BESSIE THE LITTLE BLUE DART

For years, probably since high school in P.E.I., I?ve loved the Barracuda. Wow! What an awesome car. Then over the years, being my father?s daughter, I developed a love for all older cars and horses.

When I moved from Calgary to Vancouver Island in 1987 I was in heaven. There were so many older cars still on the road and some in very good shape. My thoughts returned to the Barracuda from high school. Maybe someday I could find one and fix it up. In the summer of 1991, on a Friday, my late husband Ed was on his way home from work when he spotted a blue, (my favorite color), 1968 Dodge Dart 270, 4 door, for sale. It was parked on the shoulder of the road with a large piece of plywood lying over the windshield with the asking price and a phone number. He brought the number home and told me about the car thinking that I may want to go have a look at it. I called the owner, a young tradesman, who had been using the car to commute to and from work, and arrange to go right away to look at the car. He had bought a newer small 4x4 and just wanted to get rid of the car.

The body looked to be in decent shape except the paint looked like it was the original and very faded. The windshield had several cracks, but all other windows were fine. She started up right away with the turn of the key and ran beautifully, but the cloud of blue that came out the tailpipe matched the color of the faded paint. We took her for a test drive? Everything seemed to work fine. She had a 273 small V8 engine and was very comfortable to drive. The interior was also different shades of blue. Everything on the inside was in very good condition except for some tears in the upholstery of the front seat. I was ?in love?!

Someone told me there was a Chrysler Club in Victoria, which I joined right away. Through the club I met a man by the name of Ron who had a Mechanic Shop at home and specialized in these older Chrysler products. Ron had been a Mechanic at a Chrysler dealership for 17 years. He became my mechanic and took very good care of Bessie my ?little blue Dart? for the remaining years I lived on the Island. Shortly after that, in Jan. of 1992, Ed was killed in a plane crash in Nanaimo. I lost my best friend of 20 years. I was devastated...

My strong relationship with Jesus Christ carried me through the months that followed. As much as I dearly loved and missed Ed, I began to turn my focus to what I had left. We never had children, but I was young, healthy, had my own business, my home and I had Bessie. I began making connections to start on the journey of rebuilding Bessie back to her original condition.

The first step was to get her painted. I got several estimates, all of which I felt were too high for my budget at the time. Then, I heard there was a small local shop that might be more affordable. I drove down and spoke with the owner. He was very impressed with the car and with the fact that I wanted to have it restored. He thought it would be good advertising for his business to have my car driving around this small town in original looking condition. He offered to do the job for half of what my other estimates had been. We had a deal.

This guy was an incredible tradesman who studied his trade in Europe. He tore the car all apart in his shop, sandblasted everything and then mixed up the paint to the original color of when the car was new. He found no rust whatsoever on the car and the only damage was an old ?wound? on the trunk lid. It was probably damaged when the car was fairly new and repaired very poorly. This guy even went to a junkyard and found a trunk lid in better condition, sandblasted it and replaced the old one. I went to the shop every day to watch the progress. It was wonderful to see the interest this fellow took in doing such a fine job. He also replaced the cracked windshield.

The day I drove Bessie out of that shop was a day I will always remember. The feeling I had was equal to driving a new car right out of the showroom (I had done that once in 1972). She was absolutely beautiful!

The next step was to have the upholstery done. I had been checking with different upholstery shops looking at all their samples to try and find a fabric that I liked. I wanted it to look as original as possible. Some of the new fabrics just didn?t ?cut it? for me. Then, one day I found it, at an upholstery shop in Victoria. The perfect fabric. The right texture, the right shade of blue, this was the one. I took it to the fellow who had been helping me and told him I had found the fabric I wanted. He looked at it and said, ?You would pick that one, and it?s not available any longer.? What a letdown. He suggested I find something else, but there just wasn?t anything close. I asked him, since the fabric was no longer available, if I could have the sample piece. I wanted to carry it with me until I found some of that fabric. He gave it to me. I was patient. So I continued on my journey.

