She would have been 60 years old this year. And for the three and a half years we knew her, was a part of our family, while living in Bayfield. She cut wood with us for three winters, and was my older son's first baby sitter. She was a 1949 Ford F-3 pickup, commonly referred to as "the Tonner," but really a heavy duty 3/4 ton. We needed a truck when we moved to Bayfield to haul firewood, and so went looking. One weekend in the big city of Farmington, NM-Bayfield only had 631 residents, we saw her on a used car lot, and with no money, but a friend at the bank, wrote a check for $900 and drove her home.
And heavy duty she was. 21 leaf springs in the back, an 8' bed,and all original except for the 1955 T bird motor some one had replaced the old flathead with somewhere along the way. She was a strong runner, and true to form, that old Y block V-8 marked it spot wherever you parked it. Never changed the oil the whole time we had her, just added. The interior was in pretty good shape, although some of the dash pieces were cracked, and it did have a heater. Sort of. A box sat under the passenger side of the dash, and if you opened the doors to it, hot air came out. All the time, so we disconnected it in the summer by rerouting the heater hoses. Simple. You need defroster, open the side vent windows. And she was blessed with an old style 17" split rim wheel, which I could only find one guy to change them since they were so dangerous. And he was dangerous. But we only picked up one nail ever, so was ok there. It did have a spare, but it may have never been down as it was stuck in place and tire looked new.
Vermillion, or Ford's name for red was her color, and on one 4th of July, she even got compounded, changing her from a dull orange to a bright red. She was Christopher's first baby sitter, as he would sit in her for hours, "dumping it," and bouncing on the seat while working the shifter and shaking the steering wheel. But her purpose was to haul firewood, and over three winters hauled more than 60 cords. A tough truck, that even when one of the Yarina brothers was told "Tony don't fall trees close to the truck" did, and an 8" aspen fell across the roof, and broke in two when hitting the bed, barely scratching the roof.
The only repairs I ever did were to have Bob Abrams replace the clutch-he was owner of AAAAA Towing, I guess it was important to be first in listings in the yellow pages, for $122-he let me make payments and replace the battery. It came out of a Colorado State patrol car, my friend David used to do maintenenance on them, and offered it to me for $4, I won a double or nothing bet, and the old battery was mine for free. And even though it froze every winter, and expanded, the case never broke. And we learned to park it when cutting wood, actually using it as a trailer until we could build speed pulling it to make it start. She never left us stranded as long as someone could jump start her.
Then when I got transferred to Farmington with Coke, we didn't need her anymore, and sold her to a young guy who wanted to fix her up, and hot rod her. At the age of 35, she was getting another chance, and another family. I drove her the last 70 miles back to Farmington, and she had been running hot, even noticed some coolant under the truck, but hey, that was normal. But on this hot, spring day, in the 80's, a freeze plug let go, and she lost all her coolant. So stopping at Hogs R Us, filled her again, no coolant in system, but it never overheated, and got my friend Dave to replace the missing freeze plug. And also got an Alaskan Malamute in the deal, a story for another time. She made it to Farmington, exchanged money for title, and I never saw her again. I hope she didn't take it personal, and brought as much happiness to her new owner as she had our family. A true servant if there ever was one. One I can honestly say now I wish I had never sold.
I know many servants today in the body of Christ. A servant doesn't know when, where, how, who, or why they serve-they just do. And friends like Woody and Sandy, Dwight and Susan, and Roscoe and Shirley come to mind when I think of service. But the one I always remember is on a 100 degree day at a Hollister Rally. CMA hands out free water, and their booth was at the Veteran's Building. I saw this little guy going back and forth carrying two 5 gallon pails, and he was getting slower and hotter. I started to go to help, and was cautioned by the Holy Spirit. "Don't mess up his blessing!" was the message. You see he was enjoying serving, and didn't care about weight, temp, or how many trips he was making. He was enjoying being a servant, and seeing others refreshed. He didn't need my help. Nor desire it. Or even ask for it.
But the ultimate servant is Jesus. For while we were still sinners, He died on the cross for us. Like my old truck, He took abuse, but never complained. Just did whatever needed to be done, never receiving the credit due. But when we see Him in heaven, we will then be able to thank Him personally-right now our prayers and praise and worship will have to do. You see old trucks and Jesus both made an impact in my life. One acted as a life saver hauling wood for fires, the other rescued me from the fires of hell by being my savior, and I will be in heaven because of Him. Find Him today, and warm yourself by the fire with Him. Listen to His words, and if He starts by telling one of His stories, a parable, about a young couple in Colorado, and how He got them through their early years, so there would be later years-listen. There will millions of testimonies in heaven-I hope one is yours. See you there. If God can keep a truck running, imagine what He can do for you.
And I would do it all over again, given he opportunity.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com