Well guys it's been a long time since I posted an update but the time has come, and the update is, Big Blackie is for sale.

Over the last six years I spent many tens of thousands of dollars on the restoration of this vehicle, or in other words, an amount which I figure is the cost of your standard mid-life crisis. Having survived that more or less it is now my turn to shuffle off into old age while there is yet enough time to write my memoirs. This was a great project which transformed me as a human being and also turned my hair grey, but the project is done and I find that I really don't need an enormous show-quality pickup truck in my life, as much as I do love her. This truck is unique in all the world as are all the other trucks each of you own, which is why we love them so much. But nothing and no-one is ours to keep forever.

I will be placing an ad on eBay shortly but I am still organizing the last bits of documentation and getting final things ready, in the meantime I decided to give you FTEers advance notice in case some rich person wants to make me an offer ahead of time. When the eBay listing is up I will post back here with the link.

Thanks to all those who followed along and gave me encouragement over the years. I will leave you with some eye-candy.

 

I think all of us on this forum are sad to hear the news. I for one have used this thread and the wealth of knowledge it offers and applied it to my 84 Bronco. You're truck is better then when it rolled out of the factory. Your years off hard work and dedication will not be forgotten within the FTE community. Thank you

 

As much As I love your work and your truck, you are going to loose your butt selling it.
I would be surprised for it to break 15k

 

Yes, I hope it goes without saying, but restoring old cars is not a way to make money. You have to do it for its own sake and think of it as the cost to achieve a goal or have an experience, not as an investment.

Also, if you have done all the work to restore something special to you, then I don't think selling just for cash is a good enough reason unless one is really desperate. If all you need is money just get a second job or cut back or do whatever it takes, no need to get rid of your precious child over it.

But, when your child turns 18 you do have to let them go...

 

I am very sorry to see that you are selling it, this has been one of my favorite builds on FTE. Are you buying another project?

 

Absolutely stunning, Luke76!

 

No, no plans to, I have instead been reducing my project load. I sold my other project a few months ago, a 76 Granada that I'd had even longer than this truck. From these changes I am hoping mostly to "buy" greater freedom and time for the next chapter.

 

Also if any of you guys are over on Gary's Garagemahal you can see my brief post there.

 

The eBay auction is live: CLICK HERE

Reserve is set at $10k

 

Just watched the first video the "Drive Test" one. What is that little square screen in the lower right in the gauge cluster? Did you do a write-up of that, because I don't remember that being in your build.

EDIT: Just watched the walk around one, you mention it's a "computer" but not the model or what it actually is. Can you provide more info please? Thanks.

 

It's true I haven't really kept the thread up to date in recent times. That is a custom design rather than something that could be bought anywhere. The screen is a 2.2" TFT display, the "computer" (actually two) are common microprocessors (an Arduino 2560 and a Teensy 3.2). There are some sensors for temperature, GPS (for speed, heading, etc) and various other things interfaced with the vehicle. In the same video you can see various lights that can be manipulated through the keyfob, this is one example of the computer/vehicle interface. It all works through many hundreds and maybe thousands of lines of code that would be very tedious and difficult to describe.

The project as designed is rather specific to qualities unique to my truck and would not constitute a practical template for a more general purpose version, which is also why I haven't covered it here. Someone definitely could create a general purpose version and that would be a cool thing indeed but that whole topic requires an exploration of an entire universe of knowledge beyond what makes sense to go into on FTE.

Also, these days you can accomplish pretty much all the same things and a whole lot more just by carrying a smartphone with you into your vehicle.

 

Wow, I just watched them both, thank you for finally narrating.

Close to 3,000 RPM on the highway speeds, that thing drinks gasoline like it's Kool Aid.

 

True story, during an earlier attempt at a highway video I had the onscreen display set to knots for some reason instead of MPH. My stock speedo has always been accurate but for whatever reason I decided to trust the display and got it up to 80. The mechanical speedo was pegged and in reality I was doing about 90 MPH. I don't remember what the tach was at but redline isn't until 5k so plenty of room.

If you want a spiritual experience let me suggest driving a 40 year old pickup truck at close to 100 MPH. You're going to get awfully close to God I promise (or the other guy below, depending).

 

Am i the only one wondering if this actually sold. I saw the ebay listing end as i was doing some of the bidding lol. I unfortunately didnt get to it in time to try to win your truck. Now im curious if the buyer actually picked it up? Fill us in man! Lol