Ford Super Duty – The Super Tool
For contractors of all stripes, the most important tool in the vast assortment of tools
needed to conduct their work, is often the truck with their name on the door.
In Downeast Maine, at the doorstep to Acadia National Park, in Ellsworth, Lamoine,
Hancock, and Trenton as well as throughout the scenic, rock-bound coastal towns of
Bar Harbor, Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor, Bass Harbor, and
Tremont on Mount Desert Island, the most important tool used by the countless
contractors operating in this region is a Ford Super Duty truck.
Every day, year-round, there is a steady parade of Super Duty trucks, along with a
repetitive stream of Peterbilt, Western Star, and International tri-axle dump trucks,
headed onto “the island” to build, repair, install, and service the numerous construction
projects that drive the local economy.
Initially made famous by the ‘rusticators’ that populated Mount Desert Island in the
1880’s, including members of Henry Ford’s extended family as well as the Rockefellers
and other prominent families of that era, MDI still retains many sizable estates and
compounds that require continuous “investments”. Younger generation owners of these
estates, as well as recent arrivals, demand newer conveniences and amenities that rival
the earlier efforts to create these high-end sea-side retreats.
Naturally, these projects require lots of man-power. Lots of man-power requires lots of
tools, lots of equipment, and the dominating device of choice to move man and machine
is one of the various models of Ford’s heavy duty pickup lineup.
Several of the large site contractors use F-350 Ford Super Duty’s for service and
support vehicles for their dump trucks, excavators, and other equipment. The primary
landscaping contractor, Atlantic Construction, uses F-450, F-550, and F-600 Super
Duty’s. the paving company uses Super Duty’s. The hardscape contractor uses Super
Duty’s. The cable company, the pipeline company, the island’s largest energy company
uses, yup, you guessed it, F-550 Super Duty’s. Even MDI’s largest Catholic Church, the
Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, undergoing a multi-year, multi-million-dollar
preservation effort, has a brand-new F-350 Powerstroke Diesel all outfitted for snow-
removal for their half-acre parking lot.
Many of these Super Duty trucks have multiple roles to play. They might have to carry
diesel tanks to re-fuel heavy equipment. Almost all will have visible push plates under
their front bumpers, essential aftermarket add-ons for snowplows in a land that sees
potential snowfall for over five months a year.
Most will have big tow-hitches for pulling mini-excavators and skid-steers for tight
projects between buildings, or to help build seawalls during winter. Others might have
flat-bed body’s or service bodies with liftgates for compactors and other heavy tools
replacing their factory-installed pickup beds, as a burgeoning local after-market industry
exists to support the Swiss-army-knife nature of responsibilities that the various
contractors demand of their Super Duty’s.
Spencer and Scott Grindle are the second-generation operators of their family
hardscaping and construction business based in Ellsworth. They have over ten Super
Duty’s in their current fleet, most of them F-550’s or F-600’s with dump bodies, along
with several F-350 crew cab models to assist with snow-plowing duty in the winter. All
are Powerstroke powered.
“Our dad, Skip, started in the early 1970’s and we’ve always had Ford trucks. We’re
always pushing, pulling, or carrying heavy loads, so you can see we work our trucks
pretty hard all of the time, year-round. We run them for 100,000 miles, and often have
anxious buyers looking to replace their own aging Super Duty’s. Like Dad, I guess you
could say we are ‘Ford men’”.
Andrew Joseph is also a second-generation operator, working with his parents and
brother to run Coastal Energy with sites on MDI and in Ellsworth. Their fleet of F-550
trucks with min-cranes for setting propane tanks throughout the region, plus their own F-
250 and F-350 Crew cab models are also all powered by Ford’s impressive Powerstroke
diesel engine.
“We’ve relied on Ford Super Duty’s for over 30-years for our personal pickups, our
service trucks, and for plowing snow. We need to have reliable equipment 24/7 in our
business, as we have to go where and whenever the customer needs us”, said Andrew
recently.
Alan Atherton is a single-operator, a do-it-all contractor that hauls alewives in the spring
to fulfill hydro-dam contracts, sub-contracts for the local utility companies for digging
manholes on busy streets, does field mowing, plus countless other projects. He uses
two F-550 Super Duty’s; one with a dump body, one with a flat-bed body.
“I moved into Ford’s over three years ago, and it’s time to trade. It will be Super Duty’s
again, for sure”, Atherton state.
Strangely, all of these Super Duty customers drive by not one, but two GM stores to get
to the closest Ford dealer—28-miles away! Bangor has a commercial truck Ford
retailer—that also sells Class six, seven, and eight Peterbilt trucks—while a full-line
Ford retailer is across town, also with a commercial fleet operation.
Jared Slauenwhite is the Sales Manager at Darling’s Ford in Bangor. He claims they sell
on average 15 Super Duty trucks a month, with December being a big outlier, as
contractors look to aid their tax position at year-end. Despite most of the contractors
around Ellsworth/MDI purchasing diesel-powered Super Duty’s, Slauenwhite stated that
60% of his Super Duty sales are gas-powered. He thinks that Ford’s aluminum bodies
help longevity in the cruel winter environment, as snow-plow up-fitting (they are a Fisher
Plow authorized dealer) dominates Super Duty add-ons.
Clearly, Ford’s top-selling Super Duty series has a strong following, and an extensive
customer base in this area of Maine. For hard work, many of the local contractors are
selecting Super Duty’s.
