Lou is Licensed & Legal (12/2014)

In the State of Washington one can attach regular license plates to a vehicle and pay registration fees year after year sticking the latest year's tab on the plate. But if the vehicle is over 30 years old one can get "collector vehicle" plates, register them once and never have to register again. There is a third option and that is to find a license plate that was used on a vehicle in the year that your old vehicle was manufactured. Then you register it once, just like it was a "collector plate" and never have to register it again.

I did that on the Model T Ford I had several years ago. I found a pair of 1923 plates. I did that with my Willys Jeep. It sports a pair of 1947 truck plates. During this time I found out that for trucks you only have to have one plate. I wanted to do that for the M416 military trailer and actually have a 1965 trailer plate for it. However, the registration rules cited above for vehicles over 30 years old does not apply to the trailer because it is not motor driven. I have a plan though.

But, when it was time to put a license plate on Lou it took three tries. When I bought him I thought he was manufactured in 1976; that is what the ad said on the Internet. I ordered a plate from the guy I have been getting these plates from. I discovered at the Department of Licensing office that the title said manufactured in 1967. I had been puzzled because I couldn't find specifications for Lou later than 1972. Now I knew why. So the plate and tab I had bought wouldn't work; wrong tab, wrong plate style. I contacted my plate guy but the plate I wanted 1) was more expensive (older) and he would only credit me 75% of the cost of the '76 plate. Being thrifty, I had an idea.

About a year ago my son and his wife won a "collector plate" at a benefit auction with the idea of giving it to me. The problem was they kept forgetting to give it to me, until the very week that I was going through the process of licensing Lou. It came in the mail. My idea was to take the gifted "collector plate" in and use it to license Lou. That didn't work. You have to have "collector plates" issued by the State of Washington, you can't just bring one in. So I ended up losing a little money and buying the more expensive '67 plate. Lou is now registered with the '67 plate shown below.
 
One, final, interesting wrinkle in this whole process occurred at the DOL office when the lady processing my papers realized that Lou weighed 12,890 pounds. She gasped and had to license him at under 20,000 pounds GVW. That was OK because the fee was for only one month, not a full twelve. If I had waited to license Lou in January the cost would have been significantly higher, another $180.

Veterans Day Parade (11/08/2014)

My friend, Art, who owns five pieces of military rolling stock (two Jeeps, two trailers, and an ambulance), invited me to join him and the Tri City Military Vehicle Club in the annual West Richland Veterans Day Parade. So Lou (IH's nickname) did. A friend from our small group wanted to come along as TC. He told me that TC stands for Tank Commander, or in this case Truck Commander. Steve drove a deuce-and-a-half in Germany in the late '60s and early '70s. Art told me that several veterans would be riding on Lou's back so I put the troop seats down and put a ladder in so they could climb comfortably up onto the truck bed. A man and his daughter, a man and his wife, and a woman did ride with me in the parade. I furnished ear plugs for those that wanted them but found out later that it isn't nearly as noisy in the back as it is in the cab.

Hanford High School Band

These are pictures I took while waiting in formation for the parade to start at 10:00 am. The first two are of the truck in front of me which has a better color and lots of numbers and other markings to give me ideas of what I should put on Lou sometime. Of course the last picture is of the Hanford marching band which was right behind us in the parade and the first band in the parade. We were actually the 7th or 8th vehicle in the parade.

Dan, our small group leader, took these next four pictures. They show his wife, Barb, as she approached us. We had eased to the left to greet her. She is showing her amazement of Lou's size in the 3rd picture. The 4th picture catches the veteran lady in the back of the truck.

These are the two pictures Barb took as she approached us. You can see the Jeep behind me and just a hint of the Hanford Band. You can see me and my TC Steve in the 2nd picture.

Art sent me the next picture.

Here I am in front of some of the military vehicles that were in the parade in Flat Top park after the parade is over.

And, finally here is a picture that was in today's Tri-City Herald. You can see part of me in the rear at the right. Art sent me this montage. He is driving the gray (Navy) Jeep. That and the enclosed Jeep is in the front of the parade. The Jeep with the passenger in the helmet was the last military vehicle in the parade and followed me.

After we left Flat Top Park I let Steve drive Lou for a while. He loved it and said it brought back old memories.

Advertising - Bah Humbug! (11/05/2014)

The Incredible Hulk came with advertising. I do not drive my vehicles around with someones advertising on them. So yesterday I set out to remove the advertising from IH. The Idaho Motor Pool gave me a partially filled one gallon bucket of the paint they use to paint many of their vehicles before selling them. The color is Forest Green which has nothing to do with military olive drab colors. (I just found out that there is a Forest Green military color although I have never noticed one.) I took the can to a local paint store and asked them if they could put some of the paint in the bucket in a rattle can. They could, they did. So yesterday afternoon I set about removing the advertising from IH.

Here was the advertising on the mud flaps.

And here is what it looks like up close and personal. The advertising is the same on both flaps.




Here is what the mud flaps look like now.

 Here is what the front bumper looked like.






IMP (Idaho Motor Pool) on the right and 199 on the left which corresponds to the last three characters of the VIN number.









 Here is what the front bumper looks like now.

After removing the advertising I took IH out to be weighed in preparation for obtaining a WA state title. All of the documents state that a deuce and a half should weigh between 13,200 and 13,400 pounds. IH is slim and trim, he only weighs 12,890 pounds. Of course he doesn't have the canvas covering and its associated hoops over the bed of the truck which would probably make up much, if not all of the difference.

The Incredible Hulk (11/05/2014)

Yesterday, November 3, 2014, I bought the Incredible Hulk and drove it from Fruitland, ID home. Its initial mileage and hours meters read 34,536.3 miles and 1,764.6 hours. Along the way I stopped at a rest area in Oregon.

The Incredible Hulk

 When I arrived home the readings were 34,783.1 miles and 1,770.4 hours. So I drove 246.8 miles and the engine was running for 5.8 hours. IH performed perfectly using only 20 gallons of fuel for an economy rating of 12.34 miles per gallon. By the way, IH is not only incredibly large but he is super incredibly LOUD. I was prepared for this and wore a set of noise suppressors for the trip. I was glad I did. (I have an extra pair for a passenger.)

Before arriving in Richland I stopped by a friend's home to show him IH. He took the following picture. He does a better job taking pictures than I do.

Here he is in the driveway ready to go in the garage.

And he's in, Ta Da!

This is called a Pioneer Kit. It contains an axe, a pick, and a shovel. I hope I never need to use it.

Finally we have a five-gallon Jerry can for containing extra diesel fuel. Notice that it is chain-locked. Hope I have the key with me when I need it. And, of course, I hope it has some fuel in it.

Saturday we will be in the Veteran's Day parade in West Richland. I am not a veteran but IH is. So he is taking me.