Dwayne...congr ats on your new truck! As pintoracer said, he has to go through two trailerloads of parts...that sounds like a perfect road trip for you to take and help him out! 😎 Chuckling...
Cruisin' USA soundtrack could be among the waiting to be discovered in that trailer!🕺🎤👍🏻 Chuckling...
Happy Motoring!
Dan
Thanks! I'm tickled to death with the new truck! It's funny... I drove Ford pickups for years and then back in 2013, I noticed a black and gold Ram Laramie Longhorn parked in front of the local Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership. It was in my eyes, the most beautiful truck I'd ever seen but I had no intention of ever buying a Ram. My wife thinks I'm nuts but I swear that truck was calling out to me in some way; every time I passed by I felt more and more drawn to it! After about a month of that, I stopped by one Sunday afternoon when they were closed to take a peek inside. Amazing western-themed saddle leather interior with real wood - had cowboy-like stitching on the seat bolsters. Another few weeks dragged by with me constantly fantasizing about that truck. My wife finally suggested I drop in and take it for a test drive, her theory being that it would "get it out of my system". I told her I'd go if she'd come with me. We did and before we got one mile in it she exclaimed, "I love this truck!" I certainly couldn't walk away from it after that! Drove it from 2013 until 2017 and enjoyed it more than any truck I'd ever owned. The seats were amazingly comfortable and it had the optional air-ride suspension. I also owned a 2012 Lincoln MKT at the time and the Ram was definitely the more comfortable of the two on a road trip. Along the way, the MKT was replaced with a Jaguar XJL which became so problematic that when the warranty was nearing expiration, I decided it had to go. I sold it to a used car lot that specialized in exotics which left us with my Laramie Longhorn and a 2015 Mustang convertible as our only vehicles (not counting the Pintos). She complained that the Mustang wasn't comfortable and the truck was hard for her to get into and suggested we replace it with an SUV. With a lump in my throat, I traded my truck on a new Lincoln Navigator. It had a slightly lower ride height and was equipped with power retractable running boards which did indeed, make it easier for her to get in and out. Absolutely hated it. Drove it about a year during which I devised a plan to get back into a truck without alienating the wife. I told her since the Mustang was only driven about 3000 miles per year I'd be willing to sacrifice it to get a comfortable sedan of her choosing and, once that was accomplished, I wanted to trade the Navigator on a new truck. She agreed and ultimately chose a ruby red certified pre-owned 2016 Cadillac XTS and I immediately began my search for a truck. The local CDJR dealership had changed hands and the new folks lowballed me on trade-in for my Navigator to the point that I just walked out on them. I went down the street to the Ford dealership to see what they had and ended up with a highly-optioned new 2018 F-150 Lariat. They discounted the price considerably more than the other dealer plus gave me $12,000 more for the Navigator. It seemed pretty much a "no-brainer". I know the F-150 is America's best-selling vehicle and has been for decades. I know it is considered the cream of the crop. I also know it rode rough and handled sloppily compared to the Ram I'd had before. I vowed to keep my mouth shut about it and drive it regardless. It was after all, a truck! Fate stepped in about a year later when a semi I was behind drove through a tree that was overhanging the road, throwing tree limbs back at me. My truck sustained approximately $7000 damage to the front end and frankly, I was lucky to have emerged unscathed. Had the truck repaired by the absolute best body shop in the area and it turned out great - it looked showroom condition afterwards and I'll tell you myself: I'm picky! When I picked it up, the body shop manager said he wanted to show me something. We walked out through the shop and he handed me the damaged aluminum fender off my truck; I could actually hold it comfortably with my pinkie finger. It weighed almost nothing! I knew it was an aluminum body but I would have never dreamed it was
that lightweight! In my excitement at that discovery, I told Gloria about it when I got home. She immediately seized on that tidbit of information and from that day forward, she referred to it as a "toy truck" and told me she wanted me to get something sturdier. My rental while the truck was in the shop had been a low-end Ram and I was shocked that despite its humble trim, it was immensely more comfortable than my F-150. I told her that and she said, "then go get one." I made a stab at trying to trade in 2019 at the same dealership that lowballed my on the Navigator and they did the same thing again. My truck was one year old and had 6300 miles and they offered me less than 50% of what I had paid for it. No deal! Drove it another year and, strangely enough, the pandemic affected the car market so drastically that I purchased two vehicles with two very different scenarios in 2020. We traded the Cadillac for a certified pre-owned Lincoln Continental Reserve that had been so radically discounted between March and May that it was simply ridiculous, yet they still offered me a decent trade-in on the Cadillac. Way nicer car, a year newer, lower mileage, and less than $10,000 difference out the door. Encouraged by that, I started shopping trucks again online. In September a CDJR dealer about thirty miles north of me was advertising two remaining 2020 1500s at $10,000 off the MSRP: a metallic white Laramie Longhorn and a metallic black Limited. I decided to check them out. Imagine my surprise when they actually discounted an additional $2000 and then gave me $15000 more for my F-150 than I had been offered by the local dealership a year earlier! I bought it before they could change their mind! Because our Continental is metallic white, I chose the black Limited over the Laramie Longhorn. Essentially the same truck with a bent toward luxury rather than the western-theme. No regrets whatsoever and it is my intention that this is my "forever" truck. I only drive it about 6000 miles a year and I'll be 64 in a couple months; it should last me a lifetime.