Great story. Only thing is, although a rock can last for ages and ages, they just sit there and gather moss. Yours is a rolling stone! I think if it were mine, and it ever needed a paint job, I'd put back to it's original RR livery.
Power steering hadn't been offered in these trucks all that long. Also, trains don't have power steering
. But the perceptions of the traditional truck user as a work truck had been "You don't need all that" or "Just another thing to break". Fact is, p/s, p/b. automatic transmission were not even offered in trucks until they began marketing to suburbanites a second vehicle for chores and camping. Cars had these things available for many years before. The perception was you gave up some comfort and convenience to gain what a car lacked in utility. And yes, folks back then were more frugal in general and the adult buyers had come up with armstrong steering.
You can fix a truck up all pretty and keep it that way while 'carefully' using it as a truck. This perception that you are killing a truck by using it is inaccurate. Look at the beautifully maintained dump trucks that haul dirt, stone, asphalt, sand day in and day out in and out of quarries and asphalt plants for hundreds of thousands of miles. That limestone dust is acidic as all get out and they keep that aluminum and stainless shining like chrome. My buddy is a sign painter/mural/pinstriper and in this area there are fleets of dump trucks with murals painted on the side of hoods or on the side of the (painted) dump bodies.