Buying a used, perhaps even a much used, vehicle has benefits.

First, you save yourself from buying a new vehicle. A new truck, equal in performance and amenities to my old Dodge, costs a minimum of $28,500! I have kept records on how much money my truck has cost me over the 27 years I have owned it. Not counting gasoline, I have spent just over $4200. I just noticed. That is only a dollar a pound.

Insurance premiums on new trucks are much higher than on my Dodge. Add in “scheduled maintenance” visits to maintain the warranty, interest on the loan, high registration fees and taxes and it comes to so much money I can’t even count that high. Plus (I should say minus) as you are driving home in your new truck its value drops 20% while you are just beginning to enjoy the new car smell! Even with those penalties some people trade up to new every few years. What are they thinking?

My Oldy is insured against damaging people or other vehicles and the policy is not too expensive. If I damage my truck I can fix it myself. Since it is an antique I do not have to submit to yearly or semi-yearly vehicle inspections, those creative income opportunities for repair shops. By the way, that new car smell comes in a spray can.

I am proud of my truck and keep it in top condition. It gives me satisfaction to own a classy old vehicle and I enjoy the friendships I have made when someone comes along and says “Nice truck.”

Another good thing. As my antique truck gets older it becomes more valuable. There is a market for old vehicles just like any kind of artwork. If I had kept and maintained my 1965 GTO it would now be worth $40,000 to $65,000 according to Hemmings Motor News listings.

1957 Chevrolets have always been classics. Even ‘junkers’ cost thousands of dollars just for their parts. Restored to stock or hot rodded, they are among the most valuable classic cars in the world. Imagine how much money GM could make if they reproduced that 1957 body style with modern engines. Too bad…Toyota will probably do it. American car company executives seem to be asleep at the wheel.

Make a cup of coffee, more auto tech talk coming.

When I was searching for my Dream Work-Truck, my first consideration was to find one with minimal rust on the body or frame. The Dodge truck from Tennessee (where they do not use salt on their roads very often) had no rust. There were some dents but I could straighten those. Vehicles from southern and southwestern states and ones not driven much during winter in other states are often free of rust.

Next on my want list was finding a heavy duty truck. Not too heavy, not too light. 3/4-ton was just right.  3/4-ton trucks may look like 1/2-ton models but they have heavy duty suspension parts. I also wanted real bumpers which most of these trucks had. If I have a fender-bender with my truck it’s not my fender I worry about.

I wanted an engine in my truck that was made by the millions so parts would be easy to find. The 318 cubic inch Mopar engine was my choice. It has been around for decades and used in just about every full size vehicle built by Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler. New and rebuilt parts are inexpensive and easy to find. There are stock and after-market parts to customize performance if you like. Chevy and Ford have engines of similar displacement and truck model choices as good as my Dodge. I just like Dodges.

It is not politically correct or “green,” but I wanted a vehicle built before the hysteria of emissions controls came along. That meant finding something made before 1976. An engine with so many wires, tubes and inexplicable little electric and mechanical gizmos attached that it looks like it is on life support violated my simplicity requirement. Fortunately there were untold numbers of vehicles like I wanted available in 1980. It is a little harder to find them now.

Next time I’ll give more reasons for adopting an elderly truck into your family.

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Reader Bob Taylor has a 1991 Nissan pickup with a gas engine and wants to investigate getting a small diesel pickup with better mileage. He remembers Isuzu selling such a pickup that got 50 miles per gallon.

Bob, Isuzu has been around since 1936 and they are still here. I know general things about them but I always had trouble getting my fingers into those tiny engine parts and using those odd sized little wrenches they need.

If you want an Isuzu engine you will find them under the hood of Chevy trucks and cars these days. Google Isuzu Diesel Engines and you will find plenty of information to start your search. You will find contacts for technical information, history, vehicles for sale and parts to fix them.

In these latest posts I recommend specializing in one brand of vehicle, even one particular model year. If an Isuzu diesel pickup is your Dream Vehicle then go for it. However, read my next post or two and maybe you will be converted to an alternative vehicle buying philosophy. You may decide to consider something as tempting as the 1930’s vintage beauty in the above picture to use in your business. Notice the resemblance to the PT Cruiser which is so popular these days? Retro styling means old will be new again.

This is my work partner. It’s been with me almost as long as my wife. It is a 1971 D200 (3/4 ton) two wheel drive Sweptline Dodge truck that started life as a ‘Camper Special’. It weighs 4200 pounds even before I get in it. I have loaded as much as 3000 pounds into it, though not often. It complains if I do.

It was not nearly so pretty when I bought it in 1980. The color was that icky blue/green often seen on these trucks back in the late 1960’s. I got it for $750 from a racing team in Tennessee. The engine was from one of their race cars, a 383 cubic inch thing with all kinds of leftover racing parts installed but worn out from abuse. It either stalled when I stepped on the gas or took off in a cloud of smoke and burnt tire rubber.

I sold the engine and its equally racy transmission to a local hot rodder who paid me more for them than the truck cost me. Then I bought and installed a modest 318 cubic inch engine and a more civilized transmission that I got as a set for $150. After I bought new tires, rebuilt the brakes and fixed all the minor problems on the truck I broke even. Well, not even, I actually had a great truck that had cost only my labor.

Long before I bought this truck I did a considerable amount of research on the vehicle I would need for my career as a builder. I preferred Dodges so I bought the repair manual for Dodge trucks built from 1961 to 1971 and learned all I could about engines, chassis and available equipment.

From what I read I decided I wanted a 3/4 ton truck with two-wheel drive. Four-wheel drive may seem useful and has that macho aura but I did not plan to plow snow or go where no man has gone before. Neither did I want the lowered gas mileage nor all the extra mechanical parts that could breakdown.

I decided on the 318 engine for its economy and because it had sufficient power for my needs. I learned to decipher the vehicle identification numbers which gave me information about horsepower, quality of internal components and lots more. I learned that one particular model of 318 engine came with 245 horsepower compared to the 150 to 200 horsepower of the others. Just knowing where ID numbers were located on the engine impressed junkyard dealers and helped when haggling prices.

I would have preferred a four speed standard transmission but I never found one I liked. I did learn that Dodge trucks of that era come with one kind of automatic transmission but there are subtle differences in the performance of various models and I made sure I knew which was the best. Identification numbers helped with this choice too.

The rear axle ratio is important knowledge to learn about any vehicle. How many of you knew that? The axle ratios (there are many) make your vehicle the fastest drag strip racer in town with the worst mileage or one with really good mileage but a little poky off the line, all with the same engine. My truck came with a heavy duty rear axle built by the Spicer company. With the 318 engine, an automatic transmission, a 3.54 rear axle ratio and slightly over-sized rear tires I got 26 miles to the gallon the three times I drove it from Maine to California and back. That was with the back loaded with stuff.

Okay, I sense some of you are getting sleepy from boring gear-head tech talk so I will stop for now. But I’ll be back, because there is more.