400 vs newer

[Trenton]

Oh yeah, I imagine it's like going from a phone with real buttons for a keyboard to the touch screen crap where I'm constantly hitting the worng key, sometimes before my finger actually touches the screen. I don't want to drive an I-phone, or an Android.

Oh they're awful. I used to work valet at a hotel in Aspen. This Tesla pulled up and the way to get into it, start it, and turn it off is COMPLETELY different than any other car. No gauge cluster, just a frickin' huge touchscreen in the middle of the car. I had to search a YouTube video to figure out how to turn it off.

It does have linear acceleration and instant torque, so I see why people like them, it's just not my preference.

It does have one cool feature, though. If all the doors are open, there's a button on the screen you can press and it'll close all the door electronically. It may sound useless, but if you've ever driven for Uber or given anyone a ride home, you know people like to leave the door open when they get out

 

[Supercharged111]

Oh they're awful. I used to work valet at a hotel in Aspen. This Tesla pulled up and the way to get into it, start it, and turn it off is COMPLETELY different than any other car. No gauge cluster, just a frickin' huge touchscreen in the middle of the car. I had to search a YouTube video to figure out how to turn it off.

It does have linear acceleration and instant torque, so I see why people like them, it's just not my preference.

It does have one cool feature, though. If all the doors are open, there's a button on the screen you can press and it'll close all the door electronically. It may sound useless, but if you've ever driven for Uber or given anyone a ride home, you know people like to leave the door open when they get out

They also fart.

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[Ruff Idol]

They have superior brakes.

I don't know, so far I've owned a 98 Nissan Maxima, 99 Ford Explorer, and now my 92 C1500. The Chevy stops the best out of the 3 now that I have done the NBS master cyl swap. And I still have drums in the rear.

 

[revmatcher]

I love the OBS trucks, especially the 2-Door SUVs. Had a 1993 Blazer bought in 1994 and drove it until 2006. Sold it and I regret it to this day. Finally got the funds to get a nicer one going!

 

[thinger2]

I went to the detroit auto show and the seattle auto show when these trucks were new. I wanted one in a bad way but the ex wife had some bullshit story about needing to live indoors and feed the kids so it didnt happen.
This truck was always on my list

I havent had a car payment on anything since 2000. That was 500 a month on a 98 jeep cherokee.
So even if I only paid 500 per month since then,
That is $144,000 thousand dollars.
Times two because I wasnt making car payments for my wife either.
Out of that I have spent about 20,000 on purchase and maintenance on the cars Ive kept.
But Ive also flipped a bunch of cars over those years.
You are paying yourself when you learn how to repair your vehicles.
It is worth the time and frustration because you are not loosing money by doing it.
You are banking money in a big way.
You are getting paid by yourself to learn how to do it.
If you have the dedication to stick even half of that money that you would have otherwise spent into investments or at least in the bank?
Now you have house flipping money.
You have a big enough down payment to buy it at a lower rate and your credit score doesnt matter as much.
If you can keep a gmt400 reliable and on the road you can buy a rundown house with the cash you saved and live in it for 6 months if you have too and easily pull 60,80,100k? When you flip it.
Then you buy another one and do it again.
The interesting thing about all of this is that you tend to meet like minded people.
Many of them are untrustworthy rats but some of them are on the same plan as you.
I was almost 40 by the time I figured out that I was gonna have to keep working no matter what.
I decided that I was fully capable of making my own bad decisions and didnt need anyone elses help.
I had to drive from Denver to Fort Collins Colorado to pick up a 1.2 million dollar check so we could cover payroll.
In a plains blizzard.
Which by the way is a weather event that is really shockingly fast and brutal if you are not ready for it.
That **** dont happen in Seattle.
So me, two guys from Los Angelas and the Super from Miami end up stuck in the job trailer for two days eating stale donuts and a bone dry little ceasers 5 dollar pizza.
I already had 4 Hobart trailer gen set welders onsite so at least we didnt freeze.
The guy I worked for didnt actually need that check to hit the bank that day.
His "Office Manager" who got the job because he rescued her from the ********** couldnt figure out how to transfer funds into the payroll account.
And he was on a cruise ship in the bahamas and could not understand why his call kept dropping.
There were many days and many stupid situations after that.It took awhile to get untangled.
But that was the day.
I was better at this business than he was and I knew it.
I was working to make somebody else wealthy.
I was in the wrong job in a place I hated and married to somebody I didnt trust.
with a stupid huge house and a stupid huge mortgage phoney little poser people snarfling all around for money and car payments and a boat and I was so miserable.
I am a bit proud of the things I accomplished back then.
I wasnt confident enough to understand that for me the reward for having done it was....
Having done it.
Having my name on a bronze plaque on a building is to me the same feeling I get when I sucessfully drill out a broken bolt.
It is all very much the same thing only the scale and size is different.
But it is still the same thing.
If you have a broken bolt. You can drill it out if you are calm and have a plan and dont get impatient and frustrated even if it takes a week to do it right.
If you are building a skyscraper if you are calm and have a plan and dont get impatient and frustrated even if it takes five years to do it right.
It is the same thing folks.
Some people only have short term mellow.
Long term mellow keeps you from having a heart attack.

 

[FourEightZero]

You are paying yourself when you learn how to repair your vehicles.

^ This is one reason.

-I now own '93 pickup with about 2k miles on the rebuilt drivetrain and no payments.

-I remember the 90's fondly. The GMT800 arrived about when the testosterone and bonehead decisions kicked in.

-These trucks are just going to get cooler and cooler

 

[boy&hisdogs]

1) Financial, I know it's not fun or interesting to talk about but it's true. Even the most expensive problems with these trucks are still less than the down payment on a new truck. I'm also in too deep to ever get my money back at this point!

2) I've had it since I was 17. New schools, new jobs, new towns, new friends, same old truck the entire time. It's had its issues sure, but it's seen me through thick and thin all these years. Plenty of blood sweat and tears went into keeping it going over those years and I know it like the back of my hand.

3) I have it set up just the way I like it. I'd have to start all over and burn thousands of dollars in modifications on another vehicle just to get caught up to what I have now. It does everything I need it to do.

4) I just like these trucks, and I like this level of car technology. It has just enough tech that it's easier to start and gets better gas mileage than something with a carb, but not so modern that it's bogged down by a bunch of unnecessary crap like new cars are.

 

[GrimsterGMC]

1) Financial, I know it's not fun or interesting to talk about but it's true. Even the most expensive problems with these trucks are still less than the down payment on a new truck. I'm also in too deep to ever get my money back at this point!

2) I've had it since I was 17. New schools, new jobs, new towns, new friends, same old truck the entire time. It's had its issues sure, but it's seen me through thick and thin all these years. Plenty of blood sweat and tears went into keeping it going over those years and I know it like the back of my hand.

3) I have it set up just the way I like it. I'd have to start all over and burn thousands of dollars in modifications on another vehicle just to get caught up to what I have now. It does everything I need it to do.

4) I just like these trucks, and I like this level of car technology. It has just enough tech that it's easier to start and gets better gas mileage than something with a carb, but not so modern that it's bogged down by a bunch of unnecessary crap like new cars are.

I totally agree with all 4 points and especially #3 As we work on them we custom tailor them to best suit the way we use them and everyone is different in so many subtle ways. You can't just replace it with another.

 

[Komet]

I like OBD1 era fuel injected GM stuff because I consider them to be the last evolution of the 'traditional' American car design before things started getting heavily computer-integrated. I wanted an easy truck platform to drop a TPI SBC in, and the TBI trucks are the perfect candidates because the engine management harness can be easily separated from the chassis harness. The fuel system is already set up for it as well, just needs a different pump.

For me personally, buying this truck from my friend helped him out, and I saved it from the crusher so that's pretty cool. I let the truck choose me and things are slowly figuring themselves out.

 

[Gmule]

I am a Ford technician and let me tell you they are junk. Bad transmissions, bad cam phasers, and just bad engines overall. I don’t know how many 1.5 and 2.0 liter engines were replaced but when the replacements are on back order you know it’s bad. Even the 5.0 is now suffering from oil consumption issues and new engines are on back order. But that’s not the reason I drive old trucks. I drive old trucks because I don’t want all of the electronic Nannie’s that are on them. I don’t need the manufacturer to collect data on them or know if my tire pressure was low on last Thursday. Yes they know that.
I really hate to say this but these trucks and the same generation Ford Tritons were some of the best trucks made. I can’t include the Dodge trucks of that era because the interiors on those are falling out.
But as of late the quest of making a great truck has been replaced by too many gadgets and to build them as cheap as possible and it shows. I can’t speak to any GM specific problems but my peers that work at Chevy dealerships have similar complaints