What’s it Like to Daily Drive an Old Farm Truck? #blogpost

Want to relive some weird fantasy in which you find yourself as Uncle Jesse instead of them good old Duke Boys? Well believe it or not a good farm truck will be much easier to find (and much cheaper) than a 69 Charger. But what are they like to live with? I can tell you from my 22-year old point of view that it might take some major adjusting to what the normal view of a ‘daily driver’ is. I can also tell you that it’s actually one of the best ways to learn how to work on your own car if you can only have one vehicle. For this piece, I’m going to be referring to the yearlong period in which I daily drove the Lewno farm truck (see it in my garage page) to and from both school and work in just about every kind of road condition.

They aren’t Invincible!

Yes I know we tend to brag (especially us Americans) about how tough our trucks are. They totally are. But that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible for something to break or wear out especially on old workhorses. Pieces of metal and rubber get old and break, sorry to ruin the stereotype. If you’re going to daily an old truck you need to understand that these machines were worked hard, very hard. In my case, Ford’s dumbest design (point style ignition system) was easily the weakest part of my truck. If you’re looking at an old Ford, get those points replaced ASAP. On top of that, I needed to constantly replace the fuel filter due to the sheer amount of rusted metal and other nasty crap that was floating in my gas tank. If you think that you can buy an old truck without needing to lay a hand on it, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.

They aren’t Comfortable!

Shocker I know. But if you’re going to ride around in a metal box often without carpet then you should already know about this. These rigs were meant to go across fields of uneven dirt paths with supplies loaded in the bed, not to your local shopping plaza to haul around your new Nike sneakers.

They aren’t Safe!

Do I really have to explain this one? The truck can be fixed after an accident. The paramedics will need to figure out how far the steering column kicked your head clean off your shoulders.

As Far as Driving Goes

There really is nothing that drives like an old farm truck. I will often hear about how drivers long for the feeling in one way or another of being ‘one with the car’. If that’s you, than I would be one to argue nothing comes closer to that feeling than a truck. More often than not, these trucks have no power steering, no power brakes, they are often manual, and they don’t have any sort of computers or driver assisted gizmos. Have some extra cash saved up for gas too. Expect to get right around 10-15mpg. They also handle like an elephant on a skateboard… A really tough skateboard…

They are Extremely Customizable

Yep, you would be hard pressed to find a good engine/drivetrain swap that WON’T fit in an old truck. Want to do a classic LS swap? Sure. Want to swap out the old tired stuff with the complete drivetrain from a new 5.0 Mustang? Go right ahead, I’ve personally seen it done. What about a rotary? That would certainly be original and I’m sure you would confuse the heck out of your local car meet.

You Will get Attention

This is true at least where I live. I would argue that I’ve had more people come up to me in parking lots and gas stations to talk about my truck than my Mach 1. Most of the folks that approached me were older guys and gals who just had to share their stories. Every baby boomer seemed to have some sort of experience with these old trucks. It seems like the number of running examples is finally starting to decrease at a noticeable rate.

You Will Learn to be a Better Mechanic

This is especially true if you’ve never got around to learning about how cars work. Old farm trucks are just about the easiest 4-wheeled machines to work on. That’s a big part of what they were designed for. A broken truck is a broken tool and time wasted trying to fix them was time spent not out in the fields. When things break on your farm truck, you will learn how to fix them quickly and you will walk away from the experience knowing way more about cars than you thought you ever would. Did I ever think I would be able to pull a gas tank, clean it, and reinstall it in just an hour? Of course not!

Short Conclusion

So you’re still thinking about that old truck life? Even with my Mustang serving as my daily, I find myself taking out the ol’ Lewno beast from time to time. There really is nothing like it. So if you want to give yourself a new image or if you want to start wrenching in your own driveway or if you just want something different. I would highly recommend browsing around your local back country roads. You just might find yourself buying the most interesting car you will ever own.