I know that you aren’t supposed to become attached to machinery. It will always eventually break and leave you in a bad way. There is a term for that attachment. That term is anthropomorphism. If you happen to be a preacher that means something else but in this case it means treating machines and non-humans as humans. If you have ever patted your steering wheel and said something like “don’t break baby-just get me home”, you are just as bad as me.
I live in the country and you just have to have some means to carry feed and building supplies. From time to time you might also have to install an air conditioning system. The easiest way to do all that is to have a truck. In this case the truck is the “old paint” in the title. Not some pinto donkey that I became attached to (same term). It's sort of a take off on an old cowboy movie.
By the way, this S10 was mine but truck #1 at the top was not. It sure does look old. It’s the type of truck some of us rednecks might treat as a family heirloom. I needed something that would work for a living as well as serve as a second car. This S10 filled those needs for about 4 years. It did some things better than others.
By the way, this S10 was mine but truck #1 at the top was not. It sure does look old. It’s the type of truck some of us rednecks might treat as a family heirloom. I needed something that would work for a living as well as serve as a second car. This S10 filled those needs for about 4 years. It did some things better than others.
This truck worked.
As a matter of fact I have more pictures of it working than I could possibly expect you to endure. I will stick some of the excess in the slide show.
If you are looking at this and thinking the trailer is a lot bigger than the truck, you will find me in complete agreement. Yet this thing pulled and did not complain about the trailer or the three donkey payload. It carried a trailer with over a ton of rocks as though nothing was back there. You might be asking yourself why it was such a workhorse. I’ll be happy to explain.
As a matter of fact I have more pictures of it working than I could possibly expect you to endure. I will stick some of the excess in the slide show.
If you are looking at this and thinking the trailer is a lot bigger than the truck, you will find me in complete agreement. Yet this thing pulled and did not complain about the trailer or the three donkey payload. It carried a trailer with over a ton of rocks as though nothing was back there. You might be asking yourself why it was such a workhorse. I’ll be happy to explain.
If you don’t like nuts and bolts you can just skip on ahead to the next picture.
In my opinion this engine is the advantage that Chevy had over the Ford Ranger and, until the later years, the Dodge Dakota. Both Ford and Dodge also had V6s and Dodge eventually had a V8. I consider the Dodge Dakota V8 to be the only intermediate pickup stronger in real world use than the S10. Chevy also did better at the gas pump from what I read. You can make your own comparison regarding the Nissan and Toyota offerings but they command stratospheric prices.
If you have been around for a while and have seen a 350 Chevy engine this picture may seem familiar. The 350 was in heavy chevrolet cars, pickups, and trucks for years. At two hundred thousand miles I normally considered the ones I had to be just about broken in.
When the nation became mired in the fuel crisis in the seventies Chevrolet decided they needed to have a V6. The easiest way, they determined, was to make V6 engines by lopping the two front cylinders off the existing V8’s. The best and longest lasting one was made from the bulletproof 350. It was the 4.3 (262 CID) that has been in heavy cars (Caprice etc) from the early eighties until 2013. Next year they have another 4.3 that is a completely new engine.
In my opinion this engine is the advantage that Chevy had over the Ford Ranger and, until the later years, the Dodge Dakota. Both Ford and Dodge also had V6s and Dodge eventually had a V8. I consider the Dodge Dakota V8 to be the only intermediate pickup stronger in real world use than the S10. Chevy also did better at the gas pump from what I read. You can make your own comparison regarding the Nissan and Toyota offerings but they command stratospheric prices.
If you have been around for a while and have seen a 350 Chevy engine this picture may seem familiar. The 350 was in heavy chevrolet cars, pickups, and trucks for years. At two hundred thousand miles I normally considered the ones I had to be just about broken in.
When the nation became mired in the fuel crisis in the seventies Chevrolet decided they needed to have a V6. The easiest way, they determined, was to make V6 engines by lopping the two front cylinders off the existing V8’s. The best and longest lasting one was made from the bulletproof 350. It was the 4.3 (262 CID) that has been in heavy cars (Caprice etc) from the early eighties until 2013. Next year they have another 4.3 that is a completely new engine.
They backed that up with an overdrive transmission called the 700r4. That is basically a TH350 with overdrive and when they added electronic controls (can be a real pain) it became the 4L60E. Again that was developed for full size pickups and cars. It found it’s way to this small one. Vast overkill. When you add a heavy set of springs and a 7' 6" bed you are set to work. That's about 3/4 ton in this picture and the springs are still smiling.
