BRAVE MOPAR GUY WITH A QUICK DUSTER

By LARRY QUINTAL

Mark Nadeau grew up in a dusty desert town in California and like most of us he wishes he kept his 1973 Duster.

Although he is partial towards Mopar’s, Mark loves all muscle cars. He is a self- taught mechanic with a life-long career specializing on Mack trucks. Now living in Dighton, MA He has been employed with G. Lopes Construction in Taunton, MA as their equipment manager for over 30 years. In 2005 he was faced with the news of having a tumor on his brain stem. Mark dealt with it head on and beat it. Mark and his best friend Rick McKenna had their own garage in Taunton helping others build fast motors. He always enjoyed seeing his customers leave with a loud rumble under the hood and a big smile.

Four years ago he found a 1974 Duster and transformed it from an average car to a unstoppable street machine with a stroke and bored super charged 360 built with his own hands. Life was good, he now had the car that brought him back to childhood, a wonderful wife Bonnie of 13 years who enjoyed his passion of cars driving with him like two teenagers in love to car shows, many great friends a nice home along the water, a dog, life could not be better. Until 2020 when he was now faced with an inoperable glioblastoma brain tumor.

Most of us would bury our head in the sand, but not Mark. As I was interviewing him, a few muscle cars drove by and he just lit up with excitement. Talking with both he and his wife Bonnie seeing the love in their eyes and the enjoyment of his stories made the lump in my throat go away. He told me he always loved helping people, he is thankful to have so many great friends and could not say enough of how thankful he is for the Lopes family of G. Lopes Construction.

Being the person he is, Mark wanted to know how I began to have a love of cars, where I grew up and so on. I was just amazed and inspired by this guy. As I shook his hand when it was time to leave, I knew I had a new friend. We spoke of getting together going to car shows and

keeping in touch.

Driving home, and my thoughts all over the place, I just could not believe the person he is. Not one minute during this interview did he act like poor me, why me? Instead he was up- beat, and so thankful for others. If you see a red 1974 Duster (a very quick one) driving around town, give a big wave and a thumbs up. On behalf of Motorhead Magazine, we thank Mark for his passion for cars, most of all for his braveness. Keep your chin up our friend and keep that red beast under the speed limit!

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