In the 1990s, automakers were desperate to put you behind the wheel of something funky, fresh, and new. They’d advertise it to you with a bevy of attractive young people running around the beach with smiles on their faces. The Ford Ranger Splash was out there in the thick of it, a fun-loving truck out for a good time.
It was a truck that landed right in on the bubble of the action sports trend. You’d spot the Ranger Splash on a beach, looking sharp in red with shiny chrome wheels.
It lined up against jet skis, hang gliders, and mountain bikes, because these were the cutting-edge ways to have fun. Everyone was happy, and everyone was having a blast—right there with the Ford Ranger Splash.
Selling To The Kids
The Ranger Splash was a sage marketing move from Ford. The typical Splash buyer was “young, single, with an on-the-go lifestyle.” They were seen as the perfect target for a do-everything, go-everywhere action pickup. To suit these new, exciting customers, Ford needed a hip truck that felt exactly of the moment. With a few smart tweaks, the Ranger became just that for the 1993 model year.
At this time, trucks were still mostly work-a-day vehicles. Colors were drab, and most mirrors and bumpers were either chrome or black plastic, Those vibes wouldn’t do for what Ford had in mind.
The Splash went for a look that was thoroughly modern for its time. It got a monochromatic design, which basically meant that it got bumpers and mirrors matched to the color of the body. No steelies here, either. The Splash wore handsome chrome or aluminum wheels, depending if you got the 2WD or 4WD version. The suspension was also lowered for better handling and a more car-like feel behind the wheel.
Perhaps most crucially, though, it got a flareside pickup box with an integrated step to boot. This was a first in the compact truck segment. It gave the Ranger nice unique lines compared to other compact pickups, but it also provided plenty of utility. Getting gear in and out of the bed was much easier with the step on the side. Plus, Ford noted that the double-wall construction meant that any dings inside the bed wouldn’t spoil the look of the outside of the truck.
Engines and transmission were in line with the regular Ranger, with multi-point fuel injection standard across the range. A 2.3-liter inline-four was standard, good for 98 horsepower. If you were feeling flush, you could upgrade to the 3.0-liter V6 for 145 hp, or a 4.0-liter V6 for 160 hp. In this era, though, performance wasn’t really front of mind. The desert truck trend would come decades later with the dawn of the Raptor.
And of course, because this was the ’90s, it had decals. They weren’t as bold and bodacious as most, but they did the job. They told everyone you’d bought the fun truck, with their pointy excitable fonts and loud color schemes.
Peak ’90s
With the 1993 model doing well, Ford turned up the wick for 1994 with a pair of concept vehicles. Enter the Sea Splash and Sky Splash. These weren’t production models, but helped support Ford’s efforts to sell these trucks as the perfect choice for the action sports set.
The Sky Splash was audacious. “Attention hang glider buffs!” said Ford’s release. “Ford has developed a concept vehicle just for you.” The features went above and beyond to turn the truck into the perfect hang-glider launcher as per the press release:
The unique Fluorescent Orange Pearl pickup box insert has a
special hang glider launching platform and winch designed especially for the
Ranger. The winch has an auto tensioning device that automatically feeds out
line until the hang glider reaches the proper altitude and is released.Load-carrying rear stanchions and a front over-the-hood T-Bar are
to support and transport the hang glider. The stanchions have tie-down slots
to help keep the glider securely in place.
Additionally, the Sky Splash had other useful gear like spotlights for loading hang gliders after dark, and a winch for getting your truck to the best possible hang-glider launch spots. It also featured a CB radio, which you could use to chat with your buddy on a hang glider, and a cell phone, for when you inevitably need to call in a rescue when they get stuck in a tree.
Ford also touted an “on-screen NAV system,” which in the nascent era of consumer GPS was more of a wish than a reality. The aircraft-style compass and altimeter were more believable inclusions. “When carrying a hang glider, the destination promises excitement in the air,” said Andrew K. Jacobson, Ford’s truck design director. “But, when there is work to be done, the Sky Splash still delivers—and it’s a head-turner plus when you’re just cruising around town or on the open road.”
