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Glad to be here folks.
30 years ago, at 17, I’d saved up 2 years of hay field money and bought an old 1950 ford. $1,250.00! No idea what I even had, just loved old trucks. Old man made me a deal I wasn’t even aware of. 351 Cleveland with Windsor heads under the hood, mustang rear end.. so on. didn’t have it running but my girlfriend and I would sit in the driveway and I’d tell her all about everything a boy could make up to impress a cute girl.. but especially how I’d drive her up in this old truck, shined and new, to get ice cream at Dairy Queen....some day...
that was ‘89.. left that fall for the military... truck went in dads barn.. first gulf war started.. then some other odds and ends. 10 years later just had to tell dad to sell it. Upside was, I succeeded in impressing that girl as we had been married 10 years with a rascal of our own!
Fast forward to today. Dad passed in ‘05, been married 30 years to that same “cute girlfriend”, 5 kids, great job, nice house, farm.. still in the military, but guard now. Run sniper ops for a contingency response group.
Never got an old truck again though.. always talked about it. It would come up once in a while and my still girlfriend / wife of 30 years would say, “you still owe me a trip to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone boy!” We’d laugh and talk about how we needed to get us another old truck.. this time.. a power wagon.
re-enlisted for the last time before retiring the other day. I’ll be if they didn’t give me a bonus for it. Short on guys that do what I do. My wife immediately said “take that exact money, and go buy you an old truck with it.. not a new one, an old one you and the boys have to fix up. ...and I mean you cash that check and use that very cash to buy it.” See, I could afford a bunch of trucks now, always wanted one, just never got one. She figured the military took our first one, the last thing they were going to do is buy me another.
hard to argue with that.... so with one of my wiser and more eloquently crafted arguments I replied...”ummmmm... OK”
so, me and my boys loaded up this weekend in the turbo diesel “super truck” (as my daughter named the f350 super duty) and headed from Louisville down to South Georgia to pick up a power wagon. Been wanting one for 30 years.
ironically, title said Bardstown KY! Fella says “your from KY, that Bardstown near you?” My jaw hit the ground. “Mr., I’m not actually from Louisville, I just say that so people know the general area.... I’m from bardstown and I know the man on this title”. He bought it three months ago to part out, put the cab on another body... got and realized it was all original... entire underside coated with almost no rust at all. Amazing. So, he just put it back up for sale.
This old truck had been in a barn 12 miles from my house, tarped and undercoated for 27 years.. was working the local CAT implement shop before that!! I drove all the way to GA to bring it right back home.
meant to be!
so begins the fun now.
30 years ago, at 17, I’d saved up 2 years of hay field money and bought an old 1950 ford. $1,250.00! No idea what I even had, just loved old trucks. Old man made me a deal I wasn’t even aware of. 351 Cleveland with Windsor heads under the hood, mustang rear end.. so on. didn’t have it running but my girlfriend and I would sit in the driveway and I’d tell her all about everything a boy could make up to impress a cute girl.. but especially how I’d drive her up in this old truck, shined and new, to get ice cream at Dairy Queen....some day...
that was ‘89.. left that fall for the military... truck went in dads barn.. first gulf war started.. then some other odds and ends. 10 years later just had to tell dad to sell it. Upside was, I succeeded in impressing that girl as we had been married 10 years with a rascal of our own!
Fast forward to today. Dad passed in ‘05, been married 30 years to that same “cute girlfriend”, 5 kids, great job, nice house, farm.. still in the military, but guard now. Run sniper ops for a contingency response group.
Never got an old truck again though.. always talked about it. It would come up once in a while and my still girlfriend / wife of 30 years would say, “you still owe me a trip to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone boy!” We’d laugh and talk about how we needed to get us another old truck.. this time.. a power wagon.
re-enlisted for the last time before retiring the other day. I’ll be if they didn’t give me a bonus for it. Short on guys that do what I do. My wife immediately said “take that exact money, and go buy you an old truck with it.. not a new one, an old one you and the boys have to fix up. ...and I mean you cash that check and use that very cash to buy it.” See, I could afford a bunch of trucks now, always wanted one, just never got one. She figured the military took our first one, the last thing they were going to do is buy me another.
hard to argue with that.... so with one of my wiser and more eloquently crafted arguments I replied...”ummmmm... OK”
so, me and my boys loaded up this weekend in the turbo diesel “super truck” (as my daughter named the f350 super duty) and headed from Louisville down to South Georgia to pick up a power wagon. Been wanting one for 30 years.
ironically, title said Bardstown KY! Fella says “your from KY, that Bardstown near you?” My jaw hit the ground. “Mr., I’m not actually from Louisville, I just say that so people know the general area.... I’m from bardstown and I know the man on this title”. He bought it three months ago to part out, put the cab on another body... got and realized it was all original... entire underside coated with almost no rust at all. Amazing. So, he just put it back up for sale.
This old truck had been in a barn 12 miles from my house, tarped and undercoated for 27 years.. was working the local CAT implement shop before that!! I drove all the way to GA to bring it right back home.
meant to be!
so begins the fun now.
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