My son flew back to San Diego on the 28th and went to LA to pickup the new truck on the 29th. He picked up the truck and started back to SD with his buddy following him. They only made it about 30 miles and the shifter locked up on him. He spent enough time with me under my bird to understand how the linkage needs to line up and was able to free it back up. The rubber bushings on the column shift arms are gone allowing a ton of free play. Got the truck rolling and 15 miles later he pulls into an Auto Zone for something or another and the truck wont start. By this time his friend left to go meet some female and now John is 100 mile from home with a dead truck and needs to be on base at 06:30. Had Auto Zone test the battery. Dead. Purchased a new battery and installed. Truck fires right up. Finally occurs to me to ask if the truck has an amp meter to see if the truck is running. John tells me that it does not but it does have a GEN light that has been on since he picked it up. BINGO. The Auto Zone he is at does not have a regulator but the store 3 miles down the road does. The guy from AZ drives him down to pick up the part. Installed in the parking lot and presto, the gen light goes off and he is on his way. By this time my wife is a nervous wreck about "her baby" being alone and broke down in "that piece of sh*t truck you bought". We tell him to call us every 30 minutes till he gets home. At 3am our time he calls for the last time. Whew! Oh yea and I get up at 5:30 for work. Been quite an adventure already but I am having fun learning about these old "Slick 60's" Ford trucks and researching parts for the restoration when it gets back here next fall.

Happy New Year to all of you!