Over the past few decades, car and truck prices have skyrocketed, pushing the average transaction price for a new pickup truck to around $40,000. Unfortunately, this sad state of affairs has left many people wondering: where is the affordability? For Prinsberg, Minnesota resident Bob Sportel, this has never been a problem.
That’s because for the past 38 years Sportel has been driving around a 1957 Chevy pickup that only cost him $75!!
Purchased by Sportel back in 1979 while he was in his early 20s, Sportel tried to negotiate the price of the truck down $50 before paying the local farmer his asking price. Now, about 300,000 miles later, he’s still driving the same truck, which he says “was the best money he ever spent.”
“It kept going so I just kept driving it,” said Sportel in an interview with 9News. “If I could get four years out of it, I thought I’d be really happy.”
According to Sportel, over the years, he has spent only about $1,000 on repairs over the years, along with changing the oil four times a year. Over all that time, he never decided to have a radio installed, and when his exhausted rusted and busted, he kept driving– or should we say growling– through the neighborhoods.
“Everybody knows Bob’s around,” says Phil Breems, a co-worker at the Farmer’s Co-op. “We all get out of the way,” he added laughing.
4Wheel Online Blog - Automotive News 