What Happens When Passion Meets Budget? This Ranger!

The guys in this video are having to struggle to keep a straight face, and I’m not even going to try to fault them for being a bit amused by the mods on this Ranger, because they are definitely out there, and not necessarily in the best way. However, I’m going to jump on my soapbox here and say this guy is possibly more of a true gearhead than most of you reading this article.

Before you jump on Facebook to tell me all about how wrong I am and how many cars you’ve built from the ground up with nothing but your bare hands and elbow grease, I’m not trying to put anybody else down. My point isn’t about ability, it’s about enthusiasm, and this guy has got more enthusiasm for his Ranger than many guys seem to have about cars they’ve dumped six figures on.

The automotive community thrives on passion, and there’s no denying this guy has more than enough passion about his project. It’s pretty obvious that the Ranger’s owner is on a pretty strict budget, but he’s managed to build his truck into something that he takes a great deal of pride in, including doing much of the work himself. How many of you can say you hand built your own spoiler, roll pan and speaker box? I bet those numbers are pretty low, and in my opinion the guy deserves a ton of respect for doing whatever it takes to bring his vision to life, no matter what you or I think about his truck.

I’m going to challenge each of you reading this to change your way of thinking next time you encounter a guy like this. Instead of posting a tongue-in-cheek video making fun of the guy, maybe offer to help him in some way. If you have room in your shop, invite him over to hang out and maybe use your tools to help clean some things up under the hood or straighten out his wiring, which can get out of hand even for the most experienced enthusiast. Be an ambassador for the community, not the reason somebody walks away after being made fun of.