Sometimes You've Just Got to Stop and Take a Picture

US23 in Ohio has expressway speeds, but it’s not a limited access highway like it is in much of Michigan. In Ohio, you have to watch out for farm vehicles and other cross traffic. On the other hand, unlike on a limited access road, you can turn around without having to drive miles to the next exit.

I was on my way to drop off a lime green guitar for someone who likes guitars and that particular color when I passed the scene pictured above. Running late as I was, I drove past, but there was something poetic about those two pickup trucks that made me go back. The symmetry of the two trucks’ hoods both being open stuck in my mind’s eye. Also, the old truck’s paint matched the guitar.

Some things are meant to be.

A couple of older gentlemen were hauling the 1961 Ford with a dump bed on a flatbed trailer behind a Chevy C/K pickup that itself was maybe 25 years old. They weren’t sure yet what they were going to do with the old truck, as it was still farm fresh. They might restore it, they might restomod it. It had one of the venerable Ford inline sixes that powered working trucks for decades. The men were retrieving it to Columbus, but the Chevy’s cooling system wasn’t up to the towing task. About 45 minutes from their destination, it broke down. My guess is that they popped the hood of the Ford hoping to find a compatible thermostat.

The timing was fortuitous. It was early evening and the sun was casting that golden light that movie directors love so much. Also, had I passed the scene five minutes later, I would have missed it. While I was there, a son of one of the men showed up with his own pickup, which they proceeded to hook up to the F-100’s trailer.

Who knows? What goes around often comes around again in slightly revised form. Maybe 20 odd years from now that Chevy will be on a flatbed behind a Ford F-150 made in the 21st century.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view over at Cars In Depth. – Thanks for reading – RJS