I originally bought my ’66 F-100 in 1987 (for $500) specifically for the purpose of hauling cuttings from the trees and shrubs of our one acre property in Los Gatos to the dump. It’s hauled a whole lot more since then, but dump runs are still one of its main purposes in life.And other old pickups are almost inevitably to be found there doing the same thing. And there’s even a representative from Japan in the distance.
Actually, it’s the Lane County Transfer Station, where trash is then hauled off to the distant landfill in large trucks. And by the time I took a second shot, the Japanese truck was replaced by another one, which looks to be a Mazda B-Series. Heave ho!
Is this the opening line of an automotive joke? A Ford, a Chevy and a Dodge drive into a dump . . .
Actually, this might be a good QOTD – how would you finish the joke. Jason Shafer’s version might be “The Ford turns to the Dodge and says ‘You push the front, I’ll push the back and we can be finished with this job in 5 minutes.'”
My own might go “The Studebaker drives in and says ‘Yup, looks like I’m at the dump, alright.'”
Or maybe you can tell that I didn’t get enough sleep last night. 🙂
A Ford and Dodge walk into a bar. Seeing the bruised looking Chevrolet, the Ford saunters up and asks, “hey, buddy, what’s canoe with you?”
The Chevrolet is lucky it lives where it is so much less vulnerable to terminal skin cancer. Yesterday I saw the ’78 Chevrolet 1/2 ton I wrote up a few years ago and it looked like the rear end of hard times.
Paul’s Ford is in a dead heat with that Dodge for visual appeal (I love pickups like these) although the Ford easily trumps it for stamina.
I am a fan of trucks like all of these as well. However, I still harbor memories of being completely worn out after wrestling with my 63 F-100 with its single I beam axle/leaf sprung suspension and its floor mounted 4 speed. I have often wondered how mine would have compared with PN’s on a side by side basis.
You’ll have to try driving it. Maybe I should drive it to Nashville. 🙂 Since Jason is driving his Ford, I feel like a slacker not driving mine out.
Cool, I was wondering if the Galaxie was going to make an appearance!
Scott, that is the intention. I just greased the front end and put more polyfill in the front seat. Keep your fingers crossed.
Having purchased an ’83 F 250 last Thursday, I am seriously contemplating the drive up from Atlanta. 351 Windsor, 4-speed…if I can get her sufficiently sorted (and perhaps more importantly, work up the nerve). Not unlike you, Paul, I could alternatively take my TSX, but what fun would that be??
I’ll be coming from Atlanta also. Trying to decide if I want to drive my fox body Mustang or take the easy road and drive the Suburban or 4Runner. Maybe I’ll take the Suburban and I can follow you so if you have any problems we can both look at together and say “yep” about 50 times. That always seems to help things!
“A Ford and Dodge walk into a bar. Seeing the bruised looking Chevrolet, the Ford saunters up and asks, “hey, buddy, what’s canoe with you?””
The Chevy replies “I dunno, I think I’ve got something stuck in my grille – Like a rock.”
Seeing that blue Dodge (which appears to be a 3/4 ton) really makes me miss the ’87 Dodge 3/4 ton I had – purchased specifically for hauling miscellaneous refuse and other bulky items.
With having a pile of brush in my backyard bigger than any pickup shown here, and having broken the flywheel on my father-in-law’s chipper (how does one do that?) I’m back to hauling off the waste. This is one of the rare times I really wish my pickup had a longer bed.
There’s always the van . . . . 🙂
Don’t tempt me.
Driving by local landfills as I do makes me appreciate recycling a little better as it delays having to consign more acreage to such purposes.
I think the name landfill is a bit of a misnomer in this day and age. A lot of “landfills” are actually recycling centers. The local landfill in my county is still called landfill but is actually a recycling center. We drive up to it and dump the items in the correct steel bins(those huge ones that are used at construction sites) and when they are filled, they are taken by trucks to the sort center further down on the property and sorted for recycling.
