When I was a kid, my dad had a 1989 D150 that I loved to go for rides in and trips to DB Mart (convenience store) for Awful Awfuls (a milkshake). That truck was the first vehicle I ever crashed; my dad left the keys in the ignition when he went to feed the horses so seven year-old me decided it was my turn to drive, which ended with the truck embedded in a rhododendron bush. Well, he ended up selling it when I was 10 (the old 318 was tired and failing, and it was more rust than truck because of the New England winters). I was was so mad that he’d sold it – it was my truck (or so I thought).

Well, fast-forward 14 years later. I came back from a deployment with the Air Force and with my deployment cash burning a hole in my pocket, I went on Craigslist. There it was, a 1986 D150 survivor New England truck.  Yeah, there was some rust but I fell in love and $2,500 dollars later, I was driving it home.

The truck has been work. I had to replace the starter, the entire exhaust (wound up putting in a true dual system with hooker headers) but it is the best vehicle I have ever driven. I’m slowly going to rebuild her right, doing things piece by piece so that maybe someday I will drive my kids to go get milkshakes in it.