This weekend, hundreds of classic vehicles will line the City streets for the annual Good Times Cruise-in.
Each restoration project has a unique story, but I’m a softie for the tales about the old pickup trucks.
Their transition from workhorse to ‘Cowboy Cadillac’ usually involves a dramatic recovery and a lot of time, money and love.
Most truck guys are romantic. They ask their women to wear leather because it makes them smell like the cab of a new pickup. To them, the rusted heap on the fence line is as pretty as the tulips in the field. They will whisper lovingly how they changed the truck’s payload from hay bales to trophies and what sacrifices they endured in the process.
Recently, I saw a young boy stop by a beat- up old truck, wipe his sleeve across the faded fender and then caress the steering wheel after he gently closed the weary door. That boy was in love.
My buddies Dan Beer and The Sea Billys turned my poem into a country song and we know all great country songs have pickups in the lyrics.
Yes, a man and his pickup is a beautiful thing. At least that’s what McGregor says.
Ugly Truck
The front bumper’s twisted like a pretzel
She’s bent a little out of line;
One headlight’s pointed upward,
God knows where it’s gonna shine;
The mirror on the right side
Is missing all its glass;
But it makes no reflection
On how my life has come to pass;
The antenna has been broken off
But that coat hanger works fine;
She may be an awful ugly truck
But that ugly truck’s all mine!
The upholstery’s damp and musty
And some springs are pokin through;
The floor mats try to do the job
The floor boards used to do;
The gear shift knob’s an 8 ball
That fits my hand real nice;
And hanging from the mirror
Are my daddy’s fuzzy dice
The tail lights hang from baling wire,
The tail gate’s tied with binder twine;
She’s ugly, but she’s loyal
And that ugly truck’s all mine!
The paint is pretty faded
All her chrome is long since gone;
She’s hardly ever free of mud,
It’s a long time since she shone;
The box is mostly full of rust
So there’s no room for a load;
Three different size of tires
Keep her rolling down the road;
When she asked for the house and car
I said “I won’t decline,
You keep the tables, chairs, and kitchen wares,
But that ugly truck’s all mine!”