The Sea Splash was much the same deal, but it was built for water sports (shut up), not hang gliding. Rather than being built to launch James Bond into the sky on an aerial infiltration mission, it was made to haul watercraft to the beach. Or, you know, a big old canoe, as seen in the press pictures. Really, a compact kayak would have been more modern, but Ford at least painted it to match. It also got a nice blue interior and a CB radio, along with a set of painted blue and white wheels matching the body graphics.
What Happened?
The good times couldn’t last forever. For the Ford Ranger, as in life.
The Ford Ranger Splash trim was dropped for the third generation model in 1998. The world had moved on, and the sun, sea, and sand trope was growing old. But there’s more to it than that.
It wasn’t just that we lost the Ranger Splash. We lost the Suzuki Sidekick, the Daihatsu Feroza. We lost the Jazz cup decals that were on just about every car. We lost our buzz. We lost fun itself.
Turn back the clock and try and remember what it was really like, way back when. That is, assuming you were there.
You see, the 1990s was a time of unbridled joy and enthusiasm in the West. Consumer capitalism was a roaring success. Our die-hard arch-enemies had collapsed, with the Soviet Union collapsing in on itself and leaving America the victor.
The sun shined every day, and our future was bright. We were the masters of the world, and we had the science, money, and smarts to achieve whatever we could dream of. We drove fun cars in bright colors and took up mountain biking, kayaking, or sky driving on the weekends.
They were wild, heady days. You’d grow up, go to school, and learn about the bitter repression of the past. Social upheaval and unrest in the 1960s. The horrors of World War II. But the overwhelming message was that we’d left all that behind. This was the 90s! The bad guys were gone, now, and the future was only getting brighter.
How best to describe this? Here’s presidential candidate Bill Clinton playing saxophone on “The Arsenio Hall Show”
That’s what the ’90s were like, at least if you were a kid from the suburbs.
Now, I’m not saying life was perfect in the 1990s. Far from it. I was there, and I saw my fair share of shit. But the broad arrow of our culture pointed skyward. There was no question that fortunes were on the rise.
Fast forward just a few years and the scales started to turn. Our consumer utopia was suddenly under attack, and the West found itself embroiled in turmoil across the globe. We plodded on, through recession after recession before a global pandemic hit, and pushed us to the edge.
Now trucks look like this:
We don’t sell fun cars to youthful go-getters in yellow, red, and blue. We sell expensive trucks with aggressive designs so we can stand tall over our fellow citizens. Trucks with “bulletproof” panels. Cars with “bioweapon defense modes.” All to protect us against the new enemies. The bad guys we’re sure are out to get us.
Like other fashion items, cars hold up a mirror to society. They follow prevailing trends just like everything else. We’re not having fun anymore. We’re not dancing to optimistic pop hits like “Steal My Sunshine” or “All Star” these days. The carefree message doesn’t resonate. Nor does the idea of a fun beach truck or a sweet little coupe for the mass market.
Automakers aren’t selling “cute” or “happy” or “beach” anymore. Even if they were, the younger generation doesn’t have the money to purchase new cars anyway. Of course, automakers know this, and know it well. Thus the focus on more silver-grey SUVs for the people that actually show up to dealerships looking to buy.
Ford tried to bring back the Splash in 2022, as a trim package for the then-current Ranger. Don’t remember it? Me neither. It didn’t project “fun” and it lacked the monochrome design of its predecessor. It was a yellow truck with a black stripe and none of the vibe that captured hearts and minds in the ’90s.
The world has moved on. We’ve all moved on.
