Doug Curran's day with "Old Green"
By Cam Hutchins
 

Sometimes you get lucky in Life. Sometimes the luck is all due to hardwork, and really following your passions and sharing your passions with others. Doug Curran is one of those fellows who was lucky enough to find his passion early in life, and he did everything he could to share that passion with everyone he met.

For all the wonderful things Doug has been involved with and all the aspects of the Auto Hobby he has made better, Doug was inducted into the Canadian Hot Rod hall of Fame in 2013. In 1988 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, but by following the Doctors advice and taking his prescribed meds he continued working for 10 years before having to retire with a disability pension. 1998 is a long time ago, but Doug kept fighting to do what he could do and he has done a lot!

Recently, as age creeps up on everyone, Doug's health forced him to leave his beloved shop and enter a care home to look after both his needs of Parkinson’s Disease and Cognitive decline. As one of the founding members of the Pacific Street Rod Association, his fellow club members decided to put on a car show for Doug at Abbotsford's Maplewood Care Home.

PISRA Members, Rob Petty and Ron Wenger got one of Doug's pride and joys, "Old Green" ready for the show and showed up with the car much to Doug's delight. Fellow PISRA members and other friends came by with their cars to the delight of Doug and the other members of the care home. Food was provided by the staff cooking burgers for everyone.

Judging from the comments of participants on Facebook, this event was the highlight of many Carnuts year!  We should make sure more small car shows for car homes should be planned throughout the year, as it was a wonderful way to give back to our communities.

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By Rob Petty

 

I took part in a show at Eagle Ridge Senior home earlier and it planted the seed that I should do something like this for Doug’s home. So, I arranged a meeting at the home to visit Doug and see if they would be open to a larger event.

The social organizer was excited and began working with me on a date etc. We didn’t tell Doug but I figured he would hear about it so to take it a higher level, I worked on getting his car to the show. So, Ron Wenger and myself went to Doug’s house and got old green fired up and washed.

With weather looking poor, we stayed in contact with Lisa at the Home and assured her we would come rain or shine. The home arranged for tents and a complete BBQ lunch which was way above what we expected .

It took us a while to get the old beast loaded and on the way. I’m told that when Doug saw us arrive with old green, he stood up and wiped a tear from his eyes. The two of us went for a quick walk and Doug just repeated “Thank You” over & over …