[Leeforbes]

As a child, we would spend the summers with my Grandfather in Tampa Florida for a few weeks each year growing up. We would often take short rides in his pickup and stop along the way, collecting random cans and recyclable metal along the side of the road. I loved the old truck and had fond memories of my time spent in and around it. My Grandfather purchased it new in 1966 and drove it daily to work on the railroad. My time was spent with him in the 80's so by that era it was quite worn. None the less I still always longed to drive it and constantly begged for it every summer.

In 1992 I turned sixteen years old and as a surprise, My Grandfather showed up on my door step with the keys to this old green C10 we had spent the years in together. So the project begins... It was already a classic by the time I received it but it was barely drive-able.

As a young man, I patched and scraped together what I could to keep her on the road. Vibrant dreams of restoration always circled in my head, pouring out any time someone made a comment about the truck and would listen to me. Like most start up projects, I lacked funding. Surprised? I am sure many readers of this have had a similar experience at least once in their life.

Well, life happens... After some years as I made my way through college and married, I quickly found myself in need of reliable transportation instead of a project. I asked my Grandfather for permission to sell the old truck to a friend and find something more suitable for daily use as a budding adult. He understood my situation and we both agreed that it would be best to sell. So off it went to my friend's home in Tennessee! We had often worked on the truck together and he offered new vigor to it's restoration potential. I knew he would be a good steward of the truck.

Some years later I had started a family of my own. As we gathered together at Christmas and thanksgiving, stories of the old truck would still circulate the table. I would chat with my friend about it once in a while as the truck sat in a field behind his home.Waiting and waning in the outdoor conditions.

Then a call that would change this stories direction. My friend was moving in a few short months and was ready to part with the truck, if I was inclined to take her back. It was like lightening striking! Finally I was in a place in my life where I could take on a restoration project now 20 years in the making! That was in 2003.

We shuffled the truck back down to Florida on a trailer and rolled it into my garage. I began the tear down and found that the years had taken quite a toll on the old lady. Frankly, there wasn't much left of her that was salvageable. Piece by piece, I removed, blasted or replaced parts. All of the way down to the frame which I had powder coated. Week after week I would emerge from the garage covered in forty years of grime.

So here I am today in 2015, more than twelve years into the restoration. I had purchased two other entire trucks to scavenge the parts for one good build. Paint is just completed, interior just installed and I'm ready to turn over the engine for the first time in over ten years! So much time and work that I've poured into this truck. So much meaning and emotions are connected with it.

Here is the real kicker for you readers. My Grandfather turns 95 this year. AND HE DOES NOT KNOW THAT I HAVE THE TRUCK BACK! We have not spoken of it's restoration or that I have it back!

My hope is to have the truck completed this May when we have a family gathering so I can pull up and surprise him.