We Can Go Back
There’s one way to go back to those carefree vibes of the ’90s. We need society to get happier again. Imagine today, but with less turmoil, less pain, and less cost-of-living pressures. Imagine getting your first full-time job in your 20s, and you realize you’ve got some money in the bank for the first time in your life. Maybe you’ll pop down to the dealership, and check out that fun new ride you saw online. The bright yellow sports truck with the smiling people running down the beach.
All I can say is we’re not there yet. But the example of the Ford Ranger, and so many other joyful, stickered-up 90s mobiles, can give us something to aspire to. Bring the joy back to our lives, and we’ll bring the joy back to our cars. I think we can do it.
[Ed Note: I am here for the ’90s nostalgia and here, especially, for that weird moment in time when America won the Cold War and had no idea what to do with itself. I think this is the period that fits in between the chest-beating film “Hunt for Red October” (written before the fall of the Berlin Wall but filmed after) and “The Sum of All Fears” movie in 2022. For more on this listen to this podcast.
But I don’t know if I entirely buy the take that we don’t have fun cars anymore. Toyota has a stick-shift Supra, a rally-inspired hot hatch, the GR86, and a cool and cheaper hybrid Landcruiser coming out in all sorts of bright colors. There’s the Ranger Raptor, the Bronco Raptor, the bright yellow/red/blue Ford Mavericks, fun EVs like the EV6 and Ioniq 5. You can still get a two-door, stickshift Jeep Wrangler and a bright green stickshift Dodge Challenger Swinger.
All that being said, I think the ’90s Splash is a great truck and nicely typifies what was so bonkers and fun about the era.
Finally, Tupac Shakur’s “Me Against The World” album might offer a nice counterpoint to my remembrance of the 1990s. In many ways, the decade was less ideal than idealized for many, but it was great to live in a time before social media and rampant school shootings if you were a kid in your average American suburb. – MH]
Image credits: Ford, eBay
Weird ending and editor’s note, but I loved the deep dive into the Ranger.
I think Lewin’s sociological point is a good one – pickups now sure seem to reflect our current era of fragile American masculinity.
And if marketing has taught us anything, the way to make money off of something nebulously scary is to go in the complete opposite direction. Hence the monster trucks, anything that features the term “tactical” in its advertising, and people who promote being loud and combative as the correct way to engage with others.
The ’90s didn’t feel particularly wimpy (mostly, they felt caffeinated b/c all the neon, energy drinks, and Maxim magazine), but I guess it’s all relative.
Had a 97 4.0 Splash extended cab in yellow just like the one in the pic. Great truck, better than the Taco X-Runner (I like my trucks to handle, ok?) i had 2 cars later.
Yeah, I’ll have the Matra Rancho Wind instead.
“Oh, my friend, we’re older but no wiser
For in our hearts, the dreams are still the same
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they’d never end”
Songwriter: Gene Raskin
Ford had already started with interesting colors, we were looking at the 92 Ranger Sport, which was available in Calypso Green and a Turquoise color whose name I forget. Come August 93 we kind of wanted a Splash but it was top level trim and Sport models were hardso we ended up with a comparatively staid XLT in Cayman Green.
Still a fun truck though?
Of course, we had it for 9 years and hauled a lot of stuff since it was a long bed 4×2. Cayman was the dark green, we actually bought a used Escort that was Calypso Green in 97 so we had two green Fords.
These older cars are just fun ass cars. F-U-N. They aren’t trying to run you over and blind you, they aren’t trying to climb mount Everest or drag their huge monster balls all over the world. No aggression from them. They just are for going out and cruising with your friends or going to have a dope adventure that will make a good story to tell one day.
We need to bring back fun. With no filters, with no attitude or sass, just fun vibes and colorways everywhere.
Exactly! Exactly what I’m saying.
Ford had already started with interesting colors, we were looking at the 92 Ranger Sport, which was available in Calypso Green and a Turquoise color whose name I forget. Come August 93 we kind of wanted a Splash but it was top level trim and Sport models were har to find so we ended up with a comparatively staid XLT in Cayman Green.
Remember when trucks were small, affordable, useful and came in actual colors?
