Toyota Stalking, er...um, SPOTTING with Charlie™ (Cars, vans, SUVs, Lexus, Scion, and brochures)!

Between September 2018 and March 2020, especially January 2019 to December 2019, I set a record for the amount of miles I put on my Tacoma; Exactly 18K miles in just one year!

It started when I cracked 90K in the wee hours of Thanksgiving in 2018, while driving a drunk friend home; I worked at a bar at the time, and Thanksgiving Eve is the biggest drinking night of the year! I've made a fortune in both tips and base hourly rate every year I've barbacked on Thanksgiving Eve!

Anyway, I started a new job at car dealer detail shop in early September 2018, and I only worked there for ten months (I put in my two weeks in mid-June 2019 and my last day was June 29th of that year), but I put between 60 and 100 miles on my truck per week just driving to and from that job between September 2018 and June 2019! The bar where I used to work closed indefinitely for renovations in January 2019 (and COVID further delayed the reopening), but I worked at both the bar and the detail shop simultaneously from the beginning of September 2018 until the bar closed at the end of January 2019.

I went to two or three car shows in September and October 2019, one of which was a 100-mile round trip from home in PA to the car show in Jersey, and back again; I started doing Uber Eats in December 2018 to make some extra money, and did this regularly until June 2019...

I started doing Doordash in July 2019 (instead of Uber, because I liked Doordash better for numerous reasons), and this was my sole source of income during my roughly two months of unemployment after I left the detailing job; I got a steady job at my dad's company in September 2019 and only did Doordash sporadically from September 2019 until the outbreak started in February 2020.

I drove up to my cousin's house in the Wilkes-Barre area in October 2018, which is over 70 miles one way; I drove up there and back again in June 2019! I hit exactly 99,000 miles when I was about two miles away from my cousin's house on that June trip, and I was around 99,100 by the time I returned home. My best friend's parents had a house in the Poconos at the time; They allowed me to have my 30th birthday there in March 2019. Driving up there one way is at least 75 miles; I went up there for the 4th of July that year as well, and I was at 99,300 miles upon my arrival at the mountain house if I remember correctly. This means that I put at least 200 miles on my truck in just a few days!

 

The reason I quoted these posts is because most of the miles put on my truck in 2019 were without a doubt from all the car shows I went to that summer; I went to more car shows in 2019 than in any other year!

The biggest reason I went to so many car shows in 2019 is because I was depressed over the loss of my dog, Mandy, on July 1st of that year; We did not know Mandy's exact birthdate because she was a rescue, but I am 99% sure she was less than a year old when we put her to sleep. Mandy had a rare congenital kidney defect that manifested itself about three weeks after we adopted her (October 2018) and had started to suck the life out of her by May 2019.

My coping mechanism was going to car shows all over the eastern and central parts of Pennsylvania, within two weeks of Mandy's death I put almost a thousand miles on my truck! The pictures from the NSRA show in York were taken exactly a month before Mandy's death, but I included them to show that I went to two different shows at the York Expo Center in 2019, putting over 250 miles on the truck in a weekend on two different occasions! The 2019 Super Chevy Show and the event at the Buck (I think it was a sled pull for diesel pickup trucks but I can't remember) almost two weeks after Mandy died, and I included those to show that I attended two different shows in one day!

It is sixty miles from my house to the Maple Grove Raceway, where the 1990s Avalon and the Scion xB were photographed in the spectator lot of that venue; It is another forty miles from Maple Grove to the Buck, in the opposite direction of my house! The drive back to my house from the Buck is almost eighty miles! So that is almost 180 miles driven in just one day, just going to a car show and a sled pull!

The day before I hit 100K, I drove fifty miles from home to the Classic Auto Mall in Morgantown, and it was another fifty miles back; I hit 100K while driving from New Hope to Doylestown on a Doordash run, on the afternoon of July 11th, 2019 (This is according to a post on Tacoma World with that date). By the end of 2019, I had over 108K miles!

As of this post, my 2010 Toyota Tacoma that my dad bought brand new on September 30th, 2009 with 20 miles on the clock has exactly 122,449 miles on it!

 

July 14th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

A base model Sienna CE with no left side sliding door (It actually was an extra-cost option on lower-trim models); Also not in very good shape...


