Since Blogger conveniently puts the date at the beginning of each post, I decided to discontinue using the date as the title of my posts and start using something more descriptive.
It has come to my attention that not all of my readers know the whole story behind this truck. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to fill you in on some of the details.
The whole thing started back in May 1997, when I was 16 years old. I was on the very edge of getting my drivers license, so my Dad decided he wanted to get me a car. When he asked me what I wanted, I told him I either wanted a classic car or a pickup truck. A Chevy El Camino would have been a good compromise, but he didn’t find any before he came across this for sale in Lakeland:
A 1966 Chevy pickup! I remember him telling me that he had gotten it the day before he went and picked it up, but either he said or I heard the wrong year- I couldn’t fall asleep the night before thinking that tomorrow I would have a 1955. Not that I would have even known the difference at that point.
I was pretty excited about the whole thing, so I could hardly wait to get home the next day . . . and there it was. A 1966 (thought I was told it was a ’65) ½ ton Chevy pickup, with a long bed, step sides, a ’72 230 CID straight-six engine (that’s 3.8L for those you keeping track), single barrel carb, three speed manual with column shift, and a tool box. I didn’t have my license yet, nor any idea how to drive a stick, but I remember at one point driving it forward about three feet before hitting the edge of the driveway and stalling out. I think I may have pushed it back into position, I really don’t remember now. I remember my Dad and I (mostly Dad) tuning up the engine a bit, which ran great. The rest of the truck was a bit rusted. This is the truck that was doomed to become the parts truck, whose fate is described in my December 8, 2000 post.
To be continued . . .
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