I sometimes look at all these miserable/scared people driving around in their armored personnel transporters – and think if it were the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s, they’d be in Celicas, LUVs, Colts, Preludes, KingCabs & Capris.
They wouldn’t be “safer” – but they’d be happier.
They advertise with young ppl to young ppl. Would someone in their 40s – 50s rather hop out of this or out of a ranger raptor?
So the question is how big was the new car market for 20s-30s in the 90s vs now. My guess is it’s has gotten smaller or less profitable.
I just washed my Ranger (‘97) for the first time in over a year, so this article came at the perfect time. These trucks, especially the Splash, are just such happy-looking vehicles.
The irony of how macho and serious and butthurt modern trucks look is that, in the event of actual shit going down, the happy lil guy Ranger and trucks of that era make VASTLY better bugout vehicles.
Why they better bug out vehicles? Better mpg? They are more fun for sure.
I want the maverick hybrid if I’m bugging out
Simplicity. True, they aren’t carbureted, but a Lima-powered Ranger is a simple machine to keep running. Assuming the looming apocalypse is tech-based, the connectivity of modern vehicles could also mean that an old pickup is a safe way not to be tracked.
And yeah, if our robot overlords aren’t into fun, an old Ranger is probably the antidote for that too.
Ah the Ranger Splash.
The Macarena of trucks.
Simpler, more frivolous times indeed.
https://youtu.be/_cPicQCR3Zs?si=xMKCOp0F_xUJ2fMG
Oh, another unsuspecting victim in the Death of Third Place and the American consumers increased preference for hostile design. Look at the yellow one, it’s inviting, and warm! It might bring strangers. Scary! Those strangers with their drugs and their crime. Or something, who knows, we no longer have space to interact with one another, so don’t need that inviting truck anymore!
But seriously, the end of the article seems to hint at some unknown that happened between the Clinton jamming on the sax, and now. I’ll die on the hill, there has been no greater cause driving the big-ass truck movement then The Death of Third Place. People can blame it on crash standards or CAFE. Arguably, manufacturers can and do make smaller trucks work within regulations. I think, post an event in 2001, we started to see a rapid decline in mass human interactive spaces due to fear of another event. This unknown, any time, with anything drove us into a collective paranoia of the other. The making a truck look like a locomotive thing is just that collected fear expressed in a couple tons. Why else would a sane and rational person consider “looking intimidating” as a necessary or desired trait. It’s purely antisocial and the antithesis to a functioning society. I’m not trying to scare my neighbors, because I talk to them every once and while. Mainly, because our town created a park that has stuff in it, and gave us a reason to interact. Thusly, I can’t think of anyone who owns a new Dodge Ram. Even though we are a rural farming community. So, in conclusion if we want to bring back Ford Ranger Splash, we need to start at city hall and demand our public space back.
TLDR;
Terrorism killed the cool Ford Ranger, and we can only bring it back though the power of public parks.
Cotd
Very astute.
You’re picking up what I’m putting down.
Basically this comment sums up a lot of what I feel, as someone who was around both before and after 9/11. The terrorists won. They succeeded in creating a massive cultural paranoia that has only multiplied since then, reduced our personal freedoms, and created security theater all around us. It has made us less trusting and less willing to engage with strangers. We collectively played into the long arc of the “terrorism trap” and now it is almost impossible to get out.
I dunno. That’s an apt description of the most noticeable beginning of the problem.
It probably doesn’t help that it heightened xenophobia at exactly the wrong point in the timeline of social media’s historic rise into the general public’s consciousness.
I think the moment the internet became our Third Space was the crux of the isolated insanity problem.
What good is a park or a town square if everyone there is leashed by ego and entitlement to their personal devices and fed nothing but the media swill they enjoy lapping up?
It’s a culmination of all these things.
The ninety’s were the last time we were all experiencing the same cultural tenets en mass. That’s no longer true.
