Another clip from dad

Last month, I posted a clip from my dad's TV series, Klahanie - The Great Outdoors. When I was growing up, dad was a monster with a 16mm film camera. Most people -- if they shot home movies at all -- used an 8mm piece, but dad bought a professional-model 16mm piece of equipment, which he used, among other things, to shoot stock footage for Klahanie. The camera would often travel in the trunk of our car, and if dad saw something, he'd pull over, whip the camera out, and fire off several feet of film. On top of it all, he recorded a lot of my growing-up with this camera, and in the 90s, he edited his favorite bits together and had them transferred onto VHS tape.

Much of it is probably like watching paint dry, but the clips do stir up memories. Interestingly, some of the incidents I remember from watching on the screen, but many of them I remember from my own perspective at the time.

Tucked away on this "keepsake" tape, which I rediscovered while digitizing it to make DVDs for dad, is this clip of rather historical interest. In 1965, Stirling Moss (now Sir Stirling, OBE) visited Vancouver. Not sure why, but it was a big media event, and the major photo-op was held at Westwood Raceway in Coquitlam. The track is long-gone, replaced by housing developments and a golf course, inter alia. So Stirling, who had retired in 1962, was to put on a racing display in a Lotus (I think it was). And who better to race against him than BC's Minister of Highways, Phil Gaglardi?

Why would I say, "who better"? Because Gaglardi got the nickname "Flyin' Phil" for good reason: a notoriously leaden foot on the accelerator. He had received at least one speeding ticket at the time, and I remember a newspaper headline, "Gaglardi 'Like A Bloody Maniac,' Cop Says".

Dad was at the media event. I'm pretty sure he shot at least some of this footage (although I do see him in one of the shots, so this may be a mix or someone else was using his camera), and that would explain how he came to have it. Anyway ... enjoy!

One more thing ... the graphic says "1966". I'm pretty sure it was '65. My bad.