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Man Buys Pickup for $75, Drives It for 38 Years Plus
Yahoo.Autos ^ | January 4, 2015 | Keith Griffin

Posted on 01/04/2015 4:53:02 PM PST by upbeat5

Normally when you buy a pickup you worry about things like depreciation, operating costs, and how long the truck is going to last. Not this guy — he more than got his moneys worth with this one.

Back in 1976 when Bob Sportel was 24 he bought a used, rusting 1957 half-ton Chevy pickup for $75 because he needed a way to get to work. He just retired from his job after 38 years — driving the same truck.

According to KARE-TV in Minnesota, Sportel originally tried to buy the truck for $50. His only “extravagance” as he puts it is four oil changes a year. We’d say he changes them with the seasons but Minnesota only has two: winter and mud.

Sportel has applied several layers of duct tape to the truck’s upholstery. Bondo holds the front lights in place and rust holes provide portholes to the truck’s underside. He guesstimates the truck has more than 300,000 miles on it because the odometer hasn’t worked since he bought it. And, in spite of his wife’s pleas, he has no plans to replace it

Maybe the best line of the news report? “Soundtrack provided by Chevrolet.” Sportel has no plans to sell the truck. Then again, who would buy it at this point?

Nissan stepped up and fixed an Altima advertised on craigslist. Maybe Chevrolet could do the same thing for Sportel’s truck? We’ll reach out to Chevrolet to see.

Pics at link.


TOPICS: Travel
KEYWORDS: 1957; 38years; chevy; pickup
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To: ErnBatavia

OH the freeze plug heaters, eh, wifey from the range or the north shore???


121 posted on 01/04/2015 9:10:28 PM PST by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
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To: RegulatorCountry
I carried everything in my VW vans (I owned a total of 5 over the years). I also drove a VW beetle in college and had a square back for a year of so too. I got rid of my last VW van in the late 1080's, over 20 years after graduating from college.

I learned to work on them myself and even completely overhauled two engines in the 70's. I could almost alway get us back up and running when we had a breakdown on the road, because I carried so many tools, parts, manuals and stuff to keep them running. I could write a book full of stories, adventures and scrapes we used to get into traveling cross country in the VW van. I loved them and wished I'd have kept my last one just for a second car.

I'm starting to get tears in my eyes from the nostalgia.

122 posted on 01/04/2015 9:18:37 PM PST by HotHunt
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To: HotHunt

There was a lot of DIY involved with those vehicles, for one you could and for another you had to, lol. Another friend had one of those 914 Porsches with the VW air-cooled four. Great car, like a go-kart, felt a lot faster than it really was, it was a blast. The persistent problem with those was a cable in the shift linkage fraying on some portion of the underbody. A spare cable and the tools to replace it were kept in the vehicle at all times.


123 posted on 01/04/2015 9:24:13 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: Swordmaker

I have 2, a 65 Chevy pickup with 1,365,000 miles on it and a 1936 chevrolet coupe and I have no intention of changing.


124 posted on 01/04/2015 9:40:17 PM PST by dalereed
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To: upbeat5

Idolatry.


125 posted on 01/04/2015 10:42:46 PM PST by sagar
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To: upbeat5

Every time that truck starts, he doesn’t need to buy a new truck, and when it won’t start, the problem is simple to fix. If he had a used truck that was 20, 30 or even 40 years newer, it would cost the same to repair, or more.
Appearances are more important to some people than others.


126 posted on 01/04/2015 11:19:16 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (quod est Latine morositate)
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To: Yardstick

He’s talking Ford, and their 292 was a V8.


127 posted on 01/04/2015 11:36:19 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (quod est Latine morositate)
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To: Ouderkirk
WC ....WT...

Well, if you listen to the bad guys once in a while, NPR is funded in part from foundation grants from the W.T. Grant Foundation. Served as a reminder for me.
128 posted on 01/05/2015 4:18:46 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: upbeat5

If the frame is anything like the body, he better hope that he never hits anything in it, it will crumble like a rusty beer can.


129 posted on 01/05/2015 4:27:02 AM PST by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away)
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To: Dr. Sivana

Never listen to National People’s Revolutionary Radio.


130 posted on 01/05/2015 4:29:50 AM PST by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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To: Ouderkirk

Maybe not, but it sounds like your parents’ purchases may have helped fund it (above and beyond what our taxes do).


131 posted on 01/05/2015 4:41:50 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: RegulatorCountry
Yeah, I remember those VW mid-engine Porches for the poor folks who wanted to look like they had money. I have a great story about one that is spectacular.

Back in the early 70's, a high school buddy of mine had just gotten out of the Army, having been stationed in Germany. When he came back stateside, he had his new mid-engine Porsch shipped over too. He drove it cross country to visit me in New Mexico where I was still in the Air Force. He took me for a couple of rides, showing off his new toy. We noticed it seemed to cut out a little every once in a while. He said he's get it checked out when he got to Phoenix, his final destination.

Well, several months later, I get a call from him. He tells me his car is destroyed and he's being sued because he blew up a gas station just outside of Phoenix, with it. He was taking a nurse he had met on a weekend date to San Diego. They pulled into the Flying Eagle gas station in Buckeye, Arizona to gas-up for the trip. Just as they pulled into the station, the Porsche started cutting out again and was lurching forward. He and his date jumped out of the car just as it ran into one of the gas pumps, blowing the pump and the car sky high. The flames spread to the station itself and burned it to the ground while they and the attendant watched. The station owner sued him but his insurance company representing him, won the case because the gas station owner didn't have a fire extinguisher on site when the accident happened.

I have never heard a more spectacular story about a mid-engine Porshe than this one. We still laugh about it on the phone once in a while 40 years later.

132 posted on 01/05/2015 4:56:48 AM PST by HotHunt
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To: markman46

Stearns County...just a bit north of the ‘banana belt’....


133 posted on 01/05/2015 6:46:57 AM PST by ErnBatavia (It ain't a "hashtag"....it's a damn pound sign. ###)
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To: headstamp 2

I want that truck. The girl’s not too bad either.


134 posted on 01/05/2015 8:07:33 AM PST by Rannug ("all enemies, foreign and domestic")
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To: ErnBatavia

ah so didn’t know there were a lot of “fins” in that part of mn, got lots of tovio and mackie jokes from my fin friends in duluth.


135 posted on 01/05/2015 11:31:56 AM PST by markman46 (engage brain before using keyboard!!!)
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To: Rannug

Steve McQueen, his wife Ali McGraw and Slim Pickens in the movie, “The Getaway”.


136 posted on 01/05/2015 2:01:22 PM PST by headstamp 2
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