The "Lumber Wagon" - 1974
Dodge Tradesman 100
We got this vehicle just before I
turned 5. The Chevy II had broken down on the drive to Canmore from
Calgary and my dad decided it was time to get something a little more
trustworthy. We looked at a numberof vans - I particularly remember a 1971
Econoline - before finding this one. It was completely unfinished inside -
nothing but sheet metal and insulation, but was in great shape and had a big 360
V-8 engine. My dad built an interior and away we went - across the
country, north and south. It passed 100,000 miles in 1983 during our move
to Ontario. Here, the truck settled into semi-retirement. It went on
camping trips every summer and moved me to and from school each year. In
the year 2002, it has maybe 140,000 miles on the clock.
In the fall of 1999, Vanessa and I
decided to take a trip to the east coast. We were going to buy a tent and
take the Honda. My folks then offered the van and trailer (itself a 1976
model) - we jumped on it. The van took us 3100 miles in 10 days with no
fuss, save for one time when the temperature climbed during a long, long
climb. We stopped for ten minutes, and that was it. The van drew a
lot of comments along the way and a number of "thumbs-ups" from
passers-by.
On a couple of occasions, my dad has
mused about the possibilities of a new truck. I have made it clear that
this van will not leave our family, whether I have to pay for storage somewhere
or not. Now, we're talking more about restoration. There is a little
trouble near the rear fenders and the paint could maybe use some freshening.
These are some pictures of the Cabot
Trail drive. Imagine taking a nice-handling car like the Corvair down
roads like these:
The shots below are also from that Nova
Scotia trip, just not part of the Cabot Trail. We took these after
returning to the mainland. The house in the centre was once the family
homestead. No longer. Too bad.
