Andy Froese

Hello everybody. Well for starts I'm originally for Michigan. Raised in a little town called Howard City. I'm 20 years old and I've always loved old cars since I don't know when. I had a girlfriend whose Uncle drove a restored 1958 Chevy Apache, and after seeing it I knew right then and there that that's what type I wanted. It took me a few years after that to get what I wanted. I'm now here in North Dakota, a thousand plus miles away from home and in good shape, with some help from new and kind friends. This whole situation got started while I was out at work in the missile complex when, in walked an "Old Guy" with a bunch of car magazines. Being a car lover, I asked him if he was a mechanic and he simply told me he just restores them. I knew right then I had to make friends with him because I'd regret it later if I didn’t; by the way his name is George Masters. After a few months of knowing George, I was at a Garage Tour and that evening before we sat down to eat I joined the car club. I didn't quite have a vehicle yet but I knew I was going to get one soon. While we were eating, a gentlemen walked up to George and told him about a truck up in Westhope that his friend was looking to sell. He said it was a 1958 Chevy Apache. It just so happens that I was across the table and overheard this conversation. When the guy left the table I told George I had to have this guy's number so I that I could check this truck out. George did as I requested and I got a hold of the individual. As it turned out it was a 1959 3/4 ton Chevy Apache longbox, black and white. The guy and I set up a meeting at his farm to see the truck and George said he'd go with me. When we pulled into the drive I wasn't even out of the car and I could see it. I told George I didn't care how much this guy wanted, this truck was going to be mine. After looking over the truck I knew even more so that I had to have it. It took me about a month to come up with money but eventually I did and it was all mine as of March 2003. I hadn't even had it 24 hours and already I was having problems with it. The thing's battery died overnight when I got it home. So I went and picked on up and it worked. It wasn't too long after that something else was wrong and it turned out that it wouldn't even start. While I was having this problem George introduced me to Al Larson, the mechanic. So as it happened, I had Al work on it and he got it running in no time. For those of you who don't know Al, he's one heck of a wrench turned. The day I picked it up was great, until...yes you guessed it, more problems. I was heading back to base 4-5 hours later then something terrible went wrong. I wasn't even a half mile from base when I threw a rod right thru the oil pan. Thankfully George was kind enough to bring up his trailer to haul it onto base. He also brought along a friend to help. As it turned out the guy had an engine for sale. So we struck up a deal and I bought it from him for 50 bucks. What a deal huh? Joe Uhrmacher hauled it from Devils Lake to here for me and I really appreciated that because all I had was a car. When I saw it for the first time it was all greasy and dirty. I ended up taking it to Al's shop to have it dropped in my truck. It took awhile to get that done because of Al's busy schedule but I was patient, besides it gave me time to clean the motor and paint it. Finally after five or six months of having a 3/4 tone paper weight it's now running. I don't know how I kept my sanity with this truck because of all the problems and having only drove it 5 times in the past year but I succeeded. I'm glad to be a proud owner as like the rest of you.

I give special thanks to the individuals who helped me in my quest to owning a classic automobile. I don't know what I'd be doing with my time if it wasn't for all these fine people up here. Thanks again.

Andrew Froese, Minot AFB Missile Cop!