I'm 9 years behind you in age, and 3 or 4 behind you on the forum Bill, keep forging new territory for the rest of us will ya'!!!!

What's the deal Bill, are you bringing in the young gun (Mike) so you can divorce yourself from the day to day business and spend more time on Military transportation history, or visiting battleground memorials?

Best,
john

 

Congrats, Bill. We will be shipping your commerative mug and lug nut polishing kit via USPS COD service.

 

Only RP would have or even know where to get, probably the only person in the world to think of..... a lug nut.. polishing.. kit.

 

My thanks to everyone for their comments and support.

So we do not make this thread into an obituary, I am actually 67+ going on 70 but as I was born in China, where your age is figured from date of conception, I guess I am 68+ and therefore closer to 70 than I thought.

The deal with the store and my son is hopefully the realization of a dream.
For the first time in 25 years, my whole family will be within one hour of each other. My daughters joined us here about 10 years ago and one works in the store. I have only seen my Son's kids 4 times in the last 5 years since the oldest was born so it will be a real pleasure. My youngest brother also works in the store so hopefully it will be a family affair for a long time.

As to the "Plan", Mike has agreed to work as our General Manager for 2 years on a salary, Karin will also work the store, and then they will buy us out on a fairly easy payment plan. Pat and I would then become "Chairpersons Emeritus" standing in when needed for special situations such as business travel, vacations and the always horrible Christmas season.

And, yes, John, I hope through the marvels of the Internet/Computers, to finally compile all of my 50 years of collecting photos, books, catalogs, brochures etc. concerning military transport vehicles into some sort of data base for future researchers. I have now some 15,000 images stored on a remote hard drive and I have barely scratched the surface of the stuff I have.

Each of has our hobby demons, but it frightens me that I have almost 1,000 books on the subject, 12 4 drawer filing cabinets full of stuff as well as several portable filing buckets. It will take a lot of scanning time to get all of this into some sort of source base.

As to vehicles, I no longer require a truck even if Mike and I decide to cobble up something between the 4 vehicles I now have for restoration. My current lust, mentioned on another thread, is to get a Shelby Cobra as my "Finale" vehicle. They are still trying to get 10 to 20 K over sticker here in Atlanta and I am not willing to pay that much so it may not happen.

On the other hand, I hope I am still welcome on this Ford Truck Forum with the proviso that I will from time to time speak from the high mountain of age and experience and strike some of you youngin's down when I think you are out of line.
The Old Gizzard but still Kick'in

 

Bill as far as I am concerened and I'm sure that I'm not alone on this, you are always welcome here anytime and all the time.
Mi forum is su forum.
Also you are free to speak down from your moutain of age and knowledge to strike me down anytime you deem it is needed. It will not only be welcome but also appreciated, because I will gain a little more knowledge each time I can make you post no matter what it takes. I am sure I step out of line on one or two iccasions and I could probably stand to be put in my place from time to time.

 

Bill, just because you don't have a truck, don't be shy. There are several members here who don't have their trucks any longer, heck, some of them don't even have Ford's and we let them hang out!! Don't be a stranger!