parts trucks,daily drivers and our "feelings"

[rjewkes]

Sorry if it sounds sappy, but i always feel sorry for the noble parts trucks, and the ones that get wrecked especialy after they just got fixed.

And kinda have mixed feelings about daily drivers. Mostly i feel glad they are still on the road but am sad they aren't yet fixed.

And of course i'm inspired by the fixed ones of course.


Any body else feel this way?

[greenbank]

I hate to see a good old truck get busted up (witness my '68, which I'm sure has gone to parts heaven now), but I guess the flip side is that something else gets to stay on the road.

[rjewkes]

Yeah but i think it is still painful for me to take parts off of a busted up one. The truly sad thing is mine and all its rust getting parts off something that only needs an engine or a rearend or a trans.

[willowbilly3]

I hate to see nice straight savable trucks sacrificed to keep what is often a junkier truck, operational. But we can't save them all and at the rate they are being junked out and crushed in another 10 years our survivors will be worth more because of it.

[spartman]

Feel the same way.

That is why I am hanging on to my fairlane. It probably should go to the scrapyard in the sky but I am going to make one last attempt to get her back on the road and win the battle of rust.

[68half/step4x4]

I agree with you guys but, I gotta admit I'm alittle guilty of doing that myself. The rear end went out of my 72, so it got parked online. I needed a steering box, so that is where it started. Snow balled from there. Now I need alot of parts to get it back again. I've had that truck for 27 years. Hearing you talk about it has made me decide to stop doing that. [before it's too late]

[trukcrazy]

That's okay Robert, we all have those stories. My original 67 sitting in my yard should have gone a long time ago as it is rusted beyond economical repair. Unfortunately, I will try to strip it of any usable parts while I am home and then off it goes. But it will go in pieces. My wrecked 67 is still waiting for a new cab. It still runs and drives, just has a custom roof job and no windshield.

[Comet]

I don't feel this way at all about the '67-'72s because I still find them all over on the street and in yards. My '61, I feel more that way about, but not so much sad, just frustrated in finding parts. I'm learning about were to look now, so less frustration as time goes on.
But if you were talking about a '41 Ford truck, that is a different story. I guess for me it all comes down to how rare it is and hard to find parts for. Not really any sentimental feelings, just frustration at finding parts.

[binder56jd]

An old compadre of mine(now deceased) told me never to fall in love with anything I owned- there's enough heartbreak in the world without grieving over lost machinery JD PS this man had been a millionaire twice and did not die broke

[dcbullet]

I think my truck is very lucky to have been saved from its prior owner's neglect and is now being lovingly cared for and restored by me. I expect her to repay that in kind by not causing me a lot of grief.

[mk]

I don't know how it happens but I sure know that feeling. Whether it's seeing that line of bombers ready for scrapping in the movie 'Best Years of Our Lives', seeing video of old steam locomotives being cut up or hearing dad talk about all the 32 Fords they scrapped after just taking a fender or other parts back in the fifties, something grabs me Shouildn't be so sentimental I guess, but it happens some times...

mike

[steveheer]

Well, I have to drive somthing and my 69 still cruises down the road just fine. I like driving it --probably more than my Bronco.. Unfortunately I BROKE my truck--I stuck a valve open with 125 thou on the head!! Can you believe that? I guess those bronze valve guides really don't wear much!!

Now sometime within the next 3 years it's going down for a full resto. It's not really that bad right now but I feel that a vehicle deserves it once every 40 years or 400,000 miles!! I'm getting there quick!!

[71-F-250SC-72-F-250C]

I felt that way when I parted the 69. The 71 was in good shape before we started the restoration, so we dont have to replace as many body parts, which is good because I have trouble throwing something away that has been with the truck for 34 years. I couldnt ever part that truck. Its been so good and dependable, it deserves to be restored.

[FORDification]

I'm probably the worst person to talk to about this, since I've completely stripped down nearly a dozen trucks over the past couple years, either for parts for my project or to sell to raise money for it. Granted, in another 10 years that will be fewer of these on the road, but I agree that at least for now there are plenty of them to be found....so I usually don't feel too guilty about it. Most of the ones I've stripped were destined to be crushed anyway, and so the way I look at it, I was able to save a few things that would've been lost forever.

[adam138]

I know what you mean.Today I went to a yard that has alot of parts trucks that arent really that bad.Yet today they were all gone.I asked the owner and he said they were crushed.I was pissed cause there was one truck that had a really nice rear bumper(I think they were used for camper special) and a great under bed gas tank but now its smashed.Yet out front they have 2 running trucks for sale a 71 LWB with a straight that was kinda crappy but runs for 800 bucks.And a really good 67 F 250 390 auto,ac,power discs,and no rust anywhere for 1000 bucks.I think I might buy that one but I already have three and one for parts.I guess I wanna save em all.