Cosmo “Cosy” Devito

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2006.

Cosy has always had a love affair with Fords.  He was involved with Ford cars long before Ford trucks came along.  His late night trips to Adelaide in the Ford shaker from Cummins were legendary and not many others on the road could claim the same success at the time.

These trips would be to get spare parts and supplies to keep the old original trucks on the road to ensure that the produce make it to the markets on time.This became one of the driving forces in Cosy's nature, one that he carried with him as his small business grew into a big business including a transport haulage company and primary production division.  Cosy's desire to give service to his customers was second to none.  Stillwell trucks delivered the first of many Louisvilles to Cosy in 1977, shortly after they were first released.  This truck was a basic unit with no sleeper or mod-cons but so impressed was Cosy, that it was the first of another 60 units to be delivered to him over the last 28 years.  It got to the point where it was difficult to find space on the office wall for the photos. 

The De Vito fleet colours were known to and all, right across the country. The Ford staff at Stillwell Trucks 'copped' their share of phone calls expressing Cosy's displeasure if something had not measured up.  But it was all in the desire to keep up the service commitment that drove Cosy to demand that everyone be as committed as he was.  In the midst of all the hype of business, all the people Cosy dealt with were proud to turn their business relationships with him into long and lasting friendships.  Cosy's commitment to Ford was well-noted in the upper management of Ford Motor Company.  A plaque struck by Ford Motor Company recognising his support of Ford and their trucks had pride of place on the office wall.

One on the highlights of Cosy's life was the delivery of 14 identical Ford Aeromax 120s in 1996.  They were all delivered at the same time, all with Cummins engines.  This was done at the same time that he continued to expand the vineyards and orange orchards.  Cosy's passion for life and his commitment to his work was second to none.  Perhaps some would say it was too much but who could change the man he loved to live transport and said he had no regrets for anything transport gave.