My Favorite Truck: The Ford F-150

I still miss my Ford F-150. It took a lot to over burden that great old 1994 truck, but I put it through a rough time. I just wanted a truck to have around for the times I needed one, like picking up materials for projects around the house, taking things to the dump, and all of those other uses that you always find for a truck. I bought the truck used. It was a long bed that had been used by a guy in the painting business and he didn't exactly treat it gently. When I test drove it though, I was really surprised - it rode great. My wife and I found that it came in real handy and we liked driving in it so much that we used it for a lot of everyday trips that we would usually use our car for. It felt good to be high off the ground and have a nice heavy secure feeling vehicle under you.

Unfortunately, I had to sell it though, when I burned out the stick transmission after getting stuck in mud with a load of firewood in the bed. I had to keep going back and forth from reverse to whatever gear seemed to get me out a little bit, and after a mighty struggle, I finally got it out of the mud. But I handled it too rough and there was smoke coming from under the hood from overheating. We're retired, on a fixed income, and didn't have the money to get it fixed at the time, so I sold it to a neighbor who worked on trucks as a sideline. He told me that Ford F-150's were real work horses and it took a lot to wear them down. He knew he could fix it and make it run good for a long time to come. He replaced the transmission with a rebuilt one, and within a week resold it to another neighbor. I guess the fact that he sold it to another one of our neighbors, shows the confidence he had that the truck wasn't going to have many future problems. Now it eats my heart out every time I pass by and see it sitting in the other guy's driveway.

I keep saying that some day I'm going to get another F-150, but I just can't seem to work the cost into my budget these days. I've only had a couple of trucks over the years, but I've driven in quite a few and have many family members and friends who own trucks. My brother-in-law and his son, my nephew, have always had Ford F-150's. They're a truck oriented kind of family and even his wife drives an F-150. Actually they like trucks and motorcycles, but that's another story. The point is that I never met anyone who had an F-150 and didn't really like it - a lot. It rides great, looks great, lasts forever, and you just feel good in it.