pick up trucks and old houses

Having worked on old houses for my entire adult life, it seems fitting that I have also had a pick up truck during these past decades. The first vehicle I purchased was a 1953 Deluxe Cab Chevrolet pick up truck (black). After having several "parts trucks" I purchased another running 1950 Chevy pick up that has now been gathering cobwebs in the garage for over two decades.

The 1950 truck had been in great running condition, but was stolen in 1985. The thief did not know how to drive a straight drive and destroyed the transmission... meanwhile I parked the truck in the garage - and it moved from garage to garage in 1990 and continued its sleeping beauty life.

In 2008 there was finally a need to use the garage for another purpose (wood shop) - so an eager southern California purchaser drove here with his pick up and a trailer to take the old truck to a new life. Wonder of wonders, he drove the same Chevy truck as I do, since my regular vehicle is a newer Chevy pick up (black). The 1950 truck now resides with my step son.

The black Chevy has been to the dump, the lumber yard, the plant nursery, the gravel yard, to pick up grapes and wine barrels, high schooler road trips, college moves, camping trips... and on many construction sites around Napa County in the course of my work. As much as I imagine driving a convertible sports car, I face the reality that to pick up a load of mulch for the garden, I need a truck. Do I really want to become one of those people who has to borrow a pick up truck? I think of the bumper sticker that reads "No, you can't borrow my truck".