A Saturday in the Life

Perfect driving weather yesterday. After a quick run down the hill to gas up and grab some feed for our chickens, it was a 40-45 minute cruise over the back roads to Brewster to say hi to my friend and main mechanical man Alex. I was telling him what a hard time I was having trying to find an 80's S-10 pickup transmission for the planned drivetrain swap, and we talked about possible alternatives to getting 5 lug wheels on the rear and achieving the decent highway cruising speed I want for this old farm truck. Turns out that we can keep the 3 speed transmission and probably just swap in new gears and custom axles for the existing rear end to get where we want to be. He gave me some homework, though. I need to open up that rear end to find out exactly what gears are in there, which will be a little after work project in the coming week. The learning process continues. In the meantime, some photos from yesterday's travels...


Chicken feed stop


Quick Candlewood Lake photo op


Alex had the Firebird out yesterday


Rt. 37 in Sherman, on the way back to New Milford


Saturday fave: John and dad Larry saying hi at the Sycamore


When the sun gets low, almost time to go


All in all, a great Saturday. Thanks for stopping to take a look. See y'all down the road!


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A Sunday Drive and the Full Story

I knew when I got out the door with the dogs first thing yesterday morning that it was going to be a gorgeous day for a drive here in Connecticut. Our immediate area has some beautiful scenery, so it's easy to get some nice views without going far from home. Cruised around locally for an hour or so in the morning, then another short drive in the afternoon before heading in for my usual Sunday afternoon shift at the radio station.


roadside stop on Rt 67


quick photo op at the bridge on Rt 133

The search goes on for the transmission we need for the drive train upgrade, and it's proving to be difficult. We need a 5 speed manual (T-5) from an 80's S10 truck, 2 wheel drive, 6 cylinder, with a mechanical speedometer connection. They can be found on eBay but the prices I'm seeing there so far are beyond my budget, especially when shipping and core charges are factored in. I compiled a list of ten different CT used parts sources yesterday, and will be making calls this week.

In the meantime, I've decided to post the full short story - "John's Old Truck - Living the Dream and Honoring Mom" - on a GoFundMe page, to give readers the additional option of donating any amount they like after reading it. The story has been available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords for several months for $2.99. Of course, this new option means some will read it and donate nothing, but that's okay. Hopefully, everyone who sees it will at least be inclined to share. The goal is simply to get the story in front of as many eyes as possible, thereby increasing the chances of reaching the goal of full restoration and the epic cross country road trip that I've been dreaming about since my teen years. What's also very important to me is the preservation of the truck for many generations to come in our family.

As of this posting, the e-book has only sold a few copies. Not a lot of eyes there. I figured giving it away to some in return for the chance of far greater overall distribution would be a good trade-off. As the old saying goes, gotta give something to get something.

Here are the various links for the full short story:

GoFundMe

Amazon (Kindle)

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

If you read the story and like it, I really hope you'll share it with friends and family. And as always, please feel free to contact me directly via email anytime if you have any questions.

Thank you! See y'all down the road!


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Cruisin' and Showin'

I don't take the truck out during the week very often, but Thursday was an exception. Drove it to work in Danbury, then to the Wooster Hollow Diner in Ridgefield to be part of their new Thursday evening cruise. Not a huge turnout (about a dozen), but I think smaller events can provide a better opportunity to connect with other enthusiasts. Instead of wandering around a parking lot packed with classics, you're spending more time chatting and getting the stories behind the rides.

Like the beautiful '70 Olds 442 that I had seen at least a couple times previously at other events. Karen's husband had lovingly restored it for her, with impeccable attention to detail. Sadly, he passed away last year. She now shows it in his honor.

And Tom's '66 Mustang, which he rescued about ten years ago, rebuilt (including a ton of metal work), then rebuilt again after a reckless driver spun him around on the highway and he t-boned a Cadillac.

Everyone has a story, and I love to hear them.


Thursday at Wooster Hollow

Second time out this week came yesterday, with the Steel & Wheels show at the Danbury Railway Museum. It was pretty cool driving in and parking among all the old train cars. A nice variety of gorgeous classic rides as well. My favorite was the '59 Impala. A nice turnout despite the clouds, and we did have a brief shower, but still a great time overall.


My fave from yesterday - '59 Impala






Just hangin' at the train yard

DRIVETRAIN UPDATE:
Turns out that the transmission we thought we were going to use is not the right one and won't work, so the search is back on for an 80's S-10 two wheel drive 6 cylinder 5 speed (T-5). Hoping to find one within a reasonable driving distance of the Danbury, CT area. We're doing the rear end/tranny swap to make the truck more highway friendly (right now she struggles to reach 50 mph and screams like crazy at top speed), to enable longer drives and going to events outside our immediate area. Please feel free to email me directly if you have or know of a T-5 that would work for my truck.

Thanks as always for stopping by. See y'all down the road!


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