Now this truck wasn’t perfect. An electrical fire (right by the fire station) took out my AC and my Speedometer. I installed a tach and took it to the measured mile north of Conroe so I could gauge my speed. It spent the first 20 years of it’s life as a plant truck. When I bought it the odometer read just over 75,000 miles. Hard to believe? I agree.
I do know that it was used for security or some non maintenance function like that. There were no dents and the bed was similarly clean. Sally and I felt that this was the perfect farm truck. It almost was.
Now this truck wasn’t perfect. An electrical fire (right by the fire station) took out my AC and my Speedometer. I installed a tach and took it to the measured mile north of Conroe so I could gauge my speed. It spent the first 20 years of it’s life as a plant truck. When I bought it the odometer read just over 75,000 miles. Hard to believe? I agree.
I do know that it was used for security or some non maintenance function like that. There were no dents and the bed was similarly clean. Sally and I felt that this was the perfect farm truck. It almost was.
This is Bob. As the head of ranch security he gets to ride with Daddy on a lot of errands. Bob slobbers a lot and especially irritating are those times he slobbers on Daddy.
That and the additional problem of having no space for storing tools made me realize about a year ago that I needed to have a back seat. That was about the time someone stole my spare tire and my cordless saw.
I looked and saw nothing that fit the bill as well as my swiss army knife truck. Except for the lack of back seat it did just about everything perfectly.. I did a rather exhaustive analysis of the type vehicles that would tow 3,000 pounds or more (this was good for 5k), get at least 20 miles per gallon, have room to store tools, and have engines and drive train that were durable. The EPA mileage estimates for the years I was willing to afford eliminated a lot of vehicles that you would think would work. I actually wound up with four that I knew would fit the bill. There were two engines that I considered to be the most durable. The Ford 4.6 V8 and the GM 4.3 V6.
That and the additional problem of having no space for storing tools made me realize about a year ago that I needed to have a back seat. That was about the time someone stole my spare tire and my cordless saw.
I looked and saw nothing that fit the bill as well as my swiss army knife truck. Except for the lack of back seat it did just about everything perfectly.. I did a rather exhaustive analysis of the type vehicles that would tow 3,000 pounds or more (this was good for 5k), get at least 20 miles per gallon, have room to store tools, and have engines and drive train that were durable. The EPA mileage estimates for the years I was willing to afford eliminated a lot of vehicles that you would think would work. I actually wound up with four that I knew would fit the bill. There were two engines that I considered to be the most durable. The Ford 4.6 V8 and the GM 4.3 V6.
This is what I'm driving now and it's one of the four. It has the same engine and almost the same transmission as my old truck. I came upon it by accident and wound up with a luxury car interior in a truck. It is a blazer clone called an Olds Bravada.
Full disclosure: I knew there were transmission problems when I bought it and it's getting a new one now. It wasn't exactly a planned purchase on my part but I think it's going to work out just fine. It's AWD and I am already thankful for that.
My pickup is in Florida and looking better than it ever did. How and why, you ask. Well I have lost two beautiful granddaughters to Florida lately and the truck is connected to one of them.
Full disclosure: I knew there were transmission problems when I bought it and it's getting a new one now. It wasn't exactly a planned purchase on my part but I think it's going to work out just fine. It's AWD and I am already thankful for that.
My pickup is in Florida and looking better than it ever did. How and why, you ask. Well I have lost two beautiful granddaughters to Florida lately and the truck is connected to one of them.
I was outside using my truck as a workbench similar to this when she approached. Sally and I have over two dozen grand and great grandchildren. Alex was born about the time I met her Grandma. In due time the family adopted me and I became her grandpa. She has lived beside us since she was very young and she is going away to School in Florida.
Papa she said (sounding exactly like her Mom), my dad said that a small pickup would probably be better for me than a car.
Yup, I said. Your dad is right.
Well,says she, you have a truck and I want to buy it.
Papa she said (sounding exactly like her Mom), my dad said that a small pickup would probably be better for me than a car.
Yup, I said. Your dad is right.
Well,says she, you have a truck and I want to buy it.
She sure looks better in it than I ever did. She sent pictures of the truck after she got to Florida. It looks better also.
The next story will be about her trip. Then one on how she transformed it. A girl and her truck. http://www.grangerlandrfd.com/alexs-trip.html
The next story will be about her trip. Then one on how she transformed it. A girl and her truck. http://www.grangerlandrfd.com/alexs-trip.html
Goodbye old paint.
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