Downtown Fishers, Indiana, is under construction. Ten years ago it was a few aging commercial buildings and a bunch of tiny houses. Today, the houses are mostly gone, being replaced with multi-story office buildings and apartments. It’s brought construction workers out in force. And sometimes one of them drives something interesting to work, like this ’77 F-150.
Look beyond the truck and you’ll see cars parked. I took this photo almost a year ago, and now that parking lot is gone. Little Fishers has for many years been a popular bedroom community outside Indianapolis, but now it is trying to forge its own identity, attract technology businesses, and create a hip and cool vibe that attracts millennials. When the downtown buildout is finished, there will be a little street parking and a whole bunch of parking garages.
Here’s a shot from my office building’s balcony of this lot from around the same time.
Here’s a shot from the same place a few weeks ago. I used to park in the lot that was there; now I fight for good street parking. On a good day I can park on the same block. On a bad day it’s a two- or three-block walk. If I can’t park at least that close I relent and use the garage (out of the photo at the right). I don’t understand my aversion to parking garages, but it’s real. At least ours is free.
But back to this truck: it’s just how we like ‘em here at Curbside Classic, original and well used. As I took these photos, a fellow walked up and opened the in-bed toolbox. “Nice truck,” I said. “It’s the boss’s,” he replied without even looking over. Kudos to the boss.
Just as I can’t remember when American automakers stopped using hubcaps emblazoned with their names, I’m sure I’ll one day not remember when it was the last office building went up in Fishers. But I’ll surely miss the old trucks that construction brought.
Fishers, Indiana, June, 2017
Always nice to see a genuine Pickup truck,, Built to do the job, and this fine F series Has been at work it entire life. The hubcaps fully patina’d with tinworm is quite eye catching. but the truck itself seems solid and ready to do what is needed. 3peed on the tree? I6 under the hood? Simple and dependable. And though aged, still cared for, I wager. Just another well used and well cared for tool in that builders box. My father owned a contracting company. I grew up with construction guys, their families and their vehicles…Surprisingly Dad bowed to moms objections to Having a “Dirty pickup in the driveway” So Dad, as the owner, always had a nice car (usually a Bonneville or LeSabre) and he would drive to the office, but if he needed a truck, one was always available.
Just this morning on the way into the office I spotted a ’74-’79 vintage Chevy Scottsdale pickup that looked like it just rolled off the showroom floor. Resplendent in burnt orange over tan. As usual I had that fleeting thought that if I’d had time I would have loved to have chatted up the elderly driver and taken some pics for a future cc entry. Maybe if Paul keeps this site trudging along until I retire (sometimes around 2035-ish) I could indulge my sporadic urge to give back.
One of the vendors at the farmer’s market I frequent uses a Scottsdale of the same vintage to haul his produce. It’s much more well worn than the one you describe, though; more like the featured truck:
In hindsight I may have made that picture a little too small when I resized it for posting. Here’s a slightly larger version. And is it just me or is the edit button not showing up anymore?
Huh. As soon as I posted about the edit button not showing up, the edit button suddenly showed up on both this post and the previous one.
Hmm…I re-read my own post above and noticed the typos, tried to edit and didn’t have a button either. At this point…..screw the typos, but I originally thought it was only because I’d posted an image that edit was unavailable. Just another mystery of technology that’s lost on me I guess.
The weird thing is that after I edited my second post the edit buttons went away again. Then after you replied they came back. I wonder what will happen to them now…
Oh funny, I saw one sort of like that recently. Attached. Didn’t have time to photograph it enough to write it up here.
One of the last vehicles I drove that belonged to my car-mentor Howard before my life took me to another city was a red 78-ish Ford pickup. A short Styleside bed, a 6, manual steering and the newest thing I ever drove with a 3 on the tree, it was a Class-A handful.
The steering was horribly heavy to the point that I didn’t enjoy driving it much. I know, call me a wuss. Give me a V8 and power steering and I would be cool with this one. If a 6 and manual steering is part of the deal, I need something at least 10 years older to get enough atmosphere to put up with the extra driving effort.
And yes, I don’t recognize Fishers at all.
Great survivor pick up. These trucks were simple, honest, and crude. Though many people drove trucks like this as their only vehicle, that was probably done due to finances, as these certainly didn’t coddle their passengers. If you’ve got the room, keeping an old truck like this around can be very handy. I loved my old ’66 F250 but I wouldn’t have wanted to use it as my daily driver.
