1996 Ford Ranger - The Little Truck That Could, But Almost Didn't.
I named her Darwin, because she was a gift that was supposed to evolve into money. But she ended up actually evolving. I crashed her into a medium sized tree on a muddy road driving back to college one morning a few years back. She took it like a champ. I saw it coming and had just enough time to aim for that sweet spot on the bed of the truck between the rear tire and the back windows. I got really lucky and only dented the box. Although I was a little surprised when the air bag didn't pop out and hit me in the face. I hit the tree hard enough to rip it out of the ground and land on top of it. I thought she was done, but when a farmer pulled my truck off the tree I was able to drive her away. And continued to drive her after replacing the bed for 6 more years and 180,000 miles.
I named her Darwin, because she was a gift that was supposed to evolve into money. But she ended up actually evolving. I crashed her into a medium sized tree on a muddy road driving back to college one morning a few years back. She took it like a champ. I saw it coming and had just enough time to aim for that sweet spot on the bed of the truck between the rear tire and the back windows. I got really lucky and only dented the box. Although I was a little surprised when the air bag didn't pop out and hit me in the face. I hit the tree hard enough to rip it out of the ground and land on top of it. I thought she was done, but when a farmer pulled my truck off the tree I was able to drive her away. And continued to drive her after replacing the bed for 6 more years and 180,000 miles.
The first winter I had this truck I had some trouble getting up my driveway. I managed to get myself stuck in a foot deep of snow on a log. I got really mad and started swearing and hitting the gas spinning the tires. I turned the wheel full rotations in both directions faster than would be recommend and ended up bouncing the truck out the woods and off the log back onto my drive way. I then ...
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The first winter I had this truck I had some trouble getting up my driveway. I managed to get myself stuck in a foot deep of snow on a log. I got really mad and started swearing and hitting the gas spinning the tires. I turned the wheel full rotations in both directions faster than would be recommend and ended up bouncing the truck out the woods and off the log back onto my drive way. I then backed into the road and gunned it up the driveway almost hitting the house and laughing my butt off at what I had just done.
This Truck had the most comfortable seats, soft and cushy. Made from fabric, not leather, so you didn't burn your skin on a not day. It was rear wheel drive, she could go anywhere, given that you knew how to handle her. She had great gas mileage for what she was and how old she was, 24MPG.
This Truck had the most comfortable seats, soft and cushy. Made from fabric, not leather, so you didn't burn your skin on a not day. It was rear wheel drive, she could go anywhere, given that you knew how to handle her. She had great gas mileage for what she was and how old she was, 24MPG.
Changing the oil was a challenge. The filter is kind of on the middle front leftist part of the engine about 2/3rds down and to the left and up, I basically had to break my arm to get at it. Other than that, working on the engine was easy and straight forward. This truck is so light that going over bridge connectors on the highway, at normal highway speeds around 60, might send the truck bouncing sideways. I eventually learned to drive off center to avoid this problem. This truck wasn't 4 wheel drive so she got stuck, a lot, but never in snow. Which is odd because where I live it snows 8 ...
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Changing the oil was a challenge. The filter is kind of on the middle front leftist part of the engine about 2/3rds down and to the left and up, I basically had to break my arm to get at it. Other than that, working on the engine was easy and straight forward. This truck is so light that going over bridge connectors on the highway, at normal highway speeds around 60, might send the truck bouncing sideways. I eventually learned to drive off center to avoid this problem. This truck wasn't 4 wheel drive so she got stuck, a lot, but never in snow. Which is odd because where I live it snows 8 out of 12 months.