MATTAPOISETT — The truck in front of Oxford Creamery hasn’t gotten around much this summer. But after traveling across the country, it likely deserves a bit of rest. 

Owner Ken Ackerman said he got the truck from his father, who was a stock car racer and car collector. 

He remembers playing on top of and inside the car as a kid. In high school, he drove another truck just like it. But as the family grew up and moved away, the 1958 Chevrolet Apache sat in the yard in Fairbanks, Alaska — until Ackerman decided to get it fixed up. 

“I never thought it would run,” he said. The repair required swapping out parts from other old vehicles. But now, it works fine. 

The car didn’t make the drive to Mattapoisett itself — Ackerman had it shipped. But it has been a part of several family memories since. His son drove it to his prom, which Ackerman said is now one of his favorite moments with the truck. 

He decided to move it to the Creamery to shield patrons a bit from traffic on Route 6. But since the truck arrived it has taken on a variety of different roles. 

“It’s kind of a comfort to patrons,” Ackerman said, adding that people lean on it all the time, or put food on it, treating it “a lot more familiar than most people’s cars.” 

But he’s fine with that, and likes being able to look out the window to see people with the truck. 

And beyond that, “people talk about it. It’s a conversation starter,” that invites older customers to reminisce about the cars they had, Ackerman said.  

He’s gotten six or seven “pretty solid” offers on the truck, but as anyone who drives by the creamery can see, he’s turned them all down. 

For him, the beat up Apache would be too hard to replace