MARTINSVILLE – While driving to Martinsville this past Thursday to check out the cars and trucks parked downtown for a weekly cruise-in, the red battery dash light in my car came on. I wasn’t too worried.
Not until the speedometer and other gauges dropped to zero and all other warning lights lip up. This automotive problem is one I recognized: the alternator, which charges the battery which then powers the car’s electrical system, wasn’t working.
My 2003 Honda Accord made it to the courthouse square, a great relief, and I pulled into a lot with some cool classic vehicles. It was there the car died, and where it remained overnight. My son came and got me, I called my mechanic, arranged for a AAA tow back to Bloomington and that was that.
While waiting for a ride, and since I was there to find a vehicle with a story for this column, I looked around. Then realized I had parked right next to this week’s story.
When Jeff Cratty was an 8-year-old kid, his grandfather had a 1977 Ford Highboy pick-up the boy admired. He decided then he would have a truck like it of his own one day.
Four years ago, while looking for said truck, Cratty located in Michigan the truck he’s always wanted. Online photos featured a 1972 two-tone green and never repainted Ford F-250 Highboy Sport Custom.
It wasn’t on the market.
Cratty reviewed photos of the truck and fell in love with the 5,000-pound vehicle. He spoke to the owner who confirmed he wasn’t interested in selling. But after some back and forth, “he said he’d sell it, but it wouldn’t be cheap,” Cratty said.
Some $12,000 later, Cratty was hauling the truck from Michigan to his Martinsville home. It barely ran and needed serious work. “The engine was knocking and smoking and I got it running just long enough to get it on the trailer,” the 38-year-old recalled.
He’s invested another $12,000 getting the truck stable and running strong. The engine is like new. Cratty doesn’t drive the truck often, estimating he’s put about 300 miles on it in four years. “I’m afraid somebody will hit it,” he admits.
The truck, which he calls “Frank” in honor of his wife’s grandfather, came from Montana – state park entrance stickers are still on the windshield.
The 54-year-old pick-up spends most of its time in a climate-controlled garage these days. “It’s what I always wanted, an heirloom” he said, justifying the special treatment.
His wife Kellie loves the truck too. She’s painted her fingernails two-tone green like the old Ford and carries a leather Michael Kors purse that matches. She’s let her husband know their marital status might be at risk if he ever sold Frank.
“If you sell that truck, I’ll go to the courthouse,” are words he won’t forget. Cratty is happy to keep both his wife and the truck in his life forever.
Kellie Cratty recently got her own truck, a 1969 Ford she calls “Phyllis,” named after her grandmother. Yep, she’s on my list of stories to pursue.
Have a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: My Favorite Ride | Finding the Ford truck he always wanted
Reporting by Laura Lane, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
