Nic's other love

I may be Nic's true love, but alas, I'm not his one-and-only. He shares his heart with two crazy yellow pups, a monster silver Jeep rock crawler, and since last fall, a 1949 Ford F1 pickup truck. (I'm always on the top of his list though, so I don't mind sharing.)
For those of you who don't know the story of Mater, Nic's '49 Ford, here's the condensed version:

After an intense Internet search, Nic finally found the truck. The only problem: We had to drive to the appropriately named Ford, Washington, on a Friday to pick it up and be back so I could work at the Herald the following Sunday at 5 p.m. So we drove for two straight days, stopping only to sleep in the back of the truck on the side of the road. It all went smoothly until we blew a trailer tire near Dear Lodge, Montana, and found the spare tire we brought had the wrong lug pattern and didn't fit on the trailer. We ditched the trailer and '49 Ford, found a Les Schwab that would open for us after hours, and $250 later, we were on the road again. To this day, Nic still hates Dear Lodge, Montana. Arriving home, the million kids who live on our street were beside themselves because they said Nic had brought home Mater (from the movie "Cars"), and the name has stuck.

Nic's plan is to make the bitchin'-est hot rod ever. It is going to be "cherry." We even bought and huge upholstery sewing machine so he can custom-make his own interior (as well as reupholster my 1950s couch and chair). At first he said the truck restoration project was going to follow a ten-year plan, but I have my suspicions that it's going to be drivable next year and completed in another two. Needless to say, this will be the first of many Mater updates.