Jerry Patton might have a hard time telling you if he most remembers his 1951 Chevy on the childhood farm, or the farm around the ’51 Chevy. Jerry’s father and the farm both demanded hard work and the pickup served them faithfully until finally being retired to a remote field. Used for parts and left to the elements, that symbol of Jerry’s boyhood stayed stubbornly in the back of his mind: yes, he’d like to rescue that truck someday.

Decades passed. Jerry started a family of his own, but as soon as a chance to claim the family Chevy came his way, he pounced.

It’s Jerry’s now, but worked on as much or more by his son, Nick. (And sometimes even tinkered with by his two granddaughters!) For the Pattons, keeping it stock isn’t a style, it’s a tribute. You don’t overhaul memories, you just uphold them. The farm truck is worn, weathered and Jerry couldn’t be more satisfied with it. Having seen four generations of Pattons now, the family has worked their DNA into the heart of the truck and the truck, in turn, has worked itself into the DNA of their family. This is a study in what we at LMC like to call truck life.