Welcome to this week’s episode called Dark Shadows. As last week’s episode was titled The Edge Of Night, you might see which direction this relocation is going. To recap from last week…
Mr. and Mrs. Jason, against the recommendation of their periodically absentee buying agent in Jefferson City, did indeed purchase a car, the car being a 1993 Buick Century…
After the nefarious deeds of real estate agents on both the buying and selling ends (the selling end being Hannibal, Missouri), our lead super-couple joyously conducted a spree of terminations. Unfortunately, the tides of good fortune were still against them…
The adjectives our tranquility seeking duo used in these ordeals aren’t acceptable for television or on automotive websites…
So we now rejoin our tormented couple, hoping for their fortunes to turn…
Note: playing the music in the video shown here does give one a taste of this dark morass. Is that a good thing or not?
If only life were more like a soap opera – many soap actors can change the fortunes of their character by sweet talking the writers. Not so with us. The dark shadows of this never-ending relocation weren’t yet in our collective past.
As stated previously, we were needing to alter our fleet and our buyer’s agent had strongly discouraged our doing so. Not to be contrary but we bought the Buick Century in the midst of this discouragement and this 2007 Ford F-150 came along less than one month later.
The pickup fit nicely into the garage of the rental house. For the pointed critiques about size often hurled at this genre of pickup, and the owners thereof, it was considerably shorter than our Ford van. We all know what a huge difference a few inches can make, especially in tight places such as garages.
We got an enviable deal on this Ford. Purchased new by Penske and used as the company vehicle of a branch manager in the St. Louis area, we obtained this Ford at a wholesale price. Mrs. Jason’s oldest brother works at Penske, knew its history, and was able to secure its sale to us.
The dark shadows of ownership were few but one came to light on the way home. This Ford’s 4.6 liter V8 was not enthusiastic about punching through the amazingly stout headwinds on I-70 that day. This cast an initial shadow upon the powertrain along with prompting some short-term buyer’s remorse. Thankfully this lack of enthusiasm was a one-time phenomenon.
In short order, the Ford was used to move us into an apartment across town from our 59 day rental house. That was the first time I pulled a trailer with it.
Not long after a tornado hit Hannibal. While our will-we-ever-sell-it house had avoided damage, the maple tree in the front yard had not. My trusty log chain plus the hooks on the front bumper allowed for easy cleanup of the brush and broken tree top.
Several months later we moved again, this time to a farmhouse west of town. This F-150 was again invaluable in this move.
All throughout this time, we were transitioning belongings to Jefferson City. Bulkier items could be secured in the bed with smaller or more fragile items packed in the interior, primarily on and under the rear seat. That F-150 was the perfect vehicle for doing so and it performed this task many times.
In our never-ending quest to dispose of our house and secure a new home, the dark shadows of a bad situation continued to cast an unsavory pallor on all of our lives.
Warning: I am about to give a combination of things both flattering and unflattering. Any negatives are about the anonymous persons only, certainly not about any profession. Any profession has low performers; we just happened to encounter an abnormally high number. If anything, it’s an indictment of some where I currently live.
In Hannibal, we had fired Agents #1 and #2, with #2 reminding me of a bobblehead. We then approached Agent #3, let’s call her Diane, who is not only an awesome real estate agent but an all-around great person.
In the meantime on the Jefferson City front, the dark shadows only continued to get darker. Our rental farmhouse had been foreclosed upon by the bank and we were now their tenants. Banks aren’t known for being landlords.
We received a letter from the bank informing us we would be getting a 30 day notice to vacate at some point in the near future. This was such joyous news.
In an attempt to make things go smoothly for everyone involved, and better assess the situation, I called the assets officer at the bank. It was Rick who had signed the letter.
During this first interaction it seemed as if Rick had a silent “P” in his name. (P?)Rick had automatically assumed and acted as if we were unsavory tenants who would steal the toilet bowls upon departure. That’s when Mrs. Jason stepped in. With a “bless your heart” in her voice, she pointed out various tidbits, such as our being serial homeowners and enlightening him about the behavior and other events to which we were being subjected in his beloved hometown.
