Hello all you happy people, ...
My name is Ruben, this is my first post here on this forum and do I have a story for you. So grab your popcorn and lets take a cruise.......if you ain't to busy.
I recently was able to purchase a truck that originally belonged to my father.
I am looking to share here, as well as looking for some help and information and to see about a way to confirm....So thanks in advance.
Well it all started when I was 15 years old,.........I'm 43 now.........I was a young punk kid, a freshman as it were, and across the street from the high school I saw this lowered 72 Chevy truck. Now I have always been a "car guy" I have loved everything from exotics to classics from a very young age. I walk across the street from the high school the the Veterans Memorial Building where the guy that owned this truck worked......and proceeded to glare and walk around the truck and check it out. There is just something about this truck calling to me I instantly love it. A few minutes go by and the guy comes rushing out to his truck and asks me, "Can I help you?"
"Hello," I said,.........My name is Ruben Jaramillo.......and I really like your truck......HE immediately broke the biggest sh*t eating grin and started laughing loudly. He then told me that he had purchased this truck,....(MY TRUCK) from my father years prior. I told him that one day I would come and want to buy it from him......To which he laughed even harder and louder and said NEVER EVER would he sell it. He loved it too much.
Right there started a 28 year quest,........ no mission if you will... to buy my Dads old truck back from this guy. Over the course of the next nearly 3 decades I saw this guy hundreds if not thousands of times around town and the county. He worked for the city and was always around here or there. Each and every time that I saw him I hit him up about "MY TRUCK"..... I mean the way I saw it, he was just a custodian of sort, this thing was my damn birthright......lol.
Each and every time he laughed and said NEVER and gave some reason or story about keeping it for his grand kids, or fixing it up this or that. The truck after My father owned it seemed to barely ever get washed much less pampered.....The seat had come apart and he would just sit on towels, a pillow, maybe some taco bell napkins, ....to give a little cushion....during the time that he was still driving it.
About 15 years ago he parked it in his driveway and there it say for about 8 years......After it started to rust and the tires went flat, his wife started to harp on him to get it out of the driveway..... It apparently was in need of a gas tank swap as the tank had started to leak inside the cab..So he bought a under the bed tank and took it to a local shop where it sat for the next 7 years. It sat there in a chain link enclosed yard, infested with cats in the dirt and the weeds, but I always kept tabs on it, and still every time I would see the owner I would hound him about selling it to me.
Now, over the last 5 years or so, I had really gotten into Toyota Landcruisers. I had just finished a very sweet 1970 FJ40 and said to myself, I will NEVER sell this thing.....I Love it too much!!!! About a week later I drive it to vons, so I can be a mall crawler,.... and I see this dude inside doing some shopping. I say to him jokingly this time, "Dude, don't make me take cash to your wife, cuz I know she will sell it to me!!!" He breaks out into his customary laugh and says, "you know,.......uuugh....maybe that's NOT such a bad thing." My eyebrow perks up, and he starts saying that he has really been tripping on 65 Impalas which I know have recently been sky rocketing in price....... I say goodbye and then pinch myself as I walk away.........Damn! Am I dreaming????
I go home, and immediately put my beloved 1970 FJ40 for sale.......Yes the one I just finished building and said I would NEVER sell.....After a few weeks I sell it for WAY cheaper that I should because I am in a RUSH and realize that the time to strike is NOW on MY TRUCK>>>>>
I sold it on July 3rd of this year,.......and an Hour later I was knocking on this guys door with a roll of cash in hand.....After some maneuvering........some posturing, on both parts I walked away that day VICTORIOUS and had the title to my Dads old truck. The truck that I had wanted for 28+ years....
OK, so now, 7 days ago I finally had the truck delivered after the shop owner had no time allegedly to dig it out of the yard where it sat......that's like 4+++ months of wait time here folks, ............even worse than waiting for your piece.......seriously...
This is the first time in a VERY long time that I have even gotten close to the truck......I mean I just knew I wanted it, I never asked what it had on it, or any details about it..As I look at it coming off the tow truck, I can see the most glorious patina on it, the white paint is cracking in some parts like the edge of a drying out muddy water hole, peeling up at the edges and revealing a light green original coat underneath.....I open the drivers door and realize that the truck has A/C which i think is very cool,......Then i see and old Craig 8 track player in the dash some overhead speakers and chuckle to myself. I go to sit in the driver seat or whats left of it anyways and I notice it has a tilt steering column. Wow also very cool. I look up and see white visors..?? Hmmmm a cracked up black dash pad, and some 8 tracks on top of the dash...This thing is like a time capsule......I can feel my dads presence in there like the force or something....lol There is whats left of some black rotting carpet on the floor, and lots of trash everywhere. I push her into the driveway and say thanks and head out to run errands and pick up some extra parts that the PREVIOUS owner had to go with the truck. When I get over there he gives me some parts to include a pristine tailgate, the one with the wood accent all the way across and proceeds to tell me some details regarding the truck. My truck.....
