Life is good...

[Buggyman]

Today, I drove home my 98' Ranger that I have been working on for two months and put the most amount of work into any auto. My dad bought the truck when I was 10 years old and I remember going to the dealer with him and my grandfather to pick it up. It was the first car I ever drove, I was driving around the farm with it by the time I was 12 and my feet hardly long enough to push the clutch down. I remember my family trouble shooting over the pesky vacuum hubs and sorting through all those issues. My brother drove off in this truck when he got married, its been on no telling how many family trips. I used the truck all through my teen years working on the farm and would often keep my shot gun behind the seat to pop a few rounds at any squirrels. At age 17, I talked my parents into letting me finish my senior year sooner then normal (I was home schooled) and I talked them into taking the Ranger from Kentucky to Grand Isle Louisiana to do disaster releaf work after the hurricanes. It was my first adventure away from home and me and a buddy left for over a month. We hauled supplies and personnel around the island and up and down the bayou. While in Louisiana the clutch went out and we were out of money. Managed to limp back to New Orleans a month after the storms and found a dealership that replaced the clutch. When I got home my dad officially gave me the truck and I went to college. The truck served me well for three years of commuting 100 miles a day to class. I also volunteered for a local fire department and out fitted the truck with lights and sirens and kept my fire gear in the tool box. That truck got me all over the county in the worse of weather. There have been so many memories in that cab, I will never forget the time that my rear axle shaft failed late one night and my driver side rear axle and tire fell COMPLETELY out at 55 mph on a rural country road. I skidded to a halt nearly missing a tree and called a tow truck to haul me home. I will never forget the night I went on a call with our fire dept and found two of my neighbors shot to death and slowly driving home thinking everything over, nor will I ever forget the first date I took the woman I love on in that truck. The engine was going out at 221,000 miles and we had my brothers dog slobbering all over us and wondered if we would make it home or not. We did and she is going to be my wife in 3 months. Once the engine died, I parked it for six months and came across a 2000 Ranger chassis that had a good motor. After two months of work and dealing with the flex fuel system, computers, changing the clutch and a huge mess of wiring, the truck is back to life tonight. Drove it back to my apartment and never felt so good to be back behind the wheel of my old clunker. While I have a 2009 Yaris for commuting, nothing beats my truck. I still have a few issues to work out, I have a mild exhaust leak, need to vacuum and recharge the A/C and replace the front 4x4 shaft, but the motor runs flawlessly, not even the check engine light has come on... YET. I have not told my fiance yet and I plan to pick her up tomorrow to surprise and take her out to eat. She has been worried that I wasted $1000 on this truck and would never get it running.

Anyhow, maybe this story is a little cheesy, but I have had some darn good memories in this truck and I hope to make many more... Any similar stories?

-Philip

 

[wrecking-crew]

ive always wanted a stx since i seen pics (i think here). then i found my 88 stx. drove an hour and a half then i bought it on impulse for $500
my stx has a history of its own in the family i bought it from. 3 kids used it as their first vehicles

your truck has a family history......none of mine do......my family wont leave any of their trucks worth driving

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

ohh boy i almost cry!!! thats a LOVE story man!!! so nice to hear that, that truck has been with u in soo many things man!!
giving a new engine just makes the bonds stronger
keep it up man!! nice job, i wish i can tell the same story with mine some years later

 

[RedneckSTX]

My cousin bought a 1991 Ranger, 2.3, 4x2, reg. cab, when it was brand new, this was the first thing I ever drove, I was in first grade and he would sit me on his lap and let me drive it out the gravel roads around here, when him and my Dad was booze cruisin (maybe this is what started my love for rangers?). Anyways he wrecked it like 4 times, when he wrecked it the forth time the insurance company totaled it. Each time including the forth time his older brother fixed it making it look like brand new again. A few years after he bought it he went into some rough times and ended up taking his own life. After his death his father took over ownership of the truck, wanting to keep a part of Brian. My uncle drove this truck everyday for years untill he past away 3 years ago, during the time he had this truck it was in 2 more wrecks, in one of the wrecks it was totaled by the insurance company again, and again my cousin fixed it making it look brand new, with the exception of the last time when it was totaled, he built a steel flatbed for it, because he had already replaced bedsides a few times and the whole bed once. So now it is not stock looking amymore, but anyways after my uncle passed away my cousin who fixed it all those times took over ownership this time still wanting to keep it in the family. He drove this truck for like a year before he parked it beside his garage and let the grass grow up around it when there was nothing wrong with it at all. It now has like around 200,000 miles but still looks new and runs great, and the graduation tassle of my cousin Brian the original owner is still hanging from the rear view mirror. I would really like to have it and have tried to buy it several times now but he will not sell it to me for some reason, but it is still sitting in the weeds beside the garage, it's a damn shame and a waste of a nice ranger, not to mention the disrespect to his own brother and father.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

wow, its amazing how bonds can be made between a person and a machine, i guess thats all that makes us different- the feelings

 

[justinp21]

when i was 14 my dad bought his truck, a 1996 ford ranger xlt auto. It was basic, but did the trick with its 3.0L v6. When I was 15 convinced him to let me drive it. When i became 16 got my licence, and the truck was my favorite out of the 2 cars we had, the other being 00 civic. Finally 8 months later got my g2 licence and was able to drive alone, so I got to drive the ranger when ever my dad wasnt using it. Learn how to drive, drift, do donuts and everything in the ranger. After some dents, scratches, and replacing I beams, dad decided to sell it. I needed a car for work, so i picked up a 92 civic. 6 months later, after getting my job at honda, it was time to go back to my original favorite little truck... a Ford Ranger. This purchase was a brand new 2008 Ford Ranger Sport 5spd. I am known among friends as the Crazy asshole.

My 08 has seen more mud than my buddies offroad ranger with huge mud tires, and its only 2wd. Now has been lowered on stock suspension, blacked out lights, brake calipers painted, full limo tint, full custom gps stereo system, and the work is beginning. Hoping to have my truck show worthy, but at the same time daily driver. Almost 21 now, and insurance is finally dropping, still love my ranger.
That my brief overlay.

Go Power Rangers!

JP

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

my grandma bougth this 83 diesel ranger back in 85, awesome truck, my uncle used it to hook up chicks, he got married and went honeymoon on it, a year later my cousin was born, he came home on tha ranger, a year later the 2nd cosin came, barely born on the ranger!!
everyone loved that truck, being a work truck on a barely ecomonical steady farm wasnt pleasing to it, but never complained, alwasy there for the task.
years later my brother learned to drive on that ranger. later she gave the truck to my uncle, my cousins grew playin on it, then he gave it to my other uncle, who teachd me to drive on it, dang i loved that truck, even that it had start issues and was one hard engine to start up. i had a lot of fun on it.

later my 2 cousins learned to drive on it, teached by me
once we almost hit a tree running on a dirt road, the engine was at his top, no more to give-dont know speed cuz the speedo was out-but hell we were going fast! we almost over heated the engine.
when i turned 18 i had plans for restoring it, but the old ranger was to beated up, and parts werent exactly easy cuz few diesel rangers came to honduras, sadly i saw when they sold it and i had to get a 97 tercel, nice car but not like the diesel ranger, pouring smoke all the way with the funny start issues.

lucky me i got the chance to get rid of the yota and get me a ranger, i really enjoy it, not like the old ranger, but i like it.
i miss that truck, i wish some day i could buy it back, i saw it runing on the roads some times, but havent seen it on a while.