Dartmouth man celebrates 40 years driving the same truck

DARTMOUTH – A Dartmouth man celebrated his 40th anniversary Thursday, but it was not with his spouse — it was with a truck he bought in 1974.

Rick Gautreau owns a Ford F-100 Super Cab Ranger truck that he’s lovingly kept on the road for four decades.

“Forty years ago, I walked in and signed the papers and purchased the truck,” he said.. “I didn’t drive it off the lot until two days later because they undercoated and did a few things.”

Gautreau said he wanted the truck from the moment he saw it sitting up on a rack at a car dealership.

“The first thing I noticed was he was a super cab. He had this extended back seat where you could actually put people,” he said. “That was very interesting to me because I was just starting a career in the music business and I figured that if you were the guy who owned the truck, they weren’t going to kick you out of the band.”

Gautreau refers to the truck as a male, and his wife named it ‘Duncan’.

When Gautreau climbs in his truck and starts the original motor, it still runs smoothly, despite nearly 500,000 miles of wear.

‘Duncan’ has served Gautreau well over the years, and he has returned the favor by keepings it undercoated, and every 10 years, giving the truck a makeover.

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Gautreau has used the truck to get to his music gigs or when he’s running errands. He said it’s easy to find parts online if it needs a fix.

“I even bought a truck back in 2003 and stripped it of all the weird stuff that you would need like door handles and fan for your radiator.”

The truck is due for bodywork and a paint job in the spring, but Gautreau said he’s not thinking about replacing it anytime soon.

“There’s no need, because he keeps fulfilling the jobs that he was bought to do,” he said, suggesting the truck might outlast him.

Ford recognized Gautreau 20 years ago by sending him a jacket and a certificate for $500 off the next purchase of a Ford vehicle.

He said he has not used the certificate yet, and has not plans to, at least in the near future. He said Ford has indicated it might feature him and his truck in a story next year.