06-03-06_1850.jpg After hemming and hawing on auto dealer web sites, Tina and I finally decided we could swing a new vehicle… well, new to us. Today, Lance, Mellisa, and I went truck shopping over in Skagit county. I could afford about a thousand down and no more than $200 a month, so off we went.

We stopped at Wilson’s first. The two trucks I saw on their web site were sold, so I test drove a 1996 Chevrolet C2500. It was a nice truck, but… well, it wasn’t a Ford. Besides, Wilson’s won’t finance more than 24 months, they wanted $1500 down, and the payments would have been about $385. Thank you for your time.

Melissa was hungry, and asked Lance to stop and get some food. Mount Vernon is filled with every fast-food joint known to man, and we passed a Taco Bell, a Burger King, and a Jack in the Box, but somehow ended up on the interstate. When Mellisa asked why we didn’t stop for food, Lance decided we’d stop at the ARCO AM-PM for some “gas station food.” Melissa cracked me up with “We passed all those fast food joints, and you’re taking me to AM-PM?” So instead of gas station food, we ended up at Wienerschnitzel. WTF? I’ve never heard of this place. Apparently, it’s the world’s biggest hot dog chain. The one in Mount Vernon is one of three in the entire Pacific Northwest.

I ate my BBQ Bacon cheese hot dog as we headed to Skagit Ford-Subaru to look at trucks. They didn’t have any mid-90s full-size trucks, but I looked at a 2004 Ranger that “Sales Boy” thought he could put me in using my budget parameters. I followed Mr. Eager to his desk and filled out the paperwork for them to check my credit. After 5 minutes or so, he comes back and asks if I could put more than $1000 down. I asked how much, and he said $4000. Holy crack-smoking hell! If I had $5000, I wouldn’t be shopping to finance a truck. He also asked if I could come up with a co-signer. Thank you for your time, jackass. On the way out, we saw this car — a 2006 Ford GT. Wotta bargain for only $165,000.

North Cascade Ford in Sedro-Woolley was next, and they didn’t have any trucks in my price range, so further into this quiet little white-bred redneck mountain town we went, to a small lot in Sedro right on the highway. [I used to link the name of the dealer to their web site, but they kind of pissed me off, so... no link for them!] The sales people were nice and not very pushy. Something that was a refreshing change from the vultures at the Auto Mall on I-5. And their office was eclectic mix of car memorabilia and antiques. There’s was even an old Coke machine in the lobby that works! My saleswoman gave me 4 quarters and I got an Orange Crush. I guess Coca-Cola bottles are hard to come by.

I told my saleswoman my budget parameters, and she thought there should be no problem putting me into a truck. She showed me a couple of early 90s trucks, but I wasn’t impressed. They did have this red and white 1994 F150 XLT with a canopy, four-wheel drive, power windows, power locks, cruise control, air conditioning, the works! It looked really clean and straight. Lance said if I didn’t get it, he was going to buy it. I hopped in and took it for a short test drive. When we got back, I filled out lots of paperwork, and found out my credit score is much better than I thought. This of course, started an avalanche of more paperwork. I signed my name for what seemed to be an hour. I felt like Bart Simpson at the chalk board, but when I was done, they handed me the keys to my new truck!

I made the 36 mile trip back home without any problems. It’s nice to have a vehicle that runs like clockwork and I don’t have to worry about a breakdown.

Here’s some more pictures of the truck, and in the glove box, I found the original window stickers from 1994 when the truck was new! Check them out: front | rear | interior | back seat | factory sticker | dealer sticker