Long time listener, first time caller

Haven't owned a vehicle in about a decade and found exactly what I was looking for after months of hunting on the local craigslist: the old dog at the pound. You know they've got some good life left in them but who knows for how long? You just wanna show 'em a good time before their time is up.

Anyways, it's an 87' Power Ram 50 that had 130K miles on it and I'm the 3rd owner. 2nd owner had it since 89' but it lived its life as a secondary vehicle in Colorado so it's rusted out pretty bad. The drivetrain is in pretty damn good condition though the body has some serious cancer issues hence the old dog reference. Passed CA smog with flying colors despite its shabby appearance so I'm trying to avoid any work that isn't required at the moment besides the fact that I picked up a front clip pretty cheap as a side project while I'm unemployed.

I've put over 10k miles on it traveling across the country and various other road trips in the last 6 months of ownership and it still starts every time to many of my friend's and family's surprise.

There are a few things I'd like to do with the truck but it's all about minimal investment and maximum return. It's not a main form of transportation so it's mainly important that it runs well enough for road trips and gets me through places that have seasons and fire trails.

Anywho, I've included some shots of it so you can see the thing in some of its happiest moments.

In order of appearance for the photos (but not in order for time of execution): California, Wyoming, Iowa, New Mexico, and Tennessee

Hi and welcome to mightyram. Substance over style wins every time in my books. It may not do it pretty but it does it well. Hey, a big clean and a hit of wax does wonders for the casual look over. You wouldn't think it would pass emissions just by looking at it due to the lack of love on the outside but as long as the authorities didn't deem it unroadworthy, that's all that counts.

That's cool. It's good to have another 4WD guy here. We're slowly taking over :grin:

We’re starting a revolution.

I can guarantee wax will never touch the body ever again. It's lucky if the outside gets scrubbed and washed. The interior gets vacuumed and wiped down after long trips involving dirt roads and that's about it. The bushings and mounts are practically shot all the way around and it's too much of an investment to make this thing any more capable off road than it already is.

The windshield does have a pretty good crack in it so at some point it's gonna have to be replaced. There's an issue with rust all the way around so I need to find the time to get some POR15 and deal with it in some regard. Welding in new bits of metal is out of the question since it's too much effort for something in this condition.

Lol, I love my 2wd, I am thinking about adding a 4x4 as well. This truck is so fun to drive. I am sure one would be a blast off road. I might end up having a ground dragger and a hill climber unless i stop this turbo build for a v8 build instead. Soooo many options.