One day, about 3 weeks later, I decided to take the ?scenic ? route home from Victoria to Sooke. While cruising along this winding country road I noticed a small sign nailed to a post at the end of a driveway that read UPHOLSTERY SHOP. I drove up the steep driveway to the house. I knocked on the Shop door and a man answered the door. I asked if he did upholstery in cars and he said he did. I showed him my car and asked if he could give me an estimate. He suggested I pick out a fabric first. We went into the shop and he passed me his samples. I opened my purse and took out my fabric sample. He looked at it then found the same one in his samples. He also told me that it was discontinued, but he would check around to see if he could find any through his suppliers. I gave him my number and asked him to call me. A couple days later he called to tell me he had found some of the fabric. It was original Chrysler fabric from the 1960's and there was a small fabric shop in Michigan, U.S.A. that had some on the end of a bolt. Just enough to re-upholster the 2 bench seats in my car. Then he asked if I would like to have it shipped up. I almost jumped through the phone line, I was so happy. Needless to say he was the person who did the upholstery job.

The final step on my journey was to have the engine rebuilt. It was now July of 1992. My late husband?s brother, Arnold, was a mechanic in Edmonton at the time and I called him to see what advice he could give me on having the engine work done. He had connections in Edmonton, a shop that did commercial work, and he made arrangements to have my engine rebuilt, at his cost, whenever I could get the car to him. He would take the engine out of the car in his garage, drop it at the shop to be rebuilt and then put it all back together again. What a deal! No date was set; I just had to get Bessie from Vancouver Island to Edmonton.

She was my only vehicle at this time and with driving her every day I noticed the increase in oil consumption. I had a business conference in Penticton, B.C., so I decided I would continue on to Edmonton, via Calgary, after the conference. At the conference I met up with an acquaintance from Calgary named John. I mentioned to him that I was taking my car to have the engine rebuilt. He offered to follow me to Calgary to make sure I got there okay. That gave me some comfort, as he was a Mechanical Engineer. Also, John was driving a new Dodge 3⁄4 ton Diesel pick-up truck. So, off on another adventure.

I made sure I had a case of oil in my trunk and away we went. By now I had to check my gas and fill with oil. The trip to Calgary went smoothly. A couple times I needed John?s assistance, but nothing serious.

I spent a few days in Calgary visiting friends then, on a warm sunny day headed north on highway #2 to Edmonton. Bessie cruised along the highway quite comfortably. I stopped in Red  Deer for a short break then hit the road again. Just north of Red Deer I realized I had not topped up the oil. I?d looked after her so well to this point I did not want to blow the motor now. I pulled off on the shoulder, turned the engine off and checked the oil. There was some on the dipstick, but not much. I filled her up, closed the engine bonnet (yes, I?m from the east coast), got in and turned the key. She wouldn?t start. The battery was fine; I made sure not to run it down. She wasn?t flooded. Now what? I decided to pray. I asked the Lord to send someone who could help me get the car started. Then I just sat there in the car with the engine bonnet closed and waited.

About 15 minutes later I spotted a 1968 Dodge Dart heading south on the #2. I watched it go past, and then it pulled a u-turn across the median and pulled up behind me. The driver got out and came up to my window and asked if I needed any help. I explained that the car just wouldn?t start and that the battery was okay, so I didn?t need a boost. He asked if I had a coat hanger. I gave him one. He lifted the ?bonnet?, took the hanger and wrapped it around the little white box on the firewall on the driver?s side and told me to try starting her. I turned the key and she started right away. I said a quick prayer?Thank you Lord! I offered to pay the stranger and all he would take was $5.00. I thanked him and continued on my way. I did not turn the engine off until I reached my destination. I took a plane back to Calgary that afternoon, as I was flying to P.E.I. from Calgary the next day to visit my parents for three weeks. I figured that would give my brother-in-law plenty of time to pull the engine have it rebuilt and put it back in the car.

It turned out that the commercial shop closed down for 3 weeks vacation each year during the summer, which was their slow time of the year. You guessed it, the same 3 weeks I was booked to be in the east. My brother-in-law had no idea until he called them to drop the engine off. Unbeknown to me the shop in Edmonton referred him to a shop in Vancouver, would you believe!? So, Bessie's engine was air shipped to Vancouver for a complete rebuild, air shipped back to Edmonton and was back together and purring like a kitten when I went to pick her up 3 weeks later. It was such an enjoyable trip driving her back home to Vancouver Island.