New TV show shines light on Northern B.C.
There’s a new show on the History Channel featuring a team of classic car hunters that venture into remote areas to find those abandoned vehicles that most people consider lost forever to the elements.
Lost Car Rescue debuted last week and the team is in the Peace region for the first few shows.
Matt Sager leads the team including Jessica James, pilot; Matt’s brother Steve ‘The Wrench’ Sager; Dave Mischuk, the autobody specialist; and Lee Brandt, the crane operator.
Together Sager and James take to the sky for a bird’s eye view, while the ground crew rolls along using a classic semi and vintage tow truck to retrieve and send those metal treasures on their preservation path. Shoulder to shoulder in a tiny plane Sager and James explore the wilderness from the sky to find those rare vehicles that Matt knows will make an impact on their new owners.
It’s all about the chase for the team and connecting with like-minded owners who have hung onto these vehicles with a big history.
Sager and James have known each other for about 10 years and first met when they were in flight school together.
James went on to become a commercial pilot while Sager pursued other interests.
Matt brought the team together and now they are on the hunt because it’s all about discovery.
“When I first started I have to admit I didn’t know a lot about cars but I was eager and happy to join the team and I’m always up for an adventure but I do have to say by the end of the process of us spending the summer together I have a new-found love for cars and the people who are attached to them,” James said. “There’s definitely a car culture for sure
- I got a little bit of that in my aviation community and it was neat to see that it was in the car community as well. I have to say that I am hooked on everything that comes with the car - the people and their stories.”
She’s so grateful to the team who are so knowledgeable about vehicles and she learned a lot from them, she added.
For Sager cars are like art. They might all look the same to some people but for him even one piece of chrome can make all the difference, he said.
“I’ve been going to car shows since I could walk,” Sager said. “I don’t want to say I’m an expert on what cars look like from 500 feet above the ground but it usually starts with chrome and shape and curves and you get pretty good at noticing what curves lead to what shapes.”
After a while, he said, a person gets good at knowing what their looking at.
“Jess is pretty good at getting us close to what I’m trying to look at,” Sager said. “Sometimes it’s pretty hard but usually it only takes one or two seconds before you know exactly what you’re looking at.”
Sager said he considers himself a car connoisseur and has found those classics that he loves and is still on the hunt for those that elude him.
“It sparked that energy that brought us here,” Sager said. “I truly believe that anything you want to find is out there. There’s enough cars out there that if you can dream it up, it’s in someone’s barn, it’s in someone’s ravine. There were so many that were lost and forgotten - you really have no idea what’s around the next corner and that’s the exciting part of the whole thing.”
During the show, the story isn’t just about the car but the people who own them. Having grown up in Nimpo Lake, a remote area in West Chilcotin, James wasn’t surprised she connected with the people in these northern towns whose car are featured in the show.
“To this present day we’re still in contact with a lot of people that we met because of the show and I just think that’s amazing and I’ve got some people who I consider family friends now just because of this great adventure,” James said.