1984 Chevy K15 – David L.

I bought my first truck back in 1997. As a 17 year old boy you can imagine the dreams I had for my truck. My vision was very clear to me of what I wanted. I spent many a night reading through catalogs trying to decide exactly what I would do if I only had more than 2 dollars of change to my name. The reality of life hit me hard. I had a very young family, the truck was always on empty, and or broken down, Sometimes both! Just before my 19th birthday I was forced to sell it for the betterment of my family. It truly broke my heart. I never saw it again but always wondered where she ended up. From time to time I’ll see a square body and stare a bit too long thinking about my old truck and what could have been.

Fast forward to 2024. I am at my local watering hole with a friend and his dad when I received a message on Facebook from someone I did not know. He was inquiring if I was the same guy that had originally owned a 1984 K15 many years ago. My heart skipped a beat… ahh yeah why? In short he had acquired this truck but the ownerships needed to be signed from the owner which was my dad. (As you can imagine it was in my father’s name as Insurance for teenage boys isn’t affordable ). I realized what was happening, I grabbed my head and loudly said, That’s my truck!! Is this happening!?!? I asked for pictures of my girl. My second love (wife is first). He sent some pictures and asked if I could facilitate my father to meet him to sign the ownerships over to him. I asked him to sell it to me but he refused. He had plans too. I set it up to get it signed for him but over the weeks and months I never let it go, messaging him all hours of the day and night to sell me the truck. Finally he gave in and sold it to me for 3 times what it was worth. I was ok with that. I went over with cash and a trailer, loaded it up and brought it to my shop!!

With almost no hesitation I began to strip it down to the frame. I am now in a position in life where I can do what I want with the truck and realize my childhood dream which btw is still very much so a dream.

I sent the frame to be sandblasted and powder coated, then started from scratch building the truck literally from the ground up, with the help of a very capable coworker. I did not use a single bolt, nut or screw that was used. Everything was new. Many a night and weekends spent working away on what seemed impossible at one time.

1 year later we finally completed the job. The truck has been completely restored and built up to what my dream was as a 17 year old boy. My daughter used to sit in the middle seat of that truck right beside her dad. Now her son my grandson who is her twin btw will sit beside me in that very truck. I will admit many times during the process I asked myself what I was doing. Almost regretting my decision but now that it is complete and my grandson is sitting in the truck with me I can’t help but shed a tear. A don’t think a boys dream ever goes away. Life usually just forces us to forget them but this is the rare occasion where 27 years later I made that dream come true!!