Summer road trips peak when you’re ten years old because you’ve just broken out of the jail known as school—anything you did after that was pure freedom.
In late June 1965, my dad drove his trusty ’63 Plymouth 4-door sedan from Red Deer, Alberta Canada to Clandeboye, Manitoba—it was his last year with the ‘63.
Things were going great until the Plymouth’s hood ripped off.
Jerry Sutherland
Jim and I were happy to tag along on this road trip back in ’65 because Clandeboye was a cool place to visit. Our Great-Uncle Art was a very laid-back old dude and Great-Aunt Myrtle indulged kids to the next level.
They lived on the original Sutherland family homestead that was pieced off 200 years ago when the Red River Colony was started near Selkirk, Manitoba.
My dad really loosened up on these vacations because he spent his high school years on the farm during the Depression. The farm meant a lot to him, plus this was a place where a couple of ten-year-old kids could really cut loose in the great outdoors.
In other words, it was the rural equivalent of Disneyland. You could fish for catfish right across the road from the farm and Winnipeg Beach was just down the highway.
There were many adventures—including the time I came close to crashing the ’63 Plymouth in the alley beside the Clandeboye general store. Jim talked me into it and the only way I stopped it from piling into another car was by slamming the park lever down. I never forgot that trick
Uncle Art (a former Winnipeg police officer) didn’t rat me out to my dad—he was just worried I’d take off without him. That’s the kind of cool guy he was.
That’s a long introduction to this road trip. Jim and I wanted to recapture that road trip back in ’65—and do it in the road warrior 1963 Plymouth.
Car guys will definitely understand the old Plymouth part because nostalgia is the heartbeat of the car hobby. That’s the simple logic behind this road trip—relive a classic moment.
The one thing that doesn’t need to be relived is the hood incident. My dad was with the Alberta Highway Patrol, so he always drove like he was in a high-speed chase—even on vacation.
He was pushing 85 miles per hour into an insane wind and rainstorm near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on the Trans Canada Highway. A semi went by and that was enough to rip the single-latch hood up and off the Plymouth.
My dad was a total pro, so he didn’t move his hands a bit when the hood hung up over the windshield and eventually sailed over the roof to land about half a mile behind the car.
He had the hood welded back on—Jim and I thought the Plymouth looked hot rod-like cool without a hood, but Dad wasn’t sold on that idea.
This 2025 run did have an incident—but it was nowhere near the hood incident 60 years ago. The alternator bearings gave up in Brooks, Alberta and thanks to some very talented and incredibly helpful guys (Dave and Bob) the alternator was fixed.
They did this work long after the store was closed—that’s the kind of service you never see in 2025. For the record, the business is Allied Distributors Ltd.–they deserve more than a plug. They deserve a car guy medal of honor.
You’ll see more stuff about this road trip—I just wanted to explain why it’s important even if Father’s Day was last week.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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