tailgate story

[CSS-Registry]

thought i'd share a very interesting story about tailgates.

after hurricane Francis the wife and i were picking up debris from the yard. My wife was driving the '03 RAM and i was loading and chainsawing stuff. Long story short she backed into a tree with the tailgate down and dented the top edge of the gate. ever since then i have been scouring the bay for an 03 tailgate to see if it is a good idea to replace or repair it.

fast forward to this weekend. i have had a number of CSS trucks pop up over the past month. one of them in particular is owned by Ken in Canada (you know that place above the US - i particular he's north of Washington state.) Ken owns a desert 1964 CSS with a 318 but curiously enough it does not have the "Custom Cab" option. anyway, it is a very clean rust free truck and will make a worthy resto. i noticed he's missing the tailgate on this truck. it is obvious to seee where i am going with this but read on...

ken wrote this to me this past friday:
"When I bought it a month ago,there was no tailgate on it because it had a camper on the truck,bolted thru the bed floor,and looked like it had been there forever.So a few days ago I was talking to the guy who first told me about my truck and he said maybe the previous owner still had the tailgate.I laughed,but he said he would drive over and see if it was there.So he goes there this Monday and knocks on the door.He asks the young guy at the door if the gentleman was home, and was told he had just passed away and they were settling his estate.He explained that he was looking  for the tailgate if it was around.The young guy says "is that the gold one that says DODGE on it?It's in the garage".So out they go,but cannot find it.Then an older guy comes out and says "I gave that tailgate to the guy across the street 2 days ago.So my friend goes across the street to find that the house is boarded up because the police raided it the day before.It was a meth lab.! So now I suppose my original tailgate is in a Police evidence locker ! Timing is everything.I should have gone to check myself a month ago.Oh well,so now I am looking for a mint tailgate if there is such a thing in existance."

not even a minute after recieving this email i was surfing ebay and saw a desert tan tailgate with a buy it now option. it was near mint and it was located in near Ken. i sent ken an email and to make a long story short here's Ken's recent reply:

"Guess what,That IS the tailgate off my truck.How bizarre is that?!! I contacted the seller and hopefully I can reunite it with my truck.What a
small world.The story just gets more ineresting every day!"

the ebay listing is no longer up. hopefully the tailgate has found its righful home with Ken and his 64 CSS. i guess Ken can thank my wife for denting the '03 RAM!

WOW!