[Fitz]

When did it start? It was Stacey David's show, Trucks! I watched it every saturday morning when the wife wanted me out mowing the grass and washing her minivan. When he started Copperhead I was snakebit. I thought about how that truck would look as a stepside and that did it. Bulges for fenders, huge rear tires with stalks protruding from the bedsides for brake and reverse lights. Small window cab and an engine large enough to put fear in the hearts of the 10 second Honda guys that had taken over A1A on the beachside. I wanted my truck to look like a smallblock stocker with a fancy paint job. You know what I mean; all show but no go but a giant killer under that paint.

I scanned the autotrader and classifieds every week but all I could find were rusted out hulks whose owners truly believed that the body panels were pounded out of Krugeraands and the truck was worth the market value of all those coins. Then I discovered Deals on Wheels on the web and that was the end of life as I knew it. My long distance phone bills climbed and my frequent flyer miles dwindled but I was on the hunt. Nothing was going to stand between me and the dream of a true ground pounder.
A few months passed until I received an e-mail from a friend living in Houston. He had seen a cobalt blue 67 stepside at a local show and looked it over. It had been lowered, the firewall was butchered to add AC and the suspension was hacked up badly but there was no bondo anywhere on the truck. No rust, no bondo. Music to my ears. The VIN decoded as a six cylinder three on the tree built in Atlanta Ga. Armed with a bag full of cash and the intent to buy, I flew from Melbourne Florida to Houston Texas. The owner met me at the airport and after going over the truck on a lift for four hours I bought it.

6am the following morning I started the long drive home. The front brakes quit in New Orleans and the power steering went the way of the dodo just East of Tallahassee but I drove until I couldn't drive any longer. The headlights went permanently off in Lake City Florida an hour after sunset forcing me to stop. The next exit had a Motel Six next to a truck stop and wonder of wonders, a NAPA auto parts store. Someone really wanted me to get that truck home.

An hour after the NAPA store opened I had the new power steering pump in the truck, the fluids were replenished, none of the lights were working and I didn't care. An FHP ticket for no turn signals and no brake lights and 2.5 hours later I was home. Just in time for Thanksgiving and to get served with divorce papers. The wife is long gone along with some money and furniture but I have my ground pounding 67 Stepside!. Come to Tucson and we'll roast a tire or two.