Just one quick thing to add here. Since the show started in 2007, as far as I'm concerned, every episode takes place in the summer of 2007, and the holiday specials are the same year. Therefore, the episode Happy New Year is the beginning of 2008.

The 1964 Ford F100

It was just an old hand me down Ford
With three speed on the column and a dent in the door

Danville, Ohio. August 2, 2007
The Flynn-Fletcher residence

"Bye, guys," Phineas called out to Buford and Baljeet as they walked down the driveway.

"Goodbye, my friends," Baljeet called back while Buford waved.

Isabella appeared at Phineas's side. "Hey, Phineas," she said in a somewhat shy voice, "I had a great time today."

"I'm glad, Isabella. And tomorrow's gonna be even better!"

"Okay." She smiled. "See you tomorrow, Phineas." And she left the driveway, heading for her house across the street."

Now it was Ferb's turn. He walked up next to Phineas covered head to toe in a viscous red liquid.

"What happened to you?" Phineas asked.

"The strawberry syrup vat exploded," Ferb said simply. "I'm going to go take a shower."

"Okay, bro."

As Ferb headed into the house, an aged pickup truck pulled into the driveway. At some point it had been painted dark blue, but the truck was covered in scratches and rust and the little bit of remaining paint was faded and peeling. A big dent in the passenger door showed where it had been opened into a tree that someone parked too close to. Phineas's step-father, Lawrence, climbed from the cab.

"Hey, Dad. What's this?"

Lawrence's small perpetual smile widened as he looked fondly at the old truck. "This is a 1964 Ford F100 short bed. It belonged to your Uncle, James Fletcher."

"I didn't know I had an Uncle James."

"Oh, he died before I married Mom. Actually-" He looked up at the sky thoughtfully. "-If I have my years right, he died before Candace was born, long before I ever met Mom."

"Oh. That's too bad."

"Yes. He Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher's oldest son, ten years older than me or Uncle Adrian. He was the first member of the Fletcher family to come to America from England, way back in 1964. He bought this truck brand new from Tri-State Ford."

"So why do you have it?"

"Well, Uncle James was a carpenter, and he used it for years. When I moved here, I lived with him for several years and I used it sometimes, too. We had some great memories in this old thing, your Uncle and I." Lawrence had a sort of misty look in his eyes. "He always used to tell me that someday, this truck would be mine. Unfortunately, he had to sell the truck in the eighties when he lost job. We needed the money. He died a few years later of a heart condition."

"Aw. That's so sad," Phineas said.

"I all but forgot about this truck, until your Mom and I were going through a box of old photos and I found a picture of it. Well, I was determined! If the truck hadn't been scrapped, I was going to find it! I spent the last two months tracking it down, and low and behold, here it is!"

"That's awesome, Dad!"

"Yes, it really is, isn't it? I'm going to restore it, have the sides lettered with the Antique Shop's name and phone number, it'll be good as new! It'll make moving around large pieces for the shop way easier than strapping them to the roof of Mom's car. But, it's main purpose will be taking our bottles and newspapers to the recycling center."

"Why?" Phineas asked. "Doesn't a municipal truck do that?"

"It used to. But Mayor Doofenshmirtz had to make some budget cuts and the trucks went the way of the saber-toothed squirrel."

"Don't you mean the way of the Dodo?"

"No. I believe Dodo birds aren't really extinct."

"I know they aren't. Ferb and I found one earlier this summer."

"Did you now? So I was right! They said I was crazy, but I was right!"

Phineas laughed. Linda poked her head out of the garage. "Lawrence? Oh, good, you got the truck!"

"Yup! It's all mine!"

"Great! Well, since you have it now, can you take the recyclables? The cans are overflowing in the garage."

"Right away, love!"

"Thanks!" Linda went back inside as Lawrence fetched the recycling cans from the garage and loaded them into the back of the old Ford.

"Can I come, Dad?" Phineas asked.

"Sure, Phineas. I would like that."

Lawrence tied the cans down with a bungy cord and then climbed into the cab. Phineas was about to climb into the passenger door when he noticed Perry crawling out from under the truck.

"Oh, there you are Perry. Want to go for a ride?"

"Ngrgrgrgrgrgrg."

"Of course you do. Come on."

Phineas hopped into the truck and Perry jumped up from the ground onto the floorboards.

Lawrence turned the key. The engine cranked for a long time, smoke sputtering from the tailpipe, but eventually the motor turned over.

"There we go, that's a good girl." He patted the dash board lovingly.

They backed out of the driveway and headed for the recycling center.

The Danville recycling center was at the end of a long dirt road that cut through a field. It had been built far out of the way incase it needed to expand. The road was just one lane, and since the recycling trucks had only been nixed the week before, not very heavily traveled.

Lawrence turned off Thigpen Road onto the dirt, but then pulled to the side and stopped the truck.

"Why are we stopping, Dad?"

Lawrence shifted down to neutral and put the parking brake on before looking his son in the eyes. "Would you like to drive, Phineas?"

"Dad…I'm only ten. I don't have a driver's license."

"It's okay. It's a dirt road. There's no one on it. You won't get in trouble. You can drive if you want."

"Mmm…I don't know. What do you think, Perry?"

The platypus on the floor boards looked up at his owner. "Ngrgrgrgrgrgrg."

"Well…okay. I'll give it a shot."

"That's my boy!"

Lawrence unbuckled his seatbelt and Phineas did the same. The boy slid over to the driver's seat while Lawrence exited the cab and walked around to the passenger door.

"Okay, Phineas, it's a stick shift, so push that pedal-"

"This one?"

"Yes, that one. That's the clutch. Push that in, and then you can shift. Watch the tachometer, and when the needle gets up to about three thousand RPM's, let off the gas, push in the clutch, and shift up to second gear."

"Okay." Phineas took a deep breath. He could barely reach the pedals, but he pushed in the clutch as far as he could and pushed the shifter into first gear. He stepped on the gas and the truck jumped forward, the rear tires spinning in the lose dirt.

"Whoa!" Lawrence called out. Phineas let up off the gas and the truck rolled. "Just, um…a little bit easier on the gas."

"Sorry, Dad." Phineas pressed on the gas a little more gently and the truck accelerated smoothly, bouncing hard on the stiff suspension over every rut in the road.

Lawrence eyed the tach. "Okay, Phineas. Shift up."

Phineas let off the gas, pressed in the clutch and shifted up to second gear.

"There you go! Nicely done!"

Phineas grinned. "This is fun!"

Phineas listened to the engine's pitch, and when it got higher, without even looking at the tach, he shifted up.

"Good job, Phineas. Perfect! But, we're not running a race. Take it just a little bit slower!"

Phineas almost didn't hear his stepfather. He had completely lost himself in driving. He was no longer driving down a dirt road on the outskirts of Danville. He was racing down the front stretch at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the final lap, about to win the Indy 500.

"Phin-EAs!" Lawrence called as the truck hit a big bump. Perry actually flew up off the floor and hit is head on the bottom of the dash. The platypus winced and rubbed his cranium gingerly.

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Phineas pressed the brake in as gently as he could.

When I sing this song, I sing "But I was Matt Kenseth in a pick up When Daddy let me drive." My dad used to let me drive his 1996 Ford F-150 (Which is the truck my OC, Steve, has in my P&F Industries series) and I would always pretend I was Matt Kenseth, racing at Watkins Glen International. That truck is now mine, so it really is a hand-me down Ford. And I wouldn't trade that truck for anything in the world.