2015 F350 Super Duty at auction today

How has that worked out, gifting a person who needs a vehicle something like a Mercedes? "Needs" kinda indicates a low finances situation....

You don't talk about fixing Camrys and Sonatas.. ;)

Nice how you combine your car interest with helping people. (y)
I have gifted two Mercedes to co-workers. When I gift a Mercedes, it is not a Junker-typically everything is working. When a older Mercedes is maintained, they are fairly bullet proof. Something not often discussed. My current daily driver is a S500 with 230k miles. I have done almost nothing to it except oil changes and air filters in the past 60k miles, and also tires.

The car I have "gifted" the most were GM 3.8L based vehicles. These vehicles, after fixing a few things like intake manifold gaskets, coolant elbows, and a shift kit in the trans with an upgrade to DEX VI, are also a near bullet proof car. Maybe an ignition coil, once in a while, but super easy to swap coils in these engines. I have gifted no less than two 2000-2005 Bonnivilles, one with the supercharged engine, and a 2008 Grand Prix. I moved on from rebuilding the 3800 series vehicles to Mercedes because GM uses the absolute cheapest steel for its brake pipes, where Mercedes uses a copper/ nickel blended brake pipe.

Near impossible to run many GMs long term because of GMs cost cutting on brake pipes. Yes, one can replace the pipe, often a very big job to do right, but for a few dollars per vehicle at the factory, GM could have avoided the issue. And they know about it well, and they have known about using cheap steel brake lines for the primary customer really hurts their base customer- but GM could really care less about their core customers deep down in their corporate value/ culture. So I switched from being a 100 percent GM guy for the first 20 years of my driving life, to buying the best vehicle I can, and will not buy a GM.
 
Dropped the truck off at a body shop found on craigslist, to have the rocker pulled out. Not in need of a perfect job for this, just straighten it out. The tech has the frame machine, so we will see. $1500 cash to pull out the rocker and have the measurements match with the passenger side.

Of note, all other body shops I called / reached out to were not taking jobs at this time. At $1500 the truck becomes usable, and I can replace the rocker pieces myself if/when I am able and desire to.

Of course, always a huge risk using a unknown person from Craigslist, I am assuming that risk.
 
Dropped the truck off at a body shop found on craigslist, to have the rocker pulled out. Not in need of a perfect job for this, just straighten it out. The tech has the frame machine, so we will see. $1500 cash to pull out the rocker and have the measurements match with the passenger side.

Of note, all other body shops I called / reached out to were not taking jobs at this time. At $1500 the truck becomes usable, and I can replace the rocker pieces myself if/when I am able and desire to.

Of course, always a huge risk using a unknown person from Craigslist, I am assuming that risk.

I'm beyond shocked (insert sarcastic tone) that you had a hard time finding a body shop willing to do what you asked. Just the other day, I had a friend ask me if I knew of a body shop that could replace the door hinge bushings on her ancient S10. I told her good luck, no body shop is going to take on a job like that for cash when there's SO many insurance jobs to go around.

The "Kia boys" phenomenon has exacerbated the issue. My go-to shop consistently has 3-4 theft recovery Hyundai/Kia vehicles in process.
 
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I'm beyond shocked (insert sarcastic tone) that you had a hard time finding a body shop willing to do what you asked. Just the other day, I had a friend ask me if I knew of a body shop that could replace the door hinge bushings on her ancient S10. I told her good luck, no body shop is going to take on a job like that for cash when there's SO many insurance jobs to go around.

The "Kia boys" phenomenon has exacerbated the issue. My go-to shop consistently has 3-4 theft recovery Hyundai/Kia vehicles in process.
14AC,

I had no idea of the shortage of body shops willing to accept jobs. It appears shops can charge up to and beyond $200 for mechanical work, it seems body shops are not able to get even half of that rate for body work. I wonder if things don't change, vehicles will be shipped to Mexico for body work, and then shipped back to their owners in the USA. At some point, something is going to give- but that is another subject.

One shop I called on Craigslist said he was not taking new work. I found it funny, as he had just renewed his ad on craigslist the day before. Maybe he didn't want "my kind of work", or felt I was too educated of a customer- I was able to very efficiently explain the work I was wanting to have done.

At $1500, all I believe the shop is going to do in try to make the driver side rocker panel measurements match the passenger side measurements. I figure one hour labor to put the truck on the frame machine, and a couple hours on the frame machine. If my guess is possibly accurate- that is about $500 per hour. Paid in cash- in advance. Pure speculation on my part on the labor hours to be performed.

This body shop, which was a hole in the wall, is allegedly starting the job tonight. I had to return to pay the $1500 and didn't see the truck until I was leaving. They parked the truck in the street. The picture shows the work I did of removing the door from the cab. Needed a big hammer to get the driver door so it would close. It expanded from the accident.

I still haven't been able to locate a rear door for the cab in black within 1,000 miles from me. After finding out the body shop shortages, I am even less inclined to purchase a non-black door and have it painted.

PXL_20221221_222935250.jpg
 
Of note, all other body shops I called / reached out to were not taking jobs at this time.

The "Kia boys" phenomenon has exacerbated the issue. My go-to shop consistently has 3-4 theft recovery Hyundai/Kia vehicles in process.


This is a huge problem. In our area @GON the police are reporting that 30-40 Kia/Hyundai are stolen every day. The kids run them around and wreck them then abandon them.
 
