Recently we decided to sell my older van. Since it is was just my husband and I, having three cars to take care of seemed too much in today’s economy. My husband has his little car for work, and we have an older truck that has been used mostly for fishing and hauling things.
My husband’s older truck is a 1995 Ford 150. I remember the first time we laid eyes on it, we both fell in love with it. It was a beautiful, custom-built truck. It had 10,000 miles on it and the man who owned it a short time, kept it immaculate. It was a two toned blue, where the color fades into each other, wood grain inside, and over all a beautiful truck. Over the last 16 years, the paint has faded, and the inside, unfortunately, was not so clean. Since I now do not have a car, I turned my eyes towards his beloved truck. Baraka ekspedisi
When we looked at the truck, my husband and I saw two different things. My husband accepted his truck as a work and fishing truck. I visualized it as a classic and one that I could fix up. Our opinions could not have been more different concerning his truck.
It had sat out front all alone, never washed or really cared for. I think once, a while back, I cleaned it up before one of our trips, but other than that, it had and no tender loving care.
When I put my van up for sale, I told my husband I could use his truck. I even offered to clean it up.
“Honey, I will clean up your truck and drive it. I mean I do not run a lot and I can use it to drive to town.”
“Uh…I guess.”
“It’s not like you use it now but for fishing!”
“Uh…well…I guess.”
You would have thought I was messing with his fishing poles…The look on his face was like a boy with his favorite toy. He really did not want to play with it until someone else paid attention to it. He was not crazy about sharing at this moment. My goodness it was just an old truck.
He finally agreed as long as I did not put any girly stuff in there like a pink steering wheel cover. Of coarse, he has no idea what he has just agreed too. In my mind, I wanted to restore his truck slowly, making it one of the sharpest older trucks around. Cars and trucks, were not his thing. If it got him from point A to B, he was a happy camper and that is okay. But for me, I suddenly found purpose.
I was raised with a dad who restored old cars. I watched as he magically turned many cars into real beauties. I learned a hard lesson when I was younger. My dad had brought home a car that looked like it was on its last leg. He said it was mine but I made the mistake of snubbing my nose up at it, Within a few months, my dad had totally restored it, It was then I wanted to drive it, making it my own. To my disappointment, my father would not let me have it. He said you did not like it then, so you cannot have it now. I was so upset. It was a hard lesson, but my father taught me to look deeper. I now appreciate the potential an older vehicle has. We are such a throw away society, forever seeking the new and improved. I find beauty in the old classics, unique, and one of a kind.
We thought of buying a new truck, but just driving it off the lot depreciates the value and why would we want to have a large truck payment in these hard times. We have done the new cars, and carried the burden of car payments, and if I remember right, it was not that great. We had this beautiful car that sat out in front of our house, but could barely afford to put gas in it.
I first emptied all my husband’s stuff and garbage out of the truck. My husband came out of the house to inspect my mission at hand.
“Where are you putting all my stuff?”
“I cannot clean it good if I do not take it out!”
“But it’s my truck, I may need this stuff!”
“I am not throwing away your stuff, just cleaning your truck!”
That was when I got the spill once more about not putting any girly stuff in the truck. I promised him that I was not that kind of woman, no pink steering wheel cover for me, thank you.
I then took some upholstery cleaner and rug cleaner, tackling the interior with a vengeance. What do you know? The whole inside had very little stains. Thankfully, the dash and side doors did not have any cracks so I cleaned them with Amoral and they shined very nicely.
I went to the store, buying some sweet vanilla scent to take the manliness out of the truck, and two black seat covers to cover the drivers and passenger seat. I purchased a window sunscreen to keep the Texas sun from shining down on the dashboard that I so diligently cleaned, hoping to keep it from any sun damage.
I stood back looking at this truck and smiled. It was looking like a new truck and I could not be more proud. When money permits, I would like to have the windows re-tinted and the body painted but this may take awhile, as Rome was not built in a day.
I do not mind driving the old Ford truck now, and I bet it may even get a second glance by on lookers. If my husband is pleasant, I just may let him take his truck out fishing again too.
