My old lady’s knocked up, i sold my Ford truck.

not sure why anything having to do with a truck reminds me of country music; nothing having to do with a crossover SUV reminds me of soccer games.

Ok, that is actually not true at all; probably one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever said. Trucks imply something: man-work, outdoors, dirt, adventure, posing, the Klan…

Whatever.

Sold the truck! It sold in 1 day on Craigs List, to my first visitors, for $5800. This was between the KBB value for good and excellent. I asked 6k, and expected $5500, might have even gone down to 5k eventually. To my credit — and with some great advice from Doug and JB — I had the car professionally detailed, my CL ad was clear and well-done, good photos, all the maintenance records were ready…all of which inspired confidence in the buyer. I would have felt the same way — it seems you get a premium on old, high-mileage vehicles with one owner and complete records. I was able to give the impression of a perfectly functioning, but cosmetically older car. And I got at least 2k more than I could have hoped in a trade to a dealer. i need to pinch myself, cause I haven’t gotten a second call yet..I’m just happy i saved hours of aggravation and hundreds of dollars.

We thought we would drive this truck into the ground, but life has a way of changing your plans. On our last trip to Rocky Point…3rd time in a row with the Prius, and after it took us to CO and back, and after getting hitches on the cars and hardly driving the truck other than to expressly use the 4WD…we concluded the truck was simply no longer tenable. We still needed a truck, but not this truck. We needed something to make 5-8,000 miles a year for 3-5 years. We needed a slightly bigger old shitty truck to replace our slightly smaller old shitty truck.

Like many decisions once a t.Human is involved, there really wasn’t much to debate. Big or small, some things simply need to happen. I thought about getting a Nissan Frontier or a Toyota Tacoma, which are basically the same specs as the Ranger but with crew cabs, but the cabs really were not that much bigger, and the Frontier’s engine was suspect and the Tacoma was overpriced. Seemed a lot of money or worry for a new piece-of-shit truck. The best size and value seems to be a Ford F150. While I don’t really want another lunchpail Ford, having it loaded will make it nicer to drive, and the extra power of the giant engine will make it easier to drive. The engine should last another 50k, as JB said “when you make 2 million of them a year you have to get something right.” It will cost about the same as the Frontier, and they are everywhere and loaded and being dumped by people who are so close to the edge they can not handle the mere $300 per year extra the gas would cost me. I have changed my driving habits so much, that the 3-4k less than the Tacoma easily offsets the increased operational costs. Its kinda icky in a creeping Americana kinda way how momentum forced us into something more guzzling and less green – there simply weren’t smaller options out there for the price. My consolation is that there will almost always be 4 people and a dog in it on road trips, and its going to guilt me into driving it only when absolutely necessary and riding my bike even more.

Dealing cars still seems weird to me. Cars always seemed such a substantial, permanent thing. I will spend 3-6k more for the F150 than I made on the Ranger, but this flow of money is inevitable. It challenges my notion that money should be earned and stored, trucks driven into the ground, all of which requires a very end-game point of view: work hard = earn money = have money = have security. like a dragon sitting on a horde. Consciousness and care for your money, attention to your security and safety-net, responsibility for your family…are all good things. But so is recognizing that money is a liquid means to many ends.

G cried when I told her the truck was gone. For the last few days she’s been going “we’re gonna get a new truck.” Ironic that putting your money in perspective was taught to me by a toddler who only last week learned how to use pockets to store the money she does not have. Usually she doesn’t even have on pants, let alone 2 dimes to rub together! Its all very redneck.

all dolled-up and ready to sell

don’t let the buyers see this pic