This is my first small truck. This is going to be built for my son Owen who just turned 15 earlier this month. We are the second owner of this truck. The first owner bought it brand new with only 4 miles on the odometer. His name was Tom Wilkerson. We knew him and his wife through church. Tom was a retired engineer and lived around the corner from us after we moved a couple of years ago. He was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago and was not given a good outlook. He started chemo, but it made him feel worse and almost killed him the second round. He made the hard decision to not continue the chemo and just focus on making sure his wife was taken care of once he passed. Part of that focus was getting rid of his stuff that she would not need. I bought a Southbend lathe and some other tools as they prepared to sell their house to move into a smaller one. He also decided to give me this truck since he knew I was a car/truck guy and would take care of it. For that, we are eternally greatfull and I will take very good care of it. Before he passed we told him and his wife that we were going to redo the truck for Owen as his first vehicle and that we named it Tom after him. He passed away on July 4th of this year. Owen and I where out of town on a mission trip with the church youth and could not attend his funeral. He was a great man and will be missed by many. We are going to make sure that his wife stays informed of the status of the truck and will show her the finished product.
So, meet Tom:
This picture was taken by his wife and posted on FB the day we got it from them.
Here are some I took of the interior when I got it home:
This first day I drove it, rolled down the windows and the passenger glass came out of the track, took off the door panel to see what was up:
Turns out there are some plastic guides that snap on the edges of the glass in the front and back and there is only one roller on the regulator that rides in the track attached to the glass. With out the plastic guides, the window falls out...I replaced the guide and all is good now.