thinking back

All the talk about trucks yesterday got me thinking of years ago,When I Was around 16 ,working with my dad was tough,mostly me,,,so I ended up working with one of my dads best friends,He was a mason,did stone ,brick .block etc. He taught me a lot.Sadly he died of a heart attack at a young age.Now ,,about trucks,,,he loved Fords,,,,He loved the flathead v8,,,it was around 1972..he was still driving a 1952 ford 1/2 ton,and it had a factory wooden rack bed, He bought it from the back lot of a used car dealer,.a sheet metal company had traded it in. Now,this mason,my dads friend,was one of a kind,really nice well liked guy,easy going,but different.He was raised on a small farm in our town,and his brother still had the farm,As I was working with Bill we would stop here and there pick up scraps for his pigs he was raising at the farm,Sometimes cans of slop from a diner ...etc...etc...Imagine what the back of his little Ford looke like,,,some block,bags of cement,a crate of vegetable scraps,some cans of slop heating up,,,,etc,,,etc....Now heres the funny part of The story,,the Sheet metal guys name was still on the truck,,,,we stopped one day at a supply yard and I saw a guy talking to Bill,It seems it was the guy who used to own the little Ford,When Bill got back in the truck he said you wouldnt believe what that guy said..,he kindly asked me to paint over the name on the truck,the car dealer was supposed to but didnt,,Bill said,,I guess he doesnt like free advertising? Then he laughed,,,I Sure miss Bill,he was a great guy ,and a patient teacher,he died before I really got to learn more from him,but I Remember many things he taught me,and when I do them,I think of him.

That's a good story, I learned a lot from my dad's friends. You don't realize how much you appreciate them until after there gone.

When I was a kid my dad had a service station. He had a 55 Chevy PU they used for service calls. Nice truck, black with the company logo nicely painted on the doors.

Sadly, he sold it, always wish he'd have kept it for me!

When he sold it, he half way shot some black paint over the signs on the doors, most of it peeled off in time, leaving the name clearly readable.

Wasn't long till the complaints started coming in! Seems the young man who bought it has a heavy foot was being rather rude to his fellow motorists!

I remember my dad trying to find the truck so he could repaint the doors, never did find it, never did see it again. Assume it was wrecked or impounded or dead.