The truck was purchased by my late grandfather (Del Jensen) in 1986 from Erdkamp Motors in Exeter, Nebraska. He used this as a farm truck to run errands in town, pick up parts for the combine, that kind of thing, and when not using it parked it in his machine shed. From talking to my uncles, there were only a couple years that it sat outside, which explains the fading of the door panels, but an otherwise unscathed interior.

I remember as a kid, my grandpa took us kids out to teach us how to drive. I might have been around 12 years old or so. After grandpa passed, my uncles and mother were selling the farm house and outbuildings, so in 2016 I purchased the truck with 37k original miles. After a little TLC at my parent’s car wash and detail shop in Lincoln, Nebraska, I drove it back to Olathe, Kansas, on the original factory tires.

Since then I have done some normal maintenance on it and keep it in the garage. Whenever I hand wash it, I never seem to be able to get all the country dirt road out. It’s been a great vehicle to keep the memory of my grandfather alive, and is a huge help when going to the hardware or furniture store. It now has 40,800 miles on it, new tires, upgraded lights to LEDs, and remote lock/unlock. Next I need to put a new exhaust on since the old tailpipe rusted out.

I am in the military. I joined the Nebraska Army National Guard in 2006, and went to Iraq in 2010-2011, where I was a Crew Chief on UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in a Medevac unit. I joined the Missouri Air National 2013 where I am a Crew Chief on C-130 Hercules cargo planes and deployed to Kuwait in 2018. I am about to sign another contract, this time with the Kansas Army National Guard, going back to being a Black Hawk Crew Chief.