A young man’s vision.

It took 3 years of countless hours for Justin’s vision to roll down the road. My son Justin, at 14 years old saw a vision in the neighbors old farm truck sitting in 4ft high weeds. I told him he was crazy and we were from the the knowledge and experience to even think about getting on the road. Heck we didn’t even know if it was for sale, let alone ran.

My son talked me into stopping by and talking to the old man to see if he would sell it. We did and he questioned us to why we even wanted an old pickup like that. After some talking and my son telling him he would save up his money over the summer and earn enough to pay for it. I might add he mentioned this before any talk of how much he would sell it for.

After the old man and Justin kicked the flat tires and wiped some dirt off the dash, the old man said “Son, come talk to me again we ya got 500 dollars”.  Two months later I was giving my son Justin a ride to the neighbors house to buy his first truck.

That winter we pushed the truck into the shop and started stripping everything out of the interior, removed the box off the frame and dove in with a vision that I still could see, or wonder what he was thinking and how the heck are we gonna do this.

A long story summarized is this, we learned from friends, YouTube, cuss words and of course LMC truck how to make this 14 year old vision come true. From body work to paint, trim, converting the engine to fuel injection everything was done in our own small shop.  We learned some amazing skills for welding, body work, painting, electrical, patience, a few new curse words. But most of all we learned together with Grandpa, Me and Justin.  The memories that were made during this project and the time we were blessed to be together is something that can never replaced.

In the beginning I never imagined that a 14 year old’s vision would ever create the memories that it did. Who are we to underestimate anyone’s vision or question it. I learned from my 14 year old that the seemingly impossible is very possible, especially with good friends and family coming along side to make it happen. We kept every receipt and documentation of everything we did. The smile on his face when he drove to school for the first time brought this Dad to tears.

Thanks Justin for believing in yourself. Also credit to Grandpa John and Uncle Billy who were invaluable in providing their time and help also.

Eric M. (Dad)
Justin M. (truck owner age 17)