TWO Dodges

Yessiree, I've now acquired two Dodge pickip trucks, and I love both of them. Each has its own characteristics that make it special to me, but for their intended uses, they perform any task I ask, with all my trust, due to their dependability, strength, reliability, design characteristics and engineering.

Both have unique traits that make it special for me, not withstanding the attractive styling and high quality of materials and workmanship of the American Auto Worker built into each one. As you may have noticed, in February of this year, I bought the 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 SRT-10, with it's big V-10 engine and high performance tires as a fun truck to drive, and show off with. It now has just over 7,000 miles, and sits happily in my garage, covered by a taylor-made, special polyester cover, waiting for springtime, when it will roll out onto the driveway for its first 2008 cruise.

The daily driver is the 2004 Dodge Dakota Quad-Cab. It's 4.7 liter engine, (287 cubic inches for you old-school guys), does pretty well as a daily driver. It has just over 50,000 miles, and was a repossession item, acquired from the original lender, after three successful reposession assignments from it's only other owner. Although it was abused in its previous life, the minor body damage was repaired by the professional body-shop guys at Searle Body Shop in Omaha, NE. Previously owned by a man who was apparently a very good employee, (having a great evaluation by his supervisors, and never missing a day's work in over ten years), he was also a drunk, and didn't drive very well, once he had imbibed his daily limit. Consequently, some minor body damage was incurred, and had to be repaired, once we had title to the Dakota. After an additional $1300 in minor repair jobs, covering all four sides of the truck, we now have a great little daily driver, with plenty of capacity for being a very good work truck for years to come. I always called the Quad-Cabs with the nick-name, "Sissy Trucks."

No More.

This thing is anything but a panty-waist. It has four-wheel drive, and 265/75/R16 tires mounted on factory cast-aluminum wheels, (three of which have some small degree of road-rash, due to the previous owner's inability to judge where his tires were, while he was violating the DUI laws), and a towing package, as well as ice-cold air-conditioning, 4-speed automagic transmission, power everything, (except seats), and my add-on Garmin Navigation, (via Garmin dash-mounted model S530), and new tires and brakes all around. I even acquired a spare 16-inch spare wheel, matching the cast originals, to mount the spare tire, located under the rear bumper, on a crank-down cable. The driving lights were missing in action, when I got the truck, so I replaced them, also. They are attached to the original wiring harness, and operate just like the originals, from the headlight switch. I added several accessories, to include a bed net tie-down system, several tow chains/straps, and upgraded jack/wrench combinations. Interior additions include a halogen rechargable Mag-Charger flashlight, stainless steel dash trim, and a Glow-Master lighted gauge cluster that improves the look of the original dashboard gauges.

I also added an air-horn from the folks over at Harbor Freight. It sounds much better than the original wimpy factory horn.

Additions for the SRT-10 have been limited to changing the door/tailgate handles from black plastic to stainless steel/aluminum and the addition of bright stainless mirror covers, to highlight the factory black plastic rear view mirror housings, and a couple of very fancy license plate frames, just to accent the Nebraska University Vanity Plates that read "SRT-10," and a racing-style gas door made of polished billet aluminum, and bright stainless steel tailight frames.

God Bless,

Dan'L