Things went quite smashingly well with Rick after that; Mrs. Jason has her ways. Rick miraculously had a life-altering epiphany, realizing we weren’t a problem. He later told us he kept “losing” the file on the place to buy us time. In the end, Rick turned out to be a pretty decent guy.
Confused yet? This soap opera is nowhere near finished. By this point the dark shadows were everywhere. The only nugget of a bright spot was having been writing a few articles for some website called Curbside Classic, a site I had stumbled upon in late 2011.
Firing the group containing our first buyers agent led us to someone we shall call Mr. M. Mr. M is retired teacher who was selling real estate as a retirement gig.
Mr. M kept showing us houses that were absolute garbage, as in having holes through the walls. The most cost-effective remodel would have involved greasy rags, gasoline, and a book of matches. In turn, when we asked about property upon which to build, Mr. M showed us unusable parcels (think ravines) with an arrogantly ridiculous price per acre. His quoted price was grossly and gleefully out of line with other, reasonably desirable properties we had seen.
When I tired of his garbage and pointed out there was absolutely nothing to justify the quoted price, Mr. M suddenly claimed illness and referred us to another agent. In essence he fired us, which was just as well.
As a quick aside about Jefferson City…
Jefferson City (actually, the town is simply “Jefferson” but the “City” part has stuck; even city owned vehicles have “City of Jefferson” on the sides) has a population of 43,000, making it the fifteenth most populous city in the state. It was founded in 1821 as the new state capital although the town was not incorporated until 1825.
The prison as seen in 2005; the complex is the bottom half of the picture.
The state prison, which is just down the street from the capital building, would house boxer Sonny Liston, MLK assassin James Earl Ray, and notorious gangster Pretty Boy Floyd at various times. It opened in 1836 and closed in 2004. The old prison is now a really captivating museum.
The terrain here is a convergence. Going north requires crossing the Missouri River (as evidenced by the bridge above) and being greeted with river bottoms. Heading west is prairie and south are the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. The east is an area heavily populated with descendants of German immigrants, is quite hilly and dotted with wineries.
After Mr. M fired us, we started working with Sally. Sally was very good and had been a top selling agent in Dallas. She had recently relocated to this area to be closer to family but her health took a turn. The last time I saw Sally was in the grocery store. She looked pale but was as feisty as ever, giving a blistering critique about the (lack of) integrity of various real estate practitioners in the area. She was spot-on.
Sally died soon thereafter. That was a sad situation.
Our house in Hannibal finally sold after 20 months on the market, with the first twelve to thirteen months on the market being with non-performing agents. Diane, knowing the challenge of selling a house that had become an unwelcome fixture on the market, worked miracles. As a persons, Diane is everything awesome and a bag of chips, too. We periodically sought her advice regarding the sketchy actions we kept encountering down here. Diane was frequently aghast with what we told her and helped us tremendously.
After Sally died, we tried a realtor a few miles north of here in the town of Holt’s Summit. We stated we had no preference on location, just something within a twenty mile radius of my work address. The memo must have gotten lost as the notifications they sent were about houses within Holt’s Summit and nothing else.
While helpful, its overall usefulness was limited. We let them fade away.
Someone then recommended Donelle. Donelle wrote up an offer on a house, a deal which ultimately fell through. Donelle was very responsive on all elements except one – she never provided copies of the documents we had signed, despite repeated requests. It seems they were always in her other car or she had left them at the office, with our requests always being brushed off. For over two weeks we repeatedly reminded her for these documents but never received them.
So we fired Donelle.
We then tried Sherry. We discovered Sherry via alternate sources, which still should have been a huge red flag. When we found the house we ultimately bought (yes, we had to find it), Sherry met us but never bothered getting out of her car.
We requested Sherry to write an offer to the seller. However, before doing so Sherry demanded significant money on top of her commission due to all her “hard work”. I then quoted Lyndon Johnson by telling her “Sherry, that dog don’t hunt”.
Sherry then threatened to back out if we didn’t pay.
