3 0n the column

[nickxj94]

First truck 82 Chevy swb 250 ci six with the 3 on the tree I loved that truck!

[Paddletrucker]

My first truck was a 1977 Ford F-100 !/2 ton pickup that my Dad bought in 82 or so. Three on the tree. My Dad drove it for years. He made me buy it, so that I'd have to work to get it, even though it needed an engine, so I'd walk 4 miles to town every day to catch a ride with a hay baler and I'd haul hay all day and walk home afterward. That's how I paid for it and a newer engine for it. At 400,000 miles, we dropped the slightly less used 300cid straight 6 cylinder engine in it and I started driving it when I was 16. That was '92 or so. I MISS that thing!! That truck and it's engine is what first drew me to liking the idea of a straight 6 Jeep.

It didn't have power brakes, power steering, or A/C. Power NOTHING. Very little to fail. I could stand on the ground between the inner fender and the engine to work on it, which I RARELY had to do. You could about disassemble the whole truck with a 9/16 and 1/2 inch wrench. Dent the side? Hit it and it'd come back out. LOL

I got my driver's license in it. Three on the tree and no power steering. Parallel parked her and all. I don't think the highway patrolman examiner thought much of me shifting without the clutch, though, even though I never scratched a gear. He never said anything until I backed up looking in my mirrors rather than over my shoulder. I'd grew up in that thing on the farm and in a family of truckers, so I thought that was how it was done. The day I took my test, I'd already driven a semi load of beans to an elevator that morning with my grandpa. Mom and Dad didn't know that, though. Grandpa said I needed practice. I was fine with the three on the tree after driving Grandpa's 5X4 twin stick 20 speed semi out in the country.LOL Later, we went to the National Guard Armory, I took my written test, and then I passed my test in 'Ol Red, in an case. Of course, it didn't have A/C and I took my test on a 103 degree day, too. Examiner was glad to get that one over with!!