This was the view from my rearview mirror on Saturday.





I drove south to SoCal on Friday afternoon. Stayed at my brother's house and then left early in the morning towards San Diego to pick up the other half of Blacksnake's 52 F1 truck from Julie's house. I didn't get to see Julie because she was snowed-in at the airport in Washington, D.C., but I did get to meet her uncle Jim. He's a great guy! After a few hours of loading and talking, I was back on the road towards my brother's house. Note the temperature reading on the rearview mirror. Yes, approximately 80 degrees in San Diego on Saturday.

Then, on Sunday morning, I left around 6am and ventured out into the Sierra's near the south entrance to Yosemite, to pick up a 49 COE cab and front clip. Spent about 4 hrs driving and about 3 hours loading the cab and clip onto the trailer. Met a great guy (the seller's friend). He's an old timer body guy. He doesn't use bondo in his repairs. He's very experienced in metal work. He's actually working on a 55 F100. He also has plenty of other old vehicles sitting on his 2.5 acre lot. He still works in the collision industry part-time, and since I'm in the insurance/collision industry, I shared some pointers with him. I'll be definitely keeping his info for future use.

This is what my truck and trailer looked like at this house and down the road when I stopped to check the load.







This is what I saw on my 3-4 hour drive home whenever I looked in the rearview mirror.



I drove a total of approximately 1,000 miles and spent about 17 hours in the truck. It was one looooooong weekend. Needless to say, I was beat when I came home on Sunday.

Now, it's time to disassemble the 52 and decide what to keep for myself and sell the rest. Not sure what I'll do with the COE yet.

 

You're hard core, Ilya! Looks like a good score all around.

 

Looks like ya got your work cut out for ya.

 

Sounds like my kind of haul. I do the same thing,and hauled home alot in the last 3 years....since I got effie fever.
It is so cool to look back at your load and it feels like you know what I mean.

 

Damn! That would scare the he of me if I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that thing staring back at me!

 

Nice haul! Reading this has given me a case of road fever. Not long ago I convinced the wife it was better to look at something in person vs taking the Ebay description at it's word. A day and a half and 900 plus miles later we'd looked at 4 trucks on the East Coast, and took in the Golden Age Truck and Hemming's Museum before turning around and heading home - truckless. 'got the bug to go... go somewhere and look at old trucks.

Ohh yeah, I picked up an Ebay purchase while out there too rather than pay the freight for 2 portable tire cages. Anybody with a big truck and lock rings need one?

 

I just gotta laugh!

A couple of my neighbors rode over on their horses while Ilya was there. They said he was kinda cute!