The Garage
 Updated4/27/2023

Photo taken approximately 1970

My Uncle - Murray Baptist
My Grandmother -
Lucinda Burnham Baptist
My Mother - Marjory Baptist Coulthard

In the background the original garage.

This original garage, built in 1942, at the same time as the house, was at the bottom of the long driveway approx 20 ft from the house and 20 ft from the property line. The rear of the garage was covered in blue wisteria. In the 60s and 70s the driveway was not paved and the grass between the rows would grow up to 2 ft during the summer months. It was a single car garage just enough size for our Volkswagen 1600 or sometimes the Mercedes.

When we bought the property the house had an oil stove in the kitchen along with a hot water tank beside it. In the garage was a 45-gallon drum of furnace oil for the stove, a manual lift pump, and a small 1-gal metal jerrycan to transport it to the house. Dad soon upgraded to an electric stove and electric water tank in the basement. BUT he kept taking delivery of the furnace oil (at 12 cents a gallon) for the Mercedes diesel. This lasted many years until one day the oil delivery fellow spotted the Mercedes in the garage and put two and two together.

The garage was wired for an electric light but no plugs. There was only one wire, the hot, coming from the eaves of the house. This wire was run through a switch by the door then through the lamp socket and then to a pipe in the ground in the back corner of the garage. It worked but not exactly to any electrical code. In the early 70s, I climbed into the eaves of the house from the access door in the upstairs bedroom and ran a new wire to the garage that had the neutral on it to do a proper return. BTW the house is wired with knob and tube.

When I took up residence here full time in July of 95 the garage was adequate for our new island beater a Chevette, but the Beast, our 1976 Ford Van would not fit in it. I parked it outside in the turnaround at the bottom of the driveway

Original Garage Circa 1996 ------------------------------New Garage Circa 2021

So now for the history of my vehicles over the years.

If you know anything about me you will know I have a love of automobiles, or anything mechanical. Specifically British Sports cars. While growing up in West Point Grey in Vancouver I first got the taste of mechanics from my Dad. At UBC where he worked as a Prof., he had access to a mechanics shop, complete with a pneumatic hoist. Every once in a while he would bring me along when he would do the routine maintenance on his 53 Nash Rambler or my Mom’s Austin A40. I watched, and later was allowed to grease the lube points, drain a fill the engine with fresh oil, remove, clean and replace sparkplugs and clean the air filter. Before I was 16 I was allowed to get behind the wheel of the Austin and back it up the driveway behind the house and back into the garage again. Once or twice I actually snuck it up and down the lane. By the time I was 16 I had it figured out the operating of it, passed my written test and then my driving test and I was allowed to drive my Mom’s Austin A40 Devon.


Next move up was, Dad Traded in the A40 Devon at Gordon Bros, for a new Austin 850 Mini. This, despite my getting laughed at for driving a pregnant roller-skate, was a really fun car to drive. Light weight, agile and pretty good pep for a small engine. Also pretty good in snow being a front wheel drive. Dad also traded in the Nash for a 60 Mercedes diesel which we toured Europe in. He had it shipped back to Canada from Stuttgart.

Post graduation from high school I worked at the store for the Quilchena Cattle Co, in the Nicola Valley. Mom and Dad were in Ghana, so I had the use of the Mini full time. While working there I came across a 1958 TR3 for sale at an excellent price in Merritt and bought it from a fellow who was leaving to work on the dew line up north. This car was a hell of a lot of fun to drive.

When I returned to Vancouver I went back to collage at King Edward, then Electronics at VVI, while working nights at Gordon Bros, pumping gas. I spent my extra cash, and my spare time working on the TR3. New paint from grey to metallic British racing green. Gradual engine modifications, ported and polished, planed heads, bored out from 1998cc to 2400cc’s, balanced and blueprinted, added overdrive on 2nd 3rd and 4th to the transmission and a resonator only on the exhaust on one side and a Capped straight on the other. On one trip up to Hope I opened it up on the freeway to see how it would do...... 0-60 in just under 5 seconds .... wound the speedometer off the end. (It reads to 120MPH) and at that speed the tach read just over 5000RPM... so I wound the tach off the end too. (Reads 6500RPM) so an estimate of 145MPH the car was starting to float at that speed. And my GF, Marge, was hanging onto the chicken bar for dear life. When at All Brits car shows I am still looking for this car.

