Here's how it went with the wife:
Her: I think my parents are going to buy a new pickup this winter. I want their old jeep.
Me: Are you serious? I don't think that's a good idea.
Her: It's a great old pickup! What's wrong with it?
Me: Well, we already have a pickup that's practically brand new and does everything I've ever asked of it. The last time I borrowed that jeep the transmission crapped out on me and the brakes were barely functional. I don't need ANOTHER project...
Her:My dad fixed all that and besides, we need a 4x4 to get up our new [crappy] driveway in the bad weather.
Me: Paying $10k to get our driveway paved is cheaper than upgrading all our vehicles to 4-wheel drive.
Her: OK, so you don't have to drive the jeep. I'll drive it.
Me: Seriously? We have a baby on the way and you want to be the one driving that 2-seat deathtrap? Plus its mileage has got to be what, 10 mpg?
Her: Stop exaggerating! We'd get it for free!
Me: "Free vehicle" does not mean "keeps running for free"...
Her: I still want it. It's a cool old truck. It's collectible! Everyone wants it!
Me: They can have it! Why are you so attached to it? Your parents got it used in 92 and you moved out the next year. The only thing they used it for was to...haul your horses around. Crap. You know we're not getting horses again anytime soon, right?
Her: Yeah. I still want the jeep.
Me: *sigh*
Needless to say, I lost that argument! It looks like sometime in the next 3-4 months we'll be trading in the 2-door Tacoma for something more "family friendly" and getting a 87(?) comanche to take the Tacoma's functional place. As you can see, I was pretty opposed to this at first, but cruising around and doing some research (including looking around the forums here), I'm coming around. Especially if this isn't going to be a daily driver and it's no big problem when/if it craps out. Except for some of the issues noted above (bad brakes and transmission, reportedly fixed), it's in really pretty good shape. I have no idea how many miles are on it. I know it's a long bed. I suspect it's a 6-cylinder. I hope it's got the "metric ton" package, and if it doesn't I may want to retrofit...If the brakes are still crummy, maybe switching them out for discs. Power steering would be a nice add, too...now you see there, it's starting already. Like I said, I don't need another project.