We called Diane in the midst of this latest development. She was more aghast than normal. In conversation we realized Diane’s real estate license was good for the entire state. Diane was quite willing to come south and help us.
Perhaps Sherry thought she had Mrs. Jason and I backed into a corner. She was wrong. Since Diane was willing to travel, my response to Sherry’s threat of walking was fun to deliver. Contacting her 30 minutes after this threat, I terminated her. Her greed had backfired.
Sherry was then inducted into the burgeoning ranks of real estate agents who had messed with the wrong people.
I saw Sherry in the grocery store a while back. She obviously remembered me as she acted rather sheepish.
Reading this might make one think Mrs. Jason and I are difficult people. Really, we aren’t. However we do have a low tolerance for ridiculousness, to which we kept getting exposed.
We purchased our house with Diane’s assistance. There aren’t enough positives to fully describe Diane. She had rescued us from the dark shadows of a home that would not sell and in finding a new home one hundred miles away.
At one point Diane said she had always dreamed of attending a closing wearing a tiara and eating a box of chocolates. She got to do that with us. Diane said she wore her tiara for a week and even had some guy at the gas station tell her she must be royalty. To us, she is royalty. Diane is a big blast of sunshine on even the darkest day. She helped us to thoroughly eradicate the dark shadows that had engulfed our lives.
In retrospect Mrs. Jason and I have identified many things we could have done differently. But having Diane on our side is not one of them.
As for my red Ford pickup, it fulfilled its role fantastically during that horrible era of life. It was as reliable as the sunrise, did everything it was asked to do, and was the most versatile vehicle I have ever owned.
After driving countless miles all over creation on our house-hunt, this F-150 was then pressed into service moving our belongings to our new home.
It even pulled a deceptively heavy mini-excavator after we bought the house.
We never did take the pickup very far, although it did make a trip to Diamond State Park in southern Arkansas. Fuel mileage was usually around 18 miles per gallon on the highway but sank to a consistent 12.5 mpg if pulling any size of trailer.
While that 4.6 wasn’t the most powerful engine available in an F-150 for 2007, it did remarkably well for what it was tasked to do. Of the vehicles I have driven when pulling a trailer, this one was the best driving one when loaded that way.
That Ford had 92,000 miles when we purchased it in February 2012. By September 2019 it had around 137,000 miles and was starting to rust in the front fenders and above the rear wheel wells. Some introspection prompted me to realize I had a nice chunk of change wrapped up in a vehicle that had been accumulating less than 4,000 miles per year. With the rust setting in, I figured it was time to sell it before the cancer got out of hand and annihilated its value.
So I sold my F-150. It had served its purpose well but my purposes had also evolved.
Only twice since I’ve sold it have I wished it was still around. That’s doing pretty good.
(Author’s Note: Dark Shadows aired on ABC from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971.)
Jason, another great story and a wonderful start to my day. I am glad all worked out. Hopefully the sequel to this soap opera will not be The Money Pit. Wishing you and Mrs. Jason all the best. A bit of trivia, the house used for Dark Shadows exterior shots is the Lockwood Matthews mansion in Norwalk Connecticut. Even though the house and grounds have been swallowed up by suburban sprawl it is still a striking fixture on the landscape.
Thank you. Thing rebounded well enough after purchasing this house. It did require much more than anticipated but we have been working our way through it. There is an update of sorts about it in two weeks. How’s that for a teaser?
For years I had occasionally heard of Dark Shadows but knew nothing of it. Looking on Tubi one day I found it. While I have ceased watching it (although I did watch episodes 210 through 650) the house was amazing and I remember hearing about the one used in Connecticut. It would be great to visit the area (I need to visit CT) and see the house.
Sometimes a tiara is the perfect gift.
It seems I either buy tiaras or fire people with no middle ground.
Frankly, I had debated about whether or not to include this dramatic sideline as one could label me incorrectly based upon some of my actions. However, this drama permeated our lives for much of the time we owned that Ford plus it also dictated how I would use it. Thus it would have seemed like an omission to have glazed over the drama.
