First Show, First Award

Never mind the fact that mine was one of only two in the pre-1950 truck category, or that the '48 Chevy they wanted to give the award to had already left. At its first official show appearance yesterday, John's Old Truck won its first award!

My friend Jim (on the right), who helped to run the event for the Warren Volunteer Fire Department, SWEARS he had nothing to do with it. I think he convinced the other guy to leave early.

Honestly, awards never have been and never will be the goal with this truck. After dreaming about it for 34 years, there is no greater award than just driving the thing. That said, I still got a kick out of it. I was just disappointed that I didn't have a speech prepared...


The first new fire truck ever purchased by the town of Warren - A beautiful 1946 Dodge


Hangin' with some gorgeous rides at Warren Wooods

And that was just the start of a great day. After 3 weeks off because of bad weather and the Fourth of July holiday, the Sycamore cruise night in Bethel was packed...



It had been a long time, but this truck is no stranger to the roads of the old home town. Just getting to cruise night is as much fun as being there. I spend most of my time with the truck to chat with people, but over the course of the evening I'll also walk a few laps around the parking lot to check out the various rides. Here's a beautiful '57 Chevy truck making its first Sycamore appearance yesterday:


My second favorite Chevy truck model. If I'm ever able to build my dream garage, you can count on a '57 being in it. But we'll leave the chickens in the coop...

And as the sun started to set on another fine day, it was time to make my exit to avoid blinding other drivers with my high beam only headlights. Something else for the repair list...

See y'all down the road!


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First Cruise Night

I can remember driving by cruise night at the Sycamore in my hometown of Bethel, Connecticut as a teenager, wishing like crazy that I had something cool enough to take part. The stock '70 Ford Torino (except for the Cragars) with the 302 I drove at the time was only a dozen or so years old, and I figured far from worthy of sharing space with all those gorgeous hot rods. I think brother Pete would have fit right in with this old truck, which looked a lot better then than it does today, but it was busy being a work truck. Part of that work, by the way, included regularly hauling hot asphalt to make curbs and speed bumps. As much as this made me cringe back in the day ("Hot asphalt in the back of that beautiful truck? Are you nuts?!"), I think it actually helped to preserve the now refinished bed wood that remains.

Fast forward 30-plus years to yesterday, when this dream ride finally rolled in for its very first Sycamore cruise night:



Other than giving a couple friends a quick look at the engine I didn't leave the hood open, figuring just another dusty old straight 6 is hardly something to be showing off. Especially considering all the other incredible power plants on display. Someday I'd like to have maybe a small block V8 with some chrome and a nice neat engine compartment, in which case we'll sit there with the hood up like everyone else. For now I'll just try to keep the hood from becoming partially unlatched whenever we hit a good bump.

A great time overall. Spoke with lots of nice folks, including one guy who had actually been driving by our house regularly for years, all the while wondering if John's Old Truck would ever move from its spot in the driveway. He recognized it with a big smile as he approached, seeming genuinely surprised that it was finally going down the road under its own power. The moment that topped the evening, for sure. We're gonna have a lot of fun with this old thing...


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The Dream is Finally Real

Still smilin' 24 hours later! I'll let the video tell the story...




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