Just curious.

Do any of y'all give much thought to who might own your truck in coming years, or what hurdles they may face with the mods you make?

Today, after my tread mill time, I went out and found it to be a really warm day, so I crawled under the '77 in the yard to "look it over" considering my next step ... and as I did so, looking up at years and years of dried grease here and there, the signs of past fixes, some mods, those SS screws peaking through the floor from above with the SS lock nuts, past long ago paint and some new paint ... I realized that in 20 or 30 or more years someone is gonna go under this same truck to survey for some work on the truck they just bought at an estate sale and they will ask themselves .... WTH?

Don't get me wrong, I know I won't care.

 

Yup and I just laugh.

Helps me to remember what it was like before the "intermanet" made parts and repairs soooo much more accessible. Folks today who don't remember what it was like to be completely beholden to your single backyard parts store and the Sears catalog (oh and in my case Canadian High Performance at least in the later years) for your repairs, won't be able to comprehend why some field repairs happened the way they happened.

In that light it's almost our duty to cause someone a migraine in 2054

 

In 20 or 30 years I will not really care, because I am sure by then I will not be here any more. Or I might still be here, but mentally will have checked out already. I just want the new owner to be able to have the patience and determination to keep it running and continue to enjoy it the way I did.

 

I hope that my last ride, to the bone yard or wherever it is you go to be cooked to dust, will be in the bed of my 1979 F150. I've told a few of my friends this, so they can hopefully make this happen.

I'd like my daughter to take over ownership of the truck, but who know if she would want it. Lots of memories of her, from an infant to soon to have her license, with the truck. When I'd ask "do you want to take the car or the truck?" the answer was always "The truck!!".

If it ends up with someone else in the future, they better not mess it up or I will haunt them with a vengeance.

 

I have thought about the, next poor guy that will have to work on this, when I have done some less than "by the book" repairs in the past. Sometimes you do what you need to do to get going again...

I try to avoid fixing things like that now, but there was more than one occasion in the past that I have done things due to budget or lack there of, or made work parts I had on hand that weren't exact replacements. Often those vehicles were sold or traded shortly thereafter.

 

The people that follow this forum, for the most part, keep these old trucks running for more reasons than just utilitarian transportation. These have more of an appeal to us than just a vehicle to haul home something that won’t fit in the other car. Newer tucks have a “cool factor” too but on a different level than these old beasts. Unlike the computer controlled newer trucks, if you had Legos as a kid, you can fix just about anything by yourself with basic hand tools. I would hope the next owner of my trucks would share my enthusiasm and want it for what it is and not complain that the dimmer switch is not automatic. (And on the floor where God intended it to be) I also hope they won’t cuss me for the changes I made or how I made them.



The day I purchased my ’79 F150 new off the Ford dealer lot, it was parked next to a crew-cab that I thought was really cool, but way beyond my high-school age budget. I wanted one from that day on. I searched the want ads faithfully looking for one for a long time. In 1992 I was having a backyard BBQ and mentioned to my friend that I was still searching. A week later I saw an ad for one that sounded pretty nice. The woman I called said she still had it and gave me her address to come on over to see it. I get there and…no truck. It was a girl that was a friend of a friend that wound up at my BBQ and heard me. She ran the ad as a joke and wanted me to call her.



We have been marred 31-years.



Here is where it gets better, One of her co-worker’s dad purchased a ’79 crew-cab new and used as a tow rig to haul his 428CJ Talladega Torino to the drag races. He passed away in ’89. His wife would not part with the F350 because it was HIS truck she did not want it to wind up as just someone’s beater work truck. She did not even trust her own sons to not destroy it, so it sat on the side of her house for about six-years. My wife convinced her to sell it so she could give it to me because I wanted THAT truck and not just a truck. It was my Christmas present in 1995.



I got it running again and made minor changes, Mostly functional and safety related but I did not paint it. Years later, I was at a car show, as a spectator, not an entry, and saw a woman looking over my truck very closely and she was in tears. This was her husband’s truck, and she was so glad I left it alone. She was also flattered that I had named it Beverly. Her name, because I knew from day one how she felt about selling it and thought it should be part of the legacy.



I hope whoever get my trucks next can also appreciate the emotional attachment I have for these old things. If not, that will be the next forum for us. scottscott and I will share ways to haunt someone if they put 20-inch blingity-bling east LA drug-dealer wheels on it..

 

nuf said.....

 

What a great story, thanks for sharing!

Mike

 

I plan on giving my trucks to my kids who are now in middle school. This idea helps me try and do my repairs “right.” All I own are basic hand tools. So my kids even help sometimes.

But this idea also gives me rot-gut, too. No air bags. Questionable shoulder harness seat belts. Fuel boil. Cold mornings. Failing undercoating.

Meh, it’ll be fine.

 

Yes, it will in time.

I guess was just reflecting on like my '77 that I've maintained, modded, enjoyed, pulled with, worked, camped with, hauled with ... since 1986. It is 47 years of age, but I've only had it for 38 years. It had 9 years on it when new to me. Perspective .... just to say it is now 1970 & I just got my license, and here's is a 47 year old 1923 Ford truck I maybe inherited. Maybe it once hauled a family from Oklahoma to a better life after their home was covered in dirt? Maybe it spent a few years running around the coal fields? Maybe John Wayne once owned it? In 1970 to a teenager, would it be cool out there on Friday night with it's wire wheels and 4 cyl F-head? Ricky has a '65 GTO (his first), Billy & Jerry share a '69 Road Runner (an uncle rebuilt it from a wreck). Dennis is sporting that 1968 Shelby GT 500KR he stole from a retired RR exec estate for $2400,

A close cousin of mine who was 9 years my senior had a 1940 Ford pickup, Black, Cadilac V-8 using a JCW adapter kit, dual exhaust consisting of two long black straight pipes from mufflers hung under the rear axle looking like gutter pipes, and rear tires meant for a race car at a NASCAR track on widened stock wheels. It was cool, especially when the vent was popped open. The only time he used the radio was if on the road between home in Appomattox and Lynchburg or "down the country" in Franklin County. That truck was only 30 or so years old, but it had seen changes. It would be a cool ride even today, 84 years since new.

We were wondering what the future held for us all, but we didn't let it control us. No internet, but we found parts. If we modded, we did it for us, not for the next guy. My first job after getting a work permit, paid $2.10 per hour, it seemed a lot after a couple years as a paper boy. The post starting this thread was after the first time I gave any real thought to "that next guy" .... as I have no kids. Whomever winds up with the '77 will soon find they have a survivor ... that maybe looks nice ... but has scars & warts and is not so original.

 

My truck will most likely go to my youngest daughter if I don't sell it before i die.
The down side to that is her husband.
He never fixes anything.
They bought a used Saleen Mustang years ago and the trans went out before the temporary tag even expired and its sat in their yard ever since.
They have a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder that the engine blew up shortly after buying it like 20 years ago and they still have the car.
He never fixes my daughter's car that I bought for her, she has to rely on her son.
They had a 1974 Highboy that they left at a friends house when the moved.
Their friend kept telling them to come and get it or they were going to have it towed away.
They no longer have a Highboy.
At this point I really have no idea where any of my stuff will go.
I'm mostly concerned about my small handgun collection.

 

My dent goes to great granddaughter of original purchaser along with my shotgun bought for me in 1955. Handgun to younger coworker that served in Iraq.

 

God Bless that