> PRESENTING THE NEW NED

The car: 1931 Plymouth PA Deluxe composite The owner: Laura Murray, Winnipeg The story: When I was growing up in Toronto, my father owned an early 1930s Plymouth, which we fondly called Ned. Being our only car, he drove it daily, which included family vacations all over Canada.

During these trips, many hours were spent looking at the scenery while Dad hitched a ride to the nearest garage to get one part or another to get us back on the road.

In 1962, my father got a ticket for impeding traffic, as Ned could no longer keep up with highway speed limits, at which point in time the car was retired to the garage.

With my father’s passing in 2006, I inherited the Plymouth, which had deteriorated as a result of years of neglect. Raccoons even lived in it.

In 2008, I decided to explore the possibility of having the Plymouth rebuilt. I had to set my emotions aside when it became clear Ned was in very poor condition. I started looking for a matching car, with the idea of using Ned as a donor.

My search lead me to Mary and Harlan Campbell in Banderas, Texas, who had a 1931 Plymouth PA Deluxe for sale. After travelling down to Banderas to see the car, and doing a little Texas horse trading, I bought the car. While it was in reasonably good shape and was driveable, I had it trucked to Fargo, N.D., where I picked it up and trailered it the rest of the way to Winnipeg, where I now live with my husband, Wayne, and our menagerie of dogs and cats.

Then began the task of finding someone who could be trusted to do the restoration. In the end, I settled on a family-run business here in Winnipeg called Ground Up Restoration. Because of the unique nature of this vintage restoration, it was agreed that they would work on the car in their slower periods.

Although Ned was able to contribute many parts to the project, some had to be sourced pretty far out — elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada and distant lands like New Zealand and Australia. The restoration took four years.

While I knew lots about Ned’s history, I knew little about the new car. Harlan was able to tell me the name of the lady he bought it from in Alameda, Calif., who had since moved to Klamath Falls, Ore. By chance, an old business contact had retired in Klamath Falls and was able to track down the lady. She shared that her father, who owned a garage, had bought the car around 1952 and that she had learned to drive on the ’31 Plymouth, just as I had on Ned. The years before 1952 are still a mystery. Show us your candy: Got a cool custom or vintage car? Send us a picture of you and your family with your beauty and tell us your story. Email wheels@thestar.ca and be sure to use “Eye Candy” in the subject line.

FAMILY PHOTOS Laura Murray, husband Wayne and the new Ned, whose parts were sourced from the old Ned.

Laura’s donor car was her dad’s, the original Ned. “I had to set my emotions aside when it became clear Ned was in very poor condition.”