This is the story of Big Red. My partner, my truck, my friend that ill never forget.
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In 1999, i was tired of leasing a new truck and wanted one that i could do what i wanted
to and one i could work on. I purchased it for $3500 with a nice canopy, it had 190,000kms on it, 32" tires and aluminum turbine
wheels. It had a EFI 302 and an AOD transmission with a 208F New Process transfer case. I installed a hitch almost right away,
and pulled my first car with a borrowed trailer : 1962 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 4dr from northern Alberta to Edmonton. In the
spring of 2000 the transfer case blew and i was hard up for cash so i put off fixing it for a while. I had the chain and shifting
fork replaced in the t-case later in the summer for $150, i had no idea it would be that cheap and i installed it myself.
My first real attempt at doing any serious off-roading got me stuck about 80 feet from the main road when i broke thru some
ice and sunk it to the floors.
 I hate to admit it but i had to get a chevy truck with a box mounted winch
to pull me out. Soonafter i bought a new set of Hankook 31x10.5x15's for it and started pullin cars in to our yard. One
day i didnt have a trailer behind me but i had my brother with me so i loaded a car anyways.
In the spring of 2002 the river came up and flooded the lower part of the
car yard. I hopped in Big Red and took off for Yahk. Immediately after surveying the scene, i locked in the hubs and dove
in. The water was coming in the doors and the fan was blowing it all over but we kept on working and pulling cars out of the
water. It was a lot of fun, there were people stopped on the side of the road taking pictures, we made the news and the papers
also.
I used to borrow a friends trailer for $25 a day but soon i found a 16' trailer which
i thought was way heavier than i needed because it has 6" channel iron, two-7000lb axles, and 10 ply 16" tires. Soonafter
buying the trailer i found out exactly why it was a good idea to keep it. Most people haul around their race car, show car
or maybe a parts car once in a while but this picture will explain why i dont regret getting a heavy duty trailer.
 That picture is actually of after i wore the 31's out and bought a new set
of 35x12.5x15 tires for Big Red. There used to be an auction house here in town and one day i found a new unused lift
kit for $200!! Some guy had sold it there because he needed the money and the kit is easily worth $1000. I had to buy
shocks, blocks, ubolts and a pitman arm also. It took me about 1.5 hours to install the lift in the back and about 6 hours
in my friends shop with a hoist and air tools.
The following fall i went up north to find work and in the process i found
a 1971 Torino Squire stationwagon. It had a good running 351C -2bbl and i saved the car from the demo derby.
I pulled the engine out of the wagon, stripped it down and took it in to get degladed and honed rigid not to mention a good
cleaning throughout. I had the pistons mic'd and they were ok to use, i polished the crank, cleaned everything meticulously
thanks to Kevin for all the advice and supervision. I bought a new comp cam with 224/226 duration and 474 lift for it, i took
a die grinder to the intake ports of the heads and matched them as close as i could to my 1970 factory 4bbl intake manifold
ports. We gave the valves a 3 angle grind, and i put the engine together with regular hand tools. I put my Edelbrock
1405 with electric choke conversion on top and a 351M truck oil pan and pickup tube on the bottom, i then installed
the engine into Big Red. I bought a new set of Headman Hedders for the 82 F-150 4x4 351M application, modified three
tubes on the drivers side to make it work and bolted them on. It took some ingenuity but i was determined and suceeded. After
hooking up the hoses, belts and electronics, at about 7pm in my garage up north, it was about -30C and the roar of a legend
was heard through the small town of Grimshaw, Alberta.
The next day i fired it up again and drove it to Foreman Muffler with the
header paint boiling and the old people giving me the evil eye. Troy installed a dual exhaust system with 2.5" stainless pipe
and welded performance mufflers for that unique sound. The next step was to take it to my friend Brad's tranny shop in Peace
River to make sure the AOD was setup properly. Big Red now could truly roar down the road with pride. I left the north country
after all this and working until the snow started to melt. I got about 3/4 of the way home and my 4th gear was no more...
i got home and not long after that my 290,000km original transmission commited suicide. I removed it myself, took it
to the transmissionshop in Trail, BC and got ripped off (another common story) but it got me rolling again for another 11
months. I also had a 12 pack CD player, Rockford Fosgate truckrider speakers, an Alpine amp and a Pioneer deck in Big Red.
I had a frequency scanner and a CB Radio also, which came in handy on the open road when fetching cars.
You can see a couple pictures of Big Red in action while we were having fun
in sawdist pits and mud bogging in the "Mud Bogging" pages of this site also. Ive spent many thousands of miles in this truck,
ive slept in it, ive even entertained female company in this truck ;) I had the transmission and transfer case rebuilt again
in the spring of 2003 also by a local friend who has really helped me out ever since i met him.
On the evening of September 19th 2003, i was re-installing the transmission
vent tube which is a 5 minute job up at my moms house which is on the side of a mountian. I wasnt thinking about what i was
doing, i was getting ready for the mud bogs the next day... the tube got jammed and i was attempting to free it and in the
process i managed to knock the linkage out of the park position. I was sitting under the hood with a foot on either side of
the engine when we started to roll, i jumped out of the truck and ran to the drivers door which i got open. By that time the
truck was going too fast and i couldnt get inside, the door knocked me down to the ground and as i stopped, i looked back
just in time to see the front end dissapear over the edge of the driveway. I stood up and ran over to the edge and watched
in horror as Big Red rolled down the hill, jumped into the air about 6 feet or so a couple times and came to rest -in park-
on a flat spot. After collecting my spare tire, jack and a few other things that flew out of the box, i got inside, found
the keys, fired it up and drove back up the hill. I put the battery right again and cleaned out the interior then parked the
truck for the night.
 The next morning i drove the truck to the mud bogs anyhow with a twisted frame, buckled
cab, destroyed front end and electrical problems, had a blast playing in the mud all day and told everyone my story. I even
told the announcer to call my truck "Bent Red" when my turn was up to dig thru the pit.
 If you have taken the time to read this whole story then i applaud you,
you have a larger attention span than i do. You may think i am overreacting when i talk about a truck in such a way where
it actually resembles a person... but if you spent as many hours and travelled as many miles as we did together you might
understand. We have been through situations where most people would have given up but Big Red and i just tried that much harder
and succeeded. It would take several dozen pages to actually give you the full story and if i want to do that
ill write a novel. I have now parked the mighty Ford, he has put in harder miles in just a few years than many will ever see.
His legend will live on forever, and the donated parts will be used to keep other great Ford trucks on the road and they will
be proud to have a piece of a hero bolted on. So i say farewell Big Red, rest in peace my friend.
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