Not your Daddy's half ton
Back in the eighties I used to heat our old home with a wood stove. I had a 1973 Chevy 10. I used to load it with wood, cut from private property, and haul it home. It was normal to load it 'til the s...
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My families first tow rig in the early 80's was a 1969 Ford F-100, standard cab, with an 8' bed. I don't know what engine it had in it, but I do not think it was a big block. Dad may have put helper springs on it and I remeber he and my uncle one weekend swapping out the 3-speed column shift trans for a 4 speed floor shift trans.
We initially used it to pull a late 70's viking pop up, then sold the viking and Dad and Mom bought a 1978 Terry Taurus, 24' with rear bunks. (still to this day my favorite trailer!).
At any rate, My brother and I rode in the truck bed (had a cap on it) but no seats, we just sat in the forward corners.....LOL.
I remeber the Ford Struggling mightly with the Taurus and every time a Semi-truck passed us I remeber it being a VERY white-knuckle experience for my Dad, it REALLY sucked the truck and trailer over when the semi's passed.
Then we "upgraded" to a 1977 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, which was a BEAST!
It had it's rust issues, but it had the 402CI Big block chevy under the hood.
I remeber the days we went to Locust Lake State Park, in Schuylkill County, PA. There was a VERY, VERY steep grade to pull coming up out of New Ringgold to get over the mountain. Dad would stop at the bottom of the hill and lock the Jeep down into "Low Range" and it would tug that heavy Taurus over the hill.
Later he bought a 1982 Chevy Suburban with the 350, 2wd. That pulled the Taurus good as well, but Dad always took the long way to Locust Lake once he had the Chevy, he would not try that over the very steep grade.
Great memories, all good old trucks, but any of them compared to my almost 14 yr old Expy......NO comparison. The Expy is Heavier than any of them and has more power and is a lot more comfortable.
-Greg
We initially used it to pull a late 70's viking pop up, then sold the viking and Dad and Mom bought a 1978 Terry Taurus, 24' with rear bunks. (still to this day my favorite trailer!).
At any rate, My brother and I rode in the truck bed (had a cap on it) but no seats, we just sat in the forward corners.....LOL.
I remeber the Ford Struggling mightly with the Taurus and every time a Semi-truck passed us I remeber it being a VERY white-knuckle experience for my Dad, it REALLY sucked the truck and trailer over when the semi's passed.
Then we "upgraded" to a 1977 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, which was a BEAST!
It had it's rust issues, but it had the 402CI Big block chevy under the hood.
I remeber the days we went to Locust Lake State Park, in Schuylkill County, PA. There was a VERY, VERY steep grade to pull coming up out of New Ringgold to get over the mountain. Dad would stop at the bottom of the hill and lock the Jeep down into "Low Range" and it would tug that heavy Taurus over the hill.
Later he bought a 1982 Chevy Suburban with the 350, 2wd. That pulled the Taurus good as well, but Dad always took the long way to Locust Lake once he had the Chevy, he would not try that over the very steep grade.
Great memories, all good old trucks, but any of them compared to my almost 14 yr old Expy......NO comparison. The Expy is Heavier than any of them and has more power and is a lot more comfortable.
-Greg
