Dad’s Ol’Blue

My dad’s name was Jose Luis, he was a cool guy, a stern man, and a very old school mexican, but a cool dad. He was loving, and hard when he had to be. In August last year, he had 4 heart attacks back to back… He survived for a while on machines in the hospital for a month. Then I lost him on September 12th. I saw the strongest man become the most vulnerable, and saddest man. I think of him seeing me cry, and take care of him every step of the way, until his very last breath.. Losing my dad has been one of the many worst things that have happened to me in my life. But I continue to strive, and push through it, because my dad taught me never to look down, but to always keep my chin up.
I am number 11 out of 12 kids, and my dad always remembered to show us all enough love. I’ll miss being outside with my dad, and fixing stuff, with him and my 2 boys. Before he passed away, he had my son David (5 years old at the time), write on a napkin, “When the time comes, tata’s Ol’Blue is going to be for my baby brother and me.” My dad signed it, and had my mom put it away for keepsake. When the day came, my mom gave me the key to that truck, and said “Dad left this for the boys.” All I could do was cry, and think of the times my dad would drop me and my sister off at preschool, and all my friends thought I was the coolest kid, cause my dad had a monster truck! Or when my dad would take us out just for a ride in the evenings, and how I was his shotgun rider. My dad would take my boys out on rides up and down the street, and the boys would always have a blast, and love the sound of the truck, because it was so loud. I remember, at one point, I would joke around and say “Dad, let me buy Ol’Blue from you!” and he would say “Okay, then give me $6,000 for it?” and I would say, “Oh heck no! Give me a family discount!” Then we would laugh about it. Then he would say “Just give me some time to fix it up, for it to be safe for you to be able to drive it for you and the boys, and then we’ll talk.” And then that day came.. and now we have the truck.
This truck means a lot to me, and I don’t know much about trucks because I only know how to change a tire, and maybe oil, but, I am desperate to fix this damn truck because it meant so much to my dad. What I do know is wrong with it, is that there is rust in the radiator, the steering box needs to be replaced, it is blowing white smoke out of the back pipe, so I’m worried it could be a blown head gasket. It’s an old truck, it is a 1974 Ford F250 HighBoy and I know those trucks always have excessive steering play, I like to call it death wobble, because it’s scary driving that damn thing! Another thing is that the breaks are very hard to push down on. Many things are wrong, I could make a list, I just need help trying to figure out where to start with it… I have an old tequila bottle that I started putting money in every chance I get, to save up money to start somewhere on it. Nothing would mean more to me if you would share need your truck knowledge with me. It would mean the world to my pops to fix it up for my boys.

Again, thank you guys for being you, and for changing people’s lives in ways that you wouldn’t even imagine. 💙