Now we can all huddle in our personal caves of belief amongst similar minded troglodytes without fear of a differing opinion.
I used to call smartphones the mark of the beast.
Now here I am typing away on one…
Terrorists aren’t the problem.
They have been around for thousands of years.
It’s the praying to the all mighty stock holder that got us here.
Just look at Boing, the Baltimore bridge incident today,
your average warehouse worker.
No values to be had beyond the all mighty dollar anymore.
We are daily slipping further into an Idiocracy.
Bow to your new shareholder deities. They run this world.
The ideals of workmanship, creativity and community are an endangered way of thinking.
“Why come you don’t have a tattoo?”
“We have met the enemy and he is us”
I came here to read about a super-rad Ford pickup and stayed for one of the best threads I’ve ever seen about social politics post-2001. Autopians are the best, y’all.
I found some NOS 94 decals and put them on my white 2000 Ranger, they’re labeled “Blue/Green”, but the blue is slightly purply and green’s definitely teal, definitely 90s vibes. Unfortunately the paint is de-laminating(as 90s white tends to) so may have to get a cricut and just make my own cool 90s decals.
oh that’s fun!
Hmmm. Cool 90s looking Autopian decals in the merch store perhaps?
When the Splash debuted, my father fell in love with it. He had bought a Ranger (Baja Prerunner package) a couple of years ago and immediately traded it in on a new red Splash identical to the one pictured in this article. It was fairly loaded with options, including the 4.0 and a manual transmission, but he specifically did not get 4wd because those were so ill-mannered for daily driving.
I drove it a lot as I was still in high school/heading to college when he got it and it was pretty fun. It was about as close as Ford was going to get to a Mustang with a pickup bed. It was also wildly impractical. It had a split bench, but if you dared to use that middle seat you better hope the driver doesn’t need to shift into reverse because that’ll rack you.
As a rear wheel drive truck with no weight on the back wheels – and since the bed sides were fiberglass, this was about as light as you could get on the back wheels – it made for a lot of fun misbehavior and was completely useless in any bad weather. It also had the smallest bed you could get on a Ranger so you weren’t moving to an apartment in this thing.
I even kept it with me at college for a while when my Mustang was getting some repairs and it was ok to live with, but I don’t know that I would have ever picked it out for myself.
Then again, I might just be bitter because I had to change a flat tire on it once and while I was doing it a piece of chrome splintered off the wheel and got stuck in the tip of my left index finger. As my band’s bass player, this was about the worst place to have a splinter and it took forever to get out, which meant a couple of excruciating practices trying to play bass with a chrome splinter in an important fretting finger.
But I’m not bitter at that $^&*%ing Splash. Not one bit.
I just saw a white one of these in person today when I was walking to lunch. All I could think was ‘who tf bought one of these in white back then?’
That modern splash is totally phoned in. It’s like Blu-Ray cover art. They got some intern to photoshop some heads onto a background that may have something to do with the movie and call it a day. Meanwhile excellent original post art sits unused.
Personal favorites are a Roger Moore Bond film where he looked like Robert Pattinson and Plane’s, Trains and Automobiles where they threw Christmas presents and a North Pole on the cover; you know because it’s a Thanksgiving movie.
“It’s like Blu-Ray cover art.”
Nail hit on the head.
What a nostalgia hit this article is! I had that exact truck pictured here, the red single cab with the chrome wheels. 2.3L of Pinto-derived fury backed by a manual 5 speed. Drove the absolute snot out of thing for years, with much time spent in Atlanta traffic. I honestly don’t remember ever having to do anything other than regular maintenance on that thing. And it was surprisingly fun to drive in a slow-car-fast kind of way.
Ah, the era of Truck Fishing! Still might be my favorite vehicle ad ever.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jn02kolxcU4
Seems like the Maverick would have been a more appropriate platform these days for a Splash reintroduction. It’s more affordable and popular with younger buyers than the current Ranger.
