Do you miss it?

[JRC99]

I'm quite a bit younger than most of the folks here, so my first truck was a 1996 Dakota. I sold it to a buddy, and he blew it up. I miss it a lot.

However...

Before that, when I was 9, my father bought a 1995 F-150 XL. This was 2008. In 2011, he bought a 2005 Ranger FX4, which actually ended up inspiring me to buy one a few months before I sold the Dakota. But I loved that F-150, and so he was going to keep it for me initially, but I let him sell it.


Fast forward to 2017, I'm a senior in high school, and I found out a classmate's mom ended up buying it from the man my dad sold it to. I immediately begged my dad to let me buy it, but seeing the rust, and knowing I had my Dakota but not a job, he said no way.

Then this spring, another friend tells me the classmate is wanting to sell the truck, do I still want it?

Well, dad's gonna kick my ass if I do this, so let's see if Darren wants it (he's the one I sold the Dakota too). He and his fiancée bought it, and had it for a couple months.

Then it happened. The trans started acting up.

At this point, it got away when I was 12, it got away in High school, and it kept popping up. It was fate. I was not letting it get away again.

I've got a long way to go, but ten years later, it's back home.

So, the first that wasn't actually the first because I never got to drive it*? I don't miss it because it's sitting right outside!

*Except for one time, when I was 9 or 10, dad let me wheel it around in an empty parking lot so it's actually the first car/truck I ever drove)

The trans? I've dropped the pan, popped a new filter in, and filled it and added Lucas Trans Fix. The only issue seems to be a rough 1-2 shift, and I think it's a sensor and I have a specific one in mind. Other than that and the rust it's every bit as good as it was when dad had it.

(long winded but I like to tell a story- sue me! )