A long time ago, I took my boy out for his first overnight backpacking trip in the high Sierras. When we got back, there was a clone of my truck sitting in my driveway. It was the same make, model, year and color.

I tried to throw a tune up into it & it sucked a rod.

So it's been sitting in my buddy's equipment yard for several years.

He finally called me and asked me if I still wanted it. He explained that the new owners of the equipment yard wanted it gone and if I didn't come and get it, it was going to get scrapped out.

Before we could move it, I had to kill three nests of wasps that had taken up residence. One of them was in the air vent that's just in front of the windshield. Another was on the underside of the hood, near the power steering booster. The third one was under the bed rail near the tailgate.

Then there was the situation with the tires. All four were flat, the rubber cracked and shot, with the beads pulled away from the rims. I put four new Firestones on it (oddly enough, I got them from the Goodyear Dealer). It wasn't much fun pulling the tires off or putting them back on - I didn't have much room to use the jack or place the jackstands; actually had to move the equipment in the next stall (and that had been overgrown with ivy).

Ok, so I got it rolling again.

Then I discovered there were no brakes. I checked underneath the truck and found that the e-brake cable was ****-eyed at the yoke. That tells me there's something wrong in one of the rear drums.

Then there was the registration issue. Somehow, we never transferred title for the truck. The DMV said they wanted $1,052 to clean up the paper trail. I told them I hadn't brought that much with me & I'd have to talk to them later. The next day I went to a different DMV office and the person I dealt with waived most of the penalties, so I was able to pay a mere $526 instead. Mind you, my wife only paid $410 for it at the auction. Oh, one little teensie paperwork problem. One of the previous owners didn't sign off for their part of the transfer. I've tried to find them, but I think they are no longer in business. That's ok, the DMV has a way to handle that... so I'll get there (eventually).

With the rest of the paperwork cleaned up (except for that one signature), and more importantly with the fees paid up, I was able to get a one-day permit to move it. The gal I worked with actually gave me two of them - which was prudent and saved my from having to return for a second one. It's kinda like she'd been there before. She also knew a couple of almost-good dirty jokes. She's a BFM (Big Fat Momma) and it's not hard for me to picture her at a backyard BBQ with a can of Bud in her hand.

Paying for the tires left me low on cash, so I had to beg a favor from the engine shop. When the tow truck driver dropped the truck at the engine shop, the owner paid the tow driver for me - and later billed me for it.

About a week later, I stopped by and dropped a $4,000 down payment on the project.

The engine shop is going to pull the engine & tranny, then rebuild the engine and brakes. I told them I want the brakes gone over front to back; I don't want to have to deal with anything brake-related for the next ten years or so. I'll have the transmission rebuilt at a shop I've used before. Once the thing's road worthy, I'm gonna have a little body work done on both trucks, gonna try to nutralize all the rust if possible and then I'm gonna try and get them both painted up the same.

So the upshot of all this is that I should have twin trucks running in a few months.

 

What a story! Good luck with the build!

 

A great story on the hell we go through to feed out habit and hobby.

We wanna hear more about that BFM!

 

Uh, yuh. As much as I'd like to oblige you on that one, I don't like going to the DMV.

 

Second truck is running pretty well.

I'm about to take it out on it's first road trip since I got it. Headed to the mountains with some friends this coming weekend. We're gonna camp out, drink liquor and shoot up some clay pigeons.

It's been hard to overcome 30+ years of driving habits caused by the other truck. I repeatedly reach for the stick that isn't there or try to press down the clutch pedal IOT downshift the automatic. I'm getting better, but it's still awkward.

It's fun having twin trucks. It started even before I got the second one running. The other one sprung a leak in the radiator, so I took the radiator back to the shop that had last worked on it -- in 1989 (which seems like a good testamony about their service). I figured that while I was in town, I'd stop by the shop & get the other radiator and turn it in for service too. Forty-five minutes later, I was back at the radiator shop with the same radiator... and the guy behind the counter started freaking out, backing away from me and stuttering "W-w-weren't you just here?" I wished I was weating the t-shirt that says "I *AM* the Evil Twin!"

Since then, I've also had fun with the Police and a tow truck driver. I was trying to get the second truck dialed in, and it was having a few problems. One of them turned out to be a defective Master Cylinder (it wouldn't release the front brakes correctly). When it bound up to the point that I couldn't get it the last five blocks home, I pulled it up on the sidewalk, then walked home and fetched my other truck. I drove back down to the stalled truck and called AAA. The Dispatcher asked if I was blocking traffic, which I was a little... maybe 8 or 10 inches... mostly, I was blocking the sidewalk. Anyway, the Dispatcher notified the local police department, which sent out a couple of cute blonde gals to investigate the situation. After commenting on the twins, they decided there wasn't any real safety hazard, so they left. The tow driver told me he'd done a double take: "Oh, there it is... wait, WHAT?!?" I had to point him to the truck that needed towing.

I can't help but think there's more fun in store with these twin trucks.

 

Sounds like fun!

Do you have any pictures of the twins?

Sam

 

Yeaaahsuh...