My Stork Has 18 Wheels

The whole purchase of "the blue truck from Oregon" was just fantastic. I contacted the sellers of the truck after the eBay auction had ended and asked them if they were will willing to part ways with the truck. They said they would, and I requested some photos of some basic areas that are typically prone to rust.

What I got from them was just amazing both in communication, honesty, and pictures. They just about nailed every single photo I was looking for, and out of the very few that I forgot to request, I already had warm fuzzy feelings this truck would be as clean as I thought it should be in my mind for me to make the purchase. $800 dollars later, I owned a truck... Now all I had to do was get it here...

I did the typical Google search and went with the first major brokerage outfit I stumbled across. That Sunday night after I paypaled the money to the sellers, I ordered up shipping for $1075. Nice, my shipping cost more than my truck! Estimated 7-10 days to pick up the truck, another 7-14 days to get it here. I could hardly wait.

And waiting I did... FINALLY after some pretty poor communication and a couple of days of waiting at home when the shipper SHOULD have showed up, my truck finally rolled in down my street!

While the driver was unchaining the truck I was taking the opportunity to crawl all around underneath of it inspecting some hard-to-reach areas. Everything under this truck just looked AMAZING. I thought Minty was clean- shoot- that truck is a heap compared to the chassis and underside of this truck. I didn't care how it ran, I didn't care how it drove, I didn't even care if I had to push it up into the garage and the motor never took another breath, I was happy already.

Well, after a couple whacks on the starter, it did fire up. I would have almost felt better if I saw it blow a ton of blue smoke, or make knocking noises, or what not because I knew the motor was probably going straight to the scrap yard anyway. 400 Modifieds just aren't sought after engines, and if you want to build some power, there are better options out there for the money. Fact of the matter is- the truck was unloaded, I paid the driver, and went for a quick drive.

This truck drove amazing. Flat out amazing. Steering was tight, brakes were perfect, motor was a smooth runnin' dog (even compared to the 300 I-6's I've owned!) and everything just felt right. I pulled up behind the house, gave it wash job, waxed it up, and watched the original paint start to shine again.

The roof and hood paint have been burnt off from years of neglect and sitting in the sun. That just makes me sick, but I can still get a NOS Original Ford hood, and the top can be cut and a new skin from another put on, or even just dual action sanded and it'll come out fine. Heck, I might even throw a sunroof on there since it's not in perfect shape anyway.. Haha.

This is the perfect photograph to show was is to come. Jack in the background... and.. well... Jack in the foreground! If I had any inkling that changing the body over would make the truck female, I'd start changing the name over to "Jill", but that just ain't gonna happen!

I received the truck on Wednesday August 10th. I had to do some computer work for a friend on Thursday, so I knew I wouldn't get my grubbly little hands on it for some quality time until Friday Evening... And boy did I ever...