Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and GrumpyMNMechanic
Member
Hello gang. I used to frequent the forums here as a young kid with no money and a rusted out Ranger pickup that I loved and wanted to make repairs and improvements to. I'm talking like 2001-ish. Man, has it really been 20 years? Anyway. That was my very first vehicle and I purchased it from my PE teacher using money that I had saved up doing chores at my neighbor's hobby farm. In other words, shoveling up horse poo. A lot has happened since then. Fast forward to 2021 and I own an auto repair shop, and have refused to give up on the ol' 88. For the past several years it has worn collector license plates to save on registration because it's almost un-roadworthy. The rust has taken its toll. But in 20 years it was fantastically reliable aside from some self-inflicted mishaps. I always wished I was in a position to restore the old truck but there just wasn't enough good metal left. So a crazy thought came to me.... "WHAT IF... I found a nearly identical, rust free truck, and was able to salvage some good parts from the original, and restore it as sort of a tribute to my very first vehicle?" I would occasionally search online and come up with nothing that looked much better than what I had. But, one day last year I found a running, driving 1988 XLT about 30 minutes away that was totally solid. It was not from around here. I wasted no time and went to buy it. And the project has begun. I'll save the details for another post, but I wanted to say hello and thanks in advance as I will undoubtedly run into snags and this place will be here to help just as it did many, many years ago.
