Step One - Moving it to my house

Okay, the first thing I needed to do was to move the truck to my house. My mother had been threatening to haul it to the junk yard for years (Remember, my dad had a longer relationship with the truck than he had had with my mother. So there was some residual resentment between her and the truck :) ).

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It had accumulated 20 years worth of junk in my mother's basement... the junk was placed on top of and around the truck. It was literally under a mountain of boxes, discarded carpet and any other thing that might be found in a typical or not so typical basement. I am sorry that I didn't have the foresight to take pictures, but I didn't consider doing a blog until later. So, use your imagination. To give you an idea, it took me an hour to unearth it.

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Under a heavy coat of dust and mold, it appeared to be the same old loving machine. All four tires were flat with apparent dry-rot. A press of the brake and clutch sent the pedals directly to the floor... from which they didn't return. I did have the foresight to remove the battery 20 years ago, knowing that the acid would inevitably leak out to do damage. Score one for the novice!

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I had considered renting a car-hauling trailer, but finally decided that it would be worth the incremental cost to have a professional tow it. Boy, was I ever right! I called 'Marietta Wrecker Service' and Cameron took care of me. A true professional, he was able to winch the truck out of a 90-degree position and onto his $80,000 tow truck. He had to do the same in reverse when he reached my house. It was a Herculean feat considering all four tires were flat, but through his perserverance and expertise, we got the truck comfortably into its new resting spot. I hope Cameron never finds out that all four tires actually would hold air for a few hours at a time. We both assumed wrong and it would have saved Cameron a lot of time. Makes me think that the truck has a little spirit to it! As I have been told before, ...'perhaps it has a bit of the devil in it!' If it does, its okay with me. We'll be kindred spirits.

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Anyway, as I followed Cameron from West Cobb to East Cobb, I thought that it would be a good idea to keep a log of the experience. So I got my daughter (Marina) to take a picture of Cameron and myself after he got the truck in the garage. Thanks Cameron!!

Background

I inherited a 1932 Ford pickup truck, a 'B' model, when my father passed away 11 years ago. It had been idle for 9 years before that. This is a truck that he had before he was married and he got married in 1962; so its been in the family for a while. I don't know the story of how he came to own it. Hopefully, I will uncover this and many other things along my journey.
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It has not been pampered. It got used as a work truck around the house as we used it to haul firewood and rocks, pull stumps and any other thing that might damage one of the newer cars. I know many of you are probably cringing. If it was used to do the dirty work, it didn't mean that it wasn't loved as evidenced by the fact that it is the only vehicle to have survived 50+ years in the family. Everyone in the family has at least one memory involving the old truck. As for me, there are as many memories as there were days in which we drove it.
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Dad and I bonded over the years as we cut our knuckles on this old truck as we tinkered on it to keep it running. He had always dreamed of restoring it and taking it to car shows but his health failed him early and there was just never the means to get it done.

As for me, I am capable of anything but I haven't really worked on a car since before college. And since college, I have mostly thrown myself into finance and accounting work. So to say that I am a little rusty is a bit of an understatement! But maybe this will serve as an inspiration to others who may find themselves in a similar situation.

And the blog... I wanted to blog for a couple of reasons; 1) I have never done one and wanted to learn and 2) I wanted to keep a log of the progress and log of 'particulars' along the way.

So here I am in 2009, feeling nostaligic, optimistic (probably overly optimistic) and motivated to get started with the restoration process. My wife and I have three children that are approaching the college years so money and spare time will serve to limit the pace; which is fine because I want to enjoy the journey and not rush through it. See you soon. Bill