New farm truck

So I love trucks. I especially love old trucks. You know the kind... the ones that you can stand in the engine compartment while changing the carburetor. Yeah, those.

I've owned a 1974 Ford F100 for about 7 years now, and it's been great to me. It helped us move most of our belongings up this mountain, and it's still alive and kicking. It's not fast, it's not good on gas, but every time some moron smashes their shopping cart against it in the grocery store parking lot, I don't even flinch. I don't think I could ever own a car with shiny paint. It would drive me nuts.

Anyway, my truck is great and all, but it's a 2-wheel drive, so it can't haul stuff across my property, especially with all the rocks and mud out there.

So I was looking at getting an ATV for hauling and transporting stuff around. Once the garden is made, we'll need something like that to haul veges back to the house. Plus, there are always chores to be done around the barn, and it's about an acre out from the house.

I looked on Craigslist and eBay Motors for something cheap, but for the life of me I couldn't find anything under $2500, and those were all 250cc 2WD! The 4WDs were all in the $5-7k range, even for used!

So then I thought it might be best to just look for a small old Ford Ranger or Chevy s-10 with 4WD instead. I don't care what the body looks like, I don't care if the heat works, but it must run and have working 4WD. Heck, I don't even plan to take it off the property, so insurance or registration isn't even an issue.

I found a few on Craigslist and finally bought what I think is a good deal. It's a 1987 Ford Ranger 4x4 with a toolbox, big tires, and it's mechanically sound all around. I only paid $1600 for it, which is way cheaper than any ATV. Plus it can haul a trailer, has more storage space, heated cab, CD stereo, 33" tires, 3" lift, larger engine (2.9L V6) and I can get parts for it a whole lot cheaper than ATV parts. I'm pretty happy with this truck, although it's funny that I own three cars now (all Fords!), and I paid a combined price of $3100 for all three of them. But that's just the way I like it.

The donkeys aren't crazy about the intruder

What's funny is, coming from the Chicago area, I can't believe I got something like this for so cheap, and it doesn't have see-through floorboards or an engine about to fall through the frame from rust rot. I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I got a good deal, and I'm excited to see how much fun I can have with it. Er, I mean, how much work it can do... yeah, that's it.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!