Our younger son’s dog, Lil’ Man, has been living with us and has started accompanying me on my errands. He prefers the truck, because he gets to sit right next to me, with our heads are at the same level. And no, when I go into the store, I don’t have to even consider locking my truck, which I rarely do anyway.
But don’t tell anyone that he’s way too friendly, and would probably start wagging his tail if someone approached. Looks can be deceptive.
The perfect car alarm. As I’m a die-hard cat lover (and don’t get along with dogs) I somehow can’t see either of my two outdoor cats fulfilling the same role.
I love everything about these two pictures. I’m sure you’ve posted it before, but it’s interesting to see up close & inside your truck. Forget that Camaro post..*this* is patina!
Are you going to be able to give Lil’ Man back? He sure looks perfect in that truck with those colour-coded eyes.
No. He’s very sweet, and never barks. Just likes to be walked as often as possible; three times a day would suit him. Good thing we’re avid walkers, but it’s hard to get any work done. “Come on, grandpa; you know you’d rather take a walk….”
Businesslike truck, businesslike dog…
What’s the appropriate dog for the upcoming aluminum F150?
Probably last years best-in-show winner at the Westminster Dog Show.
Many years ago I was showing dogs and had an Alaskan Malamute; at the time the “baby on board” window signs were the rage and naturally all sorts of variants appeared. I had one that read “attack dog on board” and it was fun to watch people tiptoe past my vehicle, apparently terrified he would come after them.. Boris was large-he weighed about 105 lbs, but he was an extremely friendly dog-in reality about any body had to worry about was being licked to death. But as they say image is everything.
I always liked your truck. But adding the dog? Makes me want it and the dog even more!
Because of seing so many US police TV dramas (even the good ones), I was firmly convinced that you could leave your late-model Charger or Crown Vic unattended, unlocked, with on or two windows down…
Did it once. Left the window to my 02 P71 rolled down unintentionally overnight and sure enough when i woke up in the morning everything was still there.
Great shots. I once took several pictures of a car before noticing a big, nasty looking dog asleep in the back seat. I tiptoed away.
Egad, is that a rust hole in your roof panel? That could be bad in all that Oregon rain.
A little JB Weld would fix that hole right up!
Tie wraps, duct tape, and JB Weld. That pretty much describes the contents of my toolbox. And an old steak knife.
What, no Vise Grips?
“And an old steak knife.” Beautiful! Mark of a true professional! NO toolbox is complete without an old steak knife.
That seems to be a weak spot on all the Fords of that vintage. When I bought mine in ’87, it had already started, and it had spent its life in CA up to then. And yes, as of this year, there’s a bit of daylight showing through it. Umbrella?
There’s always duct tape…
I like the “can I help you?” look on the dogs face.
Nice looking pup , I’d wal;k up to him and carefully see if he’s friendly .
Nice Ford too , is it one of those unibodies ? .
Too bad about the rust tho’ .
-Nate
No, Mr. Niedermeyer’s F-100 is a post-unibody model, 64-66 (I think it is a 66?). With the amount of hauling he’s done in the past, a unibody model would flex too much
It’s a race to the finish: who will rust away first; me or the truck. Lately, I think the truck is winning.
Ain’t dogs great?
I’ve got my pack and they generally ride along with me in the family truckster. The only thing around these parts you have to be worried about is some bleeding heart type that believes it is cruel to leave your dogs in the car in nice weather.
Instead of that deceptive dog, I have these two idiots. The big one is almost 13 and has about half a dozen medical afflictions. She loves car rides (unless to the vet [or kennel in years past]). The little one is now 2 and hates all car rides. They are both very friendly, unless the little one barks, which provokes the big one to bark “shut up” in dog-speak.
P.S. Don’t ask about the cat
Here is the big one:
Love your truck! I have a 1980 F-100 in school district yellow, not quite as cool, but I still love it. I don’t lock mine either, but that has more to do with the 3-in the tree manual tranny and lack of power steering or power brakes. I figure any would-be thief would abandon it within 50 feet of stealing it.
Ditto about any thief trying to drive my truck: also no PS, PB, floor-conversion three-speed, and….manual choke. That alone would do it.
+1 on the 3-on-the-tree. When I was working at a local Mustang shop, we had the replace a 3-on-the-tree shift collar on a ’65 Galaxie. The reason? Some stoopid thieves tried to steal the car by the usual technique of cracking the shift collar. It’s the standard technique on modern vehicles, but all it does it basically disable the shift mechanism in this case!!!
Forgot all about manual chokes – they worked well in the cold weather climate I grew up in. My first two cars – a 60 VW and 63 Fairlane both had manual chokes. They started to rapidly disappear in the early to mid 60’s. Even back in 66 I remember a friend trying to drive the Fairlane and having no idea about the manual choke – I forgot to tell him before he borrowed the car.
AGGGHH BULLNOSE F-SERIES IS THE BEST.
On an unrelated note, I got my first taste of driving without power steering the other weekend when my Mazda died and my father towed it back home. Not too hard, so long as you keep moving. And manual choke–you mean, like every tractor until the 80’s? Kein Problem!
Boy, if I ever decided to become a car thief, no-one would be safe.
From the picture it looks like Lil’Man sits appropriately on the passenger side of the bench and not on your lap, paws on the wheel, or hanging out the driver’s window. I’m amazed at the number of men I see driving trucks with little dogs on their lap and/or out the window.
Yes; usually all the way over with head out the window (when it’s not too fast or cold). But sometimes he chooses to sit in the middle, next to me, which means our heads are side by side, at the same level.
