Today, I’m quite proud of my truck, and yes, because I’m a pretentious asshole, I spent more money than necessary on this restoration.  However, given that I have learned and grown quite a bit as a person the basic lesson remains the same.

I spent $400 dollars on this truck and pulled it out of a field.  I spent the first week spraying the truck down with bleach to kill any bacteria and viruses from the rat shit sitting in it, just to give you an idea of where I started.  I had a 150K mile 305 motor sitting around that I put in and backed up with a 4spd sitting on the shop floor.  There you have it, the cheapest vehicle I have ever put together.  Since then I have made some unnecessary upgrades and some necessary ones.

Additions, as the truck developed I have made some key additions.  I added air shocks to increase it’s towing capacity, I also added a trailer hitch for the same purposes, I also added 2005 Silverado seats to have the over the shoulder seat belt for my safety, and finally I found the 5th wheel fender and added that in case I had a flat tire.

Paint and rims were worthless and thrown away money, chalk it up to the stupidity of my youth.  However, I don’t feel that bad because I think my truck is a great and useful asset that will not depreciate very much and costs me much less than a new pick or even newish pick-up.  BTW this truck gets 18 mpg.  I’m looking at making a few more modifications to get this thing up to 22 mpg maybe more, but I’m not holding my breath for over 22 mpg.  That’s comparable to many newish pickups and this one is over 50 years old.  This truck will prove more useful as I begin to transition into real-estate investing.

Just to prove the usefulness of this asset, here is me moving to my current house over a 500 mile trip on a 114 degree day.  Many new vehicles were broke down on the side of the road.  It wasn’t fast, nor was it easy, but we made it!