If that canoe were bound for the heap I would be taking it home. My free canoe cost me $100 and a day’s work but it has given back way more than that over the years and many more to come. It’s likely the same can be said of those old trucks. I don’t think any of the owners would let go of the keys to those work horses. I know I wouldn’t.
Looks like an old Radisson Aluminum Canoe. I’ll pass, since they’re pigs in the water, but Aluminum will get you about 70 cents a pound at the scrap yard…
A Ford and Chevy go to the dump. Seeing the Dodge already there the Chevy backs up beside and says:
“So, are they doing paint recycling at this location now?”
Around here, if you go to the dump in a “commercial vehicle” the staff are all over you wanting proof that this isn’t “commercial waste”.
I wonder if they’d still do that if the “commercial vehicle” was 50 years old.
People owning pickups here is as common as finding milk in the grocery store. Few view them as commercial vehicles anymore, although they do exist.
I know. That’s why I used inverted commas. But here that’s very rare, and my experience of arriving at the dump in a rented truck is one of “Where are your papers?”.
I just wonder if the staff would actually hassle me if I was driving say, a 1966 Morris Minor pickup. It would be amusing but not surprising if they did. I suppose there are people here who use classic trucks for work, but it’s usually some food related vehicle for publicity/image reasons.
” I suppose there are people here who use classic trucks for work”
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Very much so ~ I’ve never owned a modern truck and they’re tools so I use and work them hard .
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Doesn’t mean I lob old brake drums into the bed but they’re worked and get dirty , scratched and dented .
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When my Shop Truck was a cherry 1931 ‘A’ Model Ford DeLuxe , the other Ford ‘A’ Model guys went bonkers every time I’d show up to a meet or event with the bed full of cores , old engines , trannies and other assorted old parts =8-) .
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-Nate
I haul my waste to an actual landfill, but they have a dumpster just inside the inner gate for residential trash, so I usually don’t have to drive back where the dozers are.
When my old ’69 F100 was down for repairs some years ago, I pulled my small trailer with Herbie (fully loaded!), which got some laughs from the scale operator.
I don’t bother with a trailer when using the Mini.
Ed, is that a Ferguson TE-20 I see behind Herbie ?
Paul,
That must have been interesting – owning the F-100 and the W124 Mercedes 300E at the same time.
For how many years did the two overlap during your ownership of the respective vehicles?
Five years. Yes; the two were quite the contrast. And I really liked that contrast, so that sometimes on weekends I’d take the truck out for a spirited spin in the hills around Los Gatos. I was desperate to drive a stick shift, as our whole fleet was automatics.
I’m way overdue to write the whole story of my truck and its role in our big change of life, moving to Eugene, and then the new line of work I got into, which it facilitated. One of these days…right now I’m slammed. The truck and I are working very hard right now during my busy season.
This is a picture of it back in 1988 or so, with my older son Ted (Ed).
Good photos, thank you. The Dodge and Ford might be laughing at the Chevy’s grill cover, who knows.
The Tompkins County dump does not like the fact that some people (me) would stuff 500 or so pounds of trash in a Minivan while most only do a 100 or so and thus charge accordingly. They also hate it when I would sneak onto the dump floor since I am not going to heave 500 pounds of trash over a safety railing into a dumpster. To empty the Minivan I would pull some of the load out and if lucky, find something heavy to hold the tarp down. Then I would quickly accelerate letting the garage slide out the back on the tarp which lead to surprised looks.
I go to the dump 3-4 times a year with my ’83 Ranger. Always see old domestic iron there, but never any old Japanese trucks, even being there in Yamhill County. (Newberg Transfer) Have better odds of seeing a Ranchero or El Camino there. The Japanese trucks there now a days are usually late Tacoma’s or Tundra’s
Our “dump” has bins for house hold waste (4 loads per year for a small truck like mine), metal (all you can bring all year), brush, and then leaves. The brush is mulched and they’ll load your truck if you ask. I rake Debbie’s leaves during the week into bags, then empty the bags at the dump on the weekend. Loads of brush are a little less neat. Good exercise. Debbie appreciates it.
