And if you get THAT lucky.... Buy a lotto ticket.......

 

I've seen trucks with bad engines or transmissions for $3000. You liked the truck and it needs some work. Take the time to do it. My truck is 30 years old, but runs good, people like looking at it, the wheel base is perfect for one granite out crop I have to deal with and over the last few years, pretty much everything has been rebuilt or replaced. I bought the transmission after it was rebuilt so the truck came with it. Since then, I've done all the brakes, the steering and wheel bearings, fixed what little rust it had except for one spot in the floor (beyond my skills) and did a major tune up on the engine.

Once you spend time and money working on it, that is YOUR truck. Not a piece of iron you just got. It's YOURS! The tune up I did on my truxk, I expected to take a couple of weeks but turned into 2 1/2 to 3 months. I've seen newer trucks by a couple of decades that don't run this well.