As many are well aware of, Tyler has been a HUGE fan of the Grave Digger monster truck since he was just over a year old. Everywhere we went, his Grave Digger hot wheels truck had to tag along. So, right around June of 2010, I began looking for a Grave Digger Power Wheels for Santa to bring him.
At first, we were ecstatic to find out that Power Wheels did do a Grave Digger model. It was awesome and I was ready to order one. Our balloon of excitement was quickly deflated when we learned that they did it in 2006 and they were no longer available. Weeks of searching, googling and binging led me to a Grave Digger forum online. Crazy, I know. There are actually people out there that collect everything Grave Digger and are nuts about it.
To make a long story short, I found myself on a web page that had 5 links to Power Wheel Grave Diggers for sale. The bad news....they were all over the country, spread from California to Minnesota to New York. The good news....THERE WAS ONE IN NORTH LAUDERDALE, FL for $50!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about meant to be. I immediately called the guy and we were on our way to pick it up, no questions asked. I knew that if it didn't work, David would get it to work. While we were picking it up, the guy mentioned that he had people calling from all over the country, asking him if he would ship it. He declined, as he thought it wasn't worth it. We are so grateful for that. So, off we went with "Santa's present". The truck was in good condition and the only minor thing that was wrong with it was that the plastic was a little faded from the sun, but everything else worked great. David tried to polish the plastic, but it didn't work. So, he called his Dad, who happens to be a great painter. Grandpa John, who Tyler calls "Pops" had some ideas in mind and took on the project of getting it back to "Bad to the Bone" status. Well, well, well.....BAD TO THE BONE it is. Thank you so much "Pops"!!!!! It turned out better than we ever imagined. He painted the entire thing and airbrushed the flames on the front free-handed! He is truly talented. I met with a custom sign shop, who recreated the stickers for the sides and back, and Voila!, it was complete!
Now we have it, a one-of-a-kind Grave Digger, for Mr. Tyler to enjoy for years to come. Christmas morning was absolutely amazing and his reaction was classic. He wouldn't even put shoes on to go ride it, he just wanted to ride it. If you ask Tyler what Santa brought him, he will [loudly] tell you "a BIG GRAVE DIGGER".
We researched, we found, we bought, we modified and we delivered! Success! With that, we continue making trails down memory lane. And so it goes...
