If it is no longer available all you need to know is this is how the listing opened....
"RUST, DINGS, SMALL DENTS, OFFENSIVE, SMELLS, LOUD, NOT socially acceptable, girls DON'T like it! etc... This is NOT the truck for you if wear skinny jeans or the one's with the scrolly crap on the back pockets. They cant hear you in the drive through at starbucks, and nobody will make eye contact with you at you kids soccer practice. That said.....this truck is AWESOME!!!!"
In the blink of an eye a month has gone by since my last post! And in that same blink, a chunk of prime New England summer has flown by. Soon enough the days will be getting shorter and the leaves will be changing . I realized I have spent the bulk of the summer wrestling with the suspension on my Cougar rather than driving it. I actually had to replace the front coils again since the set I cut (twice) kept unseating themselves on test drives. I think I eventually traced the issue to the tired 1 inch spring insulators a the top of each coil.
Anyway, the car is just about road worthy again and now the goal is to drive it and attend as many local shows and event as I can while the weather cooperates. Yesterday was a local event called the 7th Annual Sgt. Jeffrey Boucher Memorial Auto, Bike and Truck Show. This show really has become one of the best in our area for a variety of reasons.
First and foremost, the show is for a great cause and completely backed by the local Police department and as a result the debauchery that ensues is sanctioned by the boys in blue. For instance, the event features a burnout contest, rock crawling course and even mud pit racing. The venue this year was at our local municipal airport so the event even offered helicopter rides.
The show is a free for all! Every faction of automotive enthusiast is represented. There is no 'hot rod' club frowning down on every post 1949 vehicle on display. There were vintage muscle cars, new muscle cars, hot hots, low riders, imports, lifted trucks, slammed trucks, sport bikes, choppers, military vehicles, etc!
The organizers of the event did a great job. I hesitate to call it a 'car show' since the rock crawling and mud racing made it feel more like a competitive motorsports event that happened to have a couple hundred cars on display as well. My 8 year old son, upon entering the gate and looking around, asked me if we just arrived at a fair. When I said it was a car show he replied to me with certainty 'No, its a fair.'
Irregardless, the event provided the motivation to get the Cougar out to upcoming events. More to come....and enjoy what's left of the summer.
My posts have definitely been slowing down. Basically, I've really just been posting about past exploits with hopes to make it through the winter so that I can start a more 'real time' blog in the spring. The problem is that it won't stop freakin' snowing here in Connecticut. Temperatures are still hovering around freezing and last year at this time spring had sprung and we were in the 70's.
So for now, here's another story about something dumb I did. Just a couple years back I came across a beat up old 64 Ford F-100 locally. The truck was a mess, but relatively complete. As I already posted, I have s weak spot for old Ford trucks. So I made the deal. Rented a trailer and took the family SUV to drag the project home....did I mention I forget to tell my wife? Ultimately, to make a long story short, she went nuts when I brought it home. I think a part of the reaction what based on the fact that the truck was heinous. Anyways, I spent some time going down the 'rat rod' theme with the project just using rattle cans and junk already in my garage. I think it started to shape up but then I received an offer on it and sold it......a very happy day for my wife. So here it is....
Before
After
Engine Before
Engine After
I'm sure there is a Something about old Ford trucks - Part III coming some day.
I like old trucks. Maybe it stems from my brother's old truck that got us started wrenching on stuff? So when a friend of mine wanted to get rid of his 67 F100 in a hurry I was more than happy to oblige. I just purchased a piece of land in which I was going to build a house on....the perfect justification for a tough old truck. The problem was at the time I was living in a condo complex.
Eventually, my wife's embarrassment of having it sit in the condo parking area for everyone to see reached a level in which she gave me enough hell to prompt me to unload it.....I should have never sold it. It was very solid, someone already re-did the body at some point. The interior was mint. The engine ran smooth and the cab was really tight.
The only silver lining is that the guy who bought it was a really interesting car guy. He actually hosts a automotive themed radio show. He had a collection of old fords including a Torino, Ranchero, Falcon wagon, and Cougar.
So basically, I finagled into the 'deal' that I would personally deliver an extra windshield I had for the truck to his house....provided he showed me his other rides. I spent a while at his house and he traded car stories for a bit. His pride and joy was his Torino (white with blue C-stripes if I remember correctly) and he was active in the Torino enthusiasts community. He bought the Torino on the west coast and attempted to drive it back to Connecticut via Route 66.....I think he said he ran into issues midway and let AAA take care of the rest of the trip.
Anyways, I miss that truck and what could have been. And since then (to my wife's dismay) I have dabbled in old ford trucks again...so stay tuned for "Something about old Ford trucks - Part 2"
When I was about 9 or 10 my brother bought a gnarly 1970 Ford F100. Big lifted pickups (as well as mullets) were in vogue at his vocational high school, so much so that his high school yearbook had class notable categories such as "Best Car" and "Best Truck." The truck was a beast. It was a F100 shortbed that was lifted and sitting on 38 inch tires. It had a 460 big block, 4 speed tranny and smoke stack exhaust. My father hated that thing! This was officially my (and my brothers) first step into gearheadedness.
My brother did everything to that truck! He pulled the body off and sanded and painted the frame due to the recommendation of a crazy neighbor. He changed the wheel/tire combination a bunch of times. He upgraded the axles. He even managed to swap the engine 3 or 4 times....the kicker is it never left our driveway!
I learned allot from this truck such as:
Lesson 1 - It sucks to be a car guy in Connecticut without a garage.
SoCal may be the heart of the car culture. But I'll always consider those guys soft and spoiled until they experience working on your car outdoors in subfreezing temps. Nothing builds character like laying on your back under a car in the cold and having frigid fuel run down your arms into your sleeves as you reach up and work on fuel lines.
Lesson 2 - Cheap tools don't fair well against 30 year old bolts.
Even though my father was not a car guy, we were lucky in that he was a general contractor and had a wide variety of tools in the garage. The problem was they were all crap. Add to the equation my brother's only approach for dealing with stuck or fused parts was to just push or pull harder made for interesting lessons in physics. Bending a cheap screw driver when using it as a pry bar is no big deal. But I never knew wrenches could bend and sockets could strech like they were made out of play-dough. We (especially my brother) destroyed everything. As I became older and purchased my own tools I learned to appreciate higher quality tools (or at least tools with warranties). Runs to Sears to exchange our battered Craftsman hand tools became a annual tradition.
Lesson 3 - Cutting torches and welders are cool.
As we got further into the project my bother acquired more specialized tools. We eventual obtained an arc welder that would provide hours of fun, but that absolute highlight was an oxy acetylene cutting torch outfit. Who knew you could slice through steel as you instantly liquified it?
Lesson 4 - Poor planning and lack of funds can doom a project.
My brother was 16. As a result, he also only had the income and intelligence of a 16 year old. These two factors ultimately led to the truck never reaching the street. Resources and planning will continually creep up in shaping my future projects.
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