SPRING HILL - The 1942 "Porsche Arena Red" half-ton pickup truck parked in a Spring Hill garage belongs to an 80-year-old man who's lived his life for a truck just like it.

"I've been working on this now for 10 years," said Maurice Paradise. "When you buff something and get it so it's so perfect and so shiny, with the chrome and everything, and you have a guy that drives by and he holds his thumbs up, and blows the horn, it's all worthwhile."

His antique license plate reads "MY 42". Driving it around town, Paradise admits, is like nothing else.

So when he saw what it looked like after vandals broke into his garage and destroyed it last weekend, he says that feeling was unlike anything else, too.

"[My family] found me just sitting on the trunk," he explained.

Paradise doesn't remember how long he sat there, letting the reality of his totaled pride and joy sink in.
The truck he'd fixed up to a value of $60,000 was covered in $40,000 worth of damage.

Slashed tires. Smashed lights. Cut wiring. A glob of paint on his oak wood bed, and white lines sprayed along the red body.

"We're talking every window, every door, every light," explained Hernando County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Beckwith.

Deputy Beckwith is working the case, but for a one of a kind truck, Beckwith's is a one of a kind investigation. He and another deputy will take the truck to the Springhill Drifters auto show Thursday.

Even if Thursday is their day off.

"And we're just going to stand there. If somebody comes up to us and says, 'What about this guy?'" he said. "If I can give back, that little thing."

This won't be the truck's first show.

Paradise was 10-years-old when his truck was made, and since he was about 10, he's wanted one thing.

"My dream was to fix this so I could win best of show."

Last year, he finally did.

"I keep thinking something good will come of this. Let's hope it does."

Anyone with information should call the Hernando County Sheriff's Office at 352-754-6850.