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Man spent $75 on a truck that lasted 38 years

Absurd as it is, some buyers today are worried about getting their car to last throughout the term of their seven-year car loan. Minnesota resident Bob Sportel has the opposite issue: his Chevrolet truck seemingly won't die. Sportel needed a cheap ride to get to work when he took a job at a farmer's co-op 38 years ago, so he bought a rusty 1957 Chevy pickup for $75 from a farmer; at the time, the 20-year-old truck was almost as old as Bob was. After nearly four decades of daily driving and an estimated 300,000 miles, Sportel is still driving the truck today. Bolts secure a fender, Bondo secures the lights, what looks like a whole roll of duct tape keeps him sitting on the bench seat instead of in it. For a 58-year-old pickup that's never seen a garage or a new coat of paint – but did get its oil changed four times a year – that's not bad; Sportel thinks his repair bill hasn't got above $1,000 for the entire time he's owned the truck. He still has no plans to get rid of it, saying, "It just becomes a part of you." You can watch his story in the video above. News Source: KARE11.com Chevrolet Truck Classics Videos

Body shop manager stole over $500,000 worth of government trucks and parts

The US Department of Justice announced yesterday that the manager of a collision and restoration business in Virginia admitted he helped misappropriate and sell vehicles and parts from the State Department. Specifically, he sold 12 Chevrolet Suburbans, a Hummer, and $7,500 worth of tires and wheels. He pled guilty to charges to commit theft of government property and wire fraud. He will likely see 18 to 20 months in prison, a fine of $4,000 to $40,000, and has already agreed to pay restitution of $416,020 and asset forfeiture of the same amount. According to the Department of Justice, the body shop manager, James Ratcliffe, worked with the owner of the business and a State Department official, both unnamed, to obtain the property. It started with the wheels and tires, which were delivered and sold on two occasions, one in 2011 and another in 2012. The trucks came later, and were sold throughout 2011 and 2013. Ratcliffe and the shop owner kept most of the profits, and shared some of the leftovers with the government official. In addition to the vehicles that were sold, the government official also gave Ratcliffe a pair of Suburbans for his own personal use. The Department of Justice estimated the total value of the SUVs at $96,400. In total, the group misappropriated $512,420 worth of property. Related Video:

Artist imagines eerie world where cars have no wheels

The wheel ranks right up there with the telescope and four-slice toaster in the pantheon of inventions that have moved humankind forward. But what if a circle in three dimensions had never occurred to anyone, and we all had just moved on without it? Perhaps we'd be driving around in Lucas Motors Landspeeders with anti-gravity engines. Or maybe we'd have the same cars we do today, just without wheels.
That's the thought experiment that seems to have led French photographer Renaud Marion to create his six-image series called Air Drive. The shots depict cars throughout many eras of motoring that look normal except for one thing: they have no wheels. The models used include a Jaguar XK120, Cadillac DeVille (shown above), Chevrolet El Camino and Camaro, and Mercedes-Benz SL and 300 roadsters.
Perhaps one day when our future becomes our past, you'll be able to walk the street and see with your own eyes the rust and patina of age on our nation's fleet of floating cars. Until then, Monsieur Marion's photographs will have to do.