I spent a large portion of my childhood patching up old Mopar muscle cars and then spent most of my free time trashing 'em on the pavement. Alas, all boys grow into men sooner or later. In the past two years I have found myself enjoying the company of a good bullet proof 4x4 with bull low over that of a Hemi Cuda with a sassy paintjob and chrome headers.
Last year I purchased a 1985 Ford Bronco II with the standard 2.8L V6 (180,000 Kms), automatic transmission and 4:10 limited slip axles. I purchased this truck for $250.00 CDN with the intent on driving it in reverse, about 40 mph, with all of the doors open, through the bush with a case of Miller Genuine Draft riding shotgun. Simply put...I bought it to break it!
Before I felt safe sitting in the driver's seat (the floor had rotted away to nothing and the seat was sitting on the frame rail - nothing else) I had to patch in a floor. I'm a Journeyman Tool & Die Maker, Machinist by trade so I simply ordered a 4'X8' sheet of sheet metal through the shop, grabbed my little Lincoln Electric mig welder and a really big hammer. It took all of 1/2 an hour to cut away all the rust and to make room for the new sheeting. It then took another 4 hours of banging, grinding and welding before I was conent. A quick shot of box liner in a can and I must admit, that is one NICE looking floor! In fact I think I am going to to the same to the passanger side - just because!
Well, after remounting a different seat from the local salvage yard, I was finally comfortable and ready to head off to the bush. Something had come over me though...I no longer wanted to wreck this truck. I wasn't sure I wanted to fix it either. I gave it a spray bomb camo job (turned out real nice, I'm a bit of an artist you see) and I simply parked it in the backyard thinking it would piss off my doorknob neighbour. Three months later my neighbour moved and I got to thinking that perhaps this is the "Little Truck That Could". Seems like when everything else in the yard won't start, it does - go figure!
Now here I am. I have a '85 Bronco II (sort of), a basic understanding of mechanics, some free time, big dreams and no money. Did I mention the no money part? Seems my wife dislikes the idea of me putting cash into this truck when her '92 T-Bird is sitting dead in the driveway with a bad fuel pump and my '94 S10 4x4 is on its last leg (320,000 Kms and counting). Turns out I blew up my Onan garden tractor engine snow blowing the driveway last month and killed my '92 Polaris Indy RXL yesterday also. Kind of in a rut of bad luck you see.
Well...That's my story folks. I'm lacking manners, have poor posture and emit a strange foot order which is best left undescribed (trust me).
Cheers!
<' /> Daniel
