72 GMC Longhorn in Houston

[Houston-Longhorn]

After years of wanting (and lusting) for 67-72 Chevy / GM truck I now own two!!! My thought was If I was going to have a truck, it would have to be a LWB. Why have a truck if you can't buy piece of plywood and close the tailgate? I told that to a friend and he said, "Jake, how often do you buy plywood?" Of course, that’s not the point. It’s what I want.

So through the research for a truck I discovered the Longhorn produced between '68 & '72. How could I settle for a standard LWB when there was a truck bed with an extra six inches? (Thanks be to Longhorn Man. I gleaned a lot of good info from his posts, his replies and his rarely updated web page.)

Well, the girls are graduated from college and no longer on "our" dime. And now there is no longer an "our" dime. Divorce was final about 2 months ago. So I have no college bills to pay and no wife to ask, "Why do you need an old truck? And do you really think we can afford that type of hobby?” I started in earnest to find my truck.

On ebay one morning I found just what I wanted: '69 Chevy, 396, AT, AC & PB. (Only small issue was it was Maroon & White. School colors for Texas A&M!)

So I got my sign from God for me to buy this truck? The truck was in San Antonio where I was headed that exact same day to visit my sister. Well, I left a few minutes early and drove faster than I should have. During the 185-mile drive I took advantage on a MB SUV that was doing 90+. I slipped in behind in my Maxima and we were making great time. However, I had to slow down when the Texas DPS (Highway Patrol for the non-Texans.) were waiting on the other side of the over pass. The MB took the fall. I just hit the brakes and dropped to 70 pretty quick.

I looked the truck over and while it wasn't in quite as good of shape as I wanted I had to remind myself that God put that truck an me in San Antonio on the same day. First time I ever bought a vehicle on my Amex Card. But hey! Like I said no wife to say...."Fill in the blank."

I couldn't get my car and my new truck home in the same day so I decided I would leave it with the PO for a few weeks while I worked out the various transportation issues.

When I returned home I continued my daily routine of checking ebay and a few other on-line sites checking for trucks. Ebay had a listing for a '72 GMC Longhorn, 104K miles still owned be the original owner! The truck has been in Wisconsin since birth and it has virtually no rust, original paint and the wood bed is solid with about 50% of the wood still covered by the original paint.
Here's the kicker! At $4K it was only $500 more than my San Antonio truck. Now remember, I have no wife to stop me in my tracks when I even started to think about buying another truck. So you know what happened... my vehicle to be bought on my Amex card. Thank goodness for good credit and low interest rates.

My theory was (and still is!) I will be able to sell the first truck. Won't be hard to find someone to give it a good home and just let me get my money back out. I got the San Antonio truck home on a Saturday and then flew to Green Bay Wisconsin on Monday ready to start my 1400-mile journey back to Houston.

The owner's nephew picked me up at the Green Bay airport and drove me to his uncle's dairy farm to pickup my "new" truck. The Uncle was the original and only owner. The truck had only spent one night of its life not in the garage or the barn. The truck only had 104K miles. Everything was just as it was when he took delivery of his special ordered truck. Other than of course a little barn dust. The radiator hoses were the original hoses complete with the pain-in-the-ass GM hose clamps.

So anyway I love my "new" truck. I am not a frame-off restoration guy no am I the guy that will add all the speed equipment. I will have to ad AC! Not needed in WI but a guy can die in TX without AC. I'll install one of the kits that look just like the factory AC. Next will be dual exhaust. And then in a couple of years give it a fresh coat of paint. Other than that, it stays the farm truck that it always has been. Except now it goes to Homedepot and some cruise rallies. At both places I get allot of, "That truck is from Wisconsin?" Yep, Wilbur took as good care of his truck as his did his dairy cattle...now all I gotta do is find an Aggie that wants to buy a Longhorn truck. That shouldn't be so hard....