Also, I forgot to mention I sold it in September 2019. Had I kept it another 18 months I could have doubled my money. Oh well, can’t break the habit of buy-high, sell-low.
Regardless, next week’s installment takes us in a completely different direction. When starting this series I had aimed for variety and I hope that has been successful.
That 4.6 may have not been the most powerful, but the 5.4 3-valve was an absolute time bomb. The cam phasers destroy themselves and take the rest of the engine with them.
That pickup having a 4.6 ended up being a huge selling point that netted me more than if it had had the 5.4. It was a nice win!
I believe the cam phasers can be (and usually are) replaced before it comes to that. There are a huge amount of these pickups with the 5.4 running around my area, most of them likely at or above 200k miles at this point. The ones I see in the junkyard are almost exclusively extremely well-worn trucks leading me to believe high mileages were achieved there as well.
Yeah other than the really cheap aftermarket phasers, which of course would be replacements, they give a lot of warnings well before they destroy the engine.
Awesome writing. Thank you, Jason.
Thank you!
Wow, what an ordeal! The level of incompetence is staggering and to think they SHOULD’VE been bending over backwards to sell houses in a town of pretty stagnant population.
Ha! I instantly recognized that theme song as a sample from one of my all time favorite hip hop artists. I always enjoy hearing the source of songs and most of them are quite obscure. Case in point!
Would you believe I left out several twists in this ordeal?
Now you have me curious about who sampled that theme song!
Insane! Not sure how that behavior passes for honest work. How is that sustainable in a customer service industry?
Here’s the instrument sample, good ol MF Doom, rip: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wP3molVnSeU
Now I understand the soap opera theme to this series – you have built it all around the chance to weave Dark Shadows into a COAL series! Masterfully done.
This red F-150 was kind of the Shafer mystery machine during the time you owned it and were writing for CC. We heard bunches about the 63 Galaxie and about the big white van, and got occasional nibbles about some of the others, but this one sat silently in the background while the others got the glory (or inglory, as the case may be). Now it gets its day in the sun, and shows that it was what a good Ford truck has always been – a drama-free tool that gets the job done.
The body rust thing is frustrating. After our rust discussion the other day, I am reminded that there has been so much improvement in corrosion resistance – EXCEPT in the kinds of vehicles that the US companies have little to no competition. Such a pity.
That rear “above wheel well” rust that is so prevalent, seemingly mostly on GM trucks in my anecdotal observations, could easily be prevented or significantly reduced by using full rear wheel well liners (the plastic or sometimes felt-lined things that are in every wheel well on every vehicle sold today except the backs of pickups including the vehicles sold as SUVs that are based on the exact same architecture as those same pickups). Every domestic manufacturer offers them as an option, usually in the $150 range on the options list, while Toyota fits them as standard. I was next to a new with dealer plates GMC Sierra AT4 just yesterday and looked right through the wheelwell to the other side of the truck, getting home I looked it up and realized this was a truck trim level starting at $65,000 that’ll end up rusting like a contractor beater due to the manufacturer not finding a pittance of money to fit these things as standard and the owner likely not realizing it. Treating the steel to avoid or deter the onset of rust is one thing, doing something simple to avoid much of the problem getting to the surface in question is another.
Amen on the lack of rust prevention.
Another area of rust that I see – and which boggles my mind – is the rear cab corners of 2009 to 2013 Ford pickups. It doesn’t matter if it’s a regular, extended, or crew cab as I’ve seen rust in the cab corners of each.
Ram also seems to have inordinate rust in rocker panels with GM exactly where you describe it, so I don’t think it’s entirely anecdotal.
There’s a British expression for not fitting wheel well liners to a new truck: spoiling the ship for a halfpennyworth (ha’p’orth for short) of tar.
Jason, you, Marie, and I are kindred spirits—I have no tolerance for ridiculousness either. If I’d been in your situation and the truck had been unreliable to boot, I probably would have lost it. I’m sure Diane deserved the tiara and chocolates. I assume they were high-quality chocolates?
I spent a few years in St. Louis and had no clue that “City” wasn’t actually part of the name of the state capital. We used to say “Jeff City.”
