In 1975, a student in his graduating year at Maple Ridge Secondary used a rope to tow a 1954 Dodge Regent to his shop class in the hopes of getting it to run again.
At the time Jim Carpenter's teacher pulled him aside and told him for $100 he could just purchase a running vehicle.
But Carpenter insisted on fixing the Dodge and last month drove the very same vehicle all the way from Peachland to his 50th grad reunion at his old high school.
Carpenter's grandmother bought the car in 1960 to drive to her job in Mission.
"She wouldn't take it unless they put turn signals in," he chuckled, noting it was an option when purchasing a vehicle in those days.
His grandmother drove the vehicle until the mid-60s, when gave it to Carpenter's parents who used it until the late 1960's, driving the family to Alouette, Pitt, and Stave lakes, towing a boat behind them.
Then it sat in the yard, unused.
By the time Carpenter was in Grade 12, the car had already been in the family for 15 years.
But, as he was fairly mechanically inclined, he decided to get the car into working order again.
He spent his summer in 1974 working on the car just to get the brakes working well enough to be able to tow the car to school.
Carpenter noted the vehicle needed a lot of work. In addition to the brakes, it needed work on the motor, and the body, which was weathered with holes in it.
With some help from a classmate, the duo worked diligently on the vehicle and had it looking like new and running, just in time for Carpenter's graduation – which he drove it to.
Carpenter used the vehicle, as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels, and to commute to school at BCIT in Burnaby the following year.
He drove it to his 10th grad reunion and for the 40th grad reunion he brought the car to the MRSS Dry Grad Show.
Carpenter has driven the Dodge as far as Tofino and Alaska.
"It's kind of unheard of for that kind of car, and motor, and timeframe," he said.
Now 68, Carpenter recalls many memories attached to the car. He had it at his wedding and brought both of his children home from the hospital in it.
He also remembered the day his mother took him and his siblings for ice cream at the bottom of the hill at Kanaka Way and Lougheed Highway. The transmission was covered with oil and she left the handbrake on. There was so much smoke coming from the car, it looked like it was on fire, he said.
Then there was the time they were returning from a boating trip at Stave Lake and the spring broke on the clutch pedal. So, his father tied a rope to the pedal and around his foot in order to get the clutch to grab so they could tow the boat out of the water.
The car even changed the course of his own life. He left his career as a manager at Telus and went into the car parts business and being self employed.
"It got me really interested in old cars, finding parts for old cars, and very interested in the vintage car club," he said, noting he has been a member of the Vintage Car Club of Canada, the Golden Ears Chapter in Maple Ridge for 47 years.
Over the years, Carpenter said, he has not put that much money into the vehicle, as he is able to fix practically anything that goes wrong with the car.
And, he has not altered the vehicle very much either, aside from adding another fuel pump and altering the motor slightly to increase the power. Although, he said, it's basically the same motor and looks the same.
"Most people would look at it and think you wouldn't leave town with that," he said. However, he added, it's a very simple car and easy to get parts for.
Currently the vehicle has about 350,000 kilometres on it – and counting.
