$2000 truck in 2022

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Jan 4, 2016
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Location
Morrow Mountain
I always considered trucks unnecessary. Always looked for reasons to justify buying anything, but a truck. (Like c'mon... A Prius with a trailer will do the same or better.) But this deal was too good to pass up, so here we are. In the future I don't know how to live without a truck now...
Behold, 1990 GMC Sierra SL1500 (C1500), RWD, 4.3L TBI, TH400 3-speed auto, 34 gallon fuel tank. Officially a 1 owner truck, but that 1 owner was a VA school district, so many drivers for 32 years and 131k miles.
In less than 2 weeks of ownership I already racked up a little over 1500 miles... My right foot cruise control is getting tired on long hauls though... But that 8-foot truck bed must've seen at least 8000lbs, (that's underestimated) in these last 2 weeks. So far getting 17-19MPG, which in my opinion is pretty respectable, all things considered.
Here is today's little 6hr haul in the cheap ugly work truck. A ~350lbs scooter, 2001 Honda Reflex.
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So far aside from initial purchase price I did spent $750 on repairs/alterations. Original tires were dry-rotted badly. Replacement tires were quoted at $450. So instead I spent that $450 on 1.5" wheel spacers and 5 fresh take-off wheels from a Jeep Gladiator with only 210 miles on the tires. With old 235/75/15 speedometer was dead on correct with GPS speed. With these new 245/75/17 speedometer is 9% slow.
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Then And remaining couple hundred $ went into fixing the AC.


Not a Toyota or Crown Vic, so automatically not a BITOG favorite. But it'll do for a work truck.
 
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Great truck and it even has the saddle blanket seat cover for bonus points! These are prone to drooping doors, you can get bushing/pin kits that fix it for cheap.

Warning: this is how it starts, 2 weeks in and already bling wheels and headlights. Just keep telling yourself it's all purely functional when you're surfing Ebay. :LOL:

So much better than a Prius and a trailer.(y)
 
Nice find, these trucks were really under appreciated but they are what a truck is suppose to be. The tailgate is still low enough for easy loading and unloading without a ladder and without the extra cab you get max hauling capacity, just be aware that by going larger on the wheel/tire you lowered your tow rating. Its the same as putting higher gears in the rear.
 
Nice find! (y)
You will also have some fun keeping it up...I mean this in a good way! 🪛🔧
Easy to work on, fix some small rust areas, throw some decent boneyard parts at her, find a decent rear chrome bumper to match the front, maybe throw on a cool 2 tone paint job. YEAH!
 
Those are perfect trucks for hauling stuff. IMO anything with less than an 8ft bed and my 5x8 landscape trailer with a ramp becomes superior.

Nice score for $2000. Around here something that is $2000 probably doesn't even run or have floors.
 
Thanks y'all! Cab corners are gone (surprise, surprise, GMT400 in VA for 32 years), but thankfully replacement corners are cheap, and my dad has a MIG & TIG welder. I'm pretty good with MIG, but wonder if TIG is something I'm gonna have to learn here... Or I may just be overthinking this.
 
It looks excellent and you even got the A/C working!

My dad had a 1990 Chevy C1500 W/T like yours, but with the 5MT and no a/c. He drove it from 1991-2005. It was real rusty towards the end, but ran well and someone still happily bought it from my dad at that point. You're better off with the 3spd auto IMO. There was an idler shaft bearing (or something like that) that went bad in the 2WD 5MT twice in the ~130K my dad owned his.
 
Perfect truck. My cowboy friends tell me, "Ya ain't shi_ if ya ain't got a truck."
Drive it till the hubcaps fall off and then pop 'em back on.
$2K ? You stole it.
On original wheels two hubcaps/centercaps were missing, fell of somewhere. So since two were still present on the truck, I'm going to take it as a sign that it has at least another 132k miles in it :cool:

Also Cowboy wisdom is always on point.
 
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