Dentside in S.F.: 73-79 Ford Trucks

from Dan Stoner in San Francisco

" this is my second "dentside" (the term used to identify these '73-'79 Fords because of the groove running down the sides of this body style). I'm partial to the '73-'75 models because it was one of these that my dad had bought and taught me to drive with. I had my new driver's license for two months when I wrecked that truck, racing a buddy in his freshly Earl Scheib-painted '78 Camaro home from school. I was ahead of him when I lost control of Dad's '73 Trailer Special in a loose gravel curve on a country road about a mile from the house. It rolled head-over-tail almost three times before we came to rest on four blown tires. Matter of fact, the only things salvageable on that truck were the tailgate and the radio. But I walked away. I grew up in such a small town that the cop who showed up knew my dad – the local school district truant officer – and let me off with nothing more than a "...but you and your dad have enough to deal with," after reading me his long list of actionable items.

"I've had new trucks, but they just have no soul. And while I know plenty of people who think that the pre-Sixties American trucks are "cute," I've always loved the early Seventies, pre-smog pickups the most. That Outlaw Country, CB radio era of truck. That period of time when a drunk driving arrest could be avoided in Texas as long as there was one less open container in the vehicle than there were passengers. This was the era when cruise control was the only real option – an absurd option – available as a creature comfort shared with passenger cars. Well, that and carpeting. 

"Anyway, I'm rambling. But even though I live in San Francisco proper, I'll always have one of these. It just makes me feel...I don't know...complete. Like hot rod builder, Keith Tardel, told me when I bought his dentside years ago, "Hell, everybody needs a truck."--DF