The day began like any other one; I checked my messages and saw several links to ramp trucks for sale. This one was different, though. I clicked through the spam and saw no ordinary truck. In fact, it wasn't even a ramp truck and yet I was still intrigued. What flashed across the screen was a 1998 Ford F800 behemoth that was stretched from a four-door crew cab to a six-door colossus! Even better, the truck reportedly only had 30,000 miles on the odometer and was powered by a Cummins 12 valve 6BT Diesel engine and seven-speed Spicer manual transmission. This was a red and white unicorn! So David Newbern and I hatched a plan; we'd fly to Iowa, buy the truck and road trip it 900 miles back to Georgia where we'd eventually hop-up the diesel and stretch the chassis to accommodate a giant enclosed ramp bed. We made it about 150 miles before the entire plan fell apart thanks to a wounded engine. This is part 1 of the fun. Come back to see what happens after this road trip comes to a screeching halt in the parking lot of a fireworks store in Missouri.