Some time ago I realized a goodly portion of people who don’t like to do what they are supposed to do often exert a lot of effort in not doing what they are supposed to do. It’s crazy. When we lived in St. Joseph I spent entirely too much time realigning people who spent 20 minutes arguing why they shouldn’t do a 10 minute job. I never could understand it. It often seems it takes a lot of work to be lazy.
Would you believe I didn’t know about the lack of “city” either until I researched a bit while writing this? I have always called it “Jeff City” also.
With Diane I think I went for quantity over quality. If memory serves it was the four pound box of Whitman’s candies or some such.
Wheel well liners may help a bit but will not prevent the rust. The moisture gets trapped between the steel of the wheel well and the steel box side (the area inside the box side). In addition Ford used a foam in between these layers of metal which traps moisture. The only method that works is to have the box oil sprayed from new. Oil sprayers will remove tail lights and spray inside the box sides with long wands which will soak that area in oil. My friend who runs a body shop says that once the rust sets in on these trucks in the box, the only real long term fix is a new rust free box. Patches only hold up for so long before they rust out again.
FWIW, in my area, seeing any 2004-2014 F-150 with rusted out cab corners or box sides is common. That doesn’t mean the GM and Ram trucks aren’t also commonly seen rusted out too. It’s hard to say which is the worst of the three, but I have seen each brand heavily rusted and full of holes at less than 10 years old.
Okay, you’ve figured me out. Well, that and it’s for the last installment running in a couple weeks where I ‘fess up to what my current unstated vehicle is.
You are also correct in that Ford being pretty free of drama, which was quite welcomed during that time. I think the only things I ever did was brake pads front and rear, one set of tires, and replacing a small vacuum hose that was keeping one of the front hubs locked in. Otherwise, it was just driving it.
The truck seems to have served you quite well, I don’t know that I realized you owned it for as long as you did. It’s a good thing you seem to be better at picking good cars than good real estate agents.
Not to wade too deeply into it, the reason you were counseled to wait on buying a car is that conserving your cash position is wise when purchasing a home as immediate and unexpected expenses can and do occur. Worse, as most people finance new cars instead of paying cash, that payment immediately gets counted against your available credit as if it were an obligation for the entire term of your mortgage, instead of the 36 or 48 or 72 or whatever term of the lease/purchase of the vehicle. So if you qualified for a $1500/month 30-year mortgage for example and purchased a new car with a $500 per month payment for four years, your lender would now only lend you $1000 a month for the house for the next 30 years, drastically reducing your purchasing power until and unless the obligation is paid off or gone. Wait until after the house purchase and the sky is the limit, every auto financier will give you whatever you want, having a mortgage helps you buy a car, having a car payment hurts you buying a house. I suspect neither of those folks explained that to you, really the mortgage person should have as well.
There are a staggering number of bad real estate professionals out there, likely due to the low barriers to entry into the field. There are also lots of bad car salespeople, public-facing government employees, construction contractors, lawyers, politicians, journalists etc. Conversely there are good ones as well. The trick is to find the good ones and then when you do, don’t be shy about letting others know so they can benefit from your wisdom.
Your last point is so true. I don’t think there is a better way of finding a professional or any other kind of person to provide a service than a word-of-mouth referral, by someone who has used that person or who knows the reputation among the insiders. When you are seeking a house in a new area, that can be a really hard thing to do, unfortunately. Every field has a bottom 50%.
There are indeed duds in every profession. That’s why I had the disclaimer as I didn’t want to appear as harpooning any profession, because there are few absolutes in life. Like you said, there are poor performers all over, with several of us regulars being in professions that often generate bad perceptions – and we aren’t low performers.
For our houses in Cape, Hannibal, and St Joseph, we had outstanding agents but I didn’t buy any of them a tiara or chocolates. Diane had pulled double duty and did so quite well.
Thinking about it I bought three vehicles while trying to find a house here, with the VW being the third. At that time, we talked to the mortgage company. He laughed and stated that car at that price would affect nothing. But I do know what you say about getting yourself out of whack on finances.
