One of Surrey’s newest heritage attractions – the B.C. Vintage Truck Museum – is getting an enthusiastic thumbs up from the province’s transportation minister.
Todd Stone, who was in the historic town centre last Friday to talk transit at the Cloverdale and District Chamber of Commerce luncheon, squeezed in a tour of the museum.
It opened in October, 2013 and showcases a collection of restored freight vehicles that once plied B.C.’s highways, opening up the province.
“It is an amazing collection that clearly is kept alive by countless volunteer hours,” Stone said. “You should all be very commended.”
Stone took a tour and sat in one of the vehicles.
“You guys have an amazing collection there.”
He said Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Stephanie Cadieux had been talking up the volunteer-run museum to Stone.
“Stephanie has mentioned the museum and you guys to me on several occasions and she does so with a lot of pride, and now I understand why,” he said.
He enjoyed the tour, he said, adding, “We all need to put our heads together and work together as partners to make sure that the collection can be preserved for generations to come.”
Paul Orazietti, society president, thanked Stone “for listening and for asking some really great questions.”
The volunteer-run venture, located at 6022 176 Street, in the former home of the Surrey Museum, has been a labour of love for members of the Surrey Heritage Society.
The society acquired the collection of vintage trucks and related memorabilia from the Teamsters Freight Transportation Museum and Archives Society.
The trucks and associated hardware were relocated one and two at a time from their more recent former home in Port Coquitlam.
Many of the vehicles are from the Bob King collection. King was a colourful trucking magnate whose wife eventually donated them to B.C. premier W.A.C. Bennett.
The collection was originally part of the B.C. Transportation Museum in Cloverdale, which was closed down by the provincial government in the early 1990s.
Admission is by donation. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Visit BCVintagetruckmuseum.org for more information.