1977 Datsun Pickup Truck Archives

February 10, 2016

It’s Still Winter

Don’t let those warm days fool you. Winter still has a few tricks up her sleeve. I went to bed uncharacteristically early Monday night because I didn’t want to start a fire to take the chill off the basement where I work. I woke up around 3 in the morning craving a snack and saw that it was spitting snow. When I went to bed around 4, it was coming down pretty hard and blowing across the street.

This was the view outside my car windshield this morning. (Florida Friends, you can click on the photos to make them larger. They will NOT radiate cold through your computer monitor, so it’s OK.)

A look to my left

My jacket and stocking cap were in the back seat, though, so I punched the button that should have opened the sliding side door. No luck. I guess enough ice had formed to make the door think there was some kind of obstruction and it wouldn’t play nicely until the van warmed up a bit.

I let the motor run for a few minutes to let it and my heated seat chase the cold away. My side windows were fairly clean.

And, a look to the right

The yellow 1977 Datsun pickup truck is still in the driveway. We sold it to a young couple who are going to fix it and drive it around Cape, but they are busy closing on a new house. I told them they could leave it here until they had a driveway of their own to park it in.

It’s funny how many people use that as a landmark when giving directions.

I see the forecast for Wednesday night calls for a 22% chance of snow. I hope it gets cold enough to freeze the ground. I need to order another load of firewood.

January 20, 2016January 21, 2016

FL Van Sees Snow; Surrenders

My Odyssey van took a dusting of snow on Tuesday afternoon in stride, even making me switch the heated seat setting from High to Low and turn down the heater.

Predictions had been all over the place for the days leading up to the “snow event,” as the TV folks like to dub it. At first, we were going to get a mix of sleet and freezing rain; then they thought snow would be 1-2 inches, then 2-4, then 4-6, and once it went all the way up to 10-12, before dialing back to 6-8 or thereabouts. In reality, I doubt if we got more than two inches.

“Asking for a friend”

Since I’d been gone a bit, the cupboards were mostly bare. (Question: if you’ve had milk in the fridge for, say, six or eight weeks, and it has lumpy stuff floating on the top of it, is it safe to call it cottage cheese and eat it if you pour on enough sugar? As Bill Hopkins would say, “Asking for a friend.”) Even I know that if something in a plastic zipper bag has something green growing in it like these plants at the old Plaza Galleria, it is best to carry it outside immediately.

I wasn’t looking forward to braving the lines in the stores to stock up, but it wasn’t too crazy. I DID note a lot of bread, milk, chips and toilet paper in the baskets fore and aft. I didn’t see much beer or booze, however. I guess Cape folks keep plenty of that on hand just in case someone slips Prohibition back into the lawbooks without anybody noticing.

“I give up! Take me home”

What did I see the next morning? My poor van was holding up its little arms like a dying cockroach and begging to leave the land of Wind Chill to go back to a place where they talk about the Heat Index in January.

Actually, the idea of lifting my wipers was something Kid Matt passed on: “The lifting the wipers thing seems a new trend based on this article from Cleveland. Everyone in Oregon and Washington seemed to be doing it…”

I’m not sure I’d do that in a parking lot where it might tempt vandals, but I was cool doing it in my driveway. I didn’t go anywhere today, so I didn’t test how well it worked. We’re supposed to get some indeterminate amount of snow Thursday and Friday, so I’ll get another shot at it.

It BETTER snow this winter. I bought 50 pounds of ice melt. The way the woodpile is going down, I may be trading it for firewood soon.

September 8, 2015

Wimpy’s As We Remember It

A couple of young newlyweds stopped by the house to talk about buying Mother’s 1977 Datsun pickup truck. Mother would tell us that she could count on two or three lookers a year for as long as it’s been parked there, but she’d always tell the prospective buyers that she was going to be buried in it. When the time came, we measured the truck, then we measured the available plot and decided that it wouldn’t work.

Anyway these kids were real Datsun fans and promised to restore it for actual driving as opposed to cannibalizing it for parts. Mark, David and I said we’d consider selling it to them on the condition that when it was in running order they’d drive by the cemetery and give Mother and Dad a couple beeps to let them know it had found a good home. But, more about that later if and when it’s a done deal.

Another visitor showed up

While the kids and I were swapping Datsun stories (I can’t remember if I owned three or four of them), another car pulled into the driveway. It was Terry Rose Crowell, from CHS Class of 1965. She asked if I was going to be in town Saturday, September 19.

I’m getting to the age where I don’t feel comfortable making plans that far in advance, but I allowed as how the possibilities were good.

She asked me how many tickets to the Wimpy’s event I needed. I said the only Road Warriorette close enough to go with me was Friend Shari in St. Louis, so I wouldn’t need more than two.

(When I called Friend Shari, she said she wasn’t sure if she could make it. Something about washing her hair.)

Lewis family to cook from original recipe

Here are details about the event that were posted on the Centenary United Methodist Church website:

Save the date for Wimpy’s night at Centenary and open house. On Saturday, September 19 from 11:00am to 2:00pm, the Lewis family and Centenary will be bringing back the original recipe, hometown favorite hamburgers. $10 will get you two classic Wimpy burgers, fries and a drink. Spread the word, bring your friends and family, then take them on a tour of our newly renovated campus. Volunteers are needed. Please contact Terry Crowell at 573-382-1123 for information.

The CHS 1960s email list said you could also contact Billy Sisco at Sisco’s Barber Shop (573-335-3545) for tickets. I saw somewhere else that only 600 tickets will be sold, so you’d better get yours while you still can.

I might have prints available

If I can find someone in Cape who can make some prints at a reasonable price, I may bring some to the event. I’m thinking of an 8×10 composite print of Wimpy’s as it looked in 1966. I won’t know a price until I find out how much they cost to produce.