What a fun Saturday this was!!!!

General Lee 01 · August 12, 2001

Well, this was a fun Saturday spent w/ my Grandfather.

First off let me set the stage for why this day was fun......

My grandfather has about every vehicle he's owned since the '60s sitting in his yard. He has 6 vehicles in his yard and only 1 out of those six runs (The '92 Dodge Ram-Charger). The rest just sit in his yard rotting away, their rareAntique cars( Not PRETTY Antique cars, but still antique), that's why he's keeping them. Well, 2 weeks ago one of his neighbors called a Junkyard to have their own junk-cars removed (not any of his cars). Well, the Genious tow truck driver, mistaked a '70s International Scout, and a '60-something Triumph (My Grandfather's) for the Neighbor's Chevelle and a Datsun PU.

So, My Grandfather had to go to the jukyard (Finding it was a whole other story), and pick his cars up w/ the Ram-Charger and a 16' car trailer. He somehow got them on there (1 at a time) and got them home.

Now here's the interesting part. He got the Scout off and the Scout was none the worse for wear. But the Tow Truck driver tore the triumph to bits and pieces getting it on the tow-truck. The Tranny was tore up so he couldn't push it by himself. So he caleed me and my mom and we went up there today (Saturday).

We moved the Scout around first to park it "Neatly". We pulled it w his lawn tractor and then used a come-along. It took about an hour to get through w/ that. So then we backed the Truck up to the trailer andjust set the hitch on the ball to pull the trailer up some. So we did so, and then we started pulling the car off. Well everything went fine until the back end went down the ramps. Since my grandfather didn't lock the tongue it flew up like a see-saw. Thankfully, we were standing clear of it when it did, and it didn't hot any parts of the truck on it's way up. But we were scared of what it would do to the truck. So my grandfather (he was on the tractor pulling the car) just pulled it up SLOWLY and let it down til it was hanging about 3-5 inches above the hitch-ball. But it did hit the back gate on the way down and put a scratchcut (the gate is ALL fiberglass except for the rear window). So my Grandfather told me to move the truck (Put it so it's directly under the tongue). Which I did (W/ a little helpful orchestration from my mom and Grandfather) and we set it back down and latched it good.

It then took us 2 hours to move the car into it's Place, where it will sit for an eternity, along w/ the scout and the four other junk cars in his yard. Unless another "Bright" Tow truck driver mistakes his cars again.

Except for the scratch on the truck, and the mess the tow truck left of the Triwmph, it was a fun, "Learning" experience. :biggrin:

(Edited by General Lee 01 at 1:25 am on Aug. 12, 2001)

NewbieZ71 · August 12, 2001

General, sounds like you spent the day being a good grandson. I guess my question would be, with all the vehicles your grandfather has isnt there one old beater worth fixing up for your first (preferably) truck???

It was nice you helped. I never knew either of my grandfathers since both died before I was born...dont even know what its like to have one!!!!

August 12, 2001

That is an interesting day.

I have to ask, though, why didn't your grandfather make the junkyard haul them back and/or charge them rental or towing fees?

I started to restore a TR-6 for a guy a few years ago. I got myself in way over my head. It's a neat car, but a bastard to work on.

DigUout · August 12, 2001

As they tell us in scouts, do a good turn daily. Sounds like you're taking all you can from the "learning" experience-

wolfie · August 12, 2001

I have to agree... why didn't he make them return them and pay him for any damage done to them? It's good of you to help him out though.

General Lee 01 · August 13, 2001

I don't know why. He's been working w an attorney about it.

The whole siuation is pretty F-ed up.

Newbie, First off, Sorry you didn't get to know your grandfathers . I'd like to fix up ALL of his carstrucks. But they'd all be quite an undertaking, they've all been sitting so long, they're pretty much beyond repair.