The next Vehicle was a triumph GT6. A family was due to come along and we needed a little more comfort and room. This one was not a good car for me. First of all, it was like driving a marshmallow as compared to the TR3. It leaked like crazy as well despite 3 trips back to the dealer.

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I soon sold it took my losses and bought a 62 Chev Station wagon with a 235 Cu, In six cylinders, and manual 3 on the tree transmission. Gutless wonder but it got us around and could haul a lot.

The next upgrade was to an almost new 72 Toyota Celica. This is when I moved to Gibsons for a year to work up there. I outfitted the Celica with a CB rig, a scanner, a small TV, and a radio phone. The name for this one was “The Little Red Telephone Booth”. I got rear-ended in this 3 times and on the 3rd time, I had it painted silver. (No more accidents) By 78 it was ready to go. The Engine was still running strong but the fenders were falling off from rust. Some guy bought it for parts.

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In 76 I was seconded to Montreal for the Olympics. Before I left I made a visit to Brown Bros ( on a recommendation by Bill Good Jr. So next in the garage was the old workhorse, a 1976 Ford Econoline 250, 1 ton Van. I bought it brand new and paid for it with my overtime check. We picked it up in Montreal and Lyn and I drove it back to Vancouver via Quebec City, New York, Nashville, the Dakotas, and Saskatchewan to visit cousins and then, home. I customized it gradually over the next couple of years into a show vehicle. It was not my daily driver at that time as I also had the Celica The Ford Van was purchased with a 460 CID engine, deluxe trim, factory Captains chairs, dual tanks, cruise control, aftermarket Air conditioning, and a Motorola AM, FM, 8-track. A shift Kit was installed in the C6 trans, headers, and side pipes, and a 396 timing gears and chain option. This increased the power considerably and improved the mileage slightly if I drove on eggshells. (NEVER) I installed a sunroof, portholes, supervisor, and flairs on the fenders to cover the 12 X16.5 tires on new chrome mags. The interior was paneled inside with steamed and bent cedar veneer with a stucco roof. The cabinets with louvered doors were topped with rich royal blue ceramic tile. The round tabletop in the back was designed to fit into the bench to form the bed. Light blue curtains, stored behind the driver's seat could be pulled across to separate the back or pulled around the windshield to include the captain's chairs if swiveled to face he back. This van soon became known to the family as "The Beast" it has a huge hearty roar. Over the following 3 or 4 years we toured many Van Fairs for show Vans that were all the rage in the late 70s and early 80s. The Beast sports many dash plaques. Two trips to California with the kids and two trips in and out of Yellowknife. In 1998 I had the exterior completely restored and the interior detailed back to its original condition, the engine was totally stripped down anr all bearings and rod shells were replaced. In the summer of 2006, I did some further serious modifications to the engine. I replaced the ignition system by upgrading to an MSD wire set and MSD Ignition module and MSD distributor. I also replaced the fuel pump, water pump, and other engine parts that may be ready to fail. I also replaced the intake with an Eidelbrock intake manifold topped by an Eidelbrock carb. It is a very quick piece of heavy iron In the fall of 2007 I parked it because the fuel filter got clogged with rust from the gas tanks.(never store a vehicle with empty gas tanks.) They never got replaced. The beast is now sold to a fellow in Whiterock who is restoring it again for the third time. I am looking forward to seeing it on the road again someday.

As for a daily driver I had a Chevette for a while in Yellowknife (sold it there) and then here on Salt Spring when I moved here full time in 95. In 98 I traded in the Chevette for a 1992 Dodge Grand Caravan. This vehicle was purchased from Wille Dodge in Victoria in 1997. It fit in the Garage so the beast still had to live parked outside. Our friendly name for him Is Willie cus he had his name on the license plate frame. Willie had a lot of extras, power windows, power seats, an overhead console, and a great sound system. After a couple of years, he was starting to suffer a little from the very popular Dodge paint peal problems. Off to Murakami and a new coat of light metallic blue. Willie did us well for many years as a daily driver. But in the summer of 2017 when I came down with a nasty dose of oral cancer, at about the same time my beloved daily driver, Wille, gets sick as well. Off to Doc Eric at Beddis Rd Garage, first, it’s the fuel pump. Then loads of diagnostics and ends up the computer is shot. We hunt the net and the wreckers for one. Nothing. Wille has now gone to Fort Quesnel. (The local wrecker). Along about the same time that year The Beast went up to Beddis Rd Garage to get the electronic ignition fixed so I could get it running again and then sell it for a 1//2 decent price

My other fun toy for while was "Honda" a 250 twin Motorcycle, purchased in 91 in Yellowknife. It was sold in around 2007.

