« Money Well Spent »
Sunday, September 17, 2006 at 11:18PM in 2006 Posts, Choices, Errant Nonsense, The Old Days 
"Trucky"
It was ten years ago today I bought my 1994 Toyota truck. Money well spent, as far as I care. It had 78,768 miles on it when I bought it in 1996, and it was just two years old then. Right now, it's just shy of 200,000 miles and it runs pretty damned good. The dealership owned it before me and they used it as their parts delivery truck. It was in good shape because it was something they had to rely on too.
Usually I don't put a lot of stock in glorifying vehicles, but this has just been a good fit for me. All I know is that the thing just works. I give it some care and feeding, swap out a few parts now and then, and it comes up with the goods. I never adorned it with extra junk, almost always had the same shop work on it, and it just works. It runs rings around the Ford Escort I had—a car that I turned loose of when I got the truck, and one that was getting increasingly expensive to own because of all the trips it had to make to the shop, partially due to the car being shit on its own but complicated by the fact that I let too many people try to fix it, each making things worse. The truck has never let me down, never became a money-sink, and has always been ready to go. I've lost about one day's work because of it, which out of ten years is not much at all. I've delivered pizza, moved music and sound gear, moved house for many friends, moved trash, lumber, construction junk, tree stumps, sofas and furniture of all sorts, appliances. Lots of stuff.
The "gutless wonder" has just been the most satisfying purchase for me. I've watched my musical gear turn over many many times in the time since buying this truck. Whole studios have come and gone for the most part, and my simple, bare-bones truck just keeps on pleasing. No power locks or windows, no CD player, no special wheels or suspension, no Xtra cab or rear shell—just a little 4 cylinder workhorse that doesn't flinch. The only thing I do lament is not being able to carry more than one person as a passenger, unless it just gets real tight, and for only a few miles at a time.
For $9,300 it was money well spent.
Reader Comments