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This is me in
1995. I was 18, broke, broken (hernia) and had just moved back to Mom and Dad's house awaiting surgery. With a loan from
my grandfather, I purchased the panel truck from my uncle, under the pretense that I would not cut it up and hot-rod it. The
truck had not run in some time. My uncle had done all the original modifications; the Spridget drivetrain, wheels, even A/C.
He had dual SU carbs that required daily tuning. I rebuilt the engine, replaced the clutch, rebuilt the brakes, replaced all
the rubber bushings with polyurethane, and performed some other maintenance. This was my first venture into major auto repair. My
friend snapped this picture of me shortly after I had replaced the engine. You can see the pretty color I had chosen. It is
an old Pontiac light metallic blue engine paint. The truck's paint was pretty good overall, but incomplete. I later spent
$8 on spray cans of flat black and grey primer to create my paint scheme. I will probably keep the same general paint scheme
for the finished product.
BTW - Do you like my enigne hoist? It's an old swingset reinforced with a hook in the middle
and a "come along" winch.
Introduction
This website is dedicated to the vehicles I love and drive. I live in the Central
Texas Hill Country. There are many curvy country roads and lots of dry days. I grew up around cars and over time they
have become a part of my life. I learned how to work on cars and fix things in general from an amazing old man, my grandfather,
Grover Merril Cook. He was the original "Ford Guy" and despised everything GM. He even disliked the fact that his intials
were GMC. I don't share his bias (completely), but I like the Fords I own and have only owned one GM product, a 1986 Fiero
AM6 which a lady at a convenient store gave to me for free!
Grover was a "shade tree mechanic." He worked on all things automotive or motorized on soft ground under
the shade of a healthy tree. He was a very resourceful man, making many of his own tools for specialized purposes. I still
have many of those tools, but I don't have any Model T Fords or Datsun 210s to work on. I learned the basics from wacthing
my grandfather. My uncle is also a mechanic and my father did most of his own auto repair when I was kid. By spending years
of wacthing and helping, auto repair became second nature. I'm proud to consider myself a "shade tree mechanic." I, however,
have the "luxury" of a solid, flat, concrete driveway.
You will not find any Z3 fenders, carbon fibre wings, or LED washer nozzles here. My mods are performance
first and looks second; function over form.
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