Out With the Old, In With the New(er)

When Thing 1 turned 16, he received his Inheritance from his paternal Grandfather, The Red Rocket

A 1990 (which makes it older than Thing 1) Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 pick up truck (duh, it's pretty obvious from the photo) that sucks gas like a crack whore sucks...well, let's just say it gets REALLY lousy gas mileage.  We're talking single digits for City MPG and very low teens for Highway MPG.  And the A/C doesn't work.

But the truck was free and the insurance is cheap since Thing 1 maintains a 3.0 GPA and we only got Liability Insurance.  Which I have to remind Thing 1 whenever he talks about going "Barging" and "Mobbing" in the Rocket.

The Rocket became something of a Legend in these here parts of the woods.  People have even shown up in the middle of the night to lovingly "gift wrap" the Rocket as a gesture of affection:

 But for some time, we've been wanting to get something that is a little more reliable and gets better gas mileage but since the money tree in the backyard is just not blooming, it's been a moot point.


Until yesterday.


Meet the New Red Rocket, or Red Rocket 2.0 as we like to call it:

It's a 1994 Dodge Ram 2500 with the Cummins Diesel.  Which means it'll last forever AND gets twice the mileage as the Old Red Rocket.  It was owned by a diesel mechanic who was meticulous about mechanical maintenance (say that 3 times fast) and kept very detailed records.


The best thing about it, other than the fact that my car will NOT need a trailer hitch, was the dirt cheap price.  When Thing 1's Best Crony (and our Favorite) told us about the truck and the asking price, we kept saying, "What's the catch?"  Other than some minor cosmetic issues and a lack of a stereo in it, there was no catch.  The seller needed the money (divorce).


There was no way we could pass it up.  And the seller even knocked $100 off the already ridiculously low price because of the missing stereo.


We're all excited about the new Red Rocket.  Thing 1 because it has working A/C and now he can legitimately hang with "The Cummins Crew" as many of his cronies all have the same truck.  TheManTheMyth is happy because he now has a back up reliable work truck and a new desert mobile and I'm beyond thrilled because my new car will not need to have a hitch put on it so the guys can hitch up a small motorcycle trailer and take that to their races instead of driving The Big Truck or the Old Red Rocket.   Thing 2, well, she just shrugged as said, "Whatever" and disappeared back into The Cave.


We asked Thing 2 if she wanted Red Rocket 1.0 for herself but she just looked at us and said, "Uh, NO."  


So, Red Rocket 1.0 is For Sale.  $2500.00.  Spread the word.  Tell your friends.