I'm just going to try to work my way down the list without saying any one photo or story were more important than the other.
His second photo is my first 'memory' jogger. The photo is of the local Datsun dealer in Bay City as it burned to the ground.
When I first got out of the Army I needed a 'work truck' but didn't have a lot of money (familiar story to some I'm sure).
A friend of mine had a sister that had a husband that had a 1965 Datsun pickup for sale. I got out of the Army in '71 so it wasn't really that old but it already was showing some signs of 'road brine cancer'. I went over and took it for a ride and it actually drove pretty decent. It was a 4 speed with the shift on the column. It took a little bit to find reverse but once that was mastered it drove good. I think the engine was 60hp... just a little 4 popper but it did get pretty good mileage. We also had a Mercury Cyclone with a 390 so I didn't need my truck to get my 'power rush' too. My how times have changed

Today my truck has the big engine and the car has the small engine.
I was driving to work about 30 miles each way so fuel economy was important. The interior was red and was in real good shape. The exterior had been grey at one time but after a round of patching some rust someone had painted it black. Looked like a rattle can job and it got more chalky over the years but again I wasn't in it for the looks. Driving all the miles eventually took it's toll on the poor little engine. Most of the drive was on US 10 and the last few trips the engine didn't have enough guts to keep up even 60 mph going into the wind. Did pretty good going with the wind though. It was probably valves as it didn't smoke or use oil.
Anyway, it got me through a couple of years of after Army life and I had made enough to go buy a 'new' truck. I got a brand new 1974 Chevy C10 in robins egg blue. It had an AM radio and I had the dealer put on a step bumper. It had a 350 cube inch V8 with a 3 speed. Most trucks then did not have an auto trans because most auto transmissions were barely sufficient for a car. I believe we paid $3400 or $3500 for it. It had a quadrajunk carb on top of it and it could go through a lot of gasoline if you drove it 'hard'.
So, I drove the little Datsun behind the house on the river. We had the smallest house in the neighborhood and we were also the last house on the road but it was on the river and there were a few really nice houses so I'm sure a few eyebrows were raised.
One day at work a stranger came looking for me at work. He had heard about my Datsun and wanted to know more about it. Turned out he was the body shop manager for the local Datsun dealer and they were looking for something to fix up and put in the showroom. I think '65 was the first year they imported Datsun pickups so it was some bit of a rarity to the right people.
I told him what had happened to it and that it was sitting behind the house 30 miles away. I figured that would be the end of it but a few days later he came back and we made a deal for the truck. They took it into the shop and spent a year or so 'filling in' on it when they had time. They painted it a bright cherry red and it actually looked pretty darn good. I don't know if they ever did anything with the engine or not. It would start and drive but just didn't have any guts left.
Anyway, it was in the showroom when the dealership burned so all that's left of that one is 'memories'!!! It was far from my best truck but it was my 'first'.

Here's a photo of a '65 pickup I found online.

Here's an online photo I found of a '74 Chevy. This one looks pretty close to mine. I don't remember the mirrors being like that though. I had a '76 later that had those mirrors.
