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. Wed 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 trucks upholstery. Bondo holds the front lights in place and rust holes provide portholes to the trucks underside. He guesstimates the truck has more than 300,000 miles on it because the odometer hasnt worked since he bought it. And, in spite of his wifes 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 Sportels truck? Well reach out to Chevrolet to see.
Pics at link.
OH the freeze plug heaters, eh, wifey from the range or the north shore???
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.
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.
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.
Idolatry.
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.
He’s talking Ford, and their 292 was a V8.
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.
Never listen to National People’s Revolutionary Radio.
Maybe not, but it sounds like your parents’ purchases may have helped fund it (above and beyond what our taxes do).
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.
Stearns County...just a bit north of the ‘banana belt’....
I want that truck. The girl’s not too bad either.
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.
Steve McQueen, his wife Ali McGraw and Slim Pickens in the movie, “The Getaway”.
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