I did some research and figured out the truck in the movie was likely a 1984 Dodge D150 short bed. I started scouring listings for used trucks online.

I figured anything I found was going to need engine work sooner or later. I optimized for a body that was in good shape, with as little serious rust as possible.

After a couple of months I found my quarry: a 1984 D100 in South Carolina that ran and drove and had a nearly pristine body, for its age. Just $500 to tow it on a flatbed to Florida.

When the truck arrived, I set about happily fixing little things here and there: a janky ignition wiring hack here, a broken tail light there. I drove it around and had strangers tell me how cool my truck was. I was riding high.

But I didn’t notice that it was burning oil. Fast. Within no time, the engine seized. Big sad face.

I asked a mechanic friend if he could swap in a new engine. He said he could, and knew someone who had an engine for sale from the same model truck.

He got the job started, but the progress was slow. He was struggling himself, in and out of jobs and living situations. Eventually the work stalled completely. For the better part of two years, I checked in periodically, feeling helpless to move the project forward.

Finally, I decided I was going to have to finish the job myself, even if I didn’t know the first (or at least the second) thing about engines.

Towed it back to my house, and for two years have spent innumerable hours, blood, sweat, and tears turning myself into a passable mechanic for this one specific truck.

A few distinct highs, many more deep and prolonged lows. But yesterday, I fixed the last issue keeping me from taking her out for longer than a spin around the block.

I can’t say whether it was all worth it, but it’s the hardest puzzle I’ve ever solved, and it’s satisfying to be (temporarily) done putting the pieces together.

Besides a working truck, I got a whole new set of metaphors about Life Itself out of the deal. We’ll call them treasures in heaven.

And I still feel real cool driving her around.