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:
Holy shit, you got 325,000 miles outta that bad boy? That's one hellova truck!
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. :)
What Meleah said...
I had a '79 toyota pickup - my second vehicle! Great little truck.
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