Couple has classic cruisers at either end of journey
Long- distance trucking ensures North Vancouver pair can ride with other enthusiasts year round
They exchanged business cards on a train going across Canada but didn’t get together for five years. He was a long- distance trucker living in Vancouver. She was a university teacher from Bellingham, Wash.
Now happily married for more than a decade, John and Carolyn Stinn have the best cruising lifestyle on both sides of the border. They truck between their North Vancouver highrise condo and swimming pool- equipped home in Tucson, Ariz. Best of all, they have classic cruisers at both ends of the journey.
As active members of the North Shore Rod and Custom Club, they join others for spring, summer and fall cruising in the Vancouver area with their radically customized 1951 Chevrolet convertible and Harley Davidson Classic motorcycle.
When they are at their Arizona home, they are active with the Tucson Street Rodders Association – one of the state’s oldest car clubs. Their garage down there holds another custom motorcycle, a restored 1929 Ford Model A pickup truck and the vehicle John Stinn drives every day in the south – a customized 1941 Ford pickup. Carolyn Stinn has her topdown cruiser – a 1989 Mercedes- Benz 560SL convertible.
John has always been drawn to cars and equipment. And he loves to drive his refrigerated produce- hauling tractor trailer unit, racking up more than six million kilometres over a 45- year career.
One of 13 children, his first job in his hometown of Vernon was as a lot boy for Watkins Motors — Canada’s oldest Ford dealership. John and his teenage pal John “Bunny” Pasashnik later signed on with the circus and, when it left town, so did they, travelling throughout B. C. before leaving in Prince George to get better jobs. Stinn went on to apprentice at an auto body repair and paint shop.
His first car was an Americanbuilt 1954 Ford Crestline sedan with a 6- cylinder engine and overdrive transmission. He customized the car and hopped up the engine with a split manifold dual exhaust system and other modifications.
He learned to drive highway trucks while travelling with a golf course landscaping company, and bought his first highway hauler at the age of 22. He traded his nearly new black 1962 Mercury hardtop to Fred Palmu as a down payment on the truck. It was a 1957 Kenworth called Lil Brown Jug that became very well known on West Coast highways, rolling more than three million kilometres to California and Mexico and as far north as Yukon.
He made many trips hauling produce direct to Prince Rupert. He recalls getting a big hug from the produce manager at a Prince Rupert grocery store who was used to getting shipments that were weeks old. The manager remarked: “So this is what produce is supposed to look like”.
John’s company prospered under his management with up to 33 trucks on the road. But a heart attack and lifestyle change put him back in the driver’s seat as an owner/ operator.
Carolyn is his co- pilot and health monitor.
“We don’t eat at truck stops,” she says. “I prepare healthy meals in the truck or we often stop for picnics.” The truck sleeper unit has bunk beds, a microwave, refrigerator and a freezer. They are back and forth to Arizona at least once a month. But they often spend down time at their home in Tucson or in their North Vancouver condo with an amazing view of Vancouver’s harbour and skyline.
And then it’s cruising time. “We like to go to the cruise nights and often go cruising to the bigger events in Phoenix when people come down to visit,” John enthuses. Because Carolyn used to live in Bellingham, they discovered the one- family- owned 1941 Ford pickup truck there. The truck represents the year John was born. The old Ford truck was brought to Jimmy’s Rod Shop in Pitt Meadows to be restored and customized. The 70- year- old pickup features air conditioning, power steering, disc brakes and windows. The sharp pickup has been driven nearly 50,000 kilometres. It is painted dark toreador red metallic and is called Lil Bordeaux Jug.