August 2009 On The Floor Editorial - Go Green - Fix Up An Old Truck

I'm a big believer in personal freedom. I think everyone ought to be able to do whatever the hell they want until their activities harm another human being or impede another person's freedom. So, whenever our government decides it needs to legislate its way into our lives by telling us what we can or can't do with our trucks, I get pissed off. I'm pissed off once again because several states are trying to institute vehicle scrappage programs, aimed at taking older cars and trucks off the roads under the guise that these older vehicles are the cause of the brown air hanging over our hood. North Carolina is the latest to try paying off citizens for scrapping trucks that are more than 14 years old.

We aren't idiots, and it's not as if building a classic sport truck is ruining the world or the American way of life. In fact, building a sport truck is a very patriotic thing to do because it reinforces good ol' fashioned American values. The American way of life was founded on a few basic principles, most of which were steeped in the want and need to do stuff for ourselves. Real Americans take whatever negative shit comes their way and turn it into something positive. Building a sport truck at home in your garage is the same. It's not easy by any stretch of the imagination. You'll work alone for months or even years, there will be pain, suffering, and financial hardship. You're wife will likely doubt your maniacal garage pursuits, and there will be times when the mountain of work seems too tough to conquer. But in the end, when you roll that truck out of your garage and cruise the neighborhood for the first time, even if you're sitting on a milk crate, the sense of pride that comes from doing it yourself will be life-changing.

Politicians and special interest groups want to rid the world of old cars and trucks because they supposedly harm the environment. This is such a crock. Any old truck that's still on the road is bound to be well-kept and probably not driven that much. Besides that, what's more American than taking a rusted-out hulk of American-made steel and rebuilding it in your garage? Isn't that recycling? Isn't that going "green"? Instead of trashing thousands of old trucks, which will require energy to be wasted to recycle them, we could all be fixing up one for ourselves.

Inside your garage are the tools of an entire industry that will benefit from you taking on a project. Red-blooded Americans working to give you the parts, tools, and services to facilitate the restoration and modification of your truck will benefit. So the next time you see a chain email or news item about some idiot proposing legislation to scrap older iron, make sure that your voice is heard in protest. Email your congressman. Email a local news outlet. Let the world know that this is wrong and that you're not going to stand for it. See ya next month.