (2004-2008) F-150. If 9th gen I didn;t particularly care if it was 2wd or 4wd, but it needed to be a 351 and if the former it was probably going to end up as a Lightning clone. If the 11th gen, I prefered a stock later 5.4L 4x4.
Well, I ended up making the questionable choice and went with door number 3. A 5th generation 1968 F-100. After truck hunting for a while I saw the prices were too high for the choices available. Anything I could purchase at a reasonable price was going to need work and came with potential problem from a previous owner. Well dad had the 68 since I was a baby and I always wanted to fix it up. I decided that rather that dumping 13-17k into an unknown, I'd start putting the money into doing what I wanted. I made a good start to it. Got it running, driving and usable for a few thousand. A large chink of which was a Holley Sniper EFI. Before getting it ironed out and tgunes life threw us a curve ball.
I never had a dersire for an F-250 or larger. Dad had a mini stroke at the beginning of 2021. The F-250 is what he used to pull their camper, and it's a manual transmission. Mom can't drive a manual and dad had past leg injurioes that made it more difficult to drive anyway. We (me, mom, and sister) encouraged him to get another truck with an auto, that way if something happened when they were in the middle of nowhere, atleast mom would be able to drive to get help.I knew that the dealerhip wouldn't offer much on trade, I also knew that my F-100 project was going to take longer than expected, so I offered to buy the F-250 for 10k if the stealership didn't beat it. It was kind of low for the time, but I knew I would be able to borrow it from my retirement acount no problem (pay myself the interest that way). A week or two later they pull up in a brand new F-150 and mom gives me the F-250, and wouldn't accept any payment.
That's the long story of how I ended up an F-250 owner even though I'm not a big truck guy. I went from having a truck that would do 90% of what I needed, to a truck that would do 100% of what I needed if I ever finish building it, to a truck that will do 175% of what I'll ever need. That said my camper plans have evolved along with the truck and now I kind of want a toy hauler that will carry a small car (think Caterham 7 or rail buggy), so a bigger truck may be in order.
If the camper and car doesn't happen, I'll eventually finish the F-100 build and sell the F-250. I'm not in a rush though, I will take my time and do the old truck justice. I'll probably never be without atleast two trucks again, the question is which trucks. The '99 Ranger and F-100 will probably have a spot in the stable for the rest of my life or as long as they last. The questions will be the F-250 and the '85 Ranger.
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