Big Truck, Little Truck

  

Lee recently put the 1962 Corvair ramp side pickup he restored on a car trailer.  It is the smallest truck we own.

  

Then he hooked it to our biggest truck, an antique cab over GMC diesel. I'm not sure I like the fact that a 1985 is an antique!

It's kind of cute, like a big brother pulling a little brother in a wagon.  I bet he would get some interesting looks taking them both to a car show.  I'm looking forward to it!

Truck Bed

Semi trucks drive back and forth across the country every day. Most of them have a sleeper cab behind the driver's seat so that the trucker can pull over and sleep when needed.  Some are fancy with a TV and a refrigerator and some are quite simple.

The bed in the cab-over semi Lee recently bought is one of the simple ones.  Most likely this is because the whole cab lifts up to access the engine underneath and anything not locked down will fall forward.

Lee has been working on the truck, but I am no mechanic so I can't help with that.  I decided to help him refurbish the sleeping area.

  

First off, the mattress is disgusting.  There are unknown stains on it.  I'm hoping they are spilled Cokes.

  

But it has to go.

  

Every job on the interior of this truck starts with tossing the supplies up and then climbing inside.  Don't forget anything, because climbing in and out is a pain.

  

The platform the mattress sits on also needed help.  I cleaned it and gave it a fresh coat of paint.  I had to tie the seat belts up and off the platform.

  

I guess they are there so one guy can drive and another can sleep, but still have seat belts on so they don't fly through the windshield in an accident.  On the other hand, it could just be to secure the mattress when they lift the cab.  Who cares about the driver!

  

I had to buy a new, kind of pricey, non-standard size, mattress to replace the old mattress.  Because, ewww.  Then I had to buy similarly pricey sheets.  Good thing Lee had a birthday recently.  The refurbished sleeping area is my gift to him.

  

I'm storing the mattress in a guest room for the moment.  I worry about mice setting up housekeeping in it when we aren't really using the truck.  I bought sheets and a spread to use when Lee takes the truck to a cruise in or truck show.  I won't be sleeping in there.  The A/C  in the truck isn't currently working.  But it will look nice all tricked out.

My job is done.  What is taking Lee so long?

A jaunt

  

Lee has been working on his new-to-him GMC truck.  He touched one of the hoses under the cab and the whole thing disintegrated. This encouraged him to replace all hoses and wires that showed their age, which is a lot of them.

  

After working on the truck for a few weeks, he decided to take it out for a jaunt in the country.  He had only been driving it in and out of the shelter.  The gearing is different than he is used to and he wanted to do some practice shifting and the steering is way different.

  

He has the name of the large truck mechanic in case of trouble.  (What did we do before cell phones?)   Once all the small repairs are made, I may go with him.  But only when it is cool.  No A/C.  I am a wimp and require cool air.  That is pricey, so he may not get around to it.

  

So, if that's the case, I will wait here for him.

  

He just got back.  The test drive was a success!

Lee's New Hobby

Delivery day!

Lee has a new hobby.  He bought a 1985 GMC Cab Over semi tractor.  It is called a cab over because the cab sits over the engine.  It is hinged in the front and you have to tip the whole cab over to get to the engine.  This means anything in the cab will fall all over the place anytime you work on the engine.  And you can't work on it in the shop, because the roof isn't high enough.

  

They don't really use them much in the US, anymore.  They have discontinued making them here.   These are considered antique vehicles and people take them to car and truck shows and vintage vehicle shows.  Other countries with small streets still have cab over vehicles.  I have seen newer ones in Europe.

Some are still in use here, but mostly they sit around rusting or they have been bought up by enthusiasts and shown.

I asked Lee why he wanted one.  Was he going to use it to haul things or??  He says he intends to drive it around, show it at the local cruise in and maybe take it to a few truck shows. He is in the process of fixing it up.  I'm not sure how fixed up it will get. It needs paint, but that can get very pricey.

He is excited. Can't you tell?

I still don't get it.  But he didn't much care for my horses, and they ate whether we were using them or not.  And we had to pay people to care for them when we were out of town.  Trucks don't do that.  So I will take pictures and be kind of bemused by the whole thing.  And wonder if he will be able to find another guy that just always wanted one when he tires of it.

I sure hope so.