[BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Temp home found for truck collection

Thu Apr 19 15:39:21 PDT 2012

Best news in weeks!

An historical correction to the text:  Mrs. King donated the trucks back in the early 70s to the NDP government of Dave Barrett, not the Socreds. The story as I knew it went thus: Aubrey King, the founder of King's Cartage refused to let unions organize his drivers and mechanics, saying he'd "shut the place down first", which he did. The trucks languished in a False Creek warehouse for years until Alan Clapp, a media promoter, begged Ernie Hall, then NDP Provincial Secretary, to rescue them as "workers' history".  Barrett and Hall did so, creating the "BC Transport Collection", renting a warehouse on West 6th in Vancouver to restore the vehicles and conduct mechanics' tours - not a museum as yet. Eventually there were moves to Richmond, Cloverdale, and when the NDP regained power in the 90s, it broke the collection apart to spite the Socreds which, by that time, proclaimed it as its own. The RBCM management of the time, dominated by natural history types and not at all sympathetic to the collection, was given the task of disposing and dispersing it immediately. The Teamsters, the major recipient, found a poorly lit warehouse at cheap rent in Port Coquitlam to house the trucks and various related objects. Ultimately they ran out of cash and steam, saying they'd have to abandon the vehicles unless a saviour was found.

Talk about a Dickensian tale of poverty and sorrow; no vital historical holding in BC should have suffered so.

But there's a happy ending, perhaps.

Bill Reid, a former Tourism Minister in Bill Bennett's cabinet and the man who rammed-through the Transportation Heritage Centre on the heels of EXPO 86, has come to the rescue with this new Society and temporary lodgings in Surrey.

Stay tuned . . . .

Dan Gallacher

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. 
  To: bcma at lists.vvv.com 
  Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 9:56 AM
  Subject: [BCMA] CMA Clip Serv: Temp home found for truck collection

  Temporary new home found in Cloverdale for truck collection 
  Jennifer Lang, Cloverdale Reporter, Thursday, April 18, 2012 

  Proponents of a heritage transportation centre have found a temporary home for a collection of vintage vehicles they want to bring back to Cloverdale. 

  The City of Surrey has agreed to lend the Surrey Heritage Society a building on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds to house the new BC Heritage Transportation Centre. 

  A memorandum of understanding is being worked out permitting the society to use the old Surrey Museum building at 6050 176 Street (the northeast corner of 60 Avenue and 176 Street). The building was more recently home to the Cloverdale Seniors Centre until about a year ago. 

  The society is dedicated to the preservation and conservation of heritage assets. Members want to relocate the Teamsters Freight Transportation Museum and Archives Collection from Port Coquitlam to Cloverdale. 

  Many of the vehicles were on view here as part of the former B.C. Transportation Museum until 1992. 

  Society director Bill Reid said Unitow has offered to deliver the trucks. There's 18 in all - 14 are completely restored. Many of the vehicles are from the King collection, named after the original collector, whose wife donated them to B.C. premier W.A.C. Bennett. 

  A new door will have to be installed that's large enough to accommodate the collection, which includes photos, license plates, tools, and other memorabilia from the archives. 

  Reid says the society hopes to broaden this initial collection in the future. 

  Treasurer Paul Orazietti said the society will be meeting with the Teamsters to discuss the next steps to transfer the collection. 

  The society is aiming to unofficially open the new centre by May 15, in time for the Cloverdale Rodeo Volunteers will man the centre, opening Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to the end of August. 

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