12 November 2012

Of all the cars I've known (III)


Dallas (aka north Texas)

1985 Toyota Pickup Xtra Cab (Sparky) - 2 door, xtra cab 2wd pickup with standard transmission and a camper top.  2.4 liter, xtra cab with about 6 inches of extra space behind the seats for gear, tools, one young kid (he only did that once).  Early on, we found we needed a 2nd set of wheels to commute to work and work on our new house.  A great little truck that I literally ran into the ground.  I took her all over Texas on trips to swap meets, campouts, fishing, hunting, gardening, fence-building, etc.  This truck that got great mileage and was small enough to get into a lot of places.  Replaced tires on her many times, did my own transmission and clutch work, radiator, timing chain, brakes (multiple times), plugs, points, and even learned how to rebuild a carburetor on her.  I maxed out the towing capacity of her by towing a 1932 Model A out from Oklahoma City to Dallas on a flatbed trailer.  On one occasion, I put her in a vertical launch mode (tailgate in the ditch, headlights pointing skyward) by sliding off a muddy trail on the backside of our hunting lease.  The truck was so light that I had several guys I was hunting with simply pick up the rear end and slide her back on the road.  She even went head to head with a full grown Bramha bull on the top of an earthen dam on that same lease and won!  At times, I slept in her, hauled crap in her, got sick in her.  After 15 years and 325,000 hard miles, I reluctantly had to trade her in for a truck with a bit more towing capacity.  When you plan to haul a 25 foot Airstream trailer, Sparky was just not up to the challenge. 

Next:  Houston 

3 comments:

meleah rebeccah said...

Holy shit, you got 325,000 miles outta that bad boy? That's one hellova truck!

ShadowRun300 said...

My dad had a Toyota pickup truck for YEARS. Those Toyotas are like the Energizer Bunny. They just keep going. In fact, we had 3 vehicles while I was in high school. All Toyotas.
Seems like Sparky was pretty loyal to you! Took quite a bit of abuse, yet stood by your side through good times and bad. :)

Abby said...

What Meleah said...

I had a '79 toyota pickup - my second vehicle! Great little truck.