JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) -- The winner of the last Chevrolet Tahoe produced in Janesville is a retiree who worked 37 years at the General Motors plant that manufactured the SUV.
Gerald Kinderman of Janesville held the winning raffle ticket drawn Wednesday. Contacted at home, the 65-year-old Kinderman said he was "just super happy" and called it a "wonderful surprise."
Representatives of the GM plant and United Auto Workers Local 95 announced when the SUV line shut down Dec. 23 that they would donate the plant's last sport-utility vehicle to the United Way of Rock County, which made it the top prize in the fundraising raffle.
The black 2009 Chevy Tahoe LTZ is fully loaded and carries a sticker price of $57,745.
Kinderman said he started out on the assembly line at the GM plant and later worked as a carpenter. He retired in 2000.
The United Way reported raising $200,460 in raffling the vehicle. Tickets were $20 each, or six for $100.
Among those who bought a ticket hoping to win the SUV was Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, whose grandfather bought the first truck ever made at the same plant, back in 1923.
A surviving photograph shows Max Feingold posing in front of the black truck, parked outside his Blackhawk Grocery store. A sign on top of the vehicle reads: "We were first to buy the first Chev. truck, made in Janesville."