My leaves? I live in a condo – country club living all year round. We have a gardening and landscaping company do all that. I may be the only resident here with a pickup truck.
This post reminds me of the trips that me and Goldie ( my 1990 Chevy 1500 ) used to take to this grungy recycling yard / garbage dump in South-Central L.A. I retired Goldie in 2009 after purchasing my 2002 Ford F250 diesel.
To this day, Goldie patiently languishes in my parents’ driveway, patiently awaiting her future mechanical rehabilitation.
Here is my dump runner: 64 C20, 292, 3 on the tree. No power anything makes it fun to drive.
our dump run….we’re the Toyota. classics abound here in western Colorado.
Jefr, that looks like Mesa Cty CO.
Grand Junction.
In the 1970’s ~ late 1980’s I’d haul yard waste and trash up to Scholl Canyon land fill in my ’46 Chevy 3100 pickup , it always grew stares and comments being an old unrestored work truck .
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I wish my current truck or Metropolitan Nash were running , I don’t mind lack of AC and I’m retired now , would be fun to take a road trip and meet & greet the folks here .
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-Nate
When I lived in Montpelier, VA trash hauling was totally on your own. The county (Hanover) provided six or seven different transfer stations for the locals (county sticker in the windshield mandatory for entrance) and would take just about everything: wet, dry, separate recycle areas for paper, cans, batteries, motor oil, cardboard, etc.
What was really nice is what I called the “recycle tent”. One of those metal garage shelters where you’d drop off anything too good to throw away, but you didn’t want anymore. Over the fifteen years I lived there, I picked up at least a dozen bicycles that were restored and resold, a like number of Nordic Traks which got the same treatment (and one is in my office for mornings its too wet to do my daily roadwork), my Craftsman garden tractor (caught the owner as he was pulling into the site, got him to turn around and drop it off at my house instead) which took a carburetor clean, battery recharge, and rebuilding one of the three mower blade assemblies (cost: $200) to put into use.
The catch to this was “the vultures” – locals who had nothing better to do with their days (especially Saturday mornings) but hang around and pick stuff up as soon as it cleared the thrower’s vehicle. My best memory of this was being parked alongside another guy at the dumpster as he pulls our a beautiful high line Nishiki touring bicycle. I offered to take it, and as we’re handing over between our pickup trucks (I had the ’00 Ranger at that time) I notice three other individuals already coming over to try and move in on the transfer. Did a light cleanup, it was that nice, tune-up, and sold it for $450.00 at the next bicycle swap meet.
My S-10 and Ranger spent a lot of time at that place. Now I live in the suburbs with trash pickup, but the nearest transfer station is only two miles away and gets occasional use. Got rid of the pickup about a year and a half ago, and since my loads are clean nowadays, the Kia Sedona does the job even better for me.
I was at the dump yesterday; there was quite a contrast between my pickup and that of the guy behind me. My 2003 Silverado is a bottom-line regular-cab short-box truck with the small V8; his 2003 Silverado was an LT crew-cab long-box 4×4 that looked a third longer than mine and probably cost two-thirds more when they were new.
One of the great things about living in a place where the city comes and takes away the brush and leaves for you is not having to haul it anywhere further than the curb. Downside: You miss out on truck spotting.
That’s ok, though, as I’m frequently at a Detroit Home Depot, which is fantastic for 1980s and 1990s truck spotting! Saw this beauty last week, and in staggeringly-good shape for a Detroit Home Depot runner! Interior was fantastic, had a manual trans. It’s in much better shape than my ’95 F-150, to be sure, and I’m a sucker for 1980s-vintage Dodge pickups.