My dog used to ride with me all the time. He was an amazingly compact 75 pounds. Even most vets would look doubtful when I told them what he weighed. One of my complaints about him being in the car with me was everytime, every single time I got out of the car, except in the garage when we got home, he would scream like he was being butchered alive. This was very loud and people would look at us, and you could tell they were wondering what I had done to him to make him scream like that. Another thing he would do is go ballistic when he saw horses or tall skinny guys wearing a baseball cap. He didn’t like hats, like all my other dogs. I have no idea why. The going ballistic caused me several injuries over the years. He broke my nose once launching himself from the passenger seat to my lap when we passed two Clydesdale horses being ridden, and he had a habit of slamming his giant sledgehammer like head into the back of my upper arm without warning. This wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t been holding the steering wheel. Somehow, my wrist never was broken, but it really hurt to have my wrist bent way more than it was supposed to bend.
Not a big fan of choke collars. My parents had one on our dog. Not only did it completely fail to stop the dog from pulling on the leash too hard, it also was sad to see the dog choking, coughing and gasping for air. Chest harnesses are much more effective at controlling dogs.
That’s strictly for his tags; we never use it with a leash. We use a “pinch collar”, which looks a bit dreadful, but actually is much less harmful given his huge neck muscles, and is much more effective.
He has ADD, and given his breed, easily gets triggered by squirrels and cats on a walk. And given that he’s 90 lbs of muscle, that can be a problem when he bolts. The pinch collar is very effective in this situation.
We take him to obedience school every Saturday, and he’s really improved drastically. We also got him fixed. He’s heeling quite well, and he’s starting to be much less triggered by squirrels and cats. But I need to use it for walks, just in case. He sent me sprawling to the sidewalk once early on.
Glad to hear that Lil ‘ Man finally got fixed. He’ll be a better pet for it.
Now about keeping the truck fixed… 🙂
“We also got him fixed”
Somehow I doubt he thought he was broken 🙂
Canis immobilisus.
Life doesn’t get much better than an old truck and a dog like that.
When we were moving from a suburb of Atlanta, GA to the Middle West, we pulled into the driveway of the farm we eventually bought, and automatically locked the car as we got out.
The farmer said “What’d you do that for?”
I mumbled something about how we always lock everything ‘back home.’
He chuckled and said “I don’t even know if the keys will come out of the ignition in my truck!”
I can pretty much say the same thing now…
What’s your address again? 😀
Dibs on the Routan!
Um, why?
Because not even VW can foul up a Chrysler minivan. 🙂
O.K. Truck joke:
…told many times, onstage, by the great R’n’B/Country singer T. Graham Brown about his dad, who was a modest farmer;
One day, dad runs into a Texan, who asks him, “Brown, how big is your spread?”
Dad says, “Oh, about two acres and a mule.”
The Texan replies, “Aww, that ain’t nothin’ – why, I can get in my truck at dawn, drive it just as hard and fast as it’ll go ’til lunchtime, stop, get out, make myself a bologna sandwich, eat it, get back in my truck and drive it just as hard and fast as it’ll go ’til dark, and STILL not get to the other side of my place!”
Dad Brown observed, “Yeah, I useta have a truck like that myself.”
Hehehe +1
The version I heard had a horse that wouldn’t get half way across the spread in a day
_Loving_ the comments ! .
Not only Fords rust like that , my ’69 Chevy C/10 is one of the very few that doesn’t have rain gutter pinchweld rustout , instead the whole rest of the cab is gone so I bought another cab , this one has AC so I’ll upgrade it .
Dogs & trucks go hand in hand , my little rescue Chihuahuas won’t stay off my damn lap plus they shed like Shetland Ponies so they don’t get to ride much .
I know all about the flexing bodies on those Ford unibodies but they still look sweet to me .
I had two ’59 F-100’s , both with I6 and three on the tree ,the stepside in 1968 from Ayears AFB and the Fleetside in 1988 , So. Cal. original truck , both were great and I’m a die hard GM Fanboi .
-Nate
My Chihuahua Minnie does not like anyone near her Lincoln and will bite anyone who triesto reach in.
Great shot Paul (and what good taste in dogs!). Here’s a shot of me and ‘Diesel’, a blue nose pit. I know exactly what you mean when trying to hold onto the leash when he gets distracted….
He looks like he could be his brother. I’m bummed about Lil’ Man’s ears; I can’t believe anyone would still do that. It was done before my son got him, unfortunately.
My friend has a blue and white Pit with butchered ears. He came from a rescue place up in Michigan someplace. His daughter found him online, and instantly knew he was the right one, even though the rescue place said he was “shy around new people”. He acted like he had known her forever. She picked out a tan and white female Pit/Lab Mix a month later as a buddy for him and the two dogs are great together. I really miss my old Pit mix Gus, he’s been gone a long time now, and I would have another one in a second, if I wasn’t a wreck physically due to two bad falls. I used to walk Gus 3 miles at a time, sometimes 3 times a day, if it wasn’t too hot or cold, or wet, out. Now walking a mile is something I can only remember doing in the past.
It’s amazing how a couple of stumbles can change your life forever.
Nice looking pit
Old trucks and big dogs were made for each other. “Boomer” was surprised by the greater height of the tailgate when I retired the 70 C10 for the 04 Titan! Got it right on the second try. Now that he’s 13 I need to pull into the low point dip in the driveway for him to make the jump. Last summer camping he need his first “lift” into the truck bed. Still dives right out when the tailgate is dropped and the leash is unhooked, the landings are starting to worry me. Speaking of rust, that’s what happened to the choke cable I added to the old Chevy. A few pumps and a little goosing for a minute or so, followed by a double pump on the pedal every shift for about five minutes when really cold out kept her running. The Titan starts and runs perfectly instantly, but has no personality like the Chevy had.