I like those Fords. I did prefer the ’76 and earlier versions as they were still available with the 360 and 390 FE engines which I liked better than the 351M and 400. One odd thing I remember about them was that the 460 was available, but only with the C6 automatic in 4X2 models.
Look out, Fishers is starting to sound just like when I used to work in San Francisco back in the day. Ok, maybe not, but the parking blocks away thing is familiar. Free parking garages are not familiar, however.
Nice to see that truck is still being used for work. I’m surprised he doesn’t have a For Sale sign on it to sell it to bearded and bespectacled young fellow for twice or more its actual value…
Ah, huh. Catering to millennials is not always a good move. I used to live in The City but in the last 15 years have only set foot in San Francisco seven times even though 30 miles away. Loved my 10 years there and now can’t stand it.
Still a good frugal form of transport, any extra fuel consumption or maintenance costs compared to a new pickup will be far outweighed by the cheaper purchase price. Or if you did buy new, why not keep it running while it has not yet rusted away.
Something else that is interesting to me is the construction method shown in the shot of the former parking lot. Buildings of this type are almost without exception built from pre-cast concrete panels here in Melbourne or Sydney. Floors might be timber (with metal trusses) for light loading but otherwise poured concrete.
Lumber is cheaper, so wood stick frame construction is common up to five floors for apartments or hotels, which is what this looks like.
And there are new engineered lumber construction techniques pioneered in Europe that can be used for up to 12-13 (IIRC) stories, and even parking garages. Wood has less embodied energy than concrete, and is of course renewable, which helps with CO2 reduction. We’re starting to see that being used here in Oregon, the center of the Western US lumber production.
Fascinating stuff, that. I saw an article from a trade publication a couple weeks ago talking about fire-rating of wood columns for those sorts of wood structures. The article was actually pretty favorable-even with half the material burned away the column still met the test specs. I’ll be honest-the idea of a lumber structure of that size makes me a bit uncomfortable, but I also recognize that there are people much more learned in those fields doing the design and testing and engineering of those lumber components and the structures.
I have been aware of it, but hadn’t realised there was a 10-storey CLT (cross-laminated timber aka engineered timber) building built here in 2013, or that construction is actually faster which makes sense when pre-fab panels can be used.
it’s just how we like ‘em here at Curbside Classic, original and well used
Yup! It would be a prefect replacement for mine, should I need one.
The only pickup trucks besides a 90s Chevy C/K platform I would ever consider owning. Something about these mid 70s Ford speaks to me for some reason, and I can’t explain why that is.
Wow. A very honest looking truck. A well used, but definitely not abused truck. I wonder if it’s a one owner, or something found on a farm or estate sale. A few dents in the side, but the front and rear bumpers, and the grille appear to be ding- free, a sign of a very careful driver. The 40 year old bed rails as well as the tailgate appear to be ding-free, also; leading me to believe it was never really worked, or if it was, the owner was anal retentive when loading items. I couldn’t help but notice that while the tool box was nearly new, there were several empty pallets in the bed, and miscellaneous items on the dashboard; completely at odds with how the truck appears to have been cared for. I did notice the spare was tucked up underneath, a rarity considering it’s age (another sign of a meticulous owner); but the tires are very recent, with a 15/16 date code. The truck almost certainly was purchased not too long ago, likely in the last few years. Someone got themselves a very, cherry old truck.
You, sir, have a very good eye!
In regards to J.P.’s and Jose’s comment above regarding the lack of creature comforts in vintage trucks- that’s why I really like my 1990 Chevy Cheyenne 1500 longbed that I wrote a COAL on a few years back.
It’s a simple, honest work truck with a 4.3 liter V6, roll-up windows, rubber floor mat, and unupholstered hard plastic door panels. Even so, the original owner sprung for such niceties as a cloth seat, AC, four-speaker AM-FM stereo, tilt wheel, automatic transmission, limited-slip differential, and even a sliding rear window. I myself installed carpet in place of the rubber floor covering, and double insulated the entire cab. I also redid the whole brake system from front to back, and had the front suspension rebuilt with new springs and Fabtech A-arms.
Once I rebuild or replace that tired 4.3 and the whining rear end, I plan on pressing it back into every-other-day service while saving my Ford F250 Powerstroke for the really big jobs.
Nice old pickup, a mate in OZ ran one the same in green for many years it went all over the country several times 300 six four speed manual, eventually traded on a 84 F150 ambulance it never actually wore out, completely lots of replacement steering parts fitted but the engine just kept going.