Background: My name is Garrett, I'm 17, and I'm from Katy, Texas. I'm currently in junior college in Houston. I've been into cars as long as I can remember. Mainly get it from my dad, he's always owned cool cars and I guess that's what got me interested. He had a Ford Courier and a '72 Firebird in high school. The other thing is my dad has only sold one vehicle in the past 20 years. Except for 1 car, everything he's bought after his '99 2door Tahoe we still own. My dad doesn't just pick anything and when he does, he sticks with it.
Case and point our '93 C1500.
garrettmueller, on Flickr
My dad bought this truck brand new in 1993 after he married my mom. Bought it for her birthday. Soon it'll be our lowest mileage vehicle. Only has 150K, plain-jane, automatic, 2wd, cloth bench seat, other than the larger tires, it's the exact same as it was 25 years ago. The truck means everything to my dad. He has requested the truck be buried next to him. First car I ever rode in, first car I learned to drive in, and the car I took my TDL test in.
Before we got the Miata and now that we're rebuilding it, my dad reluctantly let me drive. When I was driving the Miata, occasionally I'd drive the truck when it was raining bad (low cars and houston streets don't mix, it's not really a DD. people do it, but I sure can't. it's a fun car once you get past the "it's a girl's car" and the hairdresser jokes) or I needed the bed for work. This was until the girlfriend's neighbor backed into the driver's door. My dad said no more and told me to start looking for something else.
Didn't take long to decide on a 3rd gen 4Runner. I didn't want a pickup. I wanted something somewhat rugged looking, 4wd, reliable, something I could take off-roading in the future, and I didn't want to look like a tool (so a jeep was right out). I really wanted a manual, but that wasn't required. The color wasn't too big of an issue for me, I never thought I'd like the emerald mica Miata but once I saw it in person, I was hooked. So I searched for about 1.5 - 2 months. Obviously, there are hundreds online. I went and looked at about 15 cars I think. During my search, anything with a lift was out. I didn't want anybody else's baggage, and I didn't want to have to put my faith in something another person may have haphazardly installed. Anything from up north was also out (this became way harder than I thought). Out of all the cars I looked at, I only drove 3 of them. Most were so bad or different from the photos I'd be driving home within 5 minutes.
Stuff like this was a regular occurrence. No idea how all these northern vehicles ended up down here, but I looked at a ton. Any truck that I didn't go look at the same day it was posted would sell before the next day. It was crazy. I thought buying the Miata was bad. One sold while I was en route to go look at it. But with a vehicle that is so common, there is no sense in settling on something you don't want. The perfect one will find you.
I found one about 45 minutes away that was everything I wanted. 4wd, leather seats, a nice color, and a reasonable price. 179K, but everyone told me not to be put-off by the mileage. Went out there to look at it and it checked all my boxes. Everything was perfect. 1 owner, been in Houston most of its life. Been serviced in Sugar Land. Came back the next day with tools to run some tests, then my dad and I went and looked at it one more time with cash in hand. Bought it for $5000 even including all the taxes/fees/plates/inspection. I became the second owner of this mint 4Runner. Put a lot of faith in it the day I bought it. Drove it an hour to a work event. Not a single problem. More pics from the day I got it to come, got to get them off my camera, but I took this one at the tax office.
So there's my 4Runner. Finally got enough posts to start a thread. Later this evening I'll post up some of the other photos and add some updates. Done a little bit of work on the car in the few weeks or so I've had it.
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