hey everyone,
my name is brendan i am 17 years old and im at the moment i am in san angelo texas on AFB goodfellow for my department of defense fire fighter training to become a arm firefighter. while i have been down here for the past 4 months ive notice that the streets were filled with quite different vehicles then i am use to back home in boston. instead of little imports and luxury cars its old pick ups and suvs all jacked up. while i was down here i bout a 1991 lexus ls 400 back home and later relized that i want to make a off road truck. so im making this post for some suggestions of what i should look for in a truck to start out with and where and what parts i should get first. thanks for the help.
                                                                PFC L'Homme  

Hey Brendan! Thanks for writing. Probably the best place to start is to look for truck forums online (like this one and others) for information about meets, shows, and hang-outs. I know Texas is the heart of truck country, so I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding some truck meets and hang-outs. I wouldn't necessarily try joining a truck club per se, right off the bat. I'd just go to local cruise nights or hang-outs, and get to know some guys. Through this network of enthusiasts, you'll get to know some people, and some of them will probably be in clubs.

In terms of buying a truck to fix up, you want one that's visibly clean, has a clean Carfax report, and seems to run good. No used car is going to be perfect. But as long as it's mechanically sound, and hasn't been in any major accidents, you should be fine. Minor body damage isn't that big a deal, since if you're re-painting it or doing custom bodywork, you'll probably change out some of it anyway.

If you're looking for an easy truck to modify (just from the standpoint of parts availability) The '88-'98 Chevy and GMC full-size are pretty hard to beat. There are a ton of parts out there for them, and there are millions of them out there, so you should be able to find a good example of one around.

The '97-'03 Ford F-150s are also popular, but don't have quite the same level of aftermarket support as the GM trucks, though you can find stuff for them pretty easily.

If you're looking for something "different" to fix up, you can always do a Dodge, but sometimes it can be a "needle in a haystack" trying to find parts for them. If you're going for all-out power, a Cummins turbodiesel can be modded to produce crazy amounts of power, but I'd also do some transmission & torque converter upgrades at the same time, if you're really going to go nuts. The used diesels also tend to be more expensive. I'd stay away from the early 6.0 Ford Power Strokes. '05 or newer models should be OK, but the '03s were headaches. 7.3 Power strokes are fairly reliable, and there are quite a few parts out there to make them run pretty strong.  

Hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any other questions.