The best truck I ever owned was a 1953 Chevrolet 3100 half-ton pickup. I bought it in 1974 for $200. Today, if you want to buy one in good shape it would run you about the same as a new Volvo S40, but you wouldn’t buy a Volvo, because it’s really a Ford, now would you?
It wasn’t the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned (that distinction goes to a Volkswagen 411 that just wouldn’t die until after I gave it to my younger brother), but its ailments were usually within my ability to fix: directionals not working? – get a new set from J.C. Whitney and bolt them on. Exhaust a bit loud? Cut the ends off a tallboy, slit it lengthwise and wrap it around the exhaust pipe with baling wire. The engine compartment was so big that I could climb in and get to just about any part without having to move subassemblies.
In the summer of 1974 I lived in a very sparsely populated area of northern Maine. One day when I was driving into town the brakes failed and I cruised straight across the highway into a runout intended for logging trucks that had lost their brakes. The town consisted of a gas station and a general store (where the ammunition was on the shelf above the spices). I walked to the gas station and explained my problem to the mechanic, expecting that any brake parts for my aged ride would take weeks to arrive, if they were even available. Not so! The mechanic asked the model and year and scratched his head. He had a new master cylinder in stock and replaced mine within a day!
For a while, I was having trouble with the window on the driver’s side. I got the Chilton’s guide from the bookmobile and was able to set things aright by pulling off the door panel and realigning the gears that raised and lowered the window.
Today, I barely consider myself capable of adding windshield washer fluid to my current vehicle, and that only because the reservoir is clearly marked with icons – no reading required. If I hear a funny noise or sense a strange vibration I am on my way to the dealer. Back in 1974, however, my life and my truck were much simpler, and the problems that arose could be fixed.