{"id":8973,"date":"2026-10-04T10:16:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T14:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=8973"},"modified":"2026-10-04T12:32:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T16:32:02","slug":"fixer-upper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/10\/04\/fixer-upper\/","title":{"rendered":"Fixer Upper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a Sunday story \u2013 no politics today.  Just a story about aging \u2013 the truck, that is, not us!!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pick-em-up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For decades I always had two vehicles.  One was a \u201cpersonal\u201d vehicle, usually a Jeep.  The other was a \u201ctransportation\u201d vehicle, one I could use to haul kids to track practices or cross country meets.  There was a long line of those vehicles, starting with a VW Bus, the old \u201chippie van\u201d back in the 1980\u2019s.  Then there was a 15 Passenger Dodge Van, two Suburban\u2019s, and finally a GMC Yukon.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I retired from coaching in 2017.  We kept the Yukon for another couple of years, as Jenn and I tried the \u201ccamper\u201d lifestyle.  That Yukon was great for hauling our camper and good for long trips with the dogs (then, two or three).  It went all the way to Florida multiple times, even out to Colorado and New Mexico as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But by 2019 Jenn was doing a lot of finding lost dogs.  And while even the five-foot trap would fit in the Yukon, we ended up needing something more substantial to haul all the  equipment required to do the job right.  So we sold the Yukon, and bought ourselves a 2011 Chevy Silverado; a pick-em-up truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2020 in the middle of the Covid pandemic, we had five dogs.  And while some might try, we knew five dogs in the camper was far more work than fun.  So we sold the camper, and became a two vehicle family, the Jeep and the Chevy.  The Jeep finally \u201cdied\u201d in 2026 (for that story, The End of the Jeep<\/a>)<\/em> and we bought a Buick Envision, a modern 2018 \u201cgrocery-getter\u201d that\u2019s actually fun to drive.  That\u2019s the \u201cfleet\u201d in the driveway right now, the Envision and the Chevy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Older Folks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Chevy runs great (knock on wood), even with over 150,000 miles on it.  But it\u2019s fifteen years old. The nemesis of Chevy trucks is rust.  Ours looked pretty good, except for around the back wheel wells. There the rust was eating its way through the side panels.  So this workhorse started looking like an old nag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We decided we still needed a truck, and went to a local body shop to get an idea how we could fix it up.  The body guy clearly thought they had a \u201cringer\u201d.  As he went over the truck you could see the dollar signs ringing up in his head.  When he blew through the book value of the whole vehicle ($11,000 at best) he tried to justify it this way:  \u201cYou know, some older folks don\u2019t want a new car.  They are comfortable with what they have, and spend the money to fix it up.\u201d  Clearly, in his eyes, we were those \u201colder folks\u201d.  With that, us \u201cold folks\u201d will not be going back to his shop for any work, ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So \u201cJ and M\u201d \u201cold body\u201d repairs (Jenn and Marty) went to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Face Lift<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For around $500 we could make the truck look a lot better.  It wouldn\u2019t stop the aging process, but it could make the truck respectable, back to the strong workhorse vehicle it is.  And, just because the animal analogy is there, the repairs are so much better than just \u201clipstick on a pig\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step was to get the old running boards off, and install brand new ones.  Actually, the driver\u2019s side board was already off, crashing down with me standing on it at a Lancaster gas station.  But that turned out to be a pretty easy job, stripping the old equipment, some rusted solid, then replacing it with brand new.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there was the real issue \u2013 the rust.  With wire brushes, sand paper, and even tin snips, we were able to clear all the rusted \u201cdebris\u201d from around the wheel wells.  The goal:  get down to bare metal, that wasn\u2019t \u201cdiseased\u201d.  Then there was coatings of \u201crust preventing\u201d paint.  The advertising says the coating would \u201cchemically alter\u201d the rust, and make the metal \u201cimmune\u201d to further deterioration.  Hopefully, better than \u201clipstick on a pig\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sporty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And finally, we installed what are called \u201cfender flares\u201d.  They\u2019re plastic add-ons that go around the wheel well.  It makes the truck look \u201csporty\u201d, but in our case, it covered the fact that the top of the wheel well was gone.  We had to get creative in attaching the flare \u2013 normally it would screw into part of the side panel, but that structure was already gone to rust.  So we used \u201cfancy bolts\u201d through the wheel well to fix it to the side.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So our pickup got a face lift (or more like a tummy tuck).  With fancy flares and new running boards, we hope we can gain a couple more years of use without driving a \u201cjunker\u201d.  The rust will surely return, but we hope not too soon.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Cause you know, those \u201cold folks\u201d can spend enough money to buy a new\/old truck.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we don\u2019t want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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2021<\/h4>\n\n\n\n