JANUARY 3, 2013: ‘I DRIVE YOUR TRUCK’ – HOW A NEW COUNTRY SONG SUMS UP AN OLD PHILOSOPHY

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We make no secret of our main goal for our stories at MSCC.

 

We want to answer the “why” question about the ownership of an old vehicle and we love sentimental reasons.

 

Many of our stories are personalized accounts of a relationship found in an old vehicle that was the pride and joy of a departed member of a family or a friend’s ride.

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There is an emotional legacy found in an old vehicle that was owned for many years by a family member because the vehicle was likely a big part of that person’s life. It may have been a hard-working farm truck owned by a grandfather, a muscle car owned by a brother, a Jeep truck owned by an uncle or an ‘83 Buick owned by a buddy.

 

The person and the vehicle were likely inseparable and a member of the family finds something very comfortable and familiar about the old vehicle after the death of the former owner/relative. They get to look through the same windshield, stare down the same hood, and grab a firm grip on the same steering wheel as the departed owner/relative.

 

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My nephew sent me a Youtube link to a new country tune that sums up the experience very well in song. The song is ‘I Drive Your Truck’ and it follows a tight country song format about a loss in the singer’s life.

 

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The loss in ‘I Drive Your Truck’ was the singer’s brother who was a fallen soldier who owned a beat up old Ford pickup truck that was his pride and joy, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the singer/brother. The late brother appeared to have been killed in action and the singer dealt with his brother’s untimely death by spending time behind the wheel of the dead guy’s old Ford ½ ton.

 

Sure the song was fictional, country songs are always about loss and some of the songs also have rusty old pickup trucks thrown into the lyrical mix, but ‘I Drive Your Truck’ is based upon real world sentimental reasons to hold onto old vehicles.

 

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Many non-car guys and girls want to honor a departed family member’s memory by keeping their beloved old vehicles in the family. They are willing to hold onto the old vehicle because it helps them hold onto the memory of the old vehicle’s owner.

 

The loss of a family member may indeed be the driving force behind old vehicle ownership because we have found people that own the vehicles strictly because of the family link. They would have no interest in old cars if their late relative had not owned the vehicle and they have become car guys and girls by circumstances rather than hobby choices.

 

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We at MSCC salute the people who recognize the close connection between an old car and its previous owner enough to keep the old warhorse in the family. The family members very likely did not envision any time in their lives when they would own a vehicle from a bygone era, but ownership was thrust upon them and they did the right thing in our opinion.

 

The guy who wrote ‘I Drive Your Truck’ would likely agree with us.

 

Jim Sutherland

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