I Heart My Lil Red Battle Wagon

My Mazda B4000 turned 20 years old this year!  It came free to me from my best friend, Morgan, when he bought a new truck a few years ago.  Thanks Morgan!  He made a custom rack, shown in photo above holding a 200 lb roll of weed barrier for the nursery.  A couple years ago I made a decision to keep this truck and replaced the blown engine with a reconditioned one.  Morgan helped me make the custom grill and Madrone log bumper.  I also replaced all of the suspension and increased the capacity to one ton.  This is not recommended as the axle and rest of truck  is not rated for that weight, but  this truck has been carrying that weight for many years and now has better response and handling.  In addition to the fabric roll, there’s a yard of potting soil in the bed of the truck.  This  6 cylinder compact does the work of a full sized truck on a weekly basis, turns on a dime, and fits in a small parking spot.  It’s appearance also makes it a conversation piece.   Last year, I put a bird (or three) on it.

It’s got a lot of stickers and stencils on it.  The one the reads “When all the food is gone, we can eat the money” get’s the most comments.  Both of the tail light covers are pretty busted up, but all the lights work.  Jesus literally indicates my direction…at least when I’m turning left.

About 2 minutes after taking these photos, I proceeded to remove the roll of fabric off the rack and broke my side mirror doing so.  Morgan is such a good planner that when he gave me the truck, he included an extra mirror for the appropriate side of the truck!  It may be just my opinion, but I have the best truck and the best best friend.  That’s his house up in the air in the reflection.