1990 - 2005

After spending a few years moving around the province, I ended up living back on Vancouver Island once again.  In June of 1990, I ran into Harry Blackstaff while in the Safeway store in Ladysmith.  Harry told me that the old White was up for sale once again and that I should see if I could buy it.  I told him that the price was way out of line and was not worth pursuing.  But Harry said the owner wanted to sell and I had better go and have a look.  I went back to the second hand store and was heartbroken to see the old shed was empty, and the Mighty White was gone!  I tracked down Mr. Bomford and he told me that he was indeed serious about selling.  He said the price was down to $6500, and he still had the car, but it had been moved as he had lost his storage. I drove with my wife and three year old son to the place in Duncan where he had the car stored and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the poor old car.  There it sat, out in the rain, completely uncovered without even a tarp over it.  It looked pretty sad.

1990
Twenty-three years later, another young son helped dad bring the White home to the Bell household
  I was encouraged however when my wife, not a true-blooded old car person, remarked that it looked a lot better than she expected.  My son looked out the car window, and remarked “I like that old car Dad, I think that should be MY old car!”  It did look pretty rough though, and I contacted the owner and told him that I would give him $4000 because the White had sentimental value to me. I also mentioned that I was the only one that would buy it with all the problems, and that if it stayed outside much longer, I wouldn’t want it either. 

He accepted my offer although he would not budge below $4100 - $4000 for the car and $100 to pay his phone bill!

Harry and Jimmy Blackstaff gave me a hand to trailer the White Back home, and I got it running in time to drive in the 1990 Malahat Challenge tour.  Over the next ten years I slowly started to repair things and to replace items that were not correct.  I didn’t get out as often as I would have liked to, but family and career can get in the way.  I did manage to go on the Malahat Challenge tour every year until it was folded.  During these years I did a lot of research, and through some amazing coincidences was able to track down Bill Calder’s daughter who was living in New Westminster.  This lady was very enthusiastic and helpful.  I traveled to her home and we looked through her old family albums and found some excellent photos of the White taken from 1914 through to 1925.  I also went to the provincial archives and was able to find the White in the motor vehicle records showing that in 1913 the White was registered to Stephen Tingley of Ashcroft B.C. 1990s
In 1990 the White was back in the Bell family and on the Malahat Tour.

The Mighty White is still pretty rough around the edges, and I hope to be able to continue to improve it until she is all restored to the level I think is deserved.  I have been able to replace most of the incorrect parts and the only major stumbling block left is the replacement of the fenders, but this is in the works.  It is easy to remain motivated though, because almost forty years after being brought back to life, the Mighty White is still a strong-running, reliable car.

If anyone has any photos of the White from the past, or any anecdotes or additions or corrections for this story, I would certainly be pleased to hear from you.

Fred Bell     (Email: fb-svc@shaw.ca )
13436 Adshead Road
Ladysmith, B.C.   V9G-1H6
250-245-7644