[DetroitDan]

oh boy, where to start? this is my favorite topic. I drive a 1982 crewcab 4wd, 454 carb/th400 with 4.10 gears and a 6 inch lift. P.O. told me he consistently got ten mpg, but since lifting it, upsizing the tires slightly, and using my right foot instead of his, I get about 7-8 mpg. I almost never drive it on the highway though, it doesn't like to go over 55. Has a slight vibration from a bent wheel or driveshaft. Fortunately I have no need to drive on the highway with it. I love driving my truck, but I hate putting fuel in it every two or three days. I have yet to sit down and figure out how much I spend, but I know I'd rather spend the money on fuel instead of a truck or car payment. Payments, insurance, higher registration costs will buy a lot of fuel, and guess what? You have to put fuel in the commuter you buy also. I drive about 25 miles a day round trip for work, so I'm probably using 4 gallons a day, at nearly $4 a gallon right now..Geez, when you put it that way it sounds bad.
So, to save money on gas, (and to relive my late teens) I bought a 70 Camaro Z28 for a daily driver. As others have already pointed out, gadgets and doo dads in a car do nothing for me either. I get about 12-13 mpg with it I think, 350/350/3.08, so I save about 40% over driving the crewcab. Over the winter I want to put a 700r4 in the 70, it really wants one.
I've racked my brains for years on how to make the crewcab happier and more affordable, but every time I chicken out because the huge cost associated with changing the transmission or the engine would take many years to recoup in gas savings. I've considered 700r4 (too weak) 4l80e (too complicated, requires computer) NV4500 manual (too pricy and complicated, but I would love driving it) and 6.2 conversion (big job and trading lots of power for fuel economy. If I did the 6.2 I'd have to add a turbo and soup it up to make it bearable, which would cost money and probably cut down the phenomenal mileage. Plus I've got a low mileage 454, no sense wasting it.
In recent weeks I've been looking around for a winter beater, since the Camaro is going inside and I don't want to drive the 454 daily. My problem is I cannot drive something that is not cool in some way, even a $1000 winter beater. I want a v6 C10 or C1500, or maybe an old Toyota pickup.
I wish there was a simple (like me) calculator to figure out how much I can spend on a commuter and still come out ahead by parking the crewcab and only using it for dumpruns and getting pellet fuel.