An Island-based car hunter — the center of a new series on History Channel called Lost Car Rescue — will be bringing the show to North Saanich and featuring the BC Aviation Museum in an upcoming episode.
In the series, Matt Sager of Mill Bay is a hunter of specialty cars and trucks, searching for classic vehicles amid the remote wilderness of Western Canada.
Sager and his team — which includes his brother Steve — scour thickly forested areas, valleys and canyons and abandoned properties on a mission to recover potentially rare vehicles, hidden or lost from history.
The team’s car-hunting style, however, is considered unorthodox and unlike any other, as they travel by air and land, utilizing classic equipment — such as a 1948 Stinson airplane — to source these classic vehicles.
“I hate watching the history go away and if someone’s not there to capture that history then it’s truly lost,” Matt Sager told CHEK News.
“That’s probably the more painful part is to watch some of these cars, some of these guys that passed away, some of these women that don’t make it and those stories die with them.”
So far, the show has drawn positive feedback for its ability to give viewers a firsthand look at what the car rescue experience is really like.
“To have people right next to us feeling that exhilaration of what we feel is really the icing on the cake for me,” adds Sager.
Not only does the series feature Island locals in action, but will also spotlight a North Saanich venue as well.
The six-part series, which first aired on January 13, 2022, will feature the BC Aviation Museum in its final episode, set to air on February 17.
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The episode centres around Sager and his team’s hunt for the Maze family’s 1916 Model T Ford stock car and will present a visit to the BC Aviation Museum, where the car currently resides.
The museum says the Model T stock car was donated by Sager as part of an exhibit honouring veterans.
The Aviation Museum says that Sager has “fond memories” of stopping by the attraction as a kid, indicating that the exhibits helped influence him to become a pilot.
Sager and some of his team will also be helping the BC Aviation Museum this spring as they hoist an abandoned Piasecki helicopter from Brisco, B.C. and bring it to its new home at the Aviation Museum as well.
The BC Aviation Museum will also be holding a special event on Family Day, February 20, for anyone who has followed along with the Lost Car Rescue series.
“Fans of the show are encouraged to come to the BC Aviation Museum on Sunday, February 20 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to visit Matt and Steve Sager, view the Model T exhibit, more than 30 aircraft and hundreds of other displays,” the Aviation Museum outlines.
The BC Aviation Museum, located at 1910 Norseman Rd. in North Saanich, says that Family Day weekend admission is by donation.
The final episode of Lost Car Rescue will air on Thursday at 9 p.m. on the History Channel.
More information about the BC Aviation Museum can be found online here.
Graham Cox