I’ve never had it happen to me but one of the people who taught classes at the first brokerage I hung my license at told me a story of one of his clients. Just a few days before closing they went an purchased lots of furniture for their new home an of course put it on their credit card. The lender did their last minute checks and found a credit score that had dropped considerably and denied their loan. So it doesn’t have to cut into your housing DTI to kill your loan approval.
For the pointed critiques about size often hurled at this genre of pickup, and the owners thereof, it was considerably shorter than our Ford van.
That jumped out at me, as not being possible. Google concurs with me, saying that the short bed crew cab 2007 F150 is 223.8″ long and that an Econoline is 211.8″ long. The F150 is a full foot longer. Vans, with their snub noses, are significantly more compact with than pickups.
I’m pretty sure that the E-250 and E-350 could be had in extended length format at 231 or so inches. I suspect that’s what his conversion van is? E-150 though is the shorter length only in the era of his van as far as I know. I also think the wheelbase is the same for all though.
No, it’s regular length. Extended vans were almost never made into conversion vans. They were mainly used as 15 pass. haulers or for carpet installers. 🙂
The pickup is/was indeed longer. I was referring to height, but obviously didn’t make that clear! I had looked it up long ago, but doing so again shows a height of 75.6″ for the F-150 and 83.4″ for the 2000 Ford E-150. That said, I was thinking the difference was somewhat less. Dimensions were found at autobytel.com
Parking garages have posed a problem for the van but never did for the pickup.
Aha; height! Normally “short/long” refers to length in cars.
My source says that the Econoline was between 80.7″ and 80.9″ tall. Whatever…
Of late, I think the entire profession has become a sham. When I bought my condo in 2019, I did all the legwork myself. You can find any property listed on MLS on any of several websites, and you can certainly find your own lender. I found my RE agent because she was a neighbor in a condo I was then renting. She was nice, but she was basically a paper pusher She submitted a couple offers and counter offers on my behalf, which I could have done myself if the industry wasn’t so self-protective. She wound up with a ~$3000 payday for what probably amounted to less than 10 hours of work. Same with the agent for the seller. I’m failing to see the point.
Evan, I shall defend agents in my cases.
Moving to another town means a different market, parts of the area that are more desirable than others, and a host of other factors. A good agent will help tremendously with such things, many of which are quite valuable but to which you can’t really give a monetary value.
Also factor in starting a new job while searching for a house (I’ve done so four times) and having an agent gives one assistance that would not otherwise exist. Keep in mind some people do not know a soul in their new location. That makes things quite lively.
Yes, I was critical of real estate agents in this piece, but of specific ones. It is unfair to paint them all with the same brush – just as it is unfair to do so with any profession.
Real estate agents are in my experience worse than BHPH used car salesmen .
Nice to see you finally found a good one .
The truck did well too , bummer about the rust .
-Nate
Real estate is like any other profession – it has some good ones but it isn’t immune to bad ones. My talent was finding the not good ones.
I foresee light coming to dispel those Dark Shadows.
I recall some months ago your commenting something along the lines of “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet” about some rant that I launched into around real estate agents, and man, you weren’t kidding. But as has been stated here in the comments, generalizations get us nowhere and your story proves that in the end, with luck and perseverance you can eventually wind up on the right side of things. Let’s hope that you don’t need to go through that process any time soon again. (Although I know that this story’s not done yet…)
Your F-150 strikes me as being configured much as I would want a pickup. Crew cab with a short bed. The lack of a 2nd row of seating always bothered me about the pickups I had. And while those pickups always had to have a long bed (“Better for sleeping in.”) it struck me that the short bed gave the advantages of a pickup without the extra length. Essentially exchanging bed length for the crew cab for a truck that overall is “standard” length seems like an excellent compromise/combination.
It’s funny that Dark Shadows is one of the few soaps that I actually know relatively little about. I have seen (and followed at one time or another) nearly all that you’ve highlighted in this COAL, because my Mom and Grandmom were huge soap fans, and I just sort of absorbed this stuff as a kid. Dark Shadows though, it was on each afternoon, but I was prohibited from watching it. For some reason, it was ok to watch the adultery and intrigue that was the basis for “regular” soaps, but vampires were a bridge too far for my mom. THAT would somehow be a bad influence. Whaaaat? Hummmmmm.
