15 years ago my Father purchased a 1954 Willy's truck for $500 from a neighbor. It was mostly original but 45 years of neglect had caught up with the Willy's and it needed love. Dad got her running but the engine wasn't the right one, the brakes were beyond messed up and he quite frankly didn't want a 60hp truck. He decided it needed a chassis swap and took 4.5 donors to find the right one. Trying to keep it "in the family" a 1973 CJ-5 proved too fun and got a 2 year frame up restoration of it's own. The second a Rusty mouse house of a 78 Wagoner showed promise but the engine wouldn't fit under the narrow fenders without significant modification. A 1987 Dakota was purchased and Dad drove it for a few months before deciding that the GM 4.3L was a superior engine and the hunt for the final donor was on. A $150 1994 blazer 4x4 was scavenged for all of the running gear. The back half of the blazer was too wide for the narrow bed of the Willy's so a S10 frame was grafted onto the blazer front half.
Dad stripped the harness to the bare essentials, got the wire lengths right to fit the truck, and got the engine running with a functioning diagnostic light. He extended the firewall to increase leg room in the cab and fabricated a new bed and tailgate from sheet metal that looks identical to the OEM one. He wanted a runner that looked old and laid a new coat of metallic green and black over the body keeping some dents as is. His theory was if it was perfect he wouldn't use it.
The old 53 Willy's looks the part but has heat, power brakes, power steering, IFS, shift on the fly 4wd, Fuel injection and runs just like a modern truck. Start to finish it took Dad about 6 years to restore 2 jeeps from the ground up while putting 2 kids through college, his wife through a PHD program all while being an owner/operator short haul truck driver.
After less than 2 years and 5,000 miles while on his way to work in the wee morning hours my Dad was killed in a head on collision. Our family was crushed. We pulled together as best we could and moved on.
It's not about the truck, the truck is just a thing but for My Mom and I the truck represented something more. Everything about the truck is done exactly like my Dad wanted it. Nothing on it was not shaped by his hands and planned by his mind. My Mom promised me that the truck would be mine someday but she needed it. For years it sat in the garage next to her car. Everytime I went to her house I'd start it up drive it around some, wash it, and keep it in good shape. Whenever we would visit, late at night I would go out into the garage and just sit there for a half hour in the truck. About a year ago my Mom announced that she was going to put the truck in the shed. It wasn't going to be in the garage anymore, and then this spring she said it was time.
We drove down this weekend to visit and to bring the truck home. After sitting largely undriven for 7 years the truck was facing a 200 mile trip. Fluids were changed, the battery charged, and tires aired up. Almost anticipating the journey the engine barked to life an settled into that strange idle that the 4.3 has.
The next 200 miles where some of the best I've traveled. Contrary to popular belief Central Illinois in July is an interesting place. It's flat and hot, 2 lane roads crisscross oceans of tall green corn. The air is heavy with humidity and smells sweet with pollen. Grain elevators stand over towns dotting the landscape every 10 miles. This is where the truck is home.
I've never in my life experienced a vehicle that draws the kind of attention this truck draws. Kids, adults, elderly all turned heads and gave thumbs up as I drove by. It fits in anywhere but stands out everywhere. Every stop people would talk about how they knew someone with a truck like that and say how they don't make them like that anymore.
Sadly they are right he won't make another one like this again. The truck survived the trip with no issues. At 5200miles on the Odometer my time with it begins. I don't know what I'll do with it.
Seeing the smiles on my 2 kids faces as they climbed all over it made me feel like somehow they were connecting with a man they will never meet. Austin is 2 and he is enthralled with it "Daddy Truck!". Claire can't wait until she can ride around the neighborhood with Daddy. I'll drive it and put it to work the way Dad would have wanted. I'll take it to car shows and put please touch signs on it. Honestly it's effecting me in ways I never thought it would. It's been 7 years and I still think about Dad everyday. I don't normally post this kind of thing but I feel I have to today.
I feel like I owe everything I am in life to the influence of my Dad.
And to that I say,
Thanks Dad.
I know with the truck and me it was a Job well done.
