You might almost call Don Kunka a Dr. Frankenstein of sorts. While he didn’t create a monster, he did put some spare pieces together and bring something back to life.
It all began with his son Robert, the youngest of his three children.
“My son came home and said: ‘Dad I’ve got a deal for you’ – and this was the deal,” said Kunka with a chuckle, showing photos of the base pieces of a 1972 Chevrolet CST pickup truck he purchased back around the year 2000.
He bought a chassis, box and a cab, disassembled and in need of work.
Then, from four engines, he had one working engine built to power his truck. Then it needed a transmission, re-upholstering for the seats, he spent time searching out a dashpad to match the colour perfectly, door panels. He found each piece, including the wood to put in the bed of the truck, which was a feature of the original.
From January until June, he put all the pieces slowly back together as they came in and as he found the right parts. Kunka said having to rent a shop at the time helped as extra incentive to keep the project on schedule, but he didn’t find the work hard. While some like to alter the classics during restoration, Kunka said he likes to keep things original.
“I enjoyed every minute,” he said of the six-month project which resulted in a fully restored classic truck he then went on to tour around for a few years. He and his wife June took the truck to car shows on Vancouver Island and the coast, among others.
Finishing the project and ending up with a beautiful truck was satisfying in a way he could’t put into words.
“It’s a good feeling, I’m not sure how to describe it,” he said.
At 70 years old, he isn’t really ready to stop with creating either.
“I was a car guy since I was a kid,” he said, adding he even raced stock cars for a few years when he was younger.
Raised in Manitoba, Kunka was 17 years old when he hitch-hiked west looking for a change, ending up in Williams Lake by chance and starting out with a sawmill in 1971.
He worked at the sawmill until he could save enough for a chain saw.
Then he got a job running chainsaw until he could save enough for a skidder.
Kunka worked as a logging subcontractor for many years, and later purchased Fran Lee Trailer Park, which he only sold and retired from operating less than five years ago.
In Williams Lake, he met his wife June and the couple raised three children – his two sons, Arnie and Robert, both who still live here, and a daughter Kimberley, who lives in Alberta now.
Since he restored the truck, he has had a shop built and also makes all kinds of things out of wood.
“I like to create,” he said, describing some of his projects, from a functional grandfather clock to a spice cupboard.
But the longtime Lakers Car Club member will not be giving up the car projects for all wood.
He’s purchased a 1978 Ford Bronco.
“This is another project, it is completely torn apart,” he said of the Bronco.
But he still won’t be looking to sell the 1972 Chevrolet.
“This is going to stay, guaranteed,” he said with affection.
Kunka and his Chevrolet will be at the Lakers Car Club 2024 Spring Roundup on May 25, on display in downