A body shop with a frame machine could tweak that back into the range of respectability in a few hours with a couple hard pulls.

Fix it so it is a safer driver, and make her drive it until she can buy her own wheels. Leave all the war wounds - no cosmetic repairs.

A constant reminder - driving around in an example of what can go wrong will be the best deterrence for any other fits of youthful exuberance behind the wheel.

My son took his first car, that I found for him, a perfectly good Dodge Dart small block V8 auto, , and turned it into a pile of smoking junk by not checking the oil at every fill up like he was supposed to - the engine was sound, but used oil.

Being as we lived out in the sticks, he needed transportation. He got to drive the one ton beater stake bed truck I started my landscaping business with back in the early eighties.

That worked well until the day he nearly lost a wheel. He said it was making noise and driving funny.

I go out to take a look, and the front passenger wheel was held in place by only two backed out lug nuts - the rest had backed off, and about half the rim bolt surface had sheared off with cornering load.

He had the mechanical aptitude of Barbie The Crochet Cougar School Teacher Edition.

He was relegated to driving a bicycle for the rest of the summer as penance, and back into the one ton when school started and the weather went south for the winter.

I told him then and there he better get an education and a job that made enough money to pay people for all the shit he was gonna break, destroy, and wear out prematurely.

So, he got a degree, and his masters degree, went into private banking, and is senior vice president of portfolio management for Northern Trust.

Now, he breaks his shit, and pays other people to fix it. Ask him to do anything more complicated than pour cereal out of the box into a bowl, and he is fucked.

But, he makes stupid money, and my grandson will never be left lacking.

Kids and cars - it always works out, just not like you think it will.

I dont always agree with Mr. Bacon but on this one it looks like he wins this thread.

The wife and had a nice long talk about this last night and we both agree that the kid should just drive it until the wheels fall off and get as much out of it as possible, we really wanted this pickup to get her through until she graduates and worry about another vehicle later.


I mean why should she get a new to her vehicle for driving this one into the ground????

Nope!!

I hope every time she looks at it she gets disgusted!!!