On a crisp and sunny morning this early Spring, a very well worn (and loved) 1995 Chevrolet CK 1500 sits in front of Valmark Chevrolet in New Braunfels.
It looks a little worn and tired with more than a few scattered nicks and dents all around its two-tone paint that has been faded by the Texas sun.
Standing next to it is the bright and shiny new 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD that owner Dudley Thomas of San Antonio has just purchased to replace the 1995 CK (sort of).
But, this CK is not worn out and not done, not by a long shot.
This day, with over a 550,084 miles on the odometer, the CK 1500 has just ended one life and now is getting ready to begin another - all with the same owner driving and same dealer servicing.
Maybe it is not unique to Texas, but as it turns out, the special bond between a man and his truck that is built over a half-million miles traveled over 18 years can often result in the mission to replace the old truck instead becoming a mission to purchase a new truck to go along with the old one - and then taking them both home.
So it was this day and therein is the story of relationship between Dudley Thomas, his dependable and long-running 1995 Chevrolet CK pickup truck and servicing dealer Valmark Chevrolet who understands and values their customer relationships not for just the first truck, but for the many trucks (or cars) to be purchased in the future.
In this case, the relationship had a bit of a twist. The 1995 Chevrolet CK 1500 performed so well for Thomas over the years that he just kept on driving it - and only 18 years later did he go back to get another one.
Back in May of 1995, Dudley Thomas went into downtown New Braunfels to buy his first new pickup truck from what was then known as Don Maxwell Chevrolet - a family dealership that had been selling Chevrolet vehicles since 1982.
Thomas says he selected this 1995 Chevrolet CK 1500 in just a few minutes but then he spent three hours negotiating the price. At the end of the day, he paid about $23,000 for his extended cab truck that was a pretty well loaded up, including premium interior and two-tone paint , pickup equipped with a 5.7-liter (it was measured then as 350 cu. in) V-8 producing 210 horsepower with 300 lb.-ft. of torque delivered through 700R4 four-speed automatic transmission.
As he drove home that day, he says it crossed his mind briefly that me might drive the CK for a long time, but had no idea at that time he would still be driving this Chevy 1500 some 18 years later - having racked up over a half-million miles of trouble-free city and highway driving his very "reliable and comfortable" pickup truck.
Thomas believes strongly that if you take care of your truck including having the right dealer to service it correctly with certified mechanics and using only Chevrolet authorized parts, that truck will serve you forever.
With that belief, Thomas began his journey in his 1995 Chevrolet CK 1500 pickup. He has been the only driver and used his truck to travel to and from work (about 100 miles per day round trip), do chores around his home and work around his few acres outside of town. Occasionally, he and his wife would make weekend journeys to Lubbock and other points in Texas.
Along the way, servicing dealer Don Maxwell Chevrolet changed its name to Valmark Chevrolet and moved to a new location on IH 35 in New Braunfels, where they are today, in a 15,000 foot showroom and 16-bay GM Certified Elite Service Center along with 10,000 foot body shop.
For 18 years, Thomas has brought his 1995 CK 1500 for all service and repairs into Valmark Chevrolet.
We would love to tell you that his truck never needed any major repairs during the 18 years, but it did.
Around 275,000 miles the oil pump failed and the engine and transmission needed to be replaced. Thomas considered trading it in for a new one at that time, but thinking about how well this one had performed along with how comfortable he was with it and the service support he got from Valmark, he decided to repair it and motor on.
In 2004 (around 350,000 miles) he met Justin Kelley when Justin took over managing the servicing of Dudley's CK at Valmark Chevrolet. During the next 200,000 miles with the CK, they became close friends as Justin, who had become the Service Director at Valmark, continued to insure that Valmark and the 1995 CK 1500 did not fail Thomas.
When Thomas was just 17 miles short of the half-million mark, he brought it in and asked Justin to drive it for several days and take the odometer past the 500,000 mile mark so that Valmark could share that milestone in recognition of their support of Thomas and his 1995 Chevrolet CK 1500 through the years.
Recently Thomas, recognizing that the 1995 CK was getting a bit tired, decided it was time to get a new truck that had more haul capacity, tow capacity and more of the current features and technologies that make Chevrolet trucks an even better choice today than they were when he bought the CK.
Of course, he went back to Valmark Chevrolet. Thomas selected the 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD Crew Cab with a Vortec 6.0-liter V-8 engine mated to a Hydra-Matic 6L90 six-speed automatic transmission producing 360 horsepower with 380 lb.-ft. of torque.
Sitting in his new Silverado 2500HD this day, he commented on how much bigger and more powerful it was than the CK 1500, but then added, if it drove just half as well for the same period as the CK had, it would be a really good truck.
During his negotiation with Valmark Chevrolet for the new truck, Thomas asked what was going to happen to the CK. Their answer was that they would probable sell it to a wholesaler and could not foresee what might happen after that.
It only took a moment for Thomas to consider and decide he could not let that happen to his trusted 1995 Chevrolet CK 1500.
Yep, he kept it and bought the new one too.
Thomas has a use for both of them he says.
So, if you see him locally running errands or carrying materials in town to and from the house, it will be in his 1995 Chevrolet CK 1500.
He will use the brand new Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD to travel to and from work (still that 100 miles), make those longer trips outside of town to those "few acres", tow a larger trailer he is planning to get and continue to make those long weekend trips to Lubbock and around Texas.
And, yes, Valmark Chevrolet in New Braunfels will continue to service both trucks for the next half-million miles or whenever Thomas decides to come back in and buy that third Chevrolet pickup - whichever comes first.
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