[ThreeQuarter]

First, the back story:
When I was in college in the nineties at Texas A&M (WHOOP!) I got to know an already-retired animal science professor after I did some odd jobs around his house. I ended up checking on him periodically and helping him maintain his house and his old 1968 Chevy pickup that he bought new from a local dealer. I also got to listen to his stories about growing up in Kentucky, moving to Idaho and back to Kentucky, WWII, and college student (Corps of Cadets) pranks over the years.

The '68 was his daily driver and everyone in town knew him by that pickup. Even though it never did much hauling or towing, this C10 did not have the easiest life. Its parking spot was under a tree. The owner's office was less than a mile away from his house, so I imagine there were not a lot of miles put on it at full operating temp. By the time I started working on the pickup, it was on its third engine and the firewall and roof gutter were swiss cheese. He had it repainted twice, but there was minimal work done to the rotted areas. Rain would soak the driver's feet, so one of my jobs was to try to stem the flow of water inside the cab. At the time I had no shop, few tools, and even fewer bodywork skills. I cut out the rot in the cowl and used aluminum flashing with body seam sealer to shed water away from the passenger compartment. Fortunately this is an area that isn't visible. He was very appreciative and it did the trick until he reached an the age when he couldn't drive it anymore.

Fast forward a few years and I was living in Iowa. I still checked on my old friend when I visited College Station. His wife passed away in 2010 and he had no surviving children. He told me once that I was in his will for the pickup. I just responded that I hoped he would not make it happen anytime soon. However, time caught up with him and I got a call in 2013 from his caretaker. "We all know you're in the will for that pickup, and he doesn't need to be driving anymore. Come get it." It was a hard day to take that pickup away from him, especially when he no longer recognized who I was. I promised him I would bring it back when I was done "working on it." A year later he passed away.

Fortunately I was at a point where I was able to afford a full resto project. I built a shop addition to our house and started the teardown in 2017. So starts the resto...