Sunday, January 1, 2012
Why I Like Old Trucks
It was green and big. Something about that truck just seemed trustworthy and honest. Back in 1966, it was my dad's 17 year old truck. Yeah. A 1950 GMC pickup.
I thought it was a really cool looking truck. And it was green, my favorite color.
Soon after, dad traded in the GMC Truck for a new 1966 ford pickup. While it was nice, it wasn't as cool looking.
I still like the old trucks. My favorite is the 56 Ford Pickup. I own two of them, neither of them runs. I had the money to buy them, but no time to restore them.
In 1992 I ordered a brand new 4-wheel drive Chevy pickup in electric blue. I really liked that truck, but I only kept it for 4 years. I sold it because I wanted to buy a 56 Ford pickup. I found one in California. So I sold the truck and was about to go pick up the 56 Ford pickup in California. I was living in Spanish Fork, Utah.
There were several problems that would see me unable to complete my objective.
1. I called the guy in California. He changed his mind. He decided to keep the truck.
So I went out to California and I couldn't find any decent trucks in my price range, $5000.
I drove some that were just barely driveable. Some real hack jobs. Finally I found one that ran. It had a 390 in it. I bought it for $1200.
It didn't drive that well. It wandered. The steering gear was shot. The top speed was about 60mph and even at that relatively safe speed, a bump in the road would cause it to veer into the next lane. There was about a half a turn in the steering wheel of play.
In Mesquite Nevada at the Oasis I stopped for the night. In the morning I got up and tried to start the truck. It wouldn't start. The engine turned over fine, but it wouldn't start. It took me a day and a half to figure out that I wasn't going to be able to start it. I checked the three main things: Compression, Gas and Spark. All three were working. I knew it was probably the timing belt, but I didn't want to work on that in a casino parking lot in 100 degree weather. So I rented a U-Haul truck and a dolly and pulled the truck home.
Yeah. It was the timing belt. I fixed the timing belt and drove the truck for a year. Then I went to fill the truck up one day. After I filled it up it started smoking. I made it to work and then had to tow it home. I found out that the Spanish Fork Flying J gas station had accidentally filled their premium tank with diesel. That was the last time I drove that truck. I drained the tank and got it started, but decided it needed to be restored. So I have it on the side of the house waiting.
And there it will wait for a while longer because I am restoring another truck that I bought in 1996 from a junk yard. This truck has a Volare front clip and no motor. That is the truck that I'm restoring first.
Why that one? Well without a motor it is more like a blank sheet. I can start from scratch.
This is the beginning of my restoration adventure.
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