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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza Bringing Breast Cancer Awareness (and potatoes) through the roads of Aroostook County is the new truck of Devoe Farms. Shown, from left, are Joe LaPierre, owner of Boulevard Graphix, who designed the truck’s decals; proud truck owner Tom Devoe of Devoe Farms and his wife, Kristin Devoe. |
By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — A potato-hauling truck slated to hit the roads this spring will do so wearing a hue that’s less than standard for large farm equipment: it’s pink.
Owner Tom Devoe, of Devoe Farms in Limestone, is pretty proud of his vehicle and its unmistakable paint job.
“This is one truck that I’m probably going to keep clean and spotless and waxed,” he said, grinning as he beheld the massive pink cab.
The truck may be pretty in pink, but it’s also packing plenty of power. Devoe says that she’s an 8100 International, with a Caterpillar (Cat) diesel motor and a brand-new stack.
As Caterpillar comes with the nickname “Cat,” and the body’s coated with a gallon of Breast Cancer Pink paint, Devoe’s partial to the nickname “The Pink Kitty.”
But whatever you want to call it, the big pink monster’s been turning heads since it was painted; Devoe parked it next to the road, and said the traffic nearly piled up.
“I’ve had people mount brakes to look at that,” he said, smiling.
Of course, there’s the question Devoe’s been asked most frequently: “What’d you do to your truck?!”
Devoe’s answer is simply, “It’s a good cause.”
Though none of the women in his family have been affected by breast cancer, Devoe wanted to show his support of the cause.
Pink paint aside, the truck itself has quite the story.
Devoe had told his local mechanic about a year ago that he was looking for a truck, and after a bit Robbie Caldwell of Caldwell Auto in Limestone told Devoe that he’d found a potential truck.
When it first pulled up in his driveway though, it had a body only a mechanic could love.
For starters, it had a hole in a rather inconvenient place.
“The was a hole in the gas tank you could have probably put a softball through it and not even touch the sides,” Devoe said.
The truck had the monikers like “the ugly duckling” at the time, but Devoe saw potential in it.
“The price was good at the potential was there, because it’s a nice, heavy-duty truck and mechanically it was in mint condition. It just needed a little facelift,” he said.
But when he told Caldwell his plans for the truck’s color, Devoe said Caldwell gave him a weird look.
And Caldwell remembers giving him that weird look — but, in keeping with the adage “the customer’s always right,” Caldwell was agreeable to the job.
“I told him I’d paint it any color he wanted,” Caldwell said.
In the 27 years Caldwell’s been in the auto business, this was his first time painting a vehicle pink. Devoe’s pink truck has received so many compliments, however, that Caldwell’s pretty sure it won’t be the last vehicle he paints Breast Cancer Pink.
Adorning the pink body are deeper pink decals, and Devoe gave Joe LaPierre of Boulevard Graphix free reign of the design concept.
“We wanted to make it look classy and cool at the same time — something a bit different than you’d normally see,” LaPierre said. As the point of the pink truck was to be pink — LaPierre chose a different shade of the hue to accent the body.
“It was a big joint venture to make it look like it is, and I’m really proud of everybody that’s worked on it,” Devoe said.
The truck still needs a couple of things, like a bulk body, but Devoe anticipates it will probably be on the road by the end of March, hauling potatoes from the Limestone potato farm to Washburn.
His wife, Kristin, jokes that she’s going to get him a pink pair of overalls and a pink hat for him to wear while he drives the “Pink Kitty” — Devoe quipped back that he’d probably have just enough guts to do it.
While Devoe’s future attire is debatable, it’s certain that the truck will be sporting its support of Breast Cancer Awareness. For those who may not see it during the long commutes from Washburn to Limestone, Devoe says its definitely going to be in Limestone’s Fourth of July parade; and while he drives his new truck, Kristin will be driving her own new vehicle in a fantastic hue — an orange 1970 Karmann Ghia.