I was no kid in the 90s, but even I liked the little Ranger in its Baywatch beach togs.
Weren’t these the Los Angeles County Lifeguard trucks in Baywatch (aka, the most important cultural achievement of western civilization in the past 50 years)?
Yes.
Cultural and technological, when you consider the slo-mo video.
Not to mention the technological advances in breast implants.
The first season used Dodge Dakotas. I’m pretty sure they used Toyota’s for a season or two. Then there was stock footage from the actual beach featuring the Nissan Hardbody.
I watched it for the articles
The articles of clothing (or lack thereof)?
This article took a weird turn at the end, but I agree with pretty much everything said. Looking at the Ram vs. the Splash just makes me sad.
I had a ’94 Splash 3.0 auto, 2wd, bright blue. Fun little truck and all the truck I could ever need. Helped me move once or twice..
It was an absolutely horrid daily as a new father. I only had it because it was essentially free and I was very, very poor. It rode like a John Deer, got like 12MPG and never needed an oil change. I would just wait for the oil pressure light to come on then top it up. Just change the filter every few months. The grille flew off on I-75 once on the way to work. It was still there the next day so I picked it up off the shoulder.
I traded it for a ’96 S10 with the 4.3 and the jumpseats in the back. Dark green. I really liked that little truck but when I finally got some money in the bank I decided it was time to get something that had a back seat and I don’t regret it one bit. As a daily they were miserable, but I’d have either in my driveway today as a second car to haul garbage to the dump.
Don’t know where you’re getting the idea that they ride bad or are unsuitable as a daily, but the “like 12mpg” is the truth. Not enough people talk about how most small pickups get totally awful mileage.
A single cab pickup isn’t the greatest for a rear facing child seat, and there’s not a whole lot of room to store baby gear out the elements like strollers and whatnot
Ford’s 4.0 V6 was pretty miserable; it succeeded to turn fuel into engine noise.
Several countdown seconds later, it would consider downshifting and may even accelerate.
Not that the 3.0 or the 2.3 were actually better in that regard. They all are slow and all get worse mpg than a fullsize pickup.
Ford did sort of the same thing with the EcoBoost Escapes – compact 5 passenger CUV, 1.5l turbo 4 with auto start/stop, low roll resistance tires, 6 speed transmission, and, 25mpg real world. Actually pretty mediocre for a small hatchback, even with those extra attempted fuel saving tricks
It keeps happening, time and time again. Rangers 1983-2011 all got worse mpg than an f150, and the new 2019+ rangers do too. S10s and Colorados also get bad mpg.
I don’t really know why this keeps happening, but I do know that rangers are barely lighter than a comparable f150. So that’s a lot of it I bet.
Hell, even the 2.3L Ecoboost Mustang only scored 2mpg better than the old 3.7 V6 in EPA tests, which actually translates to pretty much an even wash in real world use
YMMV. I got 30 MPG highway out of my ‘97 2.3 5-speed 4×2, and get 17-18 MPG in mostly city driving from my ‘02 4.0 5-speed 4×4.
It appears to vary a LOT. I’ve heard of people getting mid to high 20s, but I’ve heard of more people getting low teens for a v6 and high teens for a 4cyl.
Last time I took my grandpa’s single cab 2wd 4cyl auto for a trip, it got 17mpg highway, which is terrible and my similarly specced F-150 does better.
Manual vs auto definitely makes a difference, but no way it’s a 10+mpg difference. Driving style can also be a big deal, but, again, not 10+ mpg.
So I have no idea whatsoever why some folks seem to get half the mpg of others. But it sure seems like I hear more about bad mpg than good, and I know s10 fuel economy is similarly crap.
Going off fuelly, the 2011 and older Rangers are averaging about 22 MPG for the 4-cylinders, 18 for the 3.0, and 17 for the 4.0. Something is definitely wrong with your grandpa’s truck if you’re getting 17 on the highway.
