You have to love your pet enough to be sad when it dies, and then respectfully bury it, but you would rarely hear of someone who loves their vehicle enough to do that. A farmer in Uruguay, Alcides Ravel bought a Ford-350 in 1969 at the age of 35 years. The man just turned 83 and put his truck to rest under the soil of his farm, after 48 whole years of service.
Any ordinary person would just sell off a vehicle when it is no longer of service, but Alcides Ravel did not agree. Mechanics had told him years ago that his truck was beyond repair, but he just could not sell it in scrapes. In a shed on his farm near Barker town, Ravel kept the remains of his ride secured. He finally brought himself to part with the truck and to pay tribute to the vehicle’s faithfulness; he arranged a burial for his nearly five decades old truck.
Ravel’s affiliation with his vehicle is very sentimental, and he says, “It was because of it that I managed to buy my land and raise my children. It was a big part of my life.” Ravel has spent years on his truck, transporting goods between Melo and Montevideo. This 12 hours drive of 400-kilometers was once made on a gravel road, and his only companion on the journey was the truck. The vehicle occasionally broke down, but Alcides says hey both helped each other on the road. The Ford F-350 was not just a ride for Ravel; it also became a motel for him when he stayed on the road for weeks at a time.
His truck has been with him for nearly 50 years, and he had such sentimental value attached to it that he could not bear just selling it in scrapes. The burial was conducted by three men and backhoe who spent two days to prepare a two-meter hole on the farm. He then towed his truck to the site and buried the body along with the emotional ties of his entire family.
The first funeral of the kind became viral after a local newspaper Helvecia Diario attended the event and posted the video on Facebook.
