I got my truck from my dad.
Here is the story.
In 1972 (could have been 1971 I guess) mom and dad had a loan to buy their 2nd house. One day they went into town to buy groceries and dad spots this beautiful ochre stepside across the road at a small new car lot. Without telling mom (who he left in the store) he goes over, negotiates, and buys it on the spot.
That 1972, swb, ochre, 250 I6, 3 OTT stepside with spare tire on the side became his work and "haul stuff" truck for the next 20 years. *He said it was terrible in the snow though, even chains, weight, and half flat tires had no effect. I can remember lots of weekend trips in it, such as black berry picking, even him getting a load of coal dumped into the back at a strip mine. It's moved all of his kids at least once, dad never renting a Uhaul ever in his life.
He never took it to the shop, not even once, doing every ounce of work on it himself. In the 1980's he welded in his own replacement for the wood bed and he had it bondo'ed and painted in 1990 (after telling me he'd sold it. I was pissed! ) In 1992 he put power steering and power brakes onto it and I very vaguely recall one junkyard trip for that. I think the power brake booster came off an old Nova.
I started driving it some in 1991 and it was my "go to" date vehicle in high school. A bench seat, column shifter, and relatively short girlfriend made for great parking sessions. Why anyone would want bucket seats in a vehicle I will never know.
My older brother had given my parents a whole lot of trouble with drugs, smoking, drinking, etc. Dad tried physical means such as beating him half to death and making his eat an entire pack of cigarettes. Nothing could stop my brother (up for a double lung transplant now---guys, don't smoke).
Dad decided to try something else with me. So when I was 12, dad offered me a deal. He said, "son, beating your brother half to death didn't work, he still smokes and drinks. If you can make it to 21 and never drink, smoke, do drugs, smoke pot, dip snuff, or chew tobacco I will give you the choice of this Walther P38 (he had it in his hand at that moment) and my 1972 truck."
Well, I made it to 21 having never needing to lie to dad. I ended up with all of dad's guns (he didn't have very many but the P38 is amazing)
and the truck. I still don't do drugs, chew, dip, or smoke but I have been drunk a few times. Even that I haven't done since 2010. At the most I'll have a malt beverage or mixed drink if out at a nice restaurant, but no more than one or two.
I didn't have a use for a truck in college or after.....so my truck has basically sat in a garage since 1994. That's why I had to join the site, to figure out how to fix it!
