Study Hall: A thing of beauty
Carly Chandler’s truck won’t turn any heads. It has a banged-up fender, needs a paint job and is older than some of her classmates at Wylie.
But to Chandler, a senior first baseman, the black 1991 Chevy S-10 is a beauty.
“A lot of my friends, they were given their cars,” said Chandler, 17. “I guess they earned it, but I just feel like I really appreciate it more because I worked so hard for it.”
She also waited a long time for the truck. When Carly was 15, one of her four brothers, Coyt, bought the truck for $1,000. Coyt couldn’t get it to run dependably, so he gave it to his dad.
Rick Chandler, who is not a mechanic, decided to try to fix it up so his only daughter could drive it after her 16th birthday.
But getting the truck ready for the road took more than a year. The first problem was a short in a wire that caused the engine to cut out. Carly and her dad searched for the short for months before discovering the problem. The truck also leaked brake fluid, so they had to install a new cylinder.
