Jeanette Arsenault’s love for cars extends beyond her appreciation for a sleek chassis or powerful engine.
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love → extend → chassis
It’s rooted in childhood nostalgia.
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It → root → nostalgia
The Seagrave, Ont., woman explains why cars — her Chevelle in particular — are so important to her.
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cars → explain → her
My mom used to take me to stock car races at Westgate Speedway in Peterborough starting when I was 6.
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I → use → Peterborough
Mom enjoyed the excitement.
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Mom → enjoy → excitement
I loved the speed, the sound, the smell of the track.
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I → love → track
I have a picture of when I was a kid, of me in driver Mike Bricknell’s arms.
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I → have → arms
He raced a 1969 Chevelle.
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He → race → Chevelle
When I was a teenager, my then-boyfriend had a car and we started working on them together, and I started asking questions about how to do things.
My first car was a 1975 Chevy Nova.
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car → have → things
I liked the Novas and Chevelles, and I had a Beaumont and a Monte Carlo.
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I → like → Beaumont
I loved the style of them.
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I → love → them
I’ve owned quite a few vehicles, including hot rods like the Nova and Monte Carlo SS.
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I → own → Nova
When I became a mom, I had mom vehicles, but once the kids got older, I was back into hot rods.
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I → become → rods
About 35 years ago, an older gentleman, Dennis Laird, became like a stepdad to me, and his kids became like my siblings.
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kids → become → siblings
He had a 1968 Chevelle.
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He → have → Chevelle
Six years ago, I was delivering a motorcycle engine to a friend’s house in Oshawa, for the bike mechanic she was dating.
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she → deliver → mechanic
I saw Dennis’s Chevelle sitting in the backyard, with flat tires and no headlights.
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Chevelle → see → tires
I knew it was his, from the hood, the scoop and its silver colour.
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it → know → scoop
I bought it, as it seemed it was meant to be.
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it → buy → it
The Chevelle was a body-off restoration, as the frame had to be redone to make it solid.
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it → have → ?
It needed a windshield, floors, fenders, hood, partial quarter panels — the roof, part of the quarter panels and trunk were about the only things that could be salvaged.
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that → need → panels
If there wasn’t a personal history with this car going back 35 years, I wouldn’t have bothered restoring it, but I wanted to bring it back to life.
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I → be → life
I put it away for two years before I started working on it.
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I → put → it
My partner, Mark, was a welder-fabricator and was helping me restore it, until he passed away five years ago.
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he → help → it
The car was in pieces, but some of it had been mocked up.
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some → mock → it
Mark had taught me the basics of welding, and I could hear him in my head, telling what to do.
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him → teach → what
I spent many nights in the shop crying, thinking, “You can’t do this.”
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You → spend → this
I did at least 80 per cent of the restoration on my own.
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I → do → own
I had friends come over to help when I wanted to put the body and hood on.
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I → have → body
For old Chevelles and Camaros, parts are pretty easy to source.
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parts → source → Chevelles
It had manual brakes and I put power brakes in it, but it still has manual steering.
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it → put → steering
The first couple of years, it had the same motor it had when Dennis owned it.
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Dennis → have → it
A race-driver friend had a 358-sprint race motor (a small-block V8 engine) and that’s in it now.
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that → have → it
It’s a lot more powerful than the last engine.
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It → ’ → engine
The rumble and the sound make you go “Wow!”
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you → make → ?
I love it because a lot of people ask, “Do you know how to drive that thing?”
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you → love → thing
Yes, I do.
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I → do → ?
I store it in winter but bring it out in spring and drive it until late fall.
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I → store → fall
I drive it anywhere and everywhere, and I live on a gravel road.
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I → drive → road
When I’m not driving it, my daily drive is a 2022 GMC Sierra pickup.
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drive → drive → it
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
