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MORGAN — Pulling off a dirt road in the distance, Jose Caballero’s truck was unrecognizable even to him Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s that one,” he asked, perplexed. “Are you sure?”
Star of Discovery Channel’s "Diesel Brothers," Dave Sparks, better known as "Heavy D," took on the project after seeing a YouTube video that showed the Caballero family apparently being harassed after their truck broke down in a camping spot.
"It just really struck a nerve with me," Sparks said. "And as it turns out, when I started talking to my guys at the shop, my partners in the business, it struck a nerve with them as well."
After sharing his intentions to fix up Caballero’s truck in a Facebook video, Sparks said, people and businesses from around the world reached out to him to pitch in.
“It snowballed into this insanely big project,” Sparks said. “We took that base truck, which had you know, good bones and we basically just spun it into something brand new.”
Caballero’s 2006 Ford F350 received several new components, including a new body. It is way beyond what he expected.
“I think it’s too much,” he said.
His son, Jose Jr., later elaborated.
He said his dad was hoping for ‘a new tire, because it popped,’ he said. "This is more than that.”
The truck was only the beginning of the surprises the Diesel Brothers had in store Tuesday. Another quick ride up a dirt road, and Caballero and his family were shown a brand new camping trailer, off-road buggy, kayaks and a trailer to tow it all.
“I want to say thank you to everybody. Because a lot of people … they worked hard on that truck,” Caballero said. “We got good people here in Utah.”
Sparks, however, adds that the generosity came from well beyond Utah’s borders.
“(It’s) not only the Utah mentality, but the American mentality,” Sparks said. “This is: help your neighbor. Be a good Samaritan when you can. And the experience that Jose had before, that’s not America. What you’re seeing now, this is America.”
