Pitcher Time
Posted by TFG on July 31st, 2005
That’s a very gorgeous custom chopper…my photo doesn’t do it justice. The dude is back for the second week in a row, just hanging out. He and his lady friend leave early in the evening and wander back around around midnight. They have a nice enclosed trailer for the bikes, and basically just sleep under the stars on a full-size cot. The bikes go inside to keep the dew off, natch. Note to Self: find out where they’re hanging out…has to be better than the bar at the MK.
I, on the other hand, am customizing this hunk of junk. As in, getting all the light bulbs to work. That’s a 1978 Chevy Big 10 in damn near the ugliest color combo you could specify. Coffee-brown over curdled-cream. Yuck. It’s pictured from the good side, as well. But — under the hood is sweet 454 big block, with a Holley 4bbl carb. Pulls like Paul Bunyan’s ox - you can feel the front end lift if you stab it, even when doing 60. Just the slightest of knocking, too. As I mentioned, I got all the light bulbs to work, so I was able to get it inspected and tagged. So it’s now road-legal…ladies, lock up your moms! The automatic trans is in decent shape, though it has a hard time kicking up from second. I’m considering a swap for a four-speed manual (with a Hurst shifter, of course.) All of the emissions crap that was just starting to creep into vehicles at the time of this dinosaur’s manufacturing is long-gone, of course. So, a dual-exhaust with headers are a must. I’m thinking that some cheap-ass JCWhitney bucket seats are in the future, as well. Velour, probably. heh heh
The family stray, currently bunking at my brother’s trailer, has turned out to be a leather worker. He’s pretty good now, and will only get better. I had him whip this up for me, which, who knows when you’re going to need a quick & sly shot of Knob Creek? Yeah, yeah, I know all about the spread of open container laws in the land of the semi-free…screw ‘em. If a cop can’t respect a hand-tooled flask, that’s just my bad luck. There are some slight imperfections in the staining, but I get stuff at cost, so no bitching.
July 31st, 2005 at 7:21 pm
Mmmm….Knob Creek. Good stuff. That flask is awesome. I’m jealous!
July 31st, 2005 at 7:44 pm
Who cares what it looks like so long as it works! Man, at this point I wish I had my dad’s old army-green Ford LTD. That thing got 8 miles to a gallon and I almost rammed it into my high school when he was trying to teach me to drive.
I need a freaking car. I can’t stand this walk-and-bus life.
August 1st, 2005 at 9:08 am
The flask kinda matches the truck. Only a Texan would think of that. Of course, even if it didn’t, it’s all gets the same color: dusty…..
August 1st, 2005 at 10:32 am
Chris, you’ll soon be able to order one…I’m building a little web page for him.
Andrea, I bought this on the side of the road for $700, and I’ve poured probably twice that into it to keep it running. It’s been a farm truck for 5 years, so reliability ain’t that big a deal, but I basically decided why not have some fun with it since it’s got that ginormous engine? Besides the burnt-out bulbs, I bought a window crank handle to replace the vice grips I was using when it rained.
EZ, dusty is the word here…practically no rain for two months.
August 1st, 2005 at 1:43 pm
Easy, I was thinking, “how can those colors be so bad on the truck and so good on that bottle and label?”
August 2nd, 2005 at 12:08 am
Alright, ladies, enough with the color talk. Does nobody care about the freaking 454?
Bah…you pups probably don’t even know what that MEANS.