Have you ever treated your favorite old ride to a makeover

I have a 15 yo F150. Love it. I've taken such good care of the motor, tranny, and all fluid systems so well, that I'm sure I can get another 100k out of this beauty. HOWEVER, I'm a home mechanic, but not a body man. I love detailing, but with normal wear and tear like dings, minor booboos, walmart shopping cart visits, the occasional scratch during a hauling project, rock hits that don't age nicely, etc., eventually an otherwise wonderfully running vehicle doesn't look as well as it runs. For guys that use their trucks as trucks, though not like true tradesmen work trucks, but more than just for commuting and travel, eventually it runs better than it looks.

So I'm contemplating sending her to the body shop for an assortment of repairs to dings, scratches, rock hits, the beginnings of some minor rust jacking on the edges of the rear bed wheel wells, and some damage by other drivers to the tailgate and on three panels on one side. So lots of little things, though nothing big like the remnants of a collision.

So far I'm thinking this might cost around $6k or more. Though the trucks isn't really worth anything to brag about at 198k miles, I'm just thinking how nice it would be to drive this baby with something akin to a new paint job for lack of a better term.

So have you guys ever done anything like this ? Just to be sure, we're not talking about a true collective or valuable luxury classic, just a regular light duty pickup.

it's a hard decision. What say you guys?

yakky said:

If you really love it and it will make you happy, go for it.

However think about the possibility that cleaning it up will make you not want to use it as a truck. $6k will buy a lot of fun toys.

Do you see yourself driving this truck in 2035?

Click to expand...

well lets see - 18k/yr for 10 years is 180k. Have 198k now, so that's 180k + 198k = 378K

Yes, this truck could see 378K, with some once-only maintenance along the way, such as timing chain refresh, u-joint replacements, additional tranny flushes every 75k, and at some point will need some suspension refresh work. I already replaced new struts and front wheel bearing hobs, and I do pretty much everything else myself under the hood. So yea with some luck I could drive it another 10 yrs., but I prob wouldn't feel comfortable in the 80 mph traffice I sometimes find myself in during morning rush hours with a truck much older than the 15 years it is now. I notice that newer and outright new cars are more comforting at high speeds than with older vehicles, even when well maintained. It's just not the same, though I can't put my finger on it. Who knows it may be the driver, none of us are getting any younger.