Ford F-100

Ever since I was a child I observed and was enamored with old cars and trucks either standing still and alone, or being carefully tinkered with and restored in folks' yards and driveways. It seemed to me to be one of the nation's most enduring and satisfying pastimes. My first car was a 1970 GTO that my uncle helped me restore when I was 17 years old. Later in my life, when I traveled West and then all over the country, I came upon a 1963 Dodge Panel wagon on someone's back forty in Montana. I had to have it! It became my house with cat and dog on board as I traveled the country; what actually became traveling from junk yard to junk yard to restore and repair my beloved panel wagon. I even replaced the transmission all by myself (although my dog kept running off with the 16/18 wrench). To this day I am enamored by older cars and trucks with their promise of running anew and shining brightly again, but I'll take the rust and wear as well, and I will envy the men and women across the country who take them on either as a Sunday hobby, a side gig, or a fulfilling profession.