I went up to my buddy's house on the TN border today and was able to bribe his cousin into towing my new Toyota down to the First World. I was finally able to get some pictures while we waited for the wrecker, I also gave the truck and cheesy name. We were up in shine country, but I thought White Lightning was a little too cliche. White Frightening is certainly more accurate for the uphill project ahead.
Here's the basic starting point: Dirt, mold, and rust. The graphics looked a lot more gold when the truck was in the tobacco house. Disappointment. This is the good (unrusted) side of the truck. I think the roof of the tobacco house must have leaked on the driver's side. I can't really explain why one side is rusty and the other is perfect.
Here's the rusty side. Also, some shiny happy person covered the bed with old gross carpet. It's riveted on about every 3 inches. I think I've got a 3 hour date with a power drill.
Yum.
Engine bay. A lot of work needs to be done in here soon. So much junk. This truck came with cruise control and air conditioning, but without power steering, go figure. The truck appears to have some sort of tow package. It has a trailer brake controller and used to have a 5th wheel. Ethan (my buddy), claims the VIN tag says it has 4.82 rear gears. I'm not sure about this, and will investigate.
I'm going to sell off the old 22R and replace it with one of our 85.5-up cores that we have at the shop.
I've saved the best for last: the interior. What a hot berkeleying mess. I don't what it is that compels rednecks to glue old house carpeting to the interiors of cars (cough cough percocet), but it's a practice that I despise. I started to peel off some of the moldy carpet, and the interior underneath is spotless. The door cards are perfect and the dash has zero cracks. I just have to figure out how to remove all the old dried glue without damaging the interior plastic.
Well y'all, stay tuned for the next installment. White Frightening is going to get a bath, get stripped, and get all the non-essentials sold off to make way for bright shiny new parts.