Banged up my truck last night on way to dojo

[Bill Mattocks]

Failed to stop in time for the vehicle in front of me. Fortunately no one hurt besides my own knee, which I managed to ram into the emergency brake lever.

Ticks me off - I just bought this 1994 Toyota truck, put a couple grand into getting it in top-notch mechanical shape, and then crash it. The photo actually make it look better than it is. Both fenders, bumper, hood, grill, and all pushed back to the extent that I can't open the driver's side door properly. I drove it home but something under the hood is hitting something else, and something liquid is dripping out of the bottom of the truck now.

And I got a ticket as well. Happy days.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Sorry to hear that Bill.

 

[dancingalone]

Financial losses aside, I'm glad you came out of it OK.

Good to see you posting here again.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Glad you weren't hurt worse.

 

[oftheherd1]

I live in the Northern Virginia area so I'm no stranger to accidents. Sorry to hear of your accident.

Hope you are healthy again, and your insurance company has been kind to you.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I live in the Northern Virginia area so I'm no stranger to accidents. Sorry to hear of your accident.

Hope you are healthy again, and your insurance company has been kind to you.

Thanks! I'm OK now and my insurance company was fine - but I did not file a claim. They would have totaled the truck and I didn't want that. Some people advised me to take the insurance money and buy it back from them after they totaled it, but a 'salvage' title around here is pretty much worthless; good luck ever selling it again. So I just didn't file a claim and I'll pay out of my own pocket to fix it when I have the money.

 

[Buka]

Glad you're okay, Bill.

Looks like a sweet truck.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Glad you're okay, Bill.

Looks like a sweet truck.

Thanks! It's more important to me that it may seem at first. When I was young and freshly out of the Marine Corps, I moved to Omaha, got a job with the newspaper, and bought my first-ever new vehicle, a 1986 Toyota pickup. Bone stock, not even a radio, $5788 out the door. Those days are long gone, eh?

So I drove that thing all over Hell's half-acre and made many memories in it. From long road trips to vision quests (long story) to camping out in the back under the stars of Colorado, it was a big part of my life. Then I foolishly traded it in. Dumb...

So here I am, many decades later. I am in control of nothing. My life is very tightly controlled by my employer, my family, my responsibilities. I have a few hours a week that I can call my own, and precious little else. It's all my choice, of course, and I don't want to change it, but I do find myself under a lot of pressure.

So my old Mitsubishi finally gave up the ghost recently. I was faced with buying a new car (don't need or want a car payment) or a used car (which will break, because that's what used cars do). I decided to treat myself to a blast from the past.

Could not find a 1986, but I found this 1994 that was in dynamite shape. Despite the rust speckles you see on the hood, there's no rust on the body or the frame. The underside looks like you could eat off it. I bought it, took it to my mechanic and poured a few thousand into making it as nearly new as possible. I drove it for a couple weeks, feeling like a kid again.

Then I crashed it on the way to the dojo.

Fudge.

So now I am fixing it up, by hand, as I can afford the bits and pieces. I'm going to have to pay for the repairs out of pocket - the insurance company wanted to total it and give me less than half what I just finished putting into it. But I'm determined to fix it, and I'm going to do it my way and that's all there is to it. This is the part of my life that is mine and mine alone.

Probably seems kind of weird. I'm a weird guy, can't help it.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Finally got the truck fixed up. Took a long time and the final price came in at double the estimate; if I had known that, I'd have been money ahead to junk it and buy another just like it. Oh well, it's fixed now.

 

[Blindside]

I totally understand your attachment, I just sold my totally stock '89 Pickup to upgrade to a '00 Tundra, I had to get something to fit the family into when we go camping but I was sad to see it go.But being a Toyota PU of that era I expect to see it around town for the next decade at least.

 

[oftheherd1]

Good looking job, Bill. There can be a lot of satisfaction in ding a good on a favored vehicle.