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I turned 63 last week and told my wife Since the 58( 235 ,3 speed, 3.90 rear) was finally road ready I was going to celebrate my birthday by driving her on a road trip for 63 miles. Well mapquest pointed me in the direction of Anniston Alabama from here in Georgia. Sunday morning my wife woke me and said I'm ready lets go.I did'nt know she even wanted to go. So we took off down Interstate 20 headed west.I had just installed a new vacuum advance unit and was a bit concerned how it was going to do. Remember this truck had been sitting for 30 years or more and this is the first time it has gone further than 5 miles from home. After about 5 miles of interstate I noticed she did not fare well on hills, speed dropped from 55 to around 48 mph. In my mind I said am I crazy out here on this interstate? 30 miles into the trip I noticed we were headed into the wind from hurricane Isaac and everything on the road was passing us.I got really concerned after we got into alabama and went down the long hills just past Heflin and wondered if we could make it back up. Finally we were in Anniston ,Alabama. Mapquest said 1 hour and 7 minutes we made it in one hour and 20 minutes.We got off the interstate and got back on the other side headed home . I looked in the rear mirror and saw this semi on my bumper ,then I noticed he started to fall back behind so I figured he was loaded heavy. I noticed that cars were no longer passing us we were running with the traffic. The speedometer said 60 mph up hill and down , Then we started to passing trucks and cars , we were running 65 mph and the engine had taken on a tone somewhere between a low moan and a hum. She had finally awakened from that long sleep. By the time we crossed the state line back into Ga . A young couple passed and the young lady leaned out the window running at 65 mph focused a camera with a lens as big as a tennis ball and flashed our picture and gave us a big thumbs up. My wife said I guess we're celebrities now. We made the trip back in one hour and three minutes.Filled the tank back up and it held 12.15 gallons, we drove 145 miles so we averaged about 12 miles to a gallon. After 6 long years of hard work ,headaches, spending lots of unexpected money Today made it all worth while

You know how to make a guy jealous, don't you?!? Ha! Glad to hear stories like this. It motivates me to get mine done and back out there. Congrats and happy belated birthday!

All right! I know that had to make you feel good.

What a great story! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Got any pics of the truck and the road trip???

That make me feel great to know all those pieces came together to make that trip without a hitch. I did not get any pictures because I was a bit on edge listening for all the tell tale signs of trouble coming from the truck someplace but the wife took a few pictures of the welcome signs from each state. I plan to take another trip up north to Tennessee when the leaves start changing and I will be ready this time with the camera.

Way to go! Now drive it like you stole it!

Best wishes,

Les