Next on the list of Vehicles is our lawn tractors. the 98 Ariens has recently been relieved of lawn duties by a 2006 Lawn Boy ride-on with the zero turn function. We affectionately call it Mowit. ( Sue works at Mouat's Hardware store here on Saltspring). Mowit has been retrofitted with a huge horn that sounds like an auuugaa horn. The Ariens now has been dubbed with the name towit. as it does a much better job of climbing the hills here with the trailer behind it. Recently Mowit had a failure with the mower deck and was beyond repairs. Mowit now resides with my daughter and her family in Duncan. Her hubby and her kids will get some fun out of it I am sure. My oldest Daughter,Tara purchased a used John Deere, with a trailer. It does well taking over Mowits duties.
For many years here we have had a small aluminum boat as well. It lives in the boathouse. It used to be called Evinrude but more recently it's called Johnson since it had an engine change a few years back. Johnson gets used in summer to go fishing, crabbing and exploring in the harbor. In winter it does the duty to fill in when we get snowed in. In addition is 2 Kayaks of my daughters in the boathouse.

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In 2006 another addition to the family was Sunshine. We fell in love with a 1978 Bright Yellow Triumph Spitfire. The paint was lovely she drove a rode well so we picked her up for a fair price. Later we found it not such a fair price, but still not that costly. After having the brakes redone it was found it difficult to get it in and out of reverse. I removed the engine and transmission in our garage at home here and replaced the transmission after finding the first reverse lay gear totally stripped. It has proven a good show car for Sue and she has taken it out to several show and shines for several years. It was sold to a friend here on Saltspring.

Another addition to the Garage is Bennie. A 1976 Mercedes Benz 280 SL Convertable. This car is in full show condition. It was inherited from Sue's Dad in 2009. She has taken it to several car shows since then. The Mercedes was sold recently.

Summer 2018- Now I have not had a daily driver for well over 2 years. I found the ideal vehicle. A Black 2006 Dodge Magnum R/T AWD. Perfect for the winter here, I thought. Magnum came with all the extras. A 5.7L Hemi V8, Grey leather upholstery, power seats, power adjustable foot pedals, power windows, power mirrors, power sunroof, tinted glass, heated seats and AM/FM CD, bluetooth, satnav Radio. (awesome speakers) Also the factory 20-inch wheels with low profile 145/R20 tires. This one turned out to be a surprise, I have never owned a muscle car, and Magnum is one in disguise. 0-60 5.8sec. plus almost impossible to smoke the tires because of the AWD. This vehicle is excellent in the snow, as long as it is not too deep. The only downside is I find it has way less clearance than the Morgan. It is low to the ground which looks good and handles great but it bottoms out easily on most speed bumps, and the splash panel is easily ripped off by the parking stall curbs. Our local rats also seem to like the wiring harness. (They tell me they were made with soy) Mothballs are installed in a sock under the hood now. Upgrades on it so far, Blacked out LED tail lights and headlights, mufflers removed and replaced with chrome plated resonators, custom chrome grill, and a cold air intake.

BUT The show car I love the most is Morgan. He has his own separate heated and dehumidified garage. In 1999 I purchased a 1960 Morgan Plus 4. A beautiful and very valuable car. It was obvious the old garage had to go. It was damp, cold, drafty, dark, and small with no room for a workbench or space around the car to work. James Watt and Chris Haas were contracted to design and build the new garage. A fully enclosed sealed and heated garage for Morgan plus a 10 ft high 2 car carport with a loft above. The footprint is 20 ft by 30 ft.

Full history and Morgan stories here.

Currently, the car port houses Magnum and Tara’s Mustang Convertible. Morgan is the only car that is fully enclosed and heated. As you can see in the birdseye view of our property the rest of our vehicles live outside. 4 of them to be exact. In this birdseye view (satellite view from 2016) is the Beast closest to the loft, then Wille then Sue’s Cavalier, and then Tara’s Van ( which has also gone to Fort Quesnel (local car recycle) and replaced with a 2016 Dodge Pickup.

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