Built not bought, what do I think of this statement, well I'll tell you... Its NOT a pile of poop Ernie! Its a statement I live by. Ive been working on my truck for about 8 years.. Ive put countless hours of work into my truck with many nights of just a few hours of sleep And have been on the verge of not being able to pay other bills because a truck expence.. Ive done every bit of the work on my truck. From shaving it to laying it! In the beggining I didnt know anything about do any part of it, I read articles on body work and read articles on bagging a vehicle. Then I did it, and with trial and error have got it to the point its at now. Now to address your scenarios Ernie. For the guy who buys a prepimped truck and rolls it like he should get some kind of respect, NO! He is guilty of a crime, BEING A POSER!!!! He dosent know the first thing about being a minitrucker, OR what it takes to get there! The same guy can go buy a new pair of Jordans, put them on, Then step on a Basketball Court. Should we call him a basketball player Ernie?  Now for the other one of your so called scenarios, The guy who pays every one to do the work for him, Lets face it, this guy BOUGHT it, because he didnt build it... We would all love to be able to by a truck, have someone build it, then when we get tired of it, sell it, buy a new one, have someone build it and so on. I dont even have to go any further with this one, it is what it is. Now how about the third scenario, The one you didnt include. This is the majority of us! The minitruckers who cant afford to pay someone to do the work for them, and cant afford to buy a already pimped out truck. Im talking about the minitruckers who have scars from the truck. How about when it takes months just for us to be able to purchase a bag kit. And the kit collects dust before we can get it on. We drive our trucks around in primer, without radios or interior for a long time, because all we care about is being in a low truck. Those guys know what im talking about. Those guys know what built not bought means. That is where our pride comes from. Trust me Ernie there are more of us out there then your 2 scenario characters. So dont try to put us down. I am a minitrucker with pride, and my pride comes from my Isuzu, because it is built not bought. Thats WTF Ernie!  

Anybody feel free to share your opinion with me. All of you out there have to have something to say about this.  

ok ok ok ok i see where ur coming from. honestly dude i have to agree, but on the same token disagree. ive owned and built 2 minis in the last 8yrs. not any of them were ever finished like u said i ran my truck with no radio or interior for 2yrs dude!! y?? because we all wanna ride 1/4" off the ground, right?? so thats where i agree with u. also where all my money and  time went. now go back 4yrs. i met my wife and had 2 kids. sold the trucks and now driving a 98 explorer. dying to get back in the scene, not being able or having time to build my own mini, i came across my ride i own today. a 91 yota that i bought from a friend. it was his project that he started but couldnt finish. so i bought it and have been finishing it since then. goin on 1yr now, the way u see it is where ive got it. this truck was a mess, to be honest. rewired everything, retimed the truck, everything under the hood new, new valves, line, everything!! my question is are u telling me that im not a real mini trucker?? am i less of a minitrucker because i bought one already started?? ive put time and the lil money i have into this making it my own. is it not my truck?? is the truck considered my friends because he did most of the work?? ive completly redone this *** truck, and ur telling me that im less of a minitrucker than u are because you built urs and i bought mine. there is not such a thing!!!! i dont recall the minitruckin scene becoming the import scene. is this is what it has come too?? evrybody bitching about who did what and who didnt do that?? we are all one!! we are all a minitruckin family!! our love for minitrucks is what brings us together, is what brings everybody out from other states to come and chill at shows. we come together as one and help our brothers and sisters out!! not sit there and say "hey i built my ride and you didnt't, so u suck, ur not a real minitrucker" *** that *** man!! im a minitrucker with pride, just cuz i didnt exactly "BUILD" my ride, dosent make me less of a minitrucker, and say that with passion. everybody in this scene is a minitrucker, whether built or bought!! so dont dog on ernie man, remember this aint the import scene!!  

