33: Conversation Circles

Lunchtime Conversations Circle Around These Topics:

(Emphasis on the word circle)

Purchasing a Differential

VS

Purchasing a Chassis

VS

Purchasing a Chevy S10 Pickup (cheap) Donor Parts Truck and

Purchasing a Conversion Kit to Go With It

VS

Garage Takeover of Truck Parts and Mess

VS

Time and Effort

VS

Purchasing a Front Suspension Assembly Clip

VS

Just trying to find:

8 Lug, 6 ½ ” Bolt Circle, 4 5/8” Center Hole - Wheels

VS

Leaving it As-Is

 

It’s all intertwined and messy.

We want the truck to drive smoothly.

We'd appreciate the gear box/shifter to be more accurate and smooth.

We wouldn’t mind the truck going over 35 mph without fear of a major disaster.

We look at the trucks at car shows and throw our heads under the them to see what they've done. Then throw our heads in the engine compartment to see what they've done. Then we go home and ponder what we want to do with Abbey. Do we make her a smooth ride? Do we change out the differential, or chassis, or both - or do we go the donor-S10 route, and do we then drop in a new engine? Do we just rebuild the old one? How original do we want to keep her? She'd still look the same, just drive nice and be a safer truck. Don't we want this as a daily drive?

The front suspension assembly clip route gets welded on, and would provide us better steering, better ride, plus the wheels we want. We’d farm that out and not do it ourselves. The other choices mean a lot of work done by us (okay, TD), and a garage takeover. Kinda been there, done that.

Maybe we just do these things in increments with the wheels first, and see how the truck rides. Then rebuild the engine because no matter what you do to the suspension and wheels, TD hears a knock. For the record, I hear nothing …but my ears are not trained to such things.

Then if the engine gets rebuilt and we’re still not happy maybe we do a more aggressive operation.

We've circled and circled and circled these conversations until we feel like this:

What to do, what to do...

32: Midwest Hand Signals

We live out in farm country, so it's no big deal to see a tractor or other large piece of farm equipment on the road. When other drivers want to pass, they just wait until it's safe and then move around them. This is why it doesn't bother me to drive Abbey at her maximum speed which tops at around 35mph.

Personally, I like 25-30 best as things start to shake-rattle-and-roll when you hit 35. TD and I laughed at the "80" number on the speedometer because the only way the truck would hit that mark is if it were being dropped from a plane. 

Not having turn signals (yet) makes communicating with other vehicles interesting. They want to pass me because I'm driving slower than normal, but they don't understand my hand signals for turns. Remember, out on the farm roads there are no traffic lights, and few stop signs, so when you want to turn down a lane, you slow down and put your signal on. Being that I'm already slow, and have no turn signals (yet), I use the universal hand gestures. 

(I know some of you just thought of the one universal hand gesture EVERYONE knows but we don't use that out here in the Midwest)

Out here, hand signals mean something completely different.

Let me enlighten:

 "Hidey-ho neighbor"             "Look at that corn!"             "Skunk roadkill here!"

The good news is that because it's the Midwest, people are very patient, especially if they see farm equipment or say, a 1949 Chevy truck. Once they understand what you want to do and where you want to go, they just sit back and wait for you to finish and usually follow up with a friendly wave and a nod.

I still want turn signals though, so I gently asked TD about the wiring harness that's still in the "to-do" box.

I definitely heard a sigh. 

31: ROAD TRIP! - Car Show

One of the great things about summer days are the car shows. TD loves them. Me? I'm getting "in" to them slowly. He will zip up to one and spend hours there. I have to admit now that we have Abbey, I do enjoy going to these things more and naturally gravitate towards the older vehicles and especially trucks. I think TD will always have a soft place in his heart for the low and fast cars. We are Yin and Yang that way.

The recent show proved fun. TD went early in his personally owned low and fast beauty, and I went an hour later. The place was packed. It was a huge turn out and was actually pretty neat.

All the low and fast vehicles park together, and the rest just park wherever a spot is open. Meandering through the rows is fun as you never know what is going to be down the aisle.

Anyone who has not been to a car show may not know that often numerous car clubs get together en masse to show off their rides. There are raffles and drawings, information areas about OTHER car shows, and lots of people who just enjoy looking at cars.

It's an enormous tribe and TD belongs.

As we walked through the lanes and he showed me the trucks he had already scoped out, the loud speaker started announcing raffle numbers. TD stopped short and said, "That's MY number!" He had won something!
(It is important to know we never win anything.)

Watching the man check the numbers and nod approval that the ticket we held was indeed valid, we both blinked twice as he handed TD the prize.

Ironically, he won a really neat signed print by artist Mary Watt Yeadon, Called "Old Chevy Truck"  ...a beautiful print of a vintage truck like Abbey.  

I take it as a sign.

I must join this tribe.