|
|
Gem State Jewels
Idaho's a fine home on the range for Roger Larkins and his shiny wheels.
By Bill Hudgins
Idaho is nicknamed "the Gem State," where people treasure diamond-bright mornings. Idaho also has a mother lode of elbow room, an increasingly scarce commodity back East. Coming from flat Ohio, Roger Larkins fell in love with the place and has made the small town of Chubbuck, near Pocatella, his home.
Larkins has been an over-the-road driver for 20 years. Since 1994, he has run as a company driver for Tri-State Motor Lines, which he praises highly. "I'm part of a team on a dedicated fleet hauling hazmat and special commodities. I go out and back every week." That gives him a lot of time at home, he says.
Being home has allowed him play time with a number of off-duty vehicles, ranging from hot motorcycles to cool vintage autos. He recently sold a pristine black 1982 Buick Riviera. Within a few weeks, he picked up a jewel of a 1964 GTO with just 69,000 miles on it.
"It's all original and has always been kept inside. I bought it from the original owner, who is now 94. She bought it when she was 59. It hasn't been driven for the last three years," he says.
The muscle car is nice, but, "We're more of a 4-wheel drive and pickup kind of place up here," he says. And, Larkins has made a show vehicle of his 1997 Ford F150 pickup. It has a 4.6 liter Triton V-8 that puts out 302 hp, plenty for getting up and down the Idaho countryside.
It also has a hydraulic tonneau cover for the bed, Ultra-American mag wheels and a Flowmaster exhaust system. Inside, he rocks over the rocks with a Blaupunkt AM/FM/CD stereo system. A Vipar alarm system keeps out two-legged varmints.
"I've only put about 16,000 miles on it in three years. I wanted to decorate it, and Edgar D. Solis, a friend of mine in Texas, did the murals for me. First he did the tailgate, then he called me a few months later and said come down and he'd do some more.
"Then he painted a mural on the hood. He's really good." (Solis runs Airbrush Graphics in Pharr, Tex., 956-787-4342.) Larkins had three layers of clear-coat applied and baked on to protect the delicate artwork. "It's definitely a fair-weather vehicle," says Larkins. But then, he's not worried about a shortage of golden sunshine.
|
|
|