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This is a huge problem. In our area @GON the police are reporting that 30-40 Kia/Hyundai are stolen every day. The kids run them around and wreck them then abandon them.
Before I saw/ picked up this truck I covered the truck with full insurance coverage (collision/ comprehensive). I am still in disbelief of the vehicle thefts, car jacking, etc in this area. USAA allows full coverage- even on a salvage (non-rebuilt) title. I will only make a claim if a loss is well over 5k- with the now seven vehicles I insure- I don't want to get an increase in rates, cause that's an increase on seven vehicles, not just one.


The body shop had a German Shepard on a short chain doing guard duty. Not a nice life for the German Shepard. I might have to drop of a case of high end canned dog food for that Shepard when I pick up the truck. I sense he is fed the cheapest food.
 
That's awesome. Retire to Az and you could do rust free GM cars.
Maybe that is the reason my Wife is fighting so very strongly my suggestions to move to Arizona- she is significantly smarter than me and may have concluded I will be buying vehicles all day and night because they are rust free, and not because I actually need them.
 
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I still haven't been able to locate a rear door for the cab in black within 1,000 miles from me. After finding out the body shop shortages, I am even less inclined to purchase a non-black door and have it painted.

I'm a bit confused on the "have it painted" part.. You seem to be a smart and capable guy, might be time to expand your horizons. A rear 1/2 door (especially in black) seems to be the perfect opportunity. You could use the old front door as a practice piece, to get everything set up and dialed in.

Any consideration of getting one in whatever color you can get, and having it vinyl wrapped in black as a temporary measure? Not ideal, but...

There's always a possibility that the shop that is straightening the frame, might be interested in painting a carry in rear door (assuming that you are satisfied with their work).

And... there's always this. I've used these to paint a trailer. They're better than they should be, for the price.

i_b5b0569525f5c2de81476af6620bd4c3.jpg
 
Conveniently, due to the major rust issues these trucks have, you can buy most of the body panels fairly easily. It really is just pulling out the floor then you can cut and replace everything else.

For what you will have into it, that will be a good truck!
 
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I'm a bit confused on the "have it painted" part.. You seem to be a smart and capable guy, might be time to expand your horizons. A rear 1/2 door (especially in black) seems to be the perfect opportunity. You could use the old front door as a practice piece, to get everything set up and dialed in.

Any consideration of getting one in whatever color you can get, and having it vinyl wrapped in black as a temporary measure? Not ideal, but...

There's always a possibility that the shop that is straightening the frame, might be interested in painting a carry in rear door (assuming that you are satisfied with their work).

And... there's always this. I've used these to paint a trailer. They're better than they should be, for the price.

i_b5b0569525f5c2de81476af6620bd4c3.jpg
Mr s.
Great idea on the wrap option, never thought of that. I don't have a paint booth, so me painting is out of the question. Painting is a skilled learned by doing in my opinion. Just not something I want to invest in learning. If course, it may be a case of learning as options for finding professionals to do the work is getting slimmer by the day.
 
If the shop doesn’t do paint work up to your standards, I second the painting yourself option. You seem more than capable of learning to do it yourself. I think you could make a pretty decent paint booth with plastic sheeting and tape in a garage. I’ve seen some on Garage Journal that use a box fan and some furnace filters. Plus, if it’s not a metallic black it’s a pretty easy color to work with.
 
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Maybe that is the reason my Wife is fighting so very strongly my suggestions to move to Arizona- she is significantly smarter than me and may have concluded I will be buying vehicles all day and night because they are rust free, and not because I actually need them.
Welcome to club of BITOGers with wives smarter than themselves. There are likely quite a few of us.
 
Picked up the rear door yesterday. These rear doors in "a" condition sell on average from $350-$500. I found a door I liked in South West Kansas for $350. The issue was shipping was $500.

Had to bite the bullet and spend $830 with tax local for the door. I showed the salvage yard the price lists of these doors within 500 miles of his yard- he said tough cookies- that is what I get. So, I ended up paying the highest price for the door. Not a way I like to work. But, every other course of action involved risk, such as damage in shipping, et. I was able to inspect the door before the purchase, and it was still connected to the donor truck.

The door did fit in the back seat of a S-class.

Currently at about $12,400 into the truck. Not sure if I will be needing to put more than that into the truck, or how will the very "backwoods" body shop will pull the rocker panel out (pre-paid).

Edmund's state dealer trade in (less salvage title) is $21,500, with dealer retail at $31,800. I am keeping the truck, and the damage appears to be non-structural/ non-frame- so the salvage title means nothing in my situation.

PXL_20221229_212959994 (1).jpg
 
Any updates here?
Mr. S.

I have been lying low, since dropping the truck off to have the rocker panel pulled. I was afraid if I "rushed them", they might do a quick but less quality job. I will do a drive by the body shop today.
 
Mr. S.

I have been lying low, since dropping the truck off to have the rocker panel pulled. I was afraid if I "rushed them", they might do a quick but less quality job. I will do a drive by the body shop today.


Shouldn’t take too long. A Come Along and a tree should do the job.
 
Mr. S.

I have been lying low, since dropping the truck off to have the rocker panel pulled. I was afraid if I "rushed them", they might do a quick but less quality job. I will do a drive by the body shop today.

I guess as long as they haven't stuffed it into a shipping container, and it is en route to somewhere the middle east... I suppose you're okay... LOL.
 
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