The annual Resuscitation of the Truck, August, 2014;
For our annual Resuscitation of the Truck Ritual and after several benighted attempts on my part [following post-winter battery chargings] to start Trigger by repeatedly pressing down on the dimmer switch Linda fired him right up using the more appropriate starter switch;
We resolved to do a little Sunday morning celebratory drive; radiator fine, oil clean…no brake fluid so I topped off the reservoir though that didn’t seem to make any difference, but, hey, we got that granny low, right? And Linny’s going to be a granny in November, so onwards…Lefty dove right in; he likes old pickups, the older the better, I dunno why, but he always has;
Linda drove up to the saddle, the truck stalled out, fired up…
…and turned around; check that tight turning radius!
Everybody was quite happy although without brakes we rolled backwards almost into the arroyo turning around at home; a quick crunch into first slowed that but then I almost rolled off the hill maneuvering into parking later – a quick crunch into reverse solved that, fortunately, as it was a steeper more slippery slope into a deeper arroyo on the other side of the house. But all’s swell that ends swell…
No brake fluid + reservoir topped off = no brakes during drive = exciting drive. Glad Trigger didn’t get into the arroyo! This was definitely a communal effort: dimmer switch vs starter switch and Lefty should have been in charge of the parking brake…there is a parking brake isn’t there?
There WAS a parking brake until Linda hit the pedal and the cable broke off; I jammed it into second and the engine died, stopping us…gotta take a look at that cable tomorrow, maybe…
What a delight to see this classic pickup rockin and rollin. Until 1970 I had a ’52 that looked exactly like Trigger but was green. She had a rebuilt engine and a 4 speed box out of a Jimmy. Nice memories.
Fred; if you like this one [and had that one] you might enjoy following Peter Behren’s blog – http://autoliterate.blogspot.com/
Lots of good ol’ trucks [and more]…
not sure wh0’s happier, Linda or the dog…….
inspirational
Aww, a floor mounted dimmer switch, I have not driven a vehicle with one of those in years and I sort of thought they disappeared at the same time as quarter windows that swung out so one could get ventilation while smoking and driving. Trigger, huh? I didn’t realize that you named your trucks.