Hi from Portland

[Oregoon]

Hey, I'm Fitz, 35, father of two, trucker, grad student, freelance writer, skateboarder, surfer, ninja, wizard, pirate, and as my old lady tells me, royal pain in the ass.

I've been an armchair rodder ever since the 3rd grade, when I saw an Anglia with big-ass back tires ripping across the Thurso River Bridge in my hometown in Scotland. My love for cars was cemented in the fourth grade, when I met my oldest friend in the world, who grew up in a body shop, and to this day, lives, breathes, and sleeps for cars.

Over the years, I've owned a variety of projects, none of which came anywhere near completion, but all of which were drivers, of some sort. I've had a '57 Willys Truck with a Buick Wildcat under the hood, a '73 Travelall, '75 Cherokee, '64 Bug, '69 and '70 Busses, '84 Landcruiser, '70 Volvo... All fun enough, I guess, but not bought because they were what I wanted, but because they were good deals.

Nope, what I'd always wanted was a two-wheel drive truck, Chevy, Ford, or Dodge, done in the mud-spattered hillbilly-hotrod style of the rigs I grew up around on the farms and in the foothills west of Portland. And if it was a weird variant like a panel, suburban, or crew cab, even better!

Flash forward to last Thursday, when I spotted a relatively straight '66 Carryall on cranklist. She's an ex State of California Highway truck, with 189,000 overall miles, a 292, SM420, 3/4 ton radiator, factory posi and a 4:11 12 bolt. I have copious receipts dating to the mid 'seventies, including an engine rebuild 32,000 miles ago--in 1984! According to the oil-change data, and the prior owner (a decent old guy), the truck basically sat ever since, with occasional trips around town.

Needless to say, an hour or two after spotting it, I drove it home for $900.

I've done cap, rotor, points, condensor, plugs, wires, timing, and carb rebuild already, and she's running great. Easily the best running inliner I've ever owned, or driven, for that matter.

Of course, I've still got plans, ideas, and questions, so a fellow HAMBer and Chevy Truck Aficianando clued me into this board, and it seems like a great place to field my brain-dead queries. Plus, I don't want to strain my oldest friendship too greatly...

Thanks in advance for your help, and sorry for any dumb questions.