Perfect afternoon for a bicycle ride and I was taking full advantage of it. Probably the longest ride I've had this year. I happened upon a Ram truck with a trailer in tow pulled over to the curb. Gentleman was checking the straps and ties that secured an old pickup truck weather-worn and from another automotive era. I stopped.
"Nice set of old wheels," I remarked.
"I see you are a Ford man," the gentleman replied.
"Indeed, I had one much like that. Mine was a '52."
"This one," he informed me, is a '46 or '47, not sure which."
In a flash and without thinking about it I said, "Forty-seven."
"You're probably right."
(You see, without bidding it to happen I was suddenly my thirteen-year old self who would have instantly known the distinctions between the two years even though I had certainly not thought about that in the past seventy years.)
So I deliberately turned my attention to the windshield. Yep, flat one-piece. Confirmation, for I was certain for no reason that I can pinpoint that the '46 still used the prewar two-piece windshield.
"Where did you find this one?" I asked.
"Here. Well, locally. Elwood, I think. I am hauling it to Ohio for my brother."
"That's cool."
He pointed out a few features of the old truck, I told him a bit about the one I had. He slyly drew attention to his tow vehicle, secretly hoping, I suspect, that I would admire it, and I did.
"Welp, I'd better get along," the man told me. "Thanks for stopping and visiting with me!"
"My pleasure! Be safe."
(And if you are wondering, yes, as soon as I got home I used the interwebby thing to look at the '46 and the '47.
'47, one-piece; '46, two-piece.)
3 comments:
Sure is nice to interface with someone in that way.
I have a similar talent and can accurately date all sorts of cars from about 1946 to about 1990. After that the manufacturers only made tiny detail changes year to year, and it became impossible to follow them all.
Chuck, a pleasurable few minutes for me and I think for him as well. Time well spent.
Jim, same, except that I probably didn't keep up quite that recently. My range runs more to 1928 to 1980. I look at some of today's crossovers and SUVs and think the manufacturers must all order their body stampings from the same factory.
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