I am attached to the trucks that make my The Fleet. The temporary rigs, or the Sub-Fleet are the rigs I buy and fix and drive and eventually re-sell. They fill in for the rigs of the original main Fleet when they are down (which is most of them right now).
The truck in the Fleet owned the longest is the '68 Chevy. It was purchased one year before I was born, by my mom and dad in 1980. It was a truck that my dad noted in writing "We are purchasing this truck only to get by for now" as they bought it in Yuma, Arizona after a Ford Econoline Van left them stranded on their roundabout trip from New York back home to Spokane, Wa. It completed the trip despite being the most beat up truck at the only affordable car lot they could find.
When I was a kid, we also made a few trips in it, once to California and back, and several across Washington State.
My uncle, my mom, and my Dad, at the back of the '68 before I was born. Yes, my dad was alot older than my mom.
The '68 when I was a baby, at our current house.
As a kid, the back of the truck was often a playhouse.
In 1994 we upgraded to a 4x4... bought an '81 K20 to retire the '68. The '81 had a bad motor, so we got rid of it, and bought a 1980 GMC 3/4 ton 4x4. The GMC was then the "main truck" and we still kept the '68. I also did an experimental K-Mart rattlecan paint job on it when I was 14 years old, cause I liked blue and white better than the dark brown it was.
After my dad died in '96, we kept the GMC and it was the 1st truck I started working on and modifying... I put a 454 in it, then started lifting it. It became my tow vehicle, and despite also at this time having my red '78 and the Suburban and the Internationals, it was still the main truck.
Here it is at some of it's points along the line with my rattlecan paint.
And the main comparison of the day we got it, and the day I finished a bunch of major modifications (Right now it's all apart again undergoing another rebuild).
It stayed my main truck and on 33" tires, until the '81 Crew Cab came around... 454, 4spd, 205, and my first Dana 60! I was excited. And also somewhat sad, cause it was like the GMC was being pushed off to the side as the Crew Cab took over tow duty, and started getting lifted too. So the GMC then became a big truck on 39.5" Boggers. The Crew Cab has stayed no larger than a 6" lift and 35's, and me and the Crew Cab have logged many tow hours, trip hours and rescue hours together. The '68 and the GMC are the most special trucks to me, but as the main workhorse, the Little Crew Cab has been the main "flagship of the Fleet" if you will.
