What do you fellow drivers think about this ugly truck I found???????

FLDs were awesome. My 94 flat top that i bought new sure was. But this 05 Columbia that I also bought new has been at least as good. Although admittedly not as good looking.

 

Lets face it if we pried off the frightliner emblems , and super glued Pete emblems on , most of the haters would love them.

 

Speed, horsepower , and torque are specked in ! It just doesn't just show up because X company made it. You think Cat in the day had a paccar only engine? That they only sold to Pete or KW. When I have talked to Paccar guys , and his truck is the greatest. I ask him why ? It has a 475 Cat. Ok Cat only sold to Paccar ? No! It has a 13 or 18 speed . Eaton sold to who ever would write the check. Oh it's so fast! That's rear gear , and pump settings . Basically every thing he wanted to point at was easily ave to every truck brand.

 

Buy the driveline you want. The brand of the body is only the candy wrapper.

 

I have a new Columbia glider not the best looking truck but runs great. very happy with mileage i'm getting and got it at a great price with good warrenty. all in all a good work truck that I can make money with. a fancy truck wont make me any more money.

 

This talk about throwaway trucks vs rebuildable trucks is nonsense. Very rarely will all major components fail at the same time. If they did, a Paccar product might fetch a better dollar figure as scrap but only reflecting the initial purchase price being higher. If a motor or transmission failed on a "fleet truck" I doubt anyone would just throw one away since the cost could be recovered in a short amount of time and low commitment level vs. a commitment on a new truck or another used truck.

I scratch my head at people who try to turn Columbias and the like into "show trucks" but only a little more than when people who do the same to any other brand if its a work truck. Waste of money and effort either way.

A friend bought an 05' 379 shortly before I bought my 05' Columbia. Both have been good reliable money makers for us. He could probably get $20-30k more for his right now but that's about how much more he paid for it. But I never paid interest on an extra $25K and my 6.5 vs. his 5.5 lifetime mpg pretty much paid the $100K principal on my throwaway fleet truck. That's $100K out the stack in 1 million miles.
Talk about throwing things away.