svejkovat

Hello. Posted here only once before.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Brad and I'm CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP.

I love my red 1994 V6 manual trans, no air, crank windows, AM radio, vinyl floors, bench seat, full size bed, factory wheels, Goodyear basic Wranglers, and trim rings Work Truck.

In a few years I'm replacing it with a similarly no thrills truck just because I love simple well built work machines. No manual tranny at Michigan dealers anymore... shame that. Only available in Texas for some reason. But such a no-frills Chevy work truck is still astonishingly inexpensive if you can talk your dealer into ordering one for you. Pretty low margin for him. In fact, you have to settle for white, but that's just fine with me.

First...
8oz rattle cans of "Victory Red" are at minimum 16 dollars each. Six years ago I was able to buy 16oz Chevy "Victory Red" at Walmart for less than six dollars. What the heck happened there? Searched the net over and still cannot find a reasonable price for this color in a 16oz rattle can. It does a really fine job of covering scrapes and mars, allowed to cure, and then buffed out. Any source recommended for a CHEAP bastard who loves his lovable Chevy?

Second...
When purchased it was missing the driver's side door armrest. Ebay, Rock Auto, and a few more all come in at no less than 60.00 USD for this 14 inch vinyl covered piece of plastic. Just rubs me very wrong. Crazy in fact. Can anyone help me locate, used or cheap aftermarket, a light gray driver's side armrest?

Third...
and this is just a curiosity since there is no real remedy short of a complete monkeying in a whole new transmission @ 4x times what the truck is worth at this point. But why didn't Chevrolet equip a full sized, full bed, "work truck" with a creeper gear? I've had to nearly smoke the clutch to get out a soft field with a bed full of firewood. If I'd had a trailer in tow.. forget about it. First gear is silly tall. Makes no good sense to me. Just wonderin.

Thanks for letting me vent a bit. I hope someone can point me in a few directions on the armrest and the paint.

Oh... there is a postscript. Two of my dash backlights have gone the great beyond. Rock auto has the best price on replacements. Ordered 10 of these for 44 cents each
More Information for WAGNER PC194

Good fit. Good dim range. What not to like? No fancy red green or blues, but it's a work truck ferchrissake. Incandescent yellow/white was ok for dad, it's ok for me. Strange thing is that there are dozens of PC194 "replacements" on the web that have obviously different bases that could not possibly fit.

Only other repairs needed are a non functional water temp gauge that I cannot trace to its origin, the bed light above the rear window that I can't trace it's origin, and the wipers that work only 50 percent of the time that probably only require a disassembly of the relay and some contact cleaner to repair.

Thank you for listening to this minor missive on the chevy that I love. I hope anyone here will be kind and commiserative enough to advise me on a few of these idiosyncrasies so that I can keep loving this drive and look forward to another 150K of TLC together with it.

brad