[ATVYP]

When my grandma's uncle Howard passed away, my grandma's parents used the old farm truck. When they passed away in the late 60's, my grandma wanted the old truck for sentimental reasons, but my grandfather was a poor farmer and not very mechanically inclined (to say the least) so he wanted nothing to do with it. My dad purchased the old truck for grandma, and they brought it home and it set in her machine shed for years.

The last time it had been licensed was 1978, when my uncle Glen used it to deliver eggs before school. Grandma caught word that he had been drag racing the old bird and made him park it, where it sat collecting dust. I was very close with my grandparents, and spent several summers with them. I always remember the old truck sitting in a corner of the machine shed, and it was one of those things that we always stayed away from. It had so much dust and was so oxidized that we always thought it was light blue.

The summer of 89' (between my 8th and 9th grades), grandma told my dad he could have the truck back. We pulled it out of the shed, and after washing the dust off we realized it was actually dark blue with black fenders. After replacing a short piece of fuel line under the bed, they pulled it around the round farmhouse driveway with a tractor and it started right up the second pass! They drove it on the trailer after setting so long.

Dad and I worked on it all through high school. He didn't finish it until I was in college, but it was always something we had fun with. He and I are very different, and have very different tastes and ideas, but the old truck was always fun to look at and be around.

Dad isn't really known for having much patience. After several years of tinkering with the old truck, he lost interest and it set for the past 7-8 years in his garage. The front end was very loose, and he wasn't up to tearing back into it. When he towed it down for me, he said I was welcome to do anything I wanted to do with it. I've already had a ball and can't wait to complete my toy!