I am sure most people have heard the terms “looks can be deceiving” or “do not judge a book by its cover” at one time or another. Here is a case in point. We just returned from a trip to Colorado. Rather than take the RV, which averages 7 to 8 miles per gallon, we decided to take an old work truck of mine that averages 30 miles per gallon and stay at an Airbnb.

Let me explain:

I purchased a 2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel from an auction site about six months ago. It was a work truck owned by an asphalt company. I bought it mostly to save on fuel driving back and forth to my shop nearly every day, an 80-mile round trip. My newer truck, a 2021 Ram 1500 has a 5,7 L hemi averages about 14 miles per gallon, whereas the EcoDiesel work truck averages about 30 miles per gallon.

After I purchased the truck and got it home, I started checking it out mechanically. The truck had 140,000 miles on it, and the check engine light was on. After scanning it I discovered it had 8 trouble codes. I only paid $4,200 for the truck, and I repaired 7 of the issues (cleaning and replacing a few sensors), spending very little time and money. The last code cost $1,400 to repair at a local Ram dealership. In addition to that I changed the oil, replaced the tires, front rotors, brake pads and 2-wheel bearings. All in I had $6,700 invested in the truck. My newer Ram truck cost $52,000 when I bought it.

My new truck looks terrific on the outside, whereas the work truck looks like you would expect a work truck to look. I repaired one body panel that was damaged badly but left the remaining dents and scrapes for later when I had time. The truck looked bad, but it drove like an expensive Cadillac, while averaging 30 MPG. As we prepared for our trip, I told Dawn we were taking the work truck to Colorado to save on fuel expenses. When my neighbor heard about this he asked if I was crazy! “Why would you take that ugly old truck when you have a practically brand new truck sitting in the driveway?” I just said, I have my reasons.

I am a huge Mopar (Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth) fan, and typically name my old vehicles. The work truck looked bad in appearance, and it is a Ram truck, so I dubbed it “Ramshackle meaning rickety, or appearing ready to collapse. We just returned from our trip to Colorado, putting nearly 4,000 miles on the truck, and averaging 29.3 mpg overall. Hence, looks can be deceiving.

We missed the benefits of having our motorhome but it was a great, and fun adventure taking old Ramshackle.

P.S. I just finished restoring another old Dodge truck, “Old Mo” (Old Mopar) that we might take on our next road trip!

Happy Camping,

Mark J. Polk

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