What started as a 1951 Austin panel van has morphed into a memorable vehicle on Vancouver Island.
“It’s kind of all Canadiana, I’ve got license plates from every province and memorabilia. I mean my fender here is all Vancouver and British Columbia flags,” says the car’s owner and creator Lyle Brown-John.
Complete with its prominent moose, the vehicle stands 11 feet (three metres) tall, which causes some problems.
“We’ve had to dismantle the moose and there’s a Mountie on the back and so I get my screw gun out and so we get to a level that we can pass under a bridge or road sign or whatever,” says Brown-John.
But it hasn’t stopped Lyle from traversing Canada, the U.S. and now Vancouver Island.
“My journey last year took me about 10,000 kilometres, I was going to go across our entire country,” says Brown-John. “I got out to Saskatchewan, had some mechanical difficulties and so I turned back to Vancouver and drove to California,” he adds.
While he might not be able to travel as far this year, the Island provides a great solution.
“With COVID, can’t go too far this summer and so it’s perfect I haven’t been over on the Island here for some time,” he says.
Complete with a vintage camper, Brown-John plans to travel the Island for the next month, bringing smiles wherever he goes.
“It’s something else, we actually saw it yesterday, you just wonder how they all put that all together. It’s just absolutely amazing and it’s so Canadian,” says Bruce Regensburg, who was passing by on his morning walk.
“My whole gist is positive energy and I collect smiles and that’s what I get,” says Brown-John.
So if you see the moose and Lyle in your review mirror, make sure to give them a wave as they complete their Island journey.
Cole Sorenson
