Alaska Highway convoy celebrates military history
Group marks 75th anniversary of the Alaska Highway with a road trip in refurbished vehicles
A convoy of hobbyists and vehicle collectors is marking the 75th anniversary of the Alaska Highway by driving restored military vehicles from Vancouver to Alaska and Yukon.
It's not a military operation but from a distance you might think so.
Members of the Western Command Military Vehicle Historical Society stopped in Whitehorse yesterday. They're on their way back on a round trip from Vancouver to Fairbanks.
The members buy surplus or antique military vehicles in Canadian government closed-bid auctions and restore them.
Dave Good is from BC. He bought a surplus Canadian Light Support Vehicle last year at auction for about five thousand dollars.
He says overall it was a great deal.
"This one I was lucky, it was pretty much fully serviced, all the brakes were like new, and all the fluids were changed so really didn't have to do a heck of a lot to this one," he says.
Some members rent their vehicles out for movie and television shoots which happen in Vancouver area. (Good says, proudly, his vehicle appears in the film War for the Planet of the Apes.)
John Hawthorne, convoy coordinator for the trip, says some members of the historical society are retired service members. Others aren't.
The Western Command Military Vehicle Historical society is based in BC. It is one of many chapters of the larger Military Vehicle Preservation Association based in Kansas.
The convoy has been visiting Legions and is on the road until August 9th.
The Historical Society is as much for mechanics as history buffs. Hobbyists buy these at auctions (as low as $5000) and they fix 'em up. <a href="https://t.co/X43iuor7Lj">pic.twitter.com/X43iuor7Lj</a>
—@YukonPhilippe"We're doing the 75th anniversary of the Alaska Highway, and visiting our veterans along the way and celebratng Canada's 150th," Hawthorne says.