1972 Chevrolet Short Bed

The build

This truck was my father's pride and joy. He would take me and my brother on outdoor adventures, loading up big buckets of rocks that me and my brother could throw from the tailgate. My dad told me every time we drove it that, "this is your truck." I could tell he loved it, but it was always his plan for me to inherit it.

My dad got the truck in 1996, just after getting his first teaching job. It was originally turquoise, but my poor color blind father decided to have it painted yellow. The truck's Ford Denim Blue paintjob was done after my father had got in a wreck with it before I was even born. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, as the signature blue paintjob is what the truck has been known for in my family. My dad and his buddies didn't just give it a new paintjob though, as the whole truck needed to be restored after the wreck. They did everything from the body job, installing a brand new engine, and even installing a lap belt so they could put my car seat in it.

The one thing I always loved the most about this truck was the sound it makes when you start it up. Never in my life have I heard a sound quite like it, the whirring before a sudden boom of life coming from the engine. I still remember my dad saying he had to downgrade the engine because the original was so powerful he'd strip the tires trying to back it out of the garage. To this day, hearing that sound brings me back to all the trips we took and all the memories that live inside the bed of that truck.