It was the beginning of an epic Ford model rebuild, and I was along for the ride. My husband often enjoys a weekend breakfast out with my father and other male family friends so it was a little out of the ordinary for me to join in. It’s understood that the guys go out, get breakfast together, then work on some sort of vehicle (anything that has an engine really). It was early in our marriage and I thought I would tag along to see what all the fuss was about. We all piled up in Mark’s pickup and headed out to the deep woods of Wisconsin. My husband had arranged to meet a man who had a 1960 Ford frame/base/parts truck in his back yard, partially in the ground, “ready to sell.”
It was the summer of 2015 and the mosquitoes were dense. I wasn’t aware at the time, but I had also started a big project that would change our worlds and introduce a new love into our lives, I was pregnant. Jarrod was ready to remodel an old Ford pickup and it started with a resurrection. We cut the growing tree out of the frame, hooked up cables to Mark’s truck and started to pull. We soon blew out his breaks, but got the base for this new truck project out of the ground. Jarrod paid the man $100 and began the journey of restoring a 1960 Ford F100 pickup truck.
While I grew bigger around my belly, Jarrod set up shop in our detached garage and slowly started the process. Jarrod purchased countless parts from LMC, visited the scrap yard, painted, and consulted my father on many steps along the way. Countless cardboard boxes with the name “LMC” were delivered to our front steps. Different painting ideas were explored and we created an imaginary company with our initials. (image one)
That winter we took the red truck to the local “cut-your-own” Christmas trees. (image 2, pregnant me standing in front of red truck with tree)
It was still far from the perfection that my husband saw for this beauty.
A photo of the red ford pickup was proudly displayed on Jarrod’s social media profile page. An attempt was made to name the truck, but nothing was really agreed on. Slowly, over the next 2 years, Jarrod would order a new part for the truck or painting would be arranged and he would tell me, “I just need to get this done on the truck.”
Working on this truck became a sort of escape for my husband: to get away from the work week routine and possibly diaper duty (Julius was born April 2016). Jarrod found solace in having a tool to tinker with or mechanism to manipulate. Improvements were constantly being made, and mistakes were occasionally being corrected. My father would stop by, almost daily, to supervise and provide seasoned advice. I even herd about a hood flying up during a test drive, which was awfully close to the finish line for this truck.
Not until writing this introduction to your magazine, did I realize this automobile has woven its timeline into our lives. It “saw” the birth of our son, it’s taken us out on several date nights, it’s even included in most of our professional family photos! (image 3)
The 1960 red Ford pickup is now the delight of our 2 year old son, who can’t seem to wait to get under the hood and behind the wheel (image 4, Jarrod and Julius looking under hood of red truck). And I may not go on many “guy’s breakfast” outings anymore, but I sure can see what the fuss is all about now.