A new horse in the stable.

Wednesday I bought a 1973 Ford F100 truck. Yes this truck is older than me (but not Kimberly ;-) Even with the faded yellow color I am a bit smitten with it. It's not pretty, there are numerous little things to be fixed; a bit of surface rust, the heater doesn't work, the tailgate doesn't open but I'm up for the task. Maybe it's the romance of the past. The old dial radio has push button station selectors (3 AM & 2 FM stations). Pop the hood and you can clearly see all of the mechanical parts as if they were labeled, not shrunk and squished together like modern engines. The interior dash is made of metal and all of the knobs are simple and easy to reach. The instrument cluster is spartan with just a speedometer, fuel gauge & temperature gauge. Of course Patton and Sheridan were positively mystified as to how to roll the windows down (at 6 and 9 years old they know nothing of "rolling" windows down with a handle, "where's the button?")

If you've talked to me over the past few months it may have surprised you to see my new vehicle. After all, I was thinking about turning an old Mercedes diesel into running on vegetable oil or at the very least buying a diesel truck to run on B-80 biodiesel (we have quite a few ethanol and biodiesel suppliers here in Columbia, SC). The big 360 ci V8 engine won't get the best fuel mileage but the engine was just rebuilt less than 5,000 miles ago. I looked into maybe converting it to a flex fuel vehicle for ethanol but that would require replacing every part that comes in contact with the fuel to either Teflon coated or stainless steel, quite expensive. Of course I really just drive to work & back and a few errands a week. If we go anywhere as a family we usually take the minivan. If I can fill up the gas tank every 10 days or so (like I do now with the Mustang) I'll be happy. I'll have to make up for my fuel usage in other environmentally friendly ways (I'm in the middle of making my compost bin for the garden).

I can't quite say for sure what caught my eye about this bright yellow monster but I am smitten with it, with all of it's flaws and fix up projects. Maybe it's an extention of buying a house, needing something to haul of the house project stuff. I am a bit puzzled how easily Kimberly went along with this, it was almost her idea! "As long as it has at least 3 seat belts" was her only requirement. Maybe that's why I love her. I'll post a few more pictures as I do more work to it.

~james