By comparison, F-150s from the same era are getting 13 for the 5.4, and 14-15 for the 4.6 and 4.2 (again, per fuelly).
But it wasn’t just my Grandpa’s ranger. I had a buddy who got like 13-14 city out of a 4.0 auto 4wd, and I see folks on Instagram all the time complaining about the like 11mpg they get from lifted ones.
This is slightly older than your rangers, but my 1995 f150 single cab 2wd 5spd gets 14-15mpg city(should be more like 16 but it has some slight misfires) and 19+ highway. I’ve definitely been into the low 20s before.
And what I understand about Ranger fuel economy jives with what I understand about S10 and Tacoma fuel economy, that being mid to high teens at best. The postal service gets 10mpg out of their 4cyl auto S10 chassis Grummans.
And I’m sure you’re not lying about those anecdotes. But a larger group of 2,000+ has reported much better mileage than you’ve seen. So your experience is on the tail of the bell curve, not the middle.
It’s been a long time, but I think the 94 ranger I had (4cyl stick) got mid twenties, certainly better than 12 mpg, and rode fairly well. I will agree a regular cab compact is a terrible daily just for the complete lack of space.
Oh damn I also had one of those! Totally forgot about that one. I had it for like a week, it wouldn’t pass state inspection. Don’t remember what year it was, but 4 banger 5 speed, maroon.
I had a 1995 Nissan Truck; Nissan didn’t bother to name it yet. That was the formal name capitalized in the glossy dealership brochures. Truck for 1995…
It was a 4cyl, 5-speed, 4×2 regular cab. I swear I got about 25 mpg out of it and it babied fine as long as mom didn’t need to come along. My daughter was 9 when I sold it on a bought a sedan. For the record we did have an Accord when the three of us needed to go somewhere together.
Haha, very fair.
“It’s a fun car, it’s great… BUT SOCIETY”
“Getting gear in and out of the bed was much easier with the step on the side.” Also easier since the bedside wasn’t at collarbone height like modern trucks.
I miss so much about the 90’s and wish my children had a better world to grow up in. I’m very disappointed in modern car choices and modern human choices.
The Ranger splash is on my car bucket list. Since they only cost a grand or two I don’t have one just because the lack of room in my driveway. With today’s scowling giant pickup trucks outfitted like they’re going to terrorize the streets of Baghdad, a small pastel colored pickup with a happy looking face is such an anachronism. A mint, bright blue Splash with an LS swap appeared on marketplace the other day for about $8k and it took all my energy not to go buy it.
Why, in the name of all that’s holy, did you expend that energy?
Don’t have a place to park it or a spare $8k to throw at another vehicle. I offered to trade my current pickup but he didn’t bite. If I brought a second pickup home I’d be in the doghouse. Maybe it would still be worth it though.
If it was the doghouse I built for my dogs circa 1999, it might be worth it. Sadly it flew out of the bed of my truck like Snoopy’s doghouse, land right side up in the left hand lane. My wife was following in the car and bulldogged it onto the shoulder. For the record, I don’t think she planned it that way, that was just how things unfolded.
Her car was completely undamaged, but the two of us couldn’t lift it back into the truck bed. I guess those eaves provided plenty of lift because that thing was a fortress. Being my first and to date only exercise in woodworking, I overbuilt the hell out of it.
Also no dogs were injured during this moment in aviation history. They were riding in the Accord at the time.
Now I have to know. What pickup do you own?
I have an 87 C10 longbed on airbags. I’m trying to sell it because as cool as it is, it barely fits in my garage. Hoping to replace it with an old Ranger or S10
You have good taste. That shouldn’t be too hard to sell. The long bed may not be that popular, but the truck itself is very popular.
Sending you good vibes to catch your dream! Go get it!
“The Sea Splash was much the same deal, but it was built for water sports (shut up)”
Hey Lewin, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
Or pee on your leg and tell you it’s a Sea Splash.
A fair and reasonable request.