I have had a few vehicles of note over the years, Laurie's dad "Earl" had a hand in all of them, and painted all of them with exception of the "Flame Ranger"
in the early 80' with Earl's help i put together a 72 comet, i dropped a 302/4 speed in it, it was fun and fast.
In 2000 something i had an 87 ranger that Earl had fixed up the body and panted after i cast it aside. shortly after the 2.3 died a horrible death and i fit a 5.0 HO/T5 5 speed in it, it was from an 89 mustang with mass air and an A9L ECU. eventually a 8.8 373 posi from an explorer ended up under it. this truck was also fast and fun to drive, ran it as my daily driver for many years. rust took its toll on that one as well, i did start restoring it (bought an 89 for the chassis) and Earl had found a rust free body. that one has been sitting in the driveway for several years as i have been more focused on boat projects lately.
and the 99 ranger (flame ranger) that will hit the road shortly, Earl picked it up originally for me to drop the 5.0 from the orig V8 ranger in it, but plans changed, it got a 4.0 DOHC and a really sweet paint job thanks to Shawn.
of any of them this project was by far my favorite, A 1970 GMC 4WD pickup
one day in the mid 80's when we went up to "the farm" (Laurie's mom and dads place) this truck was sitting in the yard.
Earl had bought it to fix up, i some how convinced him that i needed to have it, and with his help we restored it. the last pix is what it looked like the day i got it out of the shop.
it went through many changes over the years, i ran it hard off road and eventually it went from 1/2 ton axles (dana 30/12 bolt) to 3/4 ton (dana44/14bolt) with welded on trusses. and from a 4 speed GL to a turbo 400 tranny. had a mild 350 that had many different carbs over the years but ended up with a Holley projection that worked best for hill climbing.
i ran it hard for about 15 years before the rust took its toll (it was a daily driver). it still sits in the feild up at the farm cuz i cant bear to actually part with it.