There is lots of sunniness for the final installments.
Part of me never wants to move again. Another part of me would like to experience another location within my lifetime. It’s a dilemma. However, I think it will all boil down to where daughter lands in life. There are a few suspect locations so time will tell.
That Ford was ideally equipped. It was an XLT with the 4.6, typical power windows and locks, CD player, aux input, and trailer towing package. The rear axle was 3.73:1 so it helped offset the lesser amount of low end torque found in the 4.6, which is a relatively rev-happy engine. It didn’t have much else, which was nice. The 5.5′ bed did require some strategy but it was amazing what one could do with it. The bed was also rather deep which helped.
Dark Shadows is great but it’s out there at times. There is lots of violence, psychological abuse, lying, cheating, soul snatching, and time travel. But no sex.
The series is on Tubi. Start with Episode 210 and go from there. It’s about 22 minutes, so it’s easy to watch. Episode 210 is about 18 minutes of forgettable and 4 minutes that will snatch you in for the rest of the series. All I will say before you watch it is “grave robbing”. That was likely a first (and last) for a soap.
I’ve been waiting for one of your COAL episodes to be titled Dark Shadows – just about the only soap I’m familiar with, and thanks to you, who clued me into it. My daughter and I are still watching episodes regularly, and recently started the 1795 episodes.
I liked this truck – but it’s a shame about the rust. For some reason, this F-150 generation seems to rust more than the generations both before and after.
It’s amusing about the lousy real estate agent firing you. Same thing happened to us in the story I relayed in your Century article. Our RE agent who befriended the owner of a home we were looking at and then tried to persuade us to overpay for his new buddy’s house… yeah, he fired us too, with the most condescending email I’ve ever received.
The 1795 episodes are great, without a dud in the bunch. I worked through those two years ago this month after having had surgery and being off work for several weeks. I was up to about six episodes per day. It was great escapism.
When the rust hit I was pretty bummed out. My plan had been to keep this thing for an extended time but I also knew it was throwing money away to do so. Selling it wasn’t an easy choice but once I made up my mind it was easy.
You rode in it a few times, didn’t you?
Yes, I did ride in it a few times; I liked it a lot.
I remember when we visited the Auto World Museum, we took your F-150. My kids came too, and they loved your truck, and lobbied me hard for a while afterwards to get a pickup like Jason’s for our next vehicle. Trucks are just cool – that’s all there is to it.
I bought my ’93 F-150 XLT in August of 02 with 102,000 on the odometer. We just bought our house, which was in need of some upgrades and a “nice truck” was part of the plan. My ’93 Mercury Grand Marquis or my wife’s ’96 Grand Marquis weren’t made to carry building materials. So, my F-150 became a key part of our home renovation project.
I made this picture last year after I replaced the shift tube with 209,305 miles on its odometer … after consulting with Google and YouTube. I had never heard of a “shift tube” until mine broke … at a recycling center of all places. I fixed it in about a week for less than 50 bucks with a replacement shift tube from AutoZone. I figured, “What have I got to lose … it’s not drivable anyway.”
My plan was to keep this truck for about two years and trade it on one that was a “little newer” … that was twenty-two years ago. Obviously, my plans have changed… I’m looking at restoring my truck … one project at a time.
Mechanically, yours is just now getting broken in! Seriously, if one can keep the tin worm away from these they are likely good indefinitely. Hopefully you are in an area in which rust isn’t a big issue.
Is the shift tube that little shaft in the steering column? If so I suspect that is what rendered my grandfather’s ’92 inoperable.
It is … it sits on top of the column and is connected to the transmission shift lever with a thin cable. Mine broke when I put it in Reverse; it went straight to First. Here’s a picture comparing it to the new one. It’s really not that difficult to fix once you overcome the “fear” of dropping the steering column! We live in West Tennessee.