July 31st, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

This is not the start of my spontaneous Prius photograpy project, but I'm gonna link all pictures of 2004-newer Priuses together from here on out...


August 23rd, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

August 30th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

My coworker's 2007 Toyota Camry LE, which he bought it in 2009 with like 12K miles on the clock; He was working in New Jersey at the time and had a long commute, so he put A LOT of miles on the car during the roughly ten years he owned it?

Why is this car special? It has the RARE 5-speed manual transmission! Also, note that it has a leather interior and a sunroof, both of which are aftermarket (the car had these features when he bought it). The car had like 230K miles on it in late 2019, and he traded for it for a Jeep Grand Cherokee because it was burning oil; You can also see my dad's 2018 GMC Yukon SLT parked in the background (my dad and I work for the same company)...


September 5th, 2019:

Warminster, Pennsylvania

 

Note the 3rd Gen DCSB across the street...


September 5th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

The 2nd Gen Sienna was released in late 2003 as a 2004 model, and production ended in 2009; These vans are still far more plentiful than the 1st Gen 1998-2003 models, but the newest examples of the 2nd Gens are now 12 years old and like most minivans they were used and abused by the families that generally purchased them. After the suburban families beat the shit out of them as family vehicles for five to ten years, the 2004-2009 Siennas that didn't end up as work vehicles or at wholesale auctions after being traded were likely given to the oldest children of the aforementioned families who didn't take very good care of them...

This is one of the nicer examples I've seen, no less than ten years old at the time the picture was taken, but a good number of the 2nd Gen Siennas I've seen were exhibiting signs of significant body rust!


September 5th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

I LOVE the original IS300s! This one gives the appearance of having sat outside for several months, based on its worn out appearance and the fact that the inspection stickers expired eight months prior to the pictures being taken...


September 5th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

Brand new 2020 Corolla my dealer gave me as a free loaner while my truck was getting inspected; Amazingly enough, it used a traditional ignition key!


September 6th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

September 7th, 2019:

Springtown, Pennsylvania

 

The 2010-2020 Sienna is an example of a late model Toyota model that I generally do not take pictures of unless it is customized or otherwise unique in some way; This is an exception to that exception, as I think the 3rd Gen Sienna looks pretty sweet in black with the SE trim!


September 7th, 2019:

Springtown, Pennsylvania

 

September 8th, 2019:

Quakertown, Pennsylvania

 

September 9th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

September 9th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

The Yaris is an underappreciated car in my opinion, and I generally don't take pictures of even the older 1st Gen models because most of them are in such poor condition; This example was missing all four wheel covers but was otherwise in okay condition...

I will still photograph an Echo (the less-refined precursor to the Yaris) if I see one, because those are becoming rarer and rarer, but as the years go by a decent 2007-2010 Yaris becomes harder to find; A guy I know on Tacoma World had a really nice 5-speed red hatchback 2-door that he customized nicely, but he no longer has it


September 9th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

On another note, I like the Yaris hatchbacks better than the 4-door sedans in terms of looks...

 

If I find another 2001-2003 Prius, I will happily take pictures of it just because they are so uncommon nowadays!


September 12th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

I actually think these are more normal-looking (and thus, better-looking) than the 2004-present models!

 

You will be hard-pressed to find a Camry newer than 2001 on here from here on out, unless of course it is special or unique in some way (like the '07 model with the wacky paintjob); This one has been subjected to the indignity of El Cheapo Plastico wheel covers (only one OEM wheel cover remains, on the left rear wheel)...


September 12th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

Still technically a Toyota...


September 12th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

September 12th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

Among 1993-newer Corollas, I like pre-2002 Corollas the best, but if a decent one newer than that comes my way, take pictures of it I shall...

Again with those damn El Cheapo Plastico wheel covers though!


September 12th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

I can't remember if this was some sort of special edition RAV4, or something the owner did themselves...


September 12th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

September 13th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

September 13th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

Possibly (more than likely) the same car...


September 13th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

This is a Prius C, the smallest in the lineup...


September 13th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

 

Avalons older than 2006, like this 1999-2005 model, are becoming less and less common as they get up there in age; They are excellent cars in terms of build quality and reliability, but they don't have the desirability of older Toyota trucks and thus not much of an effort is being made to preserve them...


September 13th, 2019:

Doylestown, Pennsylvania