Requiem for a '67 SWB

[palallin]

This thread is the electronic memorial to my first pick up, a '67 SWB Fleetside named King Cynewulf X.

When I "inhereted" the truck, he had late-model bucket seats in the cab, a 327/Powerglide under the hood, a 3.73 12-bolt in back, power brakes (NO power steering), present but non-functional a/c, and a later-year bed. All but the 327 and the bed were factory. I added PS, a decent paint job, tool boxes, a camper shell, and a trailer hitch. I replaced the PG with a 3-speed and then a Saginaw 4-speed. When the rear end trashed the diff carrier bearings, I swapped in another 12-bolt but with 3.07 gears. After I had the engine freshened up, that truck would SCOOT around town and got d@mn good mileage on the highway.

I wooed my wife in that truck and moved us to Kansas in it after our wedding. I detailed, up-graded, and, sometimes, played with him. I even surprised the heck out of a Mazda RX-7 driver who wanted to pass me at the wrong time on a curvey-windy (surprised me, too!).

During the summer of '93, I worked for UPS in Lenexa, KS, and I sustained a fairly extensive back injury when some yard ape pulled the trailer I was loading out from under me. I spent the rest of the summer and fall in PT, but I had to drive to KC for it.

I left home one day for therapy and was approaching KS Highway 10 from a side road. The road went down a hill to the highway. There was no entrance ramp: just an intersection without lights. Cresting the hill, I put on the brakes, but there weren't any: the pedal went to the floor, and frantic pumping did not recover them. I had never fixed the e-brake cables, so I tried to downshift. That helped, but I was still rolling. I tried to hit reverse and missed. The nose of the truck crept slowly into the lane of traffic. . .

And bounced of the rear tires of the tractor of a semi passing in front of me. Between the time the tractor tires passed and the rear trailer tires arrived, the nose went under the trailer. The rear tires smacked into and over the front end, spinning my truck around and bouncing it off the front end of a brand new SUV driven by a County Cop

I was bounced around pretty bad. My left arm dented the inside of the driver's door shell, and my overhead speaker broke from its mounting and put a gash in my head.

The truck was towed the half mile home and stored in a storage lot (the landlord of the mobile home court wouldn't let me keep in in the driveway). My brother and father drove up a couple of weeks later and helped me cut him up into a trailer.

Although I truly love my current ride, I really miss that old '67 and wish I still had him, too.

Up until Yesterday, I still had the trailer. Now--and Jim will post his side of the story soon--I have traded that trailer for one made out of a LWB Stepside, the bed of which will go on my "new" truck. The passenger side door, the dash bezel, and the rear bumper and trailer hitch are on my '69, and the 327 is in it. The "new" trailer has a short piece of the frame rails from the '67. And the driver's side door shell is propped against the back of one of my sheds. Otherwise, all I have of Cynewulf are these pics and a lot of great memories.

The bed, rear frame, and shell are about to be reborn as part of Jim Albright's "new' '69 SWB Fleetside.

Wes thu hal, Cynewulf!