The one dollar truck

[rhythim]

Ok, so I guess it's time to introduce myself and drop a few pics of the latest project. I'm Brian, I'm a product manager for the largest distributor of recycled and aftermarket auto parts in the world, and I've been a parts guy since I was 16 years old.

Now that's over....In 1986, my parents' neighbor bought a brand new silver/black 2-tone Ranger STX 4x4. Fast forward to April of 2016, the truck still only has 63K original miles on it, and hasn't been registered since 2007. It also hadn't ran since about 2010.

Paint was dead, had some rust over the rear wheel arches, but SIXTY THREE THOUSAND MILES!

The "maroogandy" mouse-fur interior was near perfect.

Anyhow, was talking to the neighbor and he mentioned having someone come to haul it off. Said "surely someone will give me $300-400 for it". Needless to say, I was interested and asked what he'd sell it to me for. He came back with "50 cents."

Being a long time friend and neighbor, I of course refused and offered $400. He refused and said "If you want it, give me a dollar, and get it out of here." The deal was struck.

 

[rhythim]

So, both fuel pumps were crapped out. The fuel reservoir was stopped up, but once those were fixed, it lit right off and drove next door to my parents' place.

Cleaned the fuel injectors, did a full tuneup, drained/flushed all fluids, replaced all the belts/hoses (and a leaky heater core) and it ran as good as new.

Since the tires were so dry-rotted you could see the air in them through the cracks...a new set of shoes was in order. Just a set of 15" x 8" AR Baja bullet-holes with 235/75/15 Wranglers.

Time for a test ride!

 

[rhythim]

The 235's rubbed just a little, but since I'm going to daily drive this thing for at least a few months (till my kid turns 16 and he gets it), I only wanted a mild lift, so just a pair of 2" spring spacers and longer shackles in the back raised it just enough to clear, plus made it look quite a bit better. Off in the woods it went!

 

[rhythim]

That out of the way, time to get some paint on it....or rather to take some paint OFF of it...

There was a little more rust over the wheel arches in the original bed than I wanted to deal with, so a rainy trip to the local u-pull-it and $175 later netted a rust-free, nearly dent-free bed.

 

[rhythim]

Finally got primer on it, and a week's worth of block sanding happened...

 

[rhythim]

Finally got all my ducks in a row for the holiday weekend. Pulled it into the paint booth at about 5:30am on July 1 to start laying down color. Went with a Stellar Silver urethane base/clear from UreKem/The Coating Store on Ebay. Was really pleased with how well it laid down and looked afterward. 3 coats of base with really good coverage, and 5 coats of clear.

 

[rhythim]

Another early day Saturday, July 2. Put enough stuff back on it to make it legal for the 30 mile drive home from the paint booth.

 

[rhythim]

Saturday afternoon entailed adding the 2-tone (I used spray-on bedliner for this), the pinstriping, and other odds/ends. I basically changed everything that was chrome originally to black, including emblems.

 

[rhythim]

Sunday morning, July 3, sprayed in the bedliner (I used U-Pol's Raptor kit), replaced all the door/window weatherstripping, and put the bumpers/fog lamps on it.

Still have to get it aligned on Thursday, strip the 30 year old tint and re-tint the glass, and will be putting the stereo in it next weekend, but the heavy lifting is done. Put a fresh set of seals + accumulator on the a/c, evacuated/recharged with R12 and it's blowing 39 degree air on a humid 86 degree day. Not bad at all.

Overall, it's a 10-footer, it's the first vehicle I've sprayed in over 15 years, but I'm definitely not going to be afraid to go bouncing off in the woods with it. The silver laid down great, and what little orange peel it has will be cut/buffed out. While I don't quite have just a buck in it any longer, it still came in on budget at around $2000, so I can't complain.

 

[MagicMexican]

Oh man, this sounds awesome. Unfortunately, none of the pics work for me :/

My neighbor used to have an early 90's eagle talon sitting in his back yard, similar story. I'd offered him $400 on several occasions, then one day it was gone... he scrapped it. Glad to see it worked out for you, though!

 

[rhythim]

DOH! Should have pics fixed now.

 

[ford4thot]

Very nice

 

[MagicMexican]

DOH! Should have pics fixed now.

I just have to say WOW. Looks amazing. You got a lucky kid, maybe I'm just mean but I'd keep it for myself and give him something that barely ran and looks like crap. You know, he can build character while you cruise around in a clean, classic Ranger =P

 

[Dprocks100]

I like it man! Looks really good!

 

[bronco2fan]

Awesome find and at a great price to boot. To nice to give to the kid, keep it for yourself lol. He'll probably want something turbo anyway lol. Good job and keep us posted.