A Man and His Truck

Reader Contribution by Cam Mather

OK, OK, let’s get this over with, Cam owns a truck. I know what I’m going to hear, “Cam, the off-grid guy with the solar-powered electric bike owns a truck? What a hypocrite!” There — we got that out of the way. Hope we all feel better.

Yes, I own a truck. I’m an environmentalist, but I live in the woods, have a market garden and heat with wood, and a truck comes in handy. I use it to haul manure to the garden and firewood back in from the bush. I probably use it once a week, sometimes less, but it is a truck. Every one has an impact on the planet, and my truck is my “Achilles Heel.” I haven’t been on a plane in 20 years, but I do own a truck.

I bought a truck when we moved to our off-grid home 12 years ago. It was a Ford Ranger, their smallest truck, so as close to a “green” truck as you can get I guess. It was a 1993 model, and it was 5 years old when I bought it. It was an amazing truck and unbelievably helpful around the place, but in the last few years it was starting to show its age. So after 17 years of service I don’t think it owed me anything. When I began having to use the service of the local mechanic a little too often, I decided it was time to replace it. The truck still worked, but it was at the point where I was lucky if it started on two out of three attempts, and when you’re in the bush in a snowstorm, that can be a little disconcerting.

I had looked around for a replacement truck for a few years and was always appalled by how expensive vehicles are. I saw one that I liked in an Autotrader magazine. It was still for sale three months later, which would have scared off most people, but it sounded like a challenge to me. It was a 2000 model, so I was moving up seven model years, and it was high mileage, 250,000 kms (155,000 miles) but it was only $4,000! The catch was that it was being sold as is. In Ontario I would have to get it certified, and if there were major problems with it, I’d be on the hook. The high mileage was not a concern because I didn’t intend to drive it very often or very far, and the body was in good shape.

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