Whatsoever Your Hand Finds To Do, ...

...Do It With Your Might!



Back To The Old Grind!  Even If You Are Just Having A Good Time!

Winch Truck Re-Visited

I found a snapshot of the old girl!  This was more than thirty years ago, and this truck was a wreck before I worked it over.  It's a wreck again, now.  So sad.

Neglected To Death

This 1966 Chevy winch truck is a sad sight.  I used to drive this truck and I kept it in tip-top shape.  When I started working at Stewart Producers the old girl was not roadworthy, but a well servicing company needs a winch truck for all sorts of tasks, and I worked it over.

Stewart's well servicing operation was sold off many years ago and equipment was scattered.  I stopped and took photos for old-time's sake.  It is a shame how this truck has gone to ruin, mostly by sitting out in the weather and from neglect.

I put new oak boards in the bed more than thirty years ago and kept them oiled to shed water.  The jaw clutch, brake and gear shift on the winch worked like a dream.  This old truck pulled  stuck rigs out of locations, changed out poles, pulled transmissions out of rigs; I really liked using this truck.

Someone has cut the rolling tailboard off, so I guess this old rig is really a goner.  What a waste.

Weekend Crop Tours!

Somebody bought themselves the Mercury Blues!

Hey, when I get paid,
I'll tell you what I'll do,
I'll go get drunk,
Wreck a Mercury or two!

Got Some Live Ones For You!

Coming home through Dahlgren, IL the other day I saw some good ones to share with you!

Area Code 618.

I drive by this old Ford at least a few times per week.  Why hasn't someone given it a good home?

Jeep Heap

I don't know anything about this pile of rust, but the folks who have it are working on other cars, so it probably will be made into usable parts, at least.

I Think We Have A Live One!

I See...

...Dead cars.  This truck is really most sincerely dead, and I remember trucks like this with good paint, good rubber, and an old farmer driving them. I say old, but the guys I saw driving trucks of this vintage were younger than I am now.  They were just old to me back when.

What is this Buick; about 1963?  I remember these when they were new, sometime during the Mercury space program years.  We were shooting astronauts into space and we still didn't have seatbelts in our cars.  Everybody wanted to be "thrown clear". Good Old Days! Nice chrome, though.

I See....

Merely...

Sincerely...

It Looks So Natural...

...but it appears to be deceased.  No cloud of blue smoke behind it.  These were a good car for poor boys. The old slant sixes seemingly ran forever, and good parts were available from junkers all over the landscape.  If you have a hankering to try your hand at resurrections, drop me an email and I'll tell you where it is.

Hudson, 1954 Hornet...

...The things I see when I am out in the timber.... It's why I always carry a camera.

I See...

...This one's still breathin', folks.  More pictures later, it's been a long day.

Most Sincerely....

How many of you grew up driving a car with the master cylinder under the floorboard?  You had to get down on your knees, peel back the floor mat and struggle to get a wrench on the cap.

Seeing the level of brake fluid was difficult, and it was easy to spill when you topped off.
This old pickup is a pretty sad case, and not much is worth anything.

One good piece of glass.

The grill might help someone who is desperate.

A little bit of good chrome!

The gutter over the door is good, but you have to find new mirrors.

Looking For A Hero

This cute little Studebaker would be a fine, rare vehicle for restoration, and it might get lucky, since it sits along a state highway in rural Wabash County, Illinois. 

Hid Behind A Leafy Screen

I stumbled across this backwoods Nissan, and in another couple weeks it will be invisible when everything leafs out.  I have walked by it a couple times in recent years and never saw it before.  I will make a point out of not walking near it again.

It seems that this old hatchback has been resurrected as a hothouse for starting someone's backcountry garden.  I have run into gardeners out in the woods in years past, and they are generally an unfriendly lot.  It's about time to  move plants from the grow-lights to hothouses, so this is one spot I will be sure to avoid.

Revisiting A Mystery Junker

I posted a photo of this old hulk last year, and Merle rightfully asked what it was.  Well, I hadn't checked when I shot the photo, so I went back and took a closer look.

The builder's tag says it is a Ford, manufactured in October, 1972.  I never noticed before that Ford made four-door Mavericks, but that sure is what this sad old sheet metal resembles.  Ford experts are requested to comment to confirm or correct the model of this car.  I haven't had any luck searching for the body style number on the 'net.

Looks like a good taillight lens....

The tag:

Has A Pulse

Did Monday Beat You Down?

Just when you feel like you are settled into your routine, something lands on your head;...somewhat related to the next post. 

Up And Down For Miles And Miles

This old pulling unit is sitting near the old office for Texaco's Sims, Illinois oil field.  Most of the wells in this field run about 3000 feet deep, and this old truck has probably been rigged up on all of the locations that Texaco had around Sims.  The winch has to be run in and out for each rod or joint of tubing, so when pulling a 3000 foot well the winch line runs back and forth 6000'.  You do that two or three times a day, for five or six days a week, and the winch line gets a few miles on it.  The operator has to use the clutch a couple times per rod or joint, so his left leg had plenty of exercise.  The fellows wrenching rods are on the run all day long, either spinning the rod wrenches or tailing the rods out on the rack.  The guys who do this work are tough as nails.