My PO post rant!

[Dano69c10]

I thought I wouldn't say anything about my '70 c-10 that I bought on eBay, but it is getting to a point of frustration that I can't deal with. When I went to get the truck, the hood would not open, PO tells me it's a broken driverside hood hinge. We get the hood open and everything in the engine compartment looks fine. He starts up the motor and it sounds killer! He knows I live 30 miles away, looks me in the eyes and tells me he'd drive the truck anywhere. The truck is straight and no rust so I pay the man and head for home. I start the truck, put her in gear and away I go happy to score a swb fleetside.
1) I go to replace the hood hinge with a good used hinge I have. I remove the hinge at the hood no probs, I remove the bolts on the fender and two come out OK, but the third one (which is a silver grade 5 bolt from the PO) has a detached weld nut and spins freely. Great a 10 minute job turns into a 1 hour job. Finally have to chisel out the third bolt. Install the the hinge,I'm pissed but the job is done.
2) I go out in the morning and there is a puddle of tranny fluid under the truck, what now! Turns out the tranny is leaking from the front and rear seals, OK I say, some members assure me it's an easy job and it's not too bad, but a Saturday is shot to hell. I say to myself no prob jst a little work to get the truck roadworthy.
3) I drive to truck to home depot and the drivers window goes off track and the passenger window is stuck closed. Turn around and go home, driver and passenger regulators are shot and the vent windows are crooked. I open the vent windows and they won't close. I say to myself, you should have checked the window operations before you paid the man, my bad. The windows are so heavily tinted, so I replace the door windows, vent windows and regulators with some used ones I have. This takes the good part of the day since some screws are rusted in the vent window and regulator. Chiseling, drilling and retapping, I'm good to go.
4) I want to replace the late model bucket seats back to a stock bench seat. I look at the bottom of the bucket seats and the PO used black pipe as spacers between the seats and the cab floor with some cheap bolts which he drilled through a pristine floor. I thank God that the bolts didn't snap as I was driving to work, and go to remove the bolts. The outer bolts by the doors are cake to remove, but the innners are not accessable because the rears are right at the trailing arm crossmember and the fronts are on top of the flow masters. Out comes the sawsall, and with the vengeance of an ancient samuri I cut those suckers out. The seat have back pockets and in these back pockets have to be about 30-40 condoms (brand new in the package). Disgusted I throw them away, and then the wife comes in later asking me where those condoms in the trash came from, I tell her, but I can tell by the look in her eye she is either pissed because I didn't check the truck before I brought it home from the PO or she thinks I'm a freaking perv. The only good thing to happen is that the stock bench goes in without a hitch.
5) I drive the truck to work, park in a great spot. Go to lock the drivers door and the tumbler won't turn. It was working fine, but of course it is not working now! I'm so pissed, I just leave the truck unlocked the whole day not caring if someone steals the truck. Get out of work and there the truck is, giving me a sh!~-eating grin. I go home and replace both locks with with a used set I have at home. I think OK, it will get better. After all I haven't had to buy any parts, and I'm slowly cleaning out my parts stash so maybe it's a good thing.
6) Driving to work on a rainy morning and the cab windows fog up (probably because I'm nervous as hell wondering what is going to fall apart next.) I turn on the fan switch and it works! I Go to the AC/Heater controls and set the bottom lever (good), set the middle lever (good), go to move the top lever to defrost and without even applying hard pressure the lever breaks and falls to the cab floor. I can't see out the windsheild now, pull over and want to cry. I tell myself, it's a classic truck that just needs some lovin'. I have a clean rag, so I wipe the window at every stop light and make it to work.
7) The truck is a little to low for my taste, so I decide to replace the springs with some extras. As I jack up the truck I notice I have a three piece drive shaft! From the tranny, it's driveshaft, tranny yoke, drive shaft. Now this is where I lose it. There is no carrier bearing! There is a piece of folded over cardboard wedged in between the yoke (which is in the middle of two driveshafts) and the cab floor. Seems that when they lowered the truck the drive shaft wouldn't work with the carrier bearing so they removed the carrier bearing. OK cardboard! Give me a freakin break! I go to sit in the truck and ponder what my next move is and the button from the driverside door handle pops out!
I reassure myself that I have the parts just sitting in the garage, so it hasn't cost me anything other than time, but I'm pissed off at this guy. I' afraid to go to Pomona this weekend, because if I see this guy I'm gonna dot his eyes and get arrested.
Now it's gonna cost me more some good cash to get a driveshaft built.
With what I paid for this truck, OK maybe I'm a sucker.
But with the guy going on about how he is a religious man, his truck is this classic collectors item, its turnkey ready to go/show, and yet he jerry-riggs everything WTF!
On the plus side I have a straight truck with no rust, yet. Although for what I know of this guy it's all probably bondoed.
There are other issues like a mile of wiring under the dash for the stereo and door poppers/locks. (none of which works.) Theres a 4 gauge wire running from the engine compartment to the rear of the cab? There was enough white powder battery to look like a winter wonderland under the battery tray. And as a final last straw
8)My wife says there is another puddle under the truck, this time it's power steering fluid on my new cement slab. The wife hugs me, pats my back and says it's going to be alright. The wife is cool that way.
Sorry but I just needed to rant, to some guys and gals who probably know to some extent the pain I feel.
Moral: never buy a "restored show" truck without doing a 100 point checkup on the truck. You'll be glad you did.
I feel better now, so I'm going to install the springs, measure for a new driveshaft and fix the power steering this weekend. Hopefully next week it will just be a bad memory, until I discover the next PO mistake.
I hope someone can learn from this and not make the same dumb mistake I did.
Wow is this what therapy is like?