New to the forum - NOMINALLY new to Dodges!
#1
New to the forum - NOMINALLY new to Dodges!
Greetings!
I inherited a '92 Dodge Ramcharger in 2006, which fulfilled a long time dream to actually own one, & that, long AFTER I thought I ever would!
I'm so old, I actually test drove a NEW one at the dealership, in January, 1987. My best friend in hi skrool had a '79 Dodge Lil' Red Express, which hauled 31 flavors of as - I mean, "butt" - so I'd been impressed with Dodge trucks since the early '80's.
He ended up going nuclear Navy outta hi skrool, and with his re-up bonus in '89, ordered a spankin' new '90 RC - 360 with a 4-speed. I got to ride in it with him when it had <50 miles on it - LOVED that new truck smell!!!
Ended up getting a '79 Bronco back in '87 instead - mea culpa's - I grew up a Mercury/Ford man, from my dad... back when they USED to make a decent automobile. Fast-forward a few more years - when I'd gone back to college to finish a different degree. While captain of the debate team, we traveled to Pensacola, FL for a tournament in 1990, where my brother happened to be stationed in the Navy. HE had an '85 or '86 model while there - we went out and cruised the town that Saturday night in his RC, which only further fueled my desire to get one. Graduating in '93, I stared long & lovingly at a tri-tone white/red/white RC on the Dodge dealer's lot in my little college town... before buying a new '93 Mustang GT instead. I did pick up my wife in that hotrod eventually, though.
Marriage, Masters degree, new career, child, more post-graduate study, another new career (I can't keep a job... ), MORE kids, several interstate moves, and 13 years later, I thought my chances for an RC were long past. But a cross-town move to a new job, finally led to my long-awaited Ramcharger in late 2006.
My secretary's late husband had passed away suddenly in May of 2005 (he literally fell over dead from a massive heart attack - right BESIDE this truck - in the parking lot of Home Depot, at the age of 54 ), and she had no use for his RC anymore. Her sons didn't want it, either (gas hog), and she was about to have the local rusty hook tow it away for scrap. One day, she asked me, on a lark, "Would YOU like a free truck?" Welll... uhhh... had to check with the BOSS first, to which my wife said, "Oh - I think a FREE truck would be GREAT!" The operative word being "FREE," of course.
It almost got scrapped again along the way, for lack of help and direction on getting the work done. I even got a Jeep Commander in 2011, BECAUSE I wasn't sure I'd ever get this project finished, BUT... 8 years later - a LOTTA help from a LOTTA friends along the way, and a LOTTA elbow grease & wrench turning, and it finally became road/trailworthy LAST week. In fact, I took it on the interstate for the first time since before May of '05 on Tuesday - and it performed beautifully. Really, that was the final hurdle to pass, before I was willing to take it offroad.
There's probably a build thread forum around here somewhere... I'll post up MORE details and a TON of pictures there, but here's what it looks like NOW. I'll show you where it came FROM - and HOW it got here - in THAT thread...
I inherited a '92 Dodge Ramcharger in 2006, which fulfilled a long time dream to actually own one, & that, long AFTER I thought I ever would!
I'm so old, I actually test drove a NEW one at the dealership, in January, 1987. My best friend in hi skrool had a '79 Dodge Lil' Red Express, which hauled 31 flavors of as - I mean, "butt" - so I'd been impressed with Dodge trucks since the early '80's.
He ended up going nuclear Navy outta hi skrool, and with his re-up bonus in '89, ordered a spankin' new '90 RC - 360 with a 4-speed. I got to ride in it with him when it had <50 miles on it - LOVED that new truck smell!!!
Ended up getting a '79 Bronco back in '87 instead - mea culpa's - I grew up a Mercury/Ford man, from my dad... back when they USED to make a decent automobile. Fast-forward a few more years - when I'd gone back to college to finish a different degree. While captain of the debate team, we traveled to Pensacola, FL for a tournament in 1990, where my brother happened to be stationed in the Navy. HE had an '85 or '86 model while there - we went out and cruised the town that Saturday night in his RC, which only further fueled my desire to get one. Graduating in '93, I stared long & lovingly at a tri-tone white/red/white RC on the Dodge dealer's lot in my little college town... before buying a new '93 Mustang GT instead. I did pick up my wife in that hotrod eventually, though.
Marriage, Masters degree, new career, child, more post-graduate study, another new career (I can't keep a job... ), MORE kids, several interstate moves, and 13 years later, I thought my chances for an RC were long past. But a cross-town move to a new job, finally led to my long-awaited Ramcharger in late 2006.
My secretary's late husband had passed away suddenly in May of 2005 (he literally fell over dead from a massive heart attack - right BESIDE this truck - in the parking lot of Home Depot, at the age of 54 ), and she had no use for his RC anymore. Her sons didn't want it, either (gas hog), and she was about to have the local rusty hook tow it away for scrap. One day, she asked me, on a lark, "Would YOU like a free truck?" Welll... uhhh... had to check with the BOSS first, to which my wife said, "Oh - I think a FREE truck would be GREAT!" The operative word being "FREE," of course.
It almost got scrapped again along the way, for lack of help and direction on getting the work done. I even got a Jeep Commander in 2011, BECAUSE I wasn't sure I'd ever get this project finished, BUT... 8 years later - a LOTTA help from a LOTTA friends along the way, and a LOTTA elbow grease & wrench turning, and it finally became road/trailworthy LAST week. In fact, I took it on the interstate for the first time since before May of '05 on Tuesday - and it performed beautifully. Really, that was the final hurdle to pass, before I was willing to take it offroad.
There's probably a build thread forum around here somewhere... I'll post up MORE details and a TON of pictures there, but here's what it looks like NOW. I'll show you where it came FROM - and HOW it got here - in THAT thread...
#3