As a Realtor, I have to unfortunately agree with your assessments of those agents you dealt with. One of the hats I wear is as a member of the Professional Standards Committee for my state. Seeing “professionals” mistreat/lie/cheat members of the public makes my blood boil, and dispensing justice (we serve as judge & jury) is a pleasure.
One of the sad facts of the industry is that the average agent in the US only sells 4-5 homes per year, not nearly enough to be good at it. Kudos to Diane for bringing value, honesty and hard work when folks need it most. People like her show was is possible and should always happen.
I’m glad that the F-150 was a bright spot during a pretty challenging time.
Part of me has long wondered if the business practices were a reflection of a relatively small market saturated with agents, the semi-transient portion of the population given this is the state capital, or just a reflection of those who live here. Perhaps it is a combination of unequal parts of each.
Your statement of selling a modest number of homes is one I’ve heard elsewhere, which would explain some of the behavior we saw.
Given this is a Cars of a Lifetime series, and this was my life during a goodly portion of owning this Ford, these events could not be overlooked.
You guys went through 20 years worth of difficulty in a very short time. I hope this got most of your life’s unpleasantness out of the way early.
Thank you and I agree. There is enough drama in life (invariably brought forth by others) without adding a home purchase into the mix.
What a story Jason! Interesting that you bought your first “modern” pickup almost at the exactly the same time I bought mine. My Tundra is a year newer and had a little less mileage when I purchased it, but like yours it was a former company truck so I got a really good deal. Like yours, this is my most versatile vehicle I have owned, but it’s still my DD. Despite the 4.6L having less power than the 5.4L, you definitely chose wisely getting it over the 5.4L. It’s too bad about the rust setting in, but like I posted above it’s not uncommon on these trucks.
It did make a lot of sense for you to sell yours based on your annual mileage. Who knew the prices of trucks would skyrocket so high at that time? Even though I can still get a decent amount of money for my truck today, the price of new and or late model used trucks is so high, its not worth the upgrade to newer truck IMO. Quite honestly, I still like my truck, and would have no issue driving it for a another decade if it weren’t for the realities of rust eventually setting in. If my living circumstances were different though, rather than a new truck, I’d much rather get an older more basic truck. The reality is that I do too much mileage, and I need a practical back seat so that it can fulfill family duty. Plus winter would quickly kill an old truck around here. So much for me daily driving a ’79ish Ford with a 460 that I really want.
I have been curious what you replaced this Ford with for sometime. I have had my idea on what it is, and reading through this COAL series only reinforced my thoughts. Looking forward to reading about it soon.
Thanks! You’ll be reading about it in two weeks when this series concludes.
The other day I saw a video of a guy with an ’07 or ’08 Tundra having 997,000 miles. It was his company truck since new, powered by the 4.7. Given this, yours should be good forever if you can keep the rust monster away.
Had I waited another 12 to 15 months, I could have nearly doubled my selling price on this Ford.
Yes, I have seen a few that have been to a million miles. I am at about 170K miles, so I got a ways to go!
Kind of neat Toyota bought back the first one to reach a million miles and tore it down:
https://www.motortrend.com/features/million-mile-tundra-the-tear-down/
What a hellish experience with those so-called real estate agents. I understand your need to have a buyer’s agent because of moving to a town in which you had no contacts.
We have only bought three homes, the last just over 30 years ago in Charlottesville, Va. In all cases, we didn’t use a buyer’s agent. This is because we were buying new, and in the first two instances, we were already living in Northern Virginia where we had been renting.
In the last case we moved to Charlottesville when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety built its new crash test facility nearby. We had a good idea however of where to relocate because of the need for certain school districts and a reasonable commute.
Could we have negotiated better deals with buyer’s agents? Possibly, but with buying new directly from the builder, it’s often not possible to negotiate.
Charles Randolph Grean, who was behind the music on “Dark Shadows,” co-wrote “Be Kind to Your Web-Footed Friends”:
THANK YOU for this ! .
I used to sing this to my then young son on road trips when he’d get bored .
There are several versions .
-Nate