Dirvin7588
New member
Hello fellow Lightning Owners!!
Just coming in here to make a little Introduction post about myself and my L.My Lightning was build 05/23/94, During the 1994 year my grandfather was looking to purchase a Lightning to celebrate his Military retirement (30 Years NAVY) and found a dealer in Norfolk, VA that could get them. Upon going to talk to them about it and get everything ordered, my grandmother made it known to the salesman that they often travel with their grandson (ME) so they were given the option of the jump seat and that is how I first acquired my placement in the Lightning family. A few weeks Truck #3490 was delivered in 1994.
I remember going with them to pick the truck up, well what stands out the most is my grandmother playing with the remote and setting off the alarm making multiple salesmen run outside to expect one of their special Lightnings being messed with, but to their surprise it was only a new vehicle owner trying to figure out a key fob. LOL. For years I saw my grandfather take care of this truck like it was his baby and while I admit, I might not have known the importance of the Truck itself back then, I knew it was important to him. As a child I remember us taking the truck with him to the Richmond NASCAR Race and losing it in the parking lot lol, I remember traveling to see family in it from VA to IL, I remember the guy from across the neighborhood coming over with his and never understood why the two trucks looked so much alike yet like no others on the road, but one of the most stand out moments was one day we we're traveling to the beach and this loud, bright orange truck pulled up next to us and my grandfather looked at him and looked at me and said "Hold on, Watch this" and nailed it! It stuck me back in the seat with a smile I didn't know how to recreate until I was older building my own cars. For years upon years the truck sat in the driveway, being washed and waxed so often we joked that we thought the paint was going to come off of it but it stayed, and looked immaculate. As the years went on it didn't get as much love as it should have and we had discussed me getting it but never went any further with it.
One day I had one of my vehicles break down, I had a new born and a GF at the house and one car was hard considering my drive distance for work so my grandmother calls me and tells me to "Come get the Lightning". I ventured over there that weekend and got the keys and drove it home. For a week I drive it back and forth to work until I could get my other truck fixed and dropped the Lightning back off at my grandparents. When I was dropping it off my grandmother asked me "Why?"....In my mind its my grandfathers truck, his pride and joy and I wasn't ready to take on that role. Another month or so goes by and my grandmother calls me one evening telling me "Why don't you go ahead and sell your S-10 and come get the truck to drive? It needs be to driven.". At this time of its life 2016/2017 The truck didn't get driven much, They had just bought a new Camry they loved. So I did, Sold the S-10, Went and got the Lightning and drove it. I'd stick my son in the jump seat and all of us as a family would venture out in it to do whatever we needed.
A few months go by, My son is getting older, My GF car breaks down and she is driving the truck for a few weeks while I take the motorcycle to work and I don't know what happened during those few weeks but my Son, which is 1 1/2- 2 years old, is IN LOVE with the truck. I don't know if its the seating position from the backseat of a Taurus Wagon to the front seat of the truck, Don't know if it was the rush of being planted in your seat or the quickness of it but he absolutely fell in love with it and I remember those days when I was a child and falling in love with the same truck. About 4-5 months go by and I constantly ask them if they want the truck back, It was still in their name at the time because they kept encouraging me to let them pay for the insurance and everything, but I didn't feel like it was mine.
One weekend my grandfather calls me Friday evening and asks me to stop by in the morning and that he's "got something to give to you" so not knowing what to expect I make my way over there in the morning. We start talking about life and everything and he tells me he has something for me and reach's over to a folder and hands it to me. He proceeds to tell me that "Everything in there is for the Lightning" and as I open I see a page from an Lightning catalog, followed by the Title and the window sticker, not to mention all the other stuff he has for it. The truck when I started driving it initially had right around 56K, on the title it showed six when put into my grandfathers name. SIX MILES!! This was crazy to me. As bad as it was sitting in their driveway, Now it was sitting in mine. I had a good daily car, A motorcycle, I had NO reason to drive it so it sat just as it did before. I'd start it from time to time, I just started it an moved it so people could work on my house, so it's "Driveable" to a degree, but I knew it had a coolant leak of some sort as it would never hold it for very long.
A few weeks ago I received a note in my mailbox from someone asking if they could buy it, but I declined. That was the motivation I needed to get this thing back in tip top shape. That and seeing all the car shows in the area that I haven't attended in years on fb, knowing me an Jr could be out there reliving my childhood and making memories with him a he starts his passion for vehicles himself. I have other projects I've been working on, I have a motorcycle I need to get right for the summer, Another rat bike project, RC car project, But it is all getting set to the side until this truck is turn key reliable.
It has sat for a while and needs a little bit of work these days but nothing major so to say. Currently (06/24/22) in the middle of a timing cover reseal because of a leak. Have had to pull the intake because of a coolant leak, That led to a little can of worms involving chasing hose clamps not secured and eventually finding a leaky freeze plug. A little bit of a mess but nothing that can't be handled. I've got a list built on LMR and slowing getting it back to its Showroom quality, Some odds and needed but nothing drastic. It is a 28 year old truck after all.
I've been apart of this site since 2018, not long after I got my hands on the truck and have little involvement in the Lightning world other than asking questions on FB so I figured I'd get more involved in the NLOC community as this is the "Go-To" site for our L trucks from what I understand. Reading posts and seeing different projects tackled on here has helped tremendously, So in advanced to everyone that reads this, Thank you!! Hope you enjoy my story, some of it I feel like was rambling but this truck is and has been part of my life since 1994, This truck is part of me now more than it ever was before.
Thank you for letting me share my story and I hope to meet some of you through out the years at different events and even thread/message exchanges on here and other Lightning places.
