Heaven on wheels
Proud owner says restoring cars is just like ‘going to heaven’
Alyn Edwards speaks with a Vancouver
man who knows what he likes
Nahar Sidhu was leafing through the local newspaper during his lunch break at the Richmond plywood mill where he works when the photo of an old car in a classified ad caught his attention.
He’s been enamoured with cars ever since he emigrated from India’s Punjab State in 1959. He was just 10 and entered elementary school not knowing any English.
From day one, he loved the cars he had never seen before. After raising a family and 40 years working in the forest industry, his search for a 1963 Pontiac like his first car proved to be fruitless.
But the car advertised in the Richmond newspaper was a good second choice. The 1978 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale was the kind of car he had admired when it was new. He dialed the number in the ad.
The for-sale Olds had been purchased on the showroom floor at Legion Motors in Mission — east of Vancouver — by Fraser Valley chicken farmer Abraham Van Dorp. The mid-size Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale was ordered with every option excluding a power sunroof.
When the first owner died eight years after purchasing the car, it was passed on to his wife and then his son. The son drove it sparingly, then put it away in an unused chicken barn on the family farm in Abbotsford where it remained for more than 15 years
Nahar bought the advertised Olds for $2,800.
“It looked pretty good and it was love at first sight.”
That was until he lifted the carpets out. He felt sick.
“There was no floor and I was scared. What am I going to do with it now?” he recalls thinking. “No one remanufactures floor pans for these cars.”
The tide turned when he found a metal fabricator to weld in new floor pans for $800.
“From there, it was on to the bodywork and then I got the interior lined up,” he says.
The restoration roller coaster brought the total cost of the car up to $20,000. Yet the owner remains philosophical.
“This car cost me just as much or more than a restored car. But I love restoring cars and it’s what I wanted and how I wanted it,” Sidhu says.
The bodywork and the stunning paint job in the original medium blue metallic colour were done by Harry Dhaliwal of Best Choice Collision, not far from where Nahar bought the car in Abbotsford.
The interior was completely redone, from carpets to headliner, by Martin Collins of Rags to Riches. Parts of the original interior were re-dyed and used along with re-dyeing the vinyl roof to its original colour.
But Sidhu changed the velour seats to vinyl which he finds more appealing.
The car was in good shape mechanically with only the need to rebuild the carburetor, reseal the V8 engine and install a complete new exhaust system.
The Delta 88 was Oldsmobile’s flagship model and the marque’s bestseller. The Royale was the top of the line model.
Sidhu had friend Andrew Smidt help locate new parts for the car on the Internet, including the special ‘Royale’ emblems and plastic filler pieces between the bumpers and the body.
When the restoration of the car was completed last year, Sidhu drove it to the special interest vehicle show in downtown New Westminster.
“I intend to keep the car and, when I retire, take it to more car shows both here and across the border,’ he says with pride. “My wife likes the car although it’s too big for her to drive. She is happy because I’m happy. My granddaughter loves it when I pick her up at school in the car. It’s going to be hers someday.”
The restored car has travelled just 114,000 kilometres since new — just over 3,000 kilometres per year.
Sidhu is the only one in his family that has had anything to do with old cars.
“Everyone knows I’m a car fanatic and I can tell the make and model of cars as far back as the 1950s,” he says, adding that to him, restoring a classic car or owning one is a beautiful thing and is like going to heaven.
“I think everyone should be doing it. You can never go wrong and you can be happy that you restored it yourself,” he says.
But every old car doesn’t need restoration. He just picked up a 1990 Oldsmobile Delta Royale from the original owner that has travelled only 85,000 kilometres — just over 3,000 kilometres a year. It too is fully optioned. And the floor pans are just fine.