Show us your truck!

[UKRay]

I am a confirmed truckaholic... but living in the UK makes this difficult. Our extremely narrow road system means I don't get to see too many glorious American or Australian vehicles and most British pickups just don't make the grade somehow.

I'd love to see what you guys drive. It doesn't have to be a truck, just bring 'em on.

Not just the outside either - I have been enjoying the recent steering wheel cover posts as I get to see inside left hand drive vehicles (some for for the first time). I suppose it is a kind of weird voyeurism... Indulge me! LOL!

Don't forget to show those amazing US registration plates - do you really get to choose what goes on them?

Does anyone signwrite their truck to advertise their leather business? I'd definitely like to see that as well!

Ray

[JRLeather2]

Here ya go, my 1929 Model A Roadster Pick Up, in the bed of my 1995 F-150

[TrooperChuck]

This is my 1965 Ford F350 flatbed truck. (Actually, it belongs to my dad, but it lives at my house.) We use it for hauling hay and firewood. It's got a straight 6-cylinder engine, manual choke, and 4-speed manual transmission. The thing I like most about it, is that it's got an engine that just won't quit. It hasn't been started since November, but today I got in, pulled out the choke, turned the key, and she fired right up! The thing I like least about it is that it is only two-wheel drive, so I don't use it much in the winter.

As you can see from the photos, it's a plain bare-bones truck, but I love it.

[TrooperChuck]

This is my other truck... A 1979 Dodge Power Wagon. Sorry it's so dirty, but it's break-up time here in the Pacific Northwest, and everything is turning to mud! The dashboard was starting to get damaged from too much sunlight, so my wife asked me to make some leather covers for it. I've never done anything like that before, and you can see my leather carving skills are rudimentary at best, but my wife likes it, so I'm happy.

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[wildrose]

I'm laughing about the comment on the engine never dying. We once had an International pick up truck, our first at the farm in NJ where I grew up. The thing was HORRIBLY ugly, my mom needed cushions to see over the steering wheel (she's 5'2") and it was a fight to get it started, but man could that thing run once you got it going.

As to custom tags/plates, that varies state-to-state. NJ and PA were very expensive to have them. Here in VA, it's so cheap that we are known to have more custom tags than any other state. I don't yet have them on my daily driver, but I have them on my 1966 Mustang: "HAM 66" (my initials and the car's year...I was getting sick of folks saying "is that a 64 and a half?" like they were know it alls! It didn't help, they still ask) States also vary on how many letters/numbers you can fit on a plate, and sometimes it depends on the plate. My Mustang has Antique plates, they're orange, with black lettering I believe, and that being plain you can fit 7 letters/numbers on it I think. VA has a variety of specialty plates - i.e. for horse enthusiasts and lighthouse lovers, etc etc, and it can be tough to choose!

[JRLeather2]

Here is my brothers '88 Dodge D100, "slighty: modified.....

[celticleather]

Here is my brothers '88 Dodge D100, "slighty: modified.....

Hey - if you could get the back wheels off the ground as well, it'd be a hovercraft!

[DJ1935]

This is our old girl. A 1956 International AR110. My husband found it under a tree and restored it about forty odd years ago. Since then he's done about 300,00 miles and another two restorations, including putting in a Perkins diesel. It was the first diesel ute in our part of NZ, everyone said he was mad! The truck was used every day for work, fixing John Deere tractors in the field, but since the boss has slowed down a bit old "Thunderguts" has an easier life. It has an on board compressor for air tools (works the air horn under the bonnet too!) and home-made hydraulic lifting arm on the tray. If this truck could talk, she'd tell you some stories!

Cheers

DJ

[Johanna]

I drive a Dodge Durango most of the time (especially in my Sarah Palin disguise!) and it's a good truck. It likes the highway, but it takes the dirt roads just as easily, and the stereo is pretty good. It's got the Hemi engine, so the hills of to Pittsburgh and West Va. are fun.

But my favorite truck is "Big Red", Wade's one-ton Ford dually. That's our work truck, and I'd drive it more if it didn't use so much gas. It gets 10MPH with or without a load or tow, and it's a pain to park, but it drives sweet, and you can see all around you, unlike the Dodge with it's SUV blind spots.

Wade drives our 15 year old Honda Civic most days, and we have a 4WD Chevy S10 also. (That's the one we lend out to his oldest son.) In the barn is my 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse, and Wade is lovingly restoring it. I have a quarter million miles on it, but I parked it when the kids were small because the back seat is so small the carseats rubbed on each other. When he is finished, I will be zooming around in my little white car, and the poor Dodge is going to be just a taxi. I explained to the kids that it will be a cold day before they get to ride in it, let alone drive it! (None of the kids can drive a stick anyway!)

I've always wondered what it would be like to suddenly have to switch to driving on the left side of the road from the passenger side of the car? Someday maybe UKRay will invite me to his house, and maybe I'll have anough guts to try to drive!

Johanna

[UKRay]

You guys have no idea how lucky you are to have access to vehicles like these and live in a place where you can use them - or maybe you do!

I love the idea of your antique plates Holly...

DJ1935 - That fantastic truck really ought to be mine. The only problem would be driving through my town, Ludlow, where some of the roads are so narrow I'd jam it between the buildings. They were only designed for a horse and cart! I even have trouble with a Ford Mondeo Estate.

Jeffzilla - outrageous pictures!

TrooperChuck - you are definitely spoiled for choice. I particularly like the flatbed but the leather dashboard adds a certain touch of style to the Dodge.

Johanna - you and Wade are welcome to visit anytime. Just tell me when you are arriving and I'll pick you up at the airport! ...You won't get to ride in a nice truck though, sorry.

Even though I'm well used to driving left hand drive cars all over Europe, my own first experience of riding as a passenger in a left hand drive car was in the US (in a San Francisco Taxi). It was terrifying. I kept stamping on an invisible brake pedal at every junction... The guy was a crazy man and those steep roads are unreal.

The UK is a tad slower, but I think you'd find it just as much of a culture shock as I did.