He says that He never really knew "what" the truck was because it had heavy leaf springs in the rear.....He said that in the 2+ years that my Dad had owned it he had,
1) Had it painted black with a purple pearl top.....
2) Had it dropped (From some white guy in the valley that everyone was going to) according to dad.
3) Changed out the wheels and tires...
4) painted the door panels
5) put in the stereo
6) Changed out the seat
7) frenched the marker lights front and rear with some other type lights?
8) Shaved the C-10 emblems both fenders
9) installed license plate holder.....
I tell him thank you and off I go with a bunch of rusty parts, and a really beautiful tailgate. thinking ill hang that thing on my wall.....
OK so,...... were getting there...
5 days ago I put the parts on Craigslist cuz I wasn't going to use them, and I figured any money I made could be put back into the mods I had planned for the build on my truck. I mean I had 4 ++ months to think about it right?? It was all but purchased and assembled in my mind. Within hours I am getting 5- replies all asking about the tailgate. I say come get it, but like anyone that has sold on CL before so many flakes its ridiculous. One guy gets a me on this past Tuesday and says he wants it BAD and is willing to drive 6 hours in Thanksgiving traffic to get it. I say come get it and 7 hours later he is checking it out with a flashlight.....He says he thinks its a "re-pop"???? Im like whats that? he says a reproduction, and Im like the dude I got it from aid it sat in his garage for like 30 years or so so I did not think is was. He said look it been painted....Then he took off the wood trim thing......it DID say Chevrolet in stamped letters there, but he said some re-pops do that.... long story longer,............I call the guy I got it from and after a 15 minute, very detailed story he says it real and yes the lady he got it from had had it painted but just put back and never used. The dude hits me hard on my 500$ asking price and is at 420$..... I'm thinking like.....wow, these tailgates must be very rare I can and should hold to my price and send this guy packing.....but then I think Cr*p he just drove all this way what the heck could possess someone to do that.....(Ive done it myself several times in the past for various wants)...
He starts on about how he is building this VERY SPECIAL RARE truck called a HIGHLANDER,.....Im like, never heard of it. He pulls out his phone and proceeds to show me pics if his build, as well as his OTHER 2 totally DONE C10's a Blazer, A cameo, and maybe a couple hot rods..... Im like WOW......but he keeps on and on about this "HIGHLANDER" and I say OK Im glad this gate is going to someone like you, that is a car nut like myself and will put it to good use... slaps the 420$ on me and away he goes....
I an trying to tell my co worker the story of how it went and I cant remember what he was calling this rare truck......so I text the guy, and he responds and sends me a couple links. As I am reading later the next night about this mysterious highlander model I keep looking at pics of my truck and thinking wow, it sure does have alot in common.....OK what about the seat right>>?? So I email the old man the ask if it came with some weird plaid seat??? He emails back the next morning,.....YEP it sure did.
This is about where I started reading and learning about a,...... "SPID" and where to look for it, so I could not wait to get home as I was at work. I get home and anxiously look inside the glove box........NO SPID>??? What the hell?? I mean I have the original owners manual, warranty and protect o plate, Temp I.d., Commercial reg, Emissions controls booklet. ALL of it but NO SPID????? I contacted the guy I got it from and he said he does not think he has it or even remember it being there when he got it.....????? I contacted my dad and asked but he was going on about the sticker being in the drivers door jam and misunderstood what I was getting at i think. I am still trying to reach him.....He lives Mexico.....OLD Mexico that is... He will be here in a week for the holidays though.
Now I know almost all of the history with this truck. and I will be piecing it all together with my dad and the previous owner over the next few weeks or so. Here is about where I close and ask for help....with a few things.
1) ANY other way to verify with what I have that it IS an HIGHLANDER ?? (Dealer where he got truck is still in town.? )
2) IF the SPID is missing and neither of these guys have it or a pic of it...is there any way to get a new one? (Dealer where he got truck is still in town.? )
3) help verifying exactly what it was optioned with
4) did those plaid seats come in any other C10's??
5) sourcing a seat frame and cushions and covers with the plaid inserts. (green)
I had a build all dreamed up and now that it may and probably IS a Highlander all that or most of it anyways has changed. I am leaning towards a patina build and keeping it as close to the way I found it, getting the air and everything else working as it should and cruising it hard.
IF you've stayed with me and this story this long, thank you and I hope you were not too disappointed with the missing SPID part.....I AM but I am trying to figure it out. I mean the truck was already super special before it was extra special to me...this just makes it extra extra super special.....lol and also will ultimately decide which way i go with the build.
AND finally since I typed this whole story up (or close to it) on my phone last night, and it didn't take when i tried to upload photos.....and since I DO realize a post especially this long without photos is absolutely worthless......photos to come directly.....standby.