Joey Smallwood's Land Rover is touring Newfoundland for 75th anniversary of Confederation
The 1958 vehicle is said to be the first automobile to have ever driven across the island
At the Newfoundland Antique And Classic Car Show in Torbay on Saturday, one old truck stood out among the rest.
"It's the first official vehicle to cross Newfoundland driven by Joey Smallwood in 1958," said Carl Hamlyn, president of the Newfoundland Antique and Classic Car Club.
This year, the Land Rover will be visiting historic sites across the island as part of a tour marking the 75th anniversary of Newfoundland joining Confederation with Canada.
As Steve Priest explains it, the Land Rover was a standard issue government vehicle at the time.
"Joey wanted to see everybody in the province, so he set out in his official company vehicle and he visited the entire island," Priest said. "And that was just when the roads were being pushed through. So the roads were rough. I mean, it's in the weeds right now. That's probably the way it was when he drove it across the province."
The car club acquired the vehicle in 1984.
"This all started when the club went to do antique auto plates actually," Priest said. "And then one of the fellows said, you know, 'We've got Joey Smallwood's Land Rover still. It's down at White Hills. It's in back of a garage.' So the boys went down and unfortunately it was picked apart. Anybody who needed a part for a Land Rover had gone in and salvaged it. The speedometer was gone and some pieces were removed from it."
Preist said it took a bit of work to get it into running shape.
"Nothing's going to stop that old machine," he said. "It's amazing. It's built like a tank."
The Land Rover was just one of about 100 antique cars on display at the Jack Byrne Arena on Saturday.
Hamlyn said people of all walks of life love to come see the vintage cars.
"If you look at the new cars today, drive down the road and you can't tell one from the other," he said. "You look around here, you can know that's a '55 Ford, that's a '68 Chrysler. They stand out."
Hamlyn said there's also an emotional connection for many people.
"A lot of people come and say, 'Oh, my dad had one of those. My grandfather had one of those', or 'We drove him one of those when I was a child.' And so there's a lot of memories in these cars for a lot of people."
But it's not all about cars. Money raised at the event gets donated to a charitable cause.
"This year and last year as well, we did this car show and raised money for the Shriners to help pay for the sick children in Newfoundland to be transported to hospitals throughout North America for life-saving treatments," he said.
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With files from Arlette Lazarenko