Really, I’m not kidding. If I added up the hours, and money spent on this GMC, and the plow, I’d have the Diamond T done, and money left over to build another hot rod. (Not that I’m even THINKING about that, Kim!)
This morning I went back to ALRO steel and got another little piece of 12 ga. sheet, and spent the afternoon cutting the remaining rusted out portions of the blade skin away, then welding patch panels in. After that was done, I rolled a couple of coats of Rust-O-Leum industrial yellow on the whole mess, and while it’s certainly not up to Ridler Award standards, from 10 feet, it looks pretty damn good. Wait ’till I get the Longhorn steer horns on the hood, pinstriping, and “hair-on” cowhide upholstery in it…
Truth be told, I rather proud of the whole project. Part of the reward came last Monday, when we picked up the lawn edger at the rental place (that we needed to bury the wire for the invisible dog fence) and one of the guys there said, “Man, that’s a NICE old truck!” That comment was in no way diminished when said edger, un-restrained in the box, rolled out of the truck on M-43 on the way home after we stopped for breakfast Happily, they didn’t notice the barked up handlebar grip and scuffed wheel rim when Kim returned it that afternoon. And, it worked perfectly.
So, the truck AND the plow are now DONE. The truck has a new radiator, 6 tires, wheels, battery, gas tank, gas lines, brake lines, and with only 19.000 miles on the clock, will last me as long as I need a pickup truck. A ton of wood pellets in the back doesn’t even settle the springs onto the overloads, and it looks pretty purposeful too. This morning my buddy Joe said at breakfast, “You could have bought a pretty decent plow for what you’ve got in that one now.”, which I can’t argue with, but with almost everything new, including a third of the blade, I think for a total of about $1200 now that it’s all fixed up, I have a better one than if I spent that much at the get go.
Let it snow!
Cool McCool's Garage 
“Let it snow” wash you mouth out with soap! Looks like that ought to get the job done.
I am ready for the snow myself! Hope it’s a deep one!
You have a setup like nobody else and can take a lot of satisfaction in a job done well. That’s much more rewarding than throwing out a lot of money for something generic. I’m kind of hoping it’ll be a while before you get to put it to use. I’ve been enjoying these last coule of warm days! I’m jealous of the Oliver sign on the side of your garage. I’m in the process of restoring two of the Oliver tractors I grew up operating on our family farm. Do you have experience with Oliver equipment as well?
I’m hoping I don’t have to use it soon either. The Oliver sign is from an implement store owned by a good friend of my dads, Frank. We had a pair of Oliver 55’s, bought from his store, and other farm equipement. When the business closed, the signs went to my dads barn for storage, and were forgotten. I salvaged them before the barn was torn down, and kept this one and gave one to Franks son with their name, and the business name, “Prairieville Farm Store” on it for his garage.