1984 Look Back

Back in 1984, my Dad, myself, and my younger brother posed for a picture that would forever be
frozen in time. That was a brand-new 1984 Chevy Custom Deluxe that he had bought in 1984 from the Portage La Prairie Chevy dealership. Dad was proud of that truck, even though it had no amenities and was a 3-on-a-tree standard beast. It had an AM radio and no air conditioning. It had cloth bench seats and rear wheel drive. The engine was an inline 6-cylinder 4.3L engine (250 cubic inches) that put out 110 bhp and 160 foot-pounds of torque. It wasn't fast at all but I remember one day he took it up to 100 mph; the truck was shaking hard. My Dad past away suddenly on August 3, 1987 from a heart attack. We inherited the truck

6 months after that just after the bank had it repo'd. We bought the truck out with the life insurance that he took out. I still have the manual that came with the truck. It has my dad's handwriting on the registration papers on the back. I remember the long road trips and fishing adventures we would take in the truck. He would always proudly tap on the dashboard and say "Now, that's a fine truck.". Indeed, after dad past away I became the primary driver for the next 12 years. We had some adventures in the old girl. Near the end though, she started to lose the gusto and I had problems getting it to go over 90 km/hour in the wind on the highway. I miss it. 

I sometimes wonder where the truck is. I feel guilty knowing it could be rotting in a farmers field somewhere, and it's out there, wondering "Why hasn't he come back to claim me?". This irrational sadness disappears after I realize how ludicrous that is. I traded the truck in 1997 for a 1992 F150 pickup truck. By that time the old Chevy had 160,000 kilometers on it and I had went through 3 transmissions and two clutches. I also went through one very expensive shifter column ($1,600). The truck was later sold to a farmer somewhere in Manitoba. One day I will spend the $30 and get a Carfax on the old VIN just to see where it might be. I'll write more stories about the old Chevy later in August. Until then, rest in peace Dad and God be with you.
-Stoneman