When I first got into minitruckin I bought my first blazer built. Switches and all. i loved it. That made me want to build my own. I finally got the s-10 i always wanted and now I'm gonna build it. would I ever buy another built one, or partially built one. yeah. I see it a building blocks. Just picking up where someone left off.  

exactly!! duz it make u less of a minitrucker?? not only no, but *** no!!!  

yea i bought my s-10 early august of this year.. and it looks the same.. except ive put over 1000dollars into it already! i had to fix the whole front end, i bought a bedcover, i cleaned it up, i rewired every *** thing, i put a cheap ass system in it but it bumps, by this time next year im hopng for it to look completely different.. me and my dad are doing m interior ourselves.. my bros goin 2 do my bodywork and possibly repaint it for me, im getn bigger rims, and ur goin 2 tell me im a POSER! *** that! yea i would have liked to do it all myself but at the price i got it for i basically stole it!!  

Nope i gotta aree its a load of crap  

Ernie doesn't get  what it is to be a mini trucker i dont give a *** how long he's been on the scene. he's only here for the image. do you really think he'd be the n.r prez if it werent for the mag? does anyone else notice how he spends more time on other web pages talking loads of crap? how bout his wack ass lowlife videos degrating all of us minitruckers to being immature drunks. ernie is in the game for the wrong reasons. the only reason hes sittin there on the soap box for this built not bought *** is cuz of the fact he doesnt know *** about mini trucks and just uses the mags money & name to buy trucks. i know first hand this is true the dude couldnt answer one question of mine about the  rags to riches project wheni asked him about it at luda. its time for a new associate editor thats here for the right reasons  

other opinons?  

My thoughts:
http://blogs.minitruckinweb.com/6218579/editorials/response-to-mind-of-macias-december-2007/index.html


December 2007 Mind of Macias - In case you have no clue what in the world this thread is about!  
http://blogs.minitruckinweb.com/6218290/editorials/mind-of-macias-december-2007/index.html  

I've been building minis since 99'. I've always built my own, but some people don't have the ability to do that. Very few of us have taken 4 years of classes to do this professionally. So i think it is o.k. for them to pay someone or buy one built because it could possibly save their life.  

I think its just fine to pay someone to do custom work for you, thats why places like Go ez customs are around

I used to own a Long Travel Toyota race truck, I did all the prep, paint, wire off road lights, valve shocks, mount fiberglass....
but when it came to the cage and install of the suspension, i went to a professional....i dont need to be going 80mph thru the desert and roll and have the cage fail, which could be fatal.
even if i had the skills to weld and bend tube, i would have no where to do it and no time  

thats cool and all if your unable to do the work yourself but would you take credit for that persons work or would you give the person who did it the credit thats due. thats the difference between a poser and a mini trucker is all were saying. its super ok to have someone do the work but know what the *** your paying for and know what you have and give those whos hard work made that *** bad ass credit... instead of being incompitant and not even knowing how your truck that you spent tons on works  

Monica, your awesome!
"I guess I don't know "what it takes to be a minitrucker" and what "representing to the fullest" means, if it doesn't include workin' on your truck, or a friend's truck, and feelin' the discouragement, frustration, stress, and accomplishment that goes along with that. I don't care about parties and drinking and who knows who and who said what on SSM and what club you belong to! I like trucks, especially the ones that come straight from the backyard and were built with heart."  

We used to say built not bought back in 92-93.It was in reference to people that bought a semi custom factory ride and brought it to a show and beat an older custom built mini because it came from the factory with alot of the custom mods that we did to our rides back then.  It  was more of a reference to show classes back in the day, it was hard to compete against a brand new semi custom mini with a 70's or 80's toyota/nissan when you are in an import truck class and you both had lowered suspensions, custom wheels etc... I mean back then we were all lumped in very nonspecific classes.  Thats where I think it originated in my oppinion.

I have been in the custom show scene since 1991-92. I have built plenty of rides and I have also bought semi finished rides and rebuilt or finished them, some by myself and some with the help of shops and people that can do things that have the experience and tools that I don't.

One thing people need to remember is that in most cases, once we are done with the trucks we "built " and didn'y "buy"  we need to sell them to start something new. So I don't like to see people get bashed for buying someone elses truck because one day we will all need someone to buy our trucks.

As long as they arent taking credit for work they didnt do who cares who built it. Just my 2 cents