What kind of man calls his sweetheart “Trashy”?

That would be Steve Standing, an east Lawrence resident, and the longtime object of his affection is a 1963 Ford F-350 one-ton flatbed truck.

But he doesn’t mean the nickname as an insult.

It’s a term of endearment.

“I use the truck every week for construction clean up and to haul trash,” says Standing, 58, owner of S.E. Standing Construction.

“When she turned 35 about seven years ago, she became an antique in the eyes of Kansas. I thought, if it’s going to be an antique, we might as well name it something. Hauling trash is what she does mostly.”

Thus the antique license plate at the truck’s back end bears the name “Trashy.”

Standing, a Lawrence native and 1969 Kansas University graduate, paid about $1,200 for the faded red truck in the early 1980s. The figure on the odometer today reads 102,548 miles.

Standing’s among many Lawrence-area residents who own “beloved beaters” — old, often-battered (but still reliable) vehicles that they just can’t seem to part with.

Bob Yoos' 1968 Ford pickup truck has served him well through the years. Yoos paid 00 for the truck in 1972 and has amassed 240,000 miles on the vehicle. Yoos is shown above in rural Leavenworth County.

In January, the Journal-World invited readers to contact us and share their stories of the cars and trucks in their lives that are too reliable and cheap to maintain to get rid of.

Turns out that most of those who responded to our invitation are men, and all of their beloved beaters are the same basic type of vehicle: trucks.

“Trashy is a sweet ride,” Standing says. “I think it’ll be yard art when I’m done with it.”

Cute, in an ugly sort of way

Bob Yoos’ 1968 Ford F-100 shortbed stepside pickup isn’t exactly a thing of beauty.

In fact, it’s two tone — unintentionally.

“It was an old State of Arkansas truck, and that’s when it was orange. I got it through one of those buyers that evidently buys up trucks at auction. He had painted it pea green, and I bought it in 1972,” says Yoos, 56, Lawrence’s solid waste division manager for the past 14 years.

“Now it’s a combination of green and orange because the green is slowly fading away and the orange is starting to show through in more and more pieces.”

The resulting motif looks like some kind of loopy camouflage meant to blend in at a highway-side Howard Johnson.

The old pickup is a relic of Yoos’ youth. The Ford had about 70,000 miles on it when Yoos bought it while he was a college student at Emporia State University.

“It was a nice small pickup, and it was only $700. Of course, this was in 1972, so I was pretty young. I just needed transportation, and I was finishing up my undergraduate degree, studying geography and social sciences,” Yoos recalls.

“I came to Lawrence in 1980 to go to graduate school at KU, and it was my only transportation until 1985. It has about 240,000 miles on it now.”

These days, Yoos drives a 1999 Suburu Outback and also has a 2001 Ford Mustang, just for fun.

He mainly uses the pickup for chores, such as hauling firewood, lumber or hay, or for taking in a lawn mower to get repaired.

“It runs fine. It always starts, and it drives real nice down the highway, doesn’t wander around. I try to keep it repaired as needed. I had the engine rebuilt in about 1982. I’ve done some brake work, sort of general maintenance,” Yoos says.

Why hang onto it?

“It’s sentimental, and it hasn’t quit on me. It seems like there’s always a reason for a truck. It doesn’t pay to replace it. It works very well.”

Steve Standing paid about ,200 for his 1963 Ford F-350 truck in the early 1980s. Standing, owner of S.E. Standing Construction, uses the truck to haul trash.

His annual property tax on the pickup is only about $15, and the liability insurance he carries on it amounts to about $80 every six months.

Yoos has no plans to give it up.

“Not unless it just absolutely falls apart on me. If the thing just rusts away, I guess I’ll have to. The body’s in pretty good shape, got a lot of dings and dents. My wife (Joanne Bergman) reupholstered the seat in it about three or four years ago, it was pretty broken down,” he says.

“I think she’s glad it’s around. It’s kind of cute, in an ugly sort of way. She uses it, too — when she needs to.”

Finally letting go?

When John Cobb finds a type of vehicle he likes, he tends to stick with it.

In this case, it’s a 1989 Toyota extra-cab pickup, originally painted a metallic steel blue, but years of being parked outside has faded it to a silvery gray.

Steve Standing's 1963 Ford truck flashes a Trashy license plate. Trashy

“I’m kind of a legend at Crown Toyota. They’ve been servicing my truck there for a long time,” says Cobb, 58, a Lawrence resident.

Cobb bought the truck new in the fall of 1988, and he’s now got just short of 395,000 miles on the odometer.

For the past 10 years, it’s been his mode of transportation five days a week to his job at the Wal-Mart distribution center in Ottawa, a 58-mile round trip.

“I’m actually in Ottawa six days a week; we go to church down there, too,” Cobb says of him and his wife of 38 years, Candace.

He loaned the truck to his daughter, Deanna, and her husband, who live in Ottawa, from 1999 to 2002.

He’s been driving it again since then.

John Cobb loved his old Toyota, right, so much that he bought a newer version of the same truck, at left. He plans to give the old Toyota to one of his daughters.

“The caveat when I gave it to them was that I had the right of first refusal; I’d take it back. That was the only stipulation,” Cobb says.

He only paid between $10,000 and $11,000 for it, and he has good reasons for having kept it so long.

“It was paid for — that always factors in. It’s been exceptionally reliable. It has never left me stranded or had to call somebody to pick me up. It’s always run; it’s never quit,” Cobb says.

But he’ll soon be parting with “Old Blue,” as his grandson calls the pickup.

In a few weeks, Cobb plans to give it to his other daughter, Kelly, who lives in Spring Hill, has three children and needs an extra vehicle.

So, about a week ago, Cobb bought himself a “new” set of wheels: a 1992 Toyota extra-cab pickup with only 87,000 miles on it.

The newer truck is a step up for Cobb. It has a few options that the 1989 model lacks, such as a tilt steering wheel, intermittent windshield wipers and cruise control.

“Other than that, it’s the same truck. This one is maroon. It’s got some hail dents, but really the truck looks great,” Cobb says.

This time, he swears, he’s giving up the truck for good. There’ll be no return trip to his garage.

“I think when my daughter’s done with it, it will probably be time to call the junk man.”