parking garage rage

[Pete_G]

78k miles and 6 years and NEVER has a dent been put into my truck by another vehicle. To say I'm careful where I park (usually in the middle of nowhere) and that I take good care of my vehicles is an understatement. Always hand washed, even in the winter. Yeah, I'm a little obsessive about it.

Careless damage or intentional damage to personal property (especially cars) really pisses me off.

Walked out of the RISAA show this evening after a fun day to find a nice crease in the side of my truck from a truck door. Most vehicles if they open their door into me are greeted by the 2.5" diameter steel tubing my rock sliders are made of, so it had to be a truck. The offender had already left as the Ford Escape parked next to me wasn't quite tall enough to be responsible. This was probably good for me as it has been a LONG time since so much adrenaline has been dumped into my bloodstream while simultaneously having my brain set to break stuff mode. It's only a truck and a night in jail isn't fun.

I had to take a walk around the garage for a few minutes to let some adrenaline burn off before I could even safely drive away. I would have waited ALL night for the owner if the vehicle parked next to me showed evidence of being the culprit. It's amazing to me how often people do open doors into other vehicles. I simply never would, both because it's just a basic respect issue and also I'd be afraid that someone like me would see it and scatter my teeth across the garage floor, which I really wanted to do to someone tonight.

Anyone want to by an almost flawless '01 V6 Toyota Tacoma? Lifted 2", 2 sets of tires and wheels, (32" MT/R's on one and A/T's on the other), $2000 race suspension with 9" of travel in front and 14" in back (not that weak factory TRD stuff), rock sliders, locking rear diff, the works. Driven hard on and off road but never abused and always loved. Scraped up skid plates, otherwise mechanically and asthetically perfect in every way as only someone as mental as me would keep it. Hopefully I can pop the crease out a bit next week or maybe I'll just retire her to off-road only status where I won't care so much about body damage. Right now I can't stand to look at it.

I know some guys think a little body damage gives a truck character, but I'm a bit too much of a perfectionist to think that way. This sucks.