Local truck featured in Four Wheeler magazine
A Gainesville's couple's 1970 Ford F-250 that has an amazing history has been given new life and will be featured in the September issue of Four Wheeler magazine.
The truck, owned by Darren and Deanna Smith, was purchased brand-new by Deanna's father, Leon Barren, in March 1970 at Bob Marrow Ford in West Memphis, Ark. Deanna, who was born in July 1970, "grew up" with the truck. She said the truck was her father's pride and joy and, with the family living in Hughes, Ark., he would drive it daily to work and back to West Memphis. She said on weekends the workhorse Ford would tow the family's camping trailer and ski boat to Sardis, Miss.
"Daddy loved that truck," Deanna said. "It was his only truck from 1970 until his death in 1991."
"Ol' Blue," as Deanna calls it, ended up being parked behind a pond bank in 1995, pretty much left to sit and rust away. Deanna's brother got the truck after their father died, but Deanna traded him out of it with a vision in mind. "I traded a non-running boat for a non-running truck," she laughed.
In March 2010, Ol' Blue's 40th birthday, Deanna's husband Darren (who owns Darren's Autoworks) began a meticulous seven-month body-off restoration process.
Ol' Blue was made new.
The Smiths entered Ol' Blue in the Ozark Four-Wheel Jamboree Nationals at Springfield in 2011, where it won the best full-size 4x4 (up to 1997) in the Street Zero Class of the Mickey Thompson Show and Shine competition. It also won the same contest again in 2012.
"I know Daddy is looking down and smiling just knowing that his baby is back on the road, being driven and winning car shows," Deanna said.
Photos of the truck will be featured in September's issue of Four Wheeler magazine, showing the before and after. The feature can be found on page 66.
Four Wheeler is a national magazine with a circulation of more than 207,000, according to the magazine.
<p>Darren and Deanna Smith of Gainesville show off awards won by their 1970 Ford F-250 pickup along with a copy of Four Wheeler magazine. The truck, which was bought new and driven for many years by Deanna's late father, is featured in the September issue of the magazine.</p>
<p>The Ford F-250 truck, as it appeared before Darren began a meticulous seven-month body-off restoration process.</p>
