June Car Month: Memories

Lets go back to 1986. God, what a year that was.  Tom Cruise blasted into the scene with his hit Top Gun. I was 16 years old, stupid, didn't know what the fuck I wanted to do with my life yet. The next year would be terrible.

I didn't even have my own vehicle yet. My dad had this 1984 Chevy truck, and it was a real beast of a truck. I lament the fact he didn't go for the V8 or 4x4 option. Remember though, these trucks were expensive, even back in the 80's.

His was a base-model. Roll up windows, NO a/c, AM Delco radio, standard 3-speed transmission (Column mount!), and bench seating. You could actually climb into this truck to work on it. The engine was the 6-inline which was pretty well indestructible.


Crippled by a shitty forced air emissions control system, it put out a lousy 90 bhp. I have only recalled this truck hitting 100 MPH once, back in 1985 on the old #1 highway that runs a wiggly route through rural Manitoba. I don't know why, but GM decided it would be perfectly fine to put tiny 15 inch wheels on this truck. Given the amount of ground clearance, 17 inch wheels would have been more appropriate. It looked absolutely ridiculous. GM also had this brilliant idea that every farmer would love to have a spare tire mounted below the bed. Ever try and remove an ice-encrusted or rusty spare tire rack from the bottom of an old truck? That quickly got scrapped and bolted to the inside of the bed.

For fishing and hauling junk around it was a great vehicle.  The only fault of the design was you really had to have a battery warmer and block heater for this vehicle in the -30 weather of Manitoba. If you didn't, starting this truck would be hard. It had a 2-barrel carburator.

I went through multiple clutches and 3 manual transmissions. What I should have done was throw in a 305 V8 with a 5-speed transmission. But I didn't have any money. I think back then I was making a pittance of $5.00 per hour. The only vehicle I was able to beat on a drag race was a geo METRO. With no weight on the rear tires I could easily squeal those bitches up. 

Ah, memories. Ended up selling it after I inherited from my dad who passed away in August of 1987.  I sold it in 1996 for a piddly 700$ and even then it was over-priced.

Ah, memories.