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Looking for a cheap truck?
Posted by mathteacher on April 4, 2020 at 2:09 pmtrue-corner replied 4 years ago 12 Members · 18 Replies- 18 Replies
My first car was a 1959 Studebaker Lark. Flathead 6, 3 on the tree with overdrive, $35.00
Talk about a survey truck, my dad used a 1966 Wagoneer for surveying around 70 to 75. I was “rear chainman”. I turned 16 in 76, and dad gave me that old beast. How’s that for a survey story?
With classic rigs it should be listed as “stops, drives, runs”…
It was about 1973 when working as student labor at a USDA facility that the “cool” vehicle for the men who worked there was a very used pickup. Most of the men, from a GS-20 something down to student help, drove a piece-o-crap to work. I was too poor to upgrade and still drove my 1964 Dodge car that I had bought for $300. One of my fellow student labor buddies, a vet who had spent a long stretch in Viet Nam, had the coolest of them all. It was a Studebaker pickup of some unknown year that was rust color and was missing large chunks of the floor of the bed that had rusted away. Some of the highest paid career Government guys kept offering to buy it from him.
When I was a kid in the early 60’s, Dad had an old Studebaker truck with gin poles on it. He used it to pull motors from irrigation wells. No winch, just attach a chain hoist when needed. When not needed, it was just another place for us kids to play. I have no idea what happened to that truck.
We had a ’46 Chevy. Floor-mounted shift. Driving that was practice for my school bus license.
Bed had long ago rusted out and replaced with boards. We drove up through the mid-sixties.
@mathteacher Mine was a 1948 Ford that was originally my Grandfather’s. Flat head V8 with a 3 speed on the floor. That shift lever must have been 3 feet long with a 45 degree bend about 6 inches above the floor. Flat out, wide open, down hill it would go about 45 miles per hour. But it would haul 3,000 pounds of fertilizer all day.
When my father was in the Air Force he was stationed in San Antonio (1950 or so). My Grandfather drove that truck from Southwest Georgia to San Antonio (about 1,000 miles) to pick up my older sister and bring her home. All that way with no Interstate, no radio, and no air conditioning. He was tougher at 60 than I was at 30, but then again he survived World War I.
Andy
Ours made a lot of noise, like transmission or rear end noise. We hauled a load of firewood up in the foothills and the noise stopped for a few days. A mechanic told us that the drive shaft was bent and pulling those grades loaded straightened it a bit. We replaced the drive shaft and motored on.
had an ??80 f150 with no a/c, no radio, 3 on the tree. once drove that from cocoa beach to here in Austin alone, straight through- 18 hours or so. Let??s just say that was a rather dull experience.
my favorite was the blue goose, as seen here. That??s me on the roof- spent the summer of ??93 working on a ranch out in northern NM, got to drive it (and work on it) daily. I??d love to have one, but it??d be about useless as a work rig- the way those are weighted you??d turn into a survey gear catapult every time you had to get on the brakes with any kind of oomph.
I had my grandfather’s 63 Chevy PU complete with the 235 inline 6. No ac but it did have a bitchin am radio. By the time I got it he had painted it baby blue with a brush. Not the prettiest rig in the driveway but it ran okay and was probably the first thing I ever drove, sitting in his lap.
When I started out on my own, I used by 70 Series IIa Landrover which is still sitting in my driveway 20+ years later. An incredibly loud 60mph is about top end on the glorified tractor, with the overdrive engaged.
It??s not cheap, but I know of a 1948 International KB2 for sale locally that I have a serious hankering for.
We got that old ’46 stuck at a sawdust pile. My dad was mad at himself for getting stuck and kinda abused reverse trying to rock it out. We walked home and got the box truck and pulled the pick-up out. Then we towed it to the mechanic to replace reverse. Fortunately, there was no other damage and it was as good as used by the end of the week.
” as good as used by the end of the week “
That was me by end of the day Friday, for sure, for sure. Hung around 32F all day with a stiff breeze and mist/sprinkle/downpour/mist/sprinkle/downpour/mist all day.
My Kansas connection is now in Savannah. He used to text me weather reports and tv weather clips from Kansas. Now it’s heat and humidity year round, but he loves the fishing.
I loved everything about Kansas on our visits there. They were all in the summer, so we didn’t see the hourly change from great to horrible.
The big temperature changes are what led to many of the folk tales created by people from the Eastern US who relocated to the Great Plains in the homesteading days. Warm breezes finally dying out on their journey from the Gulf can get overpowered by massive cold fronts sliding eastward (downhill) off the Rockies quite quickly. I recall a Fourth of July fireworks display when everyone was putting on heavy jackets, coats and long pants in a hurry because the temperature had dropped from about 95 to under 50 in less than two hours. I also recall a year where the heating stove was turned on a few days prior to Labor Day. when a week earlier everyone was in heat distress mode.
Here is a classic book of such wild stories.
https://www.amazon.com/Shingling-Fog-Other-Plains-Lies/dp/0803297009
Don’t panic. Just keep adding oil, coolant, brake fluid, etc. Help is just a few months away. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/fear-of-impending-car-price-collapse-grips-auto-industry/ar-BB12ym4q?li=BBnb7Kz
Well, I’m still using a 1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ. I’ve had it since about 20k miles, I have about 275k on it now. Holes in the floor board, replacement seats, both rear doors open from the inside only, blower motor doesn’t work and the driver side door is misaligned. But hey it’s got the AMC six, and the AMC auto trans. Both those items can last forever.
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