They sure don’t build ’em like they used to, and we found proof of that. NBC affiliate KARE11 in Prinsburg, Minnesota ran a story on January 2 of this new year that caught our eye. The news station learned that a local man, Bob Sportel, was retiring after driving the same Chevy truck to work for 38-years.

He never thought that he would be driving the beat-up truck for the next 38-years. Photos from www.kare11.com

That alone is a great story but there was more to the Sportel truck history than 38-years of commuting. As it turns out, Sportel originally bought the truck, for what amounts to a song and a dance.

Bob Sportel was in his early twenties and needed a cheap ride to work. He paid $75 for a rusty Chevrolet pickup truck that he found. It was a fixer-upper, and there is no way that he imagined he’d be driving it into his own retirement – but that is exactly what happened.

Buying the beat up, twenty-year-old truck in the mid-seventies, Sportel took a job with the local farmer’s co-op in Prinsburg, Minnesota. The truck was almost as old as he was but it allowed him to get to work. As far as cheap transportation goes, this truck fit the bill.

This week Sportel will be retiring from his job. There is no indication that the truck is going to retire with him.

Sportel continued to drive the beat-up old truck for the next 38-years, spending less than $1,000 in repairs during that time. He estimates the mileage on the truck around 300,000 miles – but he can’t say for sure. The odometer was broken when he purchased the truck.

This week he will retire from his job at the co-op, but there is no word on whether he will retire the 58-year-old truck or not.

The full story can be viewed at the KARE11 website at www.kare11.com