Ahh... the saga... I’m going to gloss over some of the details because tapping this out on a tablet won’t be exactly fun...
So my first vehicle was actually a brand new Ranger. I had been looking for awhile, I liked sports cars (dad said absolutely not), I liked Jeep Wranglers (they were wicked overpriced), so my choices were either Ranger or F-150. Used was mostly either junk or so expensive that you might as well buy new. Looked for months. Then my parents surprised me by bringing home a new 2000 extended cab Ranger. 2wd, 3.0, 5-speed. I got the keys and the payments. Of course, being a dumb kid I didn’t take care of it like I should have and it ended with sliding it off a slick road into a tree back around 07 or so. Still have the truck.
Not long after I got the truck I stumbled across this site and never really left. I was interested in off-roading and tried taking my 2wd out a couple times without a lot of success. Bought my 88 B2 off a former member on here For $340. He put it on eBay for a starting bid of $70 with no reserve. After I bought it, I realized it was about 700 miles away, so the Ranger towed it back. Got about 2 months of driving it before it ate a valve.
Choptop was bought from a former member (Farva, aka Sherrodwannabeb2) intended for parts for my 88, but the body was in great shape (2.9 was blown up and it was 2wd), so with the help of TRS it became what it is today. Still a tad hard on motors though.
Bought and scrapped an 86 Bronco II from another former member. Still have most of the pieces. Some of them are still in the choptop.
Bought, fixed, drove and sold an 89 Bronco II at college.
Bought an 89 Ranger with a bad frame, still have from the cab forward.
My 95 F-150 was bought to replace my 2wd Ranger since I needed a work truck. It was my DD for a number of years right up to my hip surgery because someone ran a red light and clobbered me while I was driving the father/son project which was dad’s 2000 Ranger that we did the 5.0 AWD swap to.
Bought my green 2000 Ranger to be my new DD while I recovered from surgery because I needed an automatic. The only auto I owned was my 88 and it’s still in pieces. I had wanted a pickup or SUV and a Ranger suited my needs and wants. Plus I already had spare parts.
F-350 was dad’s and I could use a dump truck for my property. It was supposed to be my work truck before my whole hip injury.
Was given a 97 Explorer. It needs some TLC. Was going to use it for my 5.0 swap in my green Ranger, but ended up with a different donor.
Was given a 92 Ranger in exchange for hooking up some electrical wires. $200 later plus some parts I had laying around and it’s been my DD while my green one is down.