Quilt Walk and Car Show

 

Aaron and the crew took the van to the Quilt Walk and Car Show today, an event I never knew existed in the small community of Ladner, just outside Vancouver. Most the shop's effort over the past few weeks have been aimed at getting ready for this event. I believe they had five rides in the show. It's a source of competition between shops, and a way to market services. It is also, I learned today, just a great little event. People wandered back and forth along the central business district; the Canadian Legion (as seen above) served refreshments to those in need of being chronically malted.

Aaron asked me a couple weeks ago if he could show the van and, after some hesitation, I agreed. Overall, I think it well-received, but I think most people just liked the novelty of seeing something unfinished. Also, one muscle car is pretty much the same as another, and J Vans are kinds uncommon. In the end though, the van is my project, and the degree to which other people like it not isn't important to me. What is satisfying is when someone who obviously has undertaken a similar effort, complements that or the quality of someone's work.

The entry sheet for my van (the one that people see when they came up to the van) was written kinda poorly. "What is it?" one woman asked another. "It's a Morris T Van", replied another. LOL. I lurked nearby and overheard some other things. Some irked me and others that amused me. For example, one know-it-all guy commented that the replacement metal was "stainless steel"; another guy commented to his wife the vehicle was "top-heavy" and that the steering position was "right in the centre".

I brought out some "before" photos and good thing too -- some people, looking at the van, just assumed that something that was all chopped up and reconstituted. Nearly everyone I witnessed said something like, "Whoa, lots of work to do" to which I wanted to say, "Asshole, it's taken three-years' effort to get this point..." Since "The Dude" left the project, Chris has carried a large amount of the strain. Sitting comfortable in a chair behind the van, he said to me: "It [the van] looks like a cartoon." I turned around and looked at it. I had never found the word before to describe what a J Van evokes, but "cartoon" seems appropriate to me.