I’ve mentioned my hubby’s vision of having John Deere equipment before. I, too, have a vision. Part of this vision is having an old farm truck to run into town in. I’ve wanted one for a while now, but what really got me looking was seeing one for sale at a local Ford dealership. I started to dream about driving to the hardware store, running to get gas for the tractor, hauling hay around….all in my little old farm truck.
Then, the visions started to get a little two dreamy…..I dreamed about taking my little farm truck down to the farmer’s market and selling my home grown veggies out of the back. Never-mind that I have nothing resembling a vegetable garden right now. Told you I got a little dreamy….
I didn’t think the farm truck vision would come true any time soon. I looked at classic trucks online and the prices were insane! Holy crap! These cars in terrible condition cost more than they did new! So, I continued to check Craigslist, ebay, and other web sites. I started telling people I knew were into classic cars to keep their eye out. Hubby kind of watched me out of the corner of his eye, but I think he also thought this truck thing was a ways off.
Then, this weekend, we were visiting with my Aunt and Uncle who were in town and I told them I wanted an old farm truck. My Uncle said he had a 1972 Ford if we wanted it. They are moving and don’t want to move the truck. Oh, and it was my Grandfather’s before him and he bought it NEW! Um, lemme think….a truck that has been in my family for longer than I’ve been alive….uh….YA I want it! There is a catch, though….we have to evict a family of wasps…..and it is apparently sitting where it has been sitting for a couple years….ever since the brakes went out. But, I’m still super excited.
Yesterday, hubby was driving to a job site and spotted another truck. An ooooollllllddddd truck. You see, hubby got bitten by the old truck bug after visiting a classic car show over the weekend. He contacted the owner and learned she was selling the truck for an extremely reasonable price. EXTREMELY reasonable. I guess getting divorced makes you sell stuff cheap…..we got the tractor from a guy getting divorced, too.
After a 1 1/2 hour drive, nearly 2 hours of pulling and winching….refilling the tires every few minutes, and another 1 1/2 hours back….we are the proud owners of this beauty…
Truck
Near as we can tell, it’s a 1941 Ford 3/4 ton F-1. It’s a mess, we don’t have time to deal with it, it will sit for a few years in the barn before we can even think about doing anything to it…but it’s all ours!
In a couple weeks, we’ll go get the other truck and hopefully have it running without too much trouble. I’m thrilled about both trucks, and really excited to get the ’72 home. The thought of my Grandpa picking that truck out off the lot when it was new just makes my heart soar. I hope he would like the thought of it being out here on the farm, being driven to the hardware store, getting gas for the tractor, and hauling hay. I don’t think I’ll be selling vegetables out of it at the farmer’s market any time soon, though…..
When I was a kid growing up on the farm, we had 3 trucks. An OLD Studebaker, a 37 Ford and our biggest truck was a 42 Ford that looks very much like the picture you posted. Early in my life we got rid of the 2 smaller trucks and replaced them with a 64 Ford that was our big truck. Dad kept the 42 Ford that we always called Old Henry.
We used Old Henry for harvest for years! The beet dump was less then 3 miles away at that time. Dad would load Old Henry up, we would watch for crossing traffic from down the road because if we stopped at the corner, we might not make it up the hill. We would get a running start and by the time we got up the hill we would be going maybe 10 miles an hour. The funniest thing thou was the people on top of the hill had a goose. That goose either loved or hated Old Henry. It would come charging out and chase Old Henry down the road.
I learned how to drive in Old Henry. Mom would put us kids behind the wheel, shove it in granny gear, pop out the throttle and set us off in the field (safety first back then). We drove that truck all over the empty fields and thought we were so cool.
Dad kept Old Henry for some reason. I think the last time he started was in the late 70’s. When dad had the farm sale, I kept Old Henry myself with the idea that we would take out the motor and get it going again.
Living on the farm over the years, we really haven’t had much problem with things getting stolen but things have “disappeared” over the years. One of the things that went missing was the motor for Old Henry. I had to cave and I sold Old Henry to a junk dealer. It’s like part of my life went away on that truck that day.
When I saw the picture of your new old truck, it brought back so many fond memories it brought tears to my eyes! For some reason Old Henry just was full of funny stories, like mom losing the dip stick hole and grandpa lurching on to the piler (the thing you drive on to at the dumb that piles up the beets) at the beet dump. I hope you get him running and enjoy the heck out of that old truck.
Thanks for the memories!
Correction, I just talked to mom. She said Old Henry was a 46 Ford truck. I guess that during WWII Ford stopped making farm trucks. They didn’t make any trucks from 42 until 46. I guess my grandpa had to get permission from the Government to purchase a truck in 46. He was a sugar beet farmer so he was granted permission due to the shortage and rationing of sugar at that time. Boy mom knows a lot of old stuff LOL.
Oh my God, Kay! I love those stories! I told Sean we’d have to think of a name for the truck and he said “it’ll come to us as we’re working on it”. Old Henry is a pretty great name! I think we all have cars from our child hood that we wish we’d never gotten rid of. Sean had an old Nova that he loved, I had a ’69 VW Bug that I miss every day, and my grandma had a great old Nova that would be fun to have around still.
It scares me to hear the engine was stolen out of Old Henry. I was searching online last night and found that just the hood of this truck is worth more than we paid for it. I feel lucky to have it and we’ll protect what’s there as best we can. Sean and I have visions of driving to JB’s for date night in it at some point. Once we get it going (give us a while….) we’ll come over and take you for a spin!
I was with Daddy when he picked up the ’72 truck (baby blue and white at the time), and the camper was put on. I even rode in the back wearing the same wedding dress as your mom to get married (the first time). Lots of great memories. Keep the love going and create more memories with your family