Prince Albert man shares stories and laughs from last 50 years of restoring cars

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“Lots of chrome.” 

For the love of the Vic

Prince Albert man shares stories and laughs from last 50 years of restoring cars

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Holmes pride and joy is a 1956 Crown Victoria that he painted a bright lime green. Part of what made the Crown Vic such a special car during its two year production in 1955-56 was a special glass top.

“This wasn’t a Crown Vic, this was a two-door hard top, and I converted the stuff over and then some people in Vancouver will make me that glass top. So I’ve converted probably a half a dozen that way.”

While the Crown Vic has always had his eye, there’s another car in his fleet that Holmes took a special liking to. 

Holmes’ 1958 Plymouth Fury that he has restored to look just like the same car from the 1983 film ‘Christine’. (Image Credit: Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

In 1983, director John Carpenter released the film Christine, a movie where the show’s protagonist Arnie Cunningham (played by Keith Gordon) buys a 1958 Plymouth Fury named ‘Christine’ that turns out to be a supernatural serial killer. By the end of the movie, ‘Christine’ is killed with a bulldozer. 

When Holmes saw the movie, he felt inspired to find build one of his own from the cars that he had on his lot and paint it the same cherry red as the iconic car from the film. 

“I would never have done it if I didn’t see the movie. Same color, identical car, except it don’t have an interior like that because my same guy sold that interior for this. I think they wrecked about 17 or 18 cars doing the movie.” 

The one difference from Holmes’ 1958 Plymouth Fury: the seats, which swivel to allow passengers to step out of the car easier. (Image Credit: Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

Through car shows and searching for parts around North America, Holmes believes he knows every Crown Victoria owner out there. During their two years of production in 1955-56, there were only 1,999 Crown Victorias made with the glass transparent top, and only 603 Crown Victoria Skyliners convertibles, and many of those have been parted out to restore others. 

Holmes used to travel to Arkansas regularly for car shows and parts pickups, and that’s where he found his 1957 Ford Fairlane convertible.  

“I broke down in Iowa and that’s how I met this guy. He was a car guy too, and he actually found it because he knew that I was looking for one. So he drug it out of the drainage ditch and I went down with a truck and a trailer and brought the body home, and then just bought another. We did this with Crown Victorias forever, you buy another car that isn’t rusty and make one out of two.” 

While travelling to Arkansas to pick up another car, Holmes stumbled upon this 1957 Ford Fairlane convertible in a drainage ditch before bringing it home and restoring it. (Image Credit: Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

While his garage is lined with old auto signs, parts, and even a couple jukeboxes, it’s Holmes’ basement that really has a story to tell. Holmes used to crush a lot of cars at his service station, but he’s kept unique pieces and built up quite a collection. 

Old hood ornaments and inserts from dashboards before radios were standard in cars, matchbooks from Prince Albert businesses that are no longer operating, and ash trays, hats, and other souvenirs from his travels, like a group of model cars sitting on a shelf that are actually a collection of designer bourbon bottles. 

Holmes used to offer his restoration services to other people, but now at the age of 89, he plans to restore what vehicles he has left. He’ll continue to take his different cars out to local car shows, where he’ll be sure to share a few more stories along the way.

More from Holmes’ collection. (Image Credit: Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

The model cars you see in the middle of each shelf are actually old collector’s bourbon bottles. (Image Credit: Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

Old hood ornaments Holmes has collected over the years. Many of the ornaments come from vehicles Holmes crushed himself. (Image Credit: Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

Dash inserts from when radios were not standard in motor vehicles. These were removed from the dash so the luxury of a radio could be added in. (Image Credit: Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com