yup....Holdin off ain't easy sometimes, but I am on the down low with communication and what I see/find.

 

Arizona? So, rust shouldn't be an issue..... What are your plans for it, should you end up with it?

 

Correct. The truck was sold new in Ohio, but I have been told it has been in Arizona for at least 20 years. I doubt there are any significant rust gremlins, but worth checking.
The kid is emotionally attached to the vehicle; it has been in his family for a long time. I am confident it has never been beaten on.
If I am lucky enough to own it, I won't be doing anything to it that couldn't be reversed back to its original state.
I have had many vehicles in my years of driving and destroying (in my opinion), them is out of my system.
Frankly, I think the trans issue is minor; the fluid is red, looked very clean, and smelled normal.
In my opinion so far, the paint is the worst part of the vehicle, and I know people for that.

 

Trans may just be an electronics issue..... a pretty cheap fix. 200K miles isn't promising though...... That's a lot for any automatic trans.

 

Exactly what I am hoping!! I would ohm the system out, adjust the bands, peek at that 3-4 accumulator spring, and see how it goes.

 

Well, boys & girls... As the topic title says, "The struggle is real." I have not heard back from the person who has the truck, so I did a little snooping myself.

TAHDAH

 

I've run into similar scenarios before. Don't stroll, don't walk, RUN away from this one. Either someone didn't pay the truck off and hid it from the repo man, the title was lost and never cleared when it DID have a lien in which case you have to jump through hoops to get it cleared, hoping all the while the finance company is till in business, or the owner on record owes back child support. and the State has the title pending payment of back support. You are looking at court costs, lots of leg work and even then, you might not get title.

My Mazda is paid off. The title was sent to me when the bank released it. I had to go to the BMV to get a new title without a lien. I could have sold it with the original title and the letter from the bank releasing it, but if someone did a Carfax or similar if I was selling it, it would come up as having a lien.

Considering this is a kid and the title is NOT clear, even though it's clean (not branded), goodness knows what you're getting into.

I've found that I-64 going through Southern Indiana is the lower end of the rust belt. Farther south vehicles still rust, but not like up north where cars don't rust so much as dissolve. Find something else and go on with your life. I'll bet there's a lonely old truck just waiting for you to come rescue it from tinworms and mice.

When I got 'Fiona', she looked like this;




After dealing with a bunch of mechanical issues and removing the Klan decals (I don't think the PO knew what they meant) it looks like this now;



Your next truck is out there, just look for it.

 

I drove over to verify a couple of things, and the interaction felt weird. On the way back home, I decided to walk away from this truck. It was more of a want than a need.

 

You may find a better truck with clean paper. It might even be a better truck. To quote the old philosopher, when one door closes, another one opens. Post here what you're looking for and we can all keep an eye out. It's unlikely but I might hear about a truck that's too far for me to fool with but might be around the corner from you. Unlikely, but it could happen.