Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Doing something nice for my truck.

The cover fits quite well.

Parking under trees is a double edged sword. On one hand, the trees provide shade, keeping the car cooler as well as protecting it from UV rays which damage the finish and interior. On the other hand, debris like leaves and twigs and more likely, bird droppings are routinely deposited onto your paint.

The '06 Mustang has a nice custom fitted cover.

My street has lots of huge trees along the curb. usually it's not bad except for all the leaves. The birds are usually okay, but every once in a while a flock passes through and hangs out in the branches right above my cars. With the expected results. That's why I usually keep my cars covered. 

I had been working on the Mustang yesterday morning, then left it uncovered. I figured that I would be taking it out for a drive in a short while. I started cleaning out the garage and didn't get back to it until later that afternoon. That's when I discovered that the Mustang had been scattershot by the birds. I got a wet microfiber towel and began removing the spots. Most were already quite dry, and I had to soak the spot repeatedly and gently wipe. After I moistened all the spots I filled up a small container with car wash soap and worked them over again, this removed all the material, but left a soapy film on the paint. I wiped that down with a moistened towel.

That's when I looked back at the truck, it had been hit worse than the Mustang. The hood was a mess. So I started to work. It took quite a while, but I removed them all. By the time I was finished, it was getting to be pretty late, so I let the soapy residue sit on the paint, I'd run the truck through the car wash the next morning.

The Mustang had already dried so I covered it up. I would use water less car wash to completely clean it up the next day.

The day after it was ravaged by a flock of guano dropping birds, I decided to unbox the truck cover that I'd bought several years ago. It's just a cheap Budge light protection grade cover. I've used this type on most of my cars in the past. They are not water proof, but they certainly protect the finish from sunlight, dust, and bird droppings.

When I ordered the cover several years ago I wasn't certain that it would fit properly. For some reason I didn't want to try it out. I ended up putting the cover, still in it's shipping box, on a shelf in the garage where I could only reach it  if I had both cars out. Then I forgot about it. It must have been two or three years ago.

Today was the day that I needed the cover. My poor truck, as well as my '06 Mustang had been plastered by the marauding birds. I figured that even if it didn't fit quite right, it was already paid for, it couldn't be returned, and anything would be better than nothing!

There are three car washes at the big intersection a mile away from my house. I've had good luck with the Unocal establishment.  My local Lucky supermarket receipts have a coupon for this car wash on the back. 1.00 off the cheap wash, (9.00)  2.00 on the more expensive options, (11.00 and 13.00). I usually choose the cheapest option and it costs me 8.00. However there is an attendant who directs the oncoming driver onto the rack, folds mirrors, and covers the rear wipers. He also uses a pressure spray to prep the car before it enters the wash. He usually does a perfunctory job of this, but I have been tipping him 3.00 every time I go there. He spent a lot of extra time spraying down my truck, and it came out very clean. 

My truck was looking pretty sharp when I got it home, and I was determined to keep it that way. I parked it across the street but not under any trees! 

I opened the box with the cover and found the model number, TM4X. I googled what it would fit, and it seemed like it should fit. Luckily this cover hadn't been shrink wrapped like some of the other covers that i'd bought since then. Those will never go back in the box if you need to return them and they are full of stubborn, sharply creased wrinkles that take weeks to work out. This cover was just folded up tightly.

Covering large vehicles is always a task, my Navigator is a bit of a bear, but I have worked out a system. 

I placed the cover on the tonneau cover which gave me a large flat surface to work on. I found the front of the cover, which was marked,  and then the rear, wasn't.  I draped the rear over the back, and clamped the bottom edge to the tow hitch receiver. This holds it in place and gives me something that I can pull against while I figure out how to drape the cover on. ,

It was a pleasant surprise to find that it fit perfectly, well as perfectly as a non custom cover could. Which in this case is actually quite good. It wasn't even that wrinkled looking, and I know that it will smooth out soon.

We had some pretty windy weather and one morning I found the cover deposited on the pavement next to my truck. I re-covered the truck and added some clamps to hold it in place. These worked very well and the wind hasn't yanked the cover off since then.

Unfortunately, the clamps couldn't deter some predatory types that were cruising through my neighborhood looking for easy things to steal. One morning, not too long ago, I found my truck uncovered, but all the clamps were sitting on the pavement around it. The front license plate was sitting on the trunk of the Mustang. I guess when they yanked it off, it took the plate and it's mount with it. But at least, they did leave the plate.

The rear plate of my truck had been stolen years ago, so I had to get a new set. I used theft resistant screws to attach it.  After that, my '97 Explorer had been stolen, but luckily it had been recovered a week or so later. That episode cost me about 500 bucks, between the storage yard fee and replacing the broken window and ignition lock.

After this incident, I did what we used to do back in the '70's, I painted the license number on the front and rear of the cover. I had received some cable locks with a couple of my car covers, but felt that using them was unnecessary because crime was generally pretty unusual in our neighborhood. But in deference to the old old saying that a lock and key will only keep the honest people from stealing your stuff, I plan on using them with all my covers! 

A while back I described my truck as being my primary ride or die, but I haven't really spent much time detailing what my plans will be for it. I had decided that I'm going to elevate my truck to quasi hobby car status. Besides the wheels, I've made a few other improvements and repairs, and I've got more planned. I'll be sharing those things in future posts.