OH CANADA!
A good project often starts with an adventure in the acquisition. Is across Canada too far?
The used vehicle market is different than it used to be. In the mid-90’s I found my first rig by carefully perusing the black and white Autotrader magazines every week for months until I found what I was looking for. To get it, I had to fly south 1039 kms, and then drive my new-to-me ’88 Dodge Raider from the airport in Edmonton, Alberta, north to where I lived at the time: Mile 300 on the Alaska highway. As it turned out this would be prophetic of future vehicular endeavours.
Nowadays it appears our far-flung adventures are much the same, but how we find them has changed entirely. Local classifieds aren’t necessarily “Local” anymore. Facebook marketplace deftly throws in a prime specimen from the other side of the world, seemingly taunting you that it’s available. Google searches usually reveal forbidden fruit from even more exotic locales, and Craigslist (Kijiji is more common in Canada) gets your hopes up with perfect matches from the other side of the country.
Last fall, as you might recall, we went Back to the Future and brought home a recently imported JDM Landcruiser 90. But that was only 700 kilometers away. AND, just like that first Raider many years ago, I was able to fly out and drive it home.
Not this time.
It seems appropriate that today being Canada Day, I have found a Trans-Canada machine worthy of the JDM Journeys stable. As you’ve likely deduced, it’s not in my backyard. Nor my area code. Not even my province. Or the one next door. Not even the one next to that. Nope. I will need to cross two time-zones, three provincial borders and cover 1700 kilometers (EACH WAY!) to capture the flag. Oh Canada indeed!
I can’t fly out and drive it home because the latest object of my obsession doesn’t have an engine. Nor did it ever. This time we are after a trailer – a very special trailer: A trailer, which by its very existence, is worthy of its own story. You could say Part 1 is something of a “trailer” for the main event, coming up in Part 2. Canada is not necessarily known for its vehicles, but in the spirit of Canada Day, Part 2 will shed some light on a “made in Canada” trailer that is worthy of a cross-Canada adventure!
2 Comments
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“A trailer, which by its very existence, is worthy of its own story. You could say Part 1 is something of a “trailer” for the main event, coming up in Part 2.”
That Canadian JDM wit that keeps me reading along. Bravo my northern friend.