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mrizzodpm started me thinking with his post about wanting to buy a Pilothouse, then Merle asked why the pilothouse? Thought this would be a good thread and I didn't want to tack it on to that one so here is my story. Each of us must have a story about our labor of love. When I was 8 years old, a neighbor came home with a brand new 48 Dodge pilothouse pickup, green cab with a black box. He worked as a butcher and he was going to make a delivery after lunch so his daughter and I got a ride in that pretty new truck. Years later I asked his daughter if she remembered the ride but she didn't. I never forgot that truck and always liked the looks of it. I restored a Model A Ford Coupe from the frame up, in fact I bought it disassembled and put it all back together, then 7 years later I bought a Dodge Challanger Convertible and restored that with a paint job and body work. Then I wanted a pickup and made the mistake of adding up the cost so I bought a brand new 86 Ranger instead. After I retired, I got the hankering for a old pickup but since I live in a townhouse, it would be a little tough to restore one but I could work it out. I happened to be in a grocery store with my wife and was thumbing through the Hemmings book when I spotted this red Pilothouse for sale in St Cloud, MN just 30 miles from me. I went up for a look and came home and told my wife that I found my pickup so I bought it. It was all complete with a shiny red paint job. This was October 2006 so I didn't have much time to do anything with it until I stored it in a neighbors barn. I was the third owner and it only had 46,000 miles on it. The previous owner damaged the bumper and when it was painted, he cut off the dodge frame and welded on the frame ends from a Ranger and had a Ranger bumper on the front and back. I didn't like the looks of all of that shiny stuff on the front so I was hunting for a original Dodge bumper. One evening, Young Ed posted that Craigs list had a free frame and it looked like a Dodge. I was the first to call and got my bumper and the frame ends that I needed to weld back to the frame. I pulled the front clip of my Dodge and cleaned and painted everything and welded on the frame ends with the Dodge bumper. Its all back together now and makes a wonderful driver. I added Disk brakes to the front during the second year along with radial tires, and now I have one more rim to paint to have the 4 original Dodge safety rims all around. I think of my old neighbor everytime I drive it. My Dodge now has 54,000 on it, 800 came from driving it to Merles town to show it in a car show. The box wood is still the original, 61 year old oak, I'd like to replace it with new shiny wood but that is for another year. This truck is pictured in the Pilothouse 2010 Calendar as the March entry. My seven year old granddaughter just loves to ride in that pickup because she is high up and can see everything. Maybe one day she will want it.