Man, hard to find a hard body in good condition these days. Knowing you I'm sure it actually needs to be replaced!
It's my brother's 95 King Cab truck. It's in mint condition, for having 170,000 on the odometer, flies through smog-test, doesn't leak or burn a drop of oil. It was a Mechanic's Special when we bought it -- mechanic-owned, mechanic driven -- used to haul parts to a shop and as the shop-owner's daily driver. The starter had been replaced. There had been other repairs and maintenance under the mechanic's own hand. No sign of clutch wear. The AC is frosty and cold in a New York minute. Good speakers, Pioneer digital receiver and CD player.
Before Dick the Mechanic had it, It had been a farm vehicle, used by some woman who lived up around Trona. The jet-black paint had been oxidized to whiteness on surfaces facing perpetual sunlight. It had serious surface rust on the cab-top, which had a pop-up sun-roof, and rust on the hood. I stripped it, washed it in rust-destroyer, ground off all the black residue and washed it again and repeat. Shot it with three coats of Epoxy two-part primer, followed by the Paintscratch Nissan paint-code acrylic enamel -- in the places where the paint didn't seem to have a "new" look -- the primered oxidized spots. Fairly neat job, given the intentions of the paint and body work. There was a dent in the hood where some . . . farm implement . . . had struck the hood, and I filled it with fiberglass Bondo before applying the paint.
Whatever had been jammed on that hood, nobody would know, nobody would see, anybody would say the hood was undamaged and pristine. One of the cab-rear pop-out windows had a damaged grommet, and I've repaired it like new, and will not leak. A chunk of the inner door-handle -- vinyl and foam rubber -- was missing, and I repaired it to add a top-off of matching vinyl spray paint so that you can't really tell without close inspection. Same for a crack in the vinyl-dashboard -- something that happens as heat damage. You can see where the crack used to be, but there's no crack, and it's all grey-pewter vinyl -- totally repaired.
But Bro has a problem with his circulation and particularly his left leg and foot -- a cause of pain. The Nissan is a 5-speed manual. So he will only drive it in a pinch, and I mostly use it to haul trash or pick up fertilizer at Home Depot. I want the Trooper to smell like the strawberry air-freshener, so the truck gets an occasional workout -- to which the fertilizer chicken-guano is exclusive.
We might keep it; we might trade it in; we might sell it. Right now -- it's the "backup emergency utility-chore ride". And not the best choice to haul Moms to the medical clinic, even though it will carry her wheel-chair. But I could certainly use the truck to tow a modest-sized Airstream, Burro or Casita.
For the tow, I would be just as confident in the Trooper, but I doubt a Forester or RAV4 -- anything but a 4-Runner -- would serve.