Wellllllllll.....at one time I was chasing a '57 Bel Air that had fuel injection emblems around a small town north of Dallas....never could catch the guy and the car at the same time. Anyway, I would pickup the local freebie Shopper and scan it....there was a one line ad for a '34 Chevy truck for $500. I dialed the number (BC, before cell phones) and a guy gave me directions to his farm...five miles on this dirt road, three on another, etc. Got to a farmhouse that looked like a Great Depression pictures (the earlier Great Depression, not this one). The guy came out and pointed to the truck....then his goofy brother started following me and talking...the farmer told me not to pay attention to him...."he aint right but he wont hurt you." That made me feel slightly better.

The truck was sunk in the dirt at least 8 inches and hadnt run since 1957....but it was 100% complete. This was in the early 1970's when I was buying '70 Z/28 short blocks from Chevy for $410 so the farmer's asking price of $500 was steep for what it was. I asked the guy what his bottom price was....he said he had it for sale for five years and I was the first guy to come to look at it....he said he'd take $30 for it......I paid him cash and got the original title.

Driving home, it hit me.....a truck parked for 15 years or so, rotted tires, mechanical brakes, and sunk in the dirt...and I had no access to a trailer. OK, what did I do? Then, I did what Uncle Bob did, I wrote a better ad and put it in the Dallas paper that weekend.....sold to the first caller, "as is, where is" for $200.

Darned lucky, I was.

Mike in Tucson