John Dolliver was a young car guy who was willing to ensure the car hobby would be left in good hands with his generation.
John had just graduated from high school in 2016 and wanted to pursue a career as a mechanic.
John also wanted to restore his rusted 1993 Dodge truck back to its former glory with his father Scott, so the two of them began to assemble parts for the project last year.
Unfortunately, the restoration dream ended for John when he was a passenger in a motor vehicle accident that claimed his young life on July 1st {Canada Day), 2016.
There is no way for us here at MSCC to realistically understand how the death of a child devastates a parent but we do understand how a vehicle can honor the memory of a departed car guy.
A scholarship named in John’s name was established to help fund young people who chose to pursue the same dream as John to become a mechanic. The scholarship fund has grown remarkably and has become John’s legacy for future generations of young people who will benefit from his scholarship.
Scott and Tammy Dolliver also tackled another project to honor their son: finish John’s truck project. The community rallied around the family and now John’s truck is back on the road. The ’93 Dodge was the flagship for the 1st annual John Dolliver Memorial Car/Truck show held on June 24 in Red Deer, Alberta.
The show was a fundraiser for John’s scholarship and attracted a large collection of vehicles ranging from cars to big rigs. John’s first show was a big success and will ensure the legacy of this young car guy will be around for a long time.
There was an interesting array of vehicles at John’s show and we were able to interview of few of them for future MSCC stories.
An unusual 1996 Ford Crown Victoria got our attention because it was an RCMP vehicle that was decked out in a retro black and white paint job from a bygone era for this Canadian police force. The black and white paint scheme has not been used by the RCMP for many decades and we will explain why this Crown Vicky (still in service) has the retro paint in a future MSCC article.
A 1985 Olds Calais 500 also had decals on its doors. This particular ’85 Olds was one of about 3000 cars that wore the same badges and decals as the official pace car of the 1985 Indy 500. Its owner will explain why it was considered to be the worst pace car of all time in a future MyStar story.
A 1989 Chrysler TC by Maserati was also at John’s show and the car is a little-known collaboration effort between Chrysler and Maserati that was sold for only three model years between 1989 and ’91. Learn more about these rare cars in a future MSCC piece.
One of the classics in the custom car world is the 1949 Mercury lead sled. These stylish cars became the foundation for one of the most iconic customs ever built after Sam Barris (George’s brother) gave a ’49 Merc a big makeover and started a trend in the car hobby.
We were able to track down the owner of a ’49 Merc lead sled and get the story behind his custom Mercury for a future MSCC article.
A beautiful 1977 Ford pickup truck really grabbed our attention at John’s show and we wanted to get its story before we left the event. Unfortunately, this truck’s current custodians had undergone the same tragic loss of a young son in a motor vehicle accident as the Dolliver family and the ’77 Ford pickup belonged to their 16-year-old son before he was needlessly taken from them by a drunk driver.
Their son Robert had the same dream as John to restore his truck and the story behind his ’77 Ford will be the subject of a future MSCC feature.
Congratulations to the Dolliver family and all the people behind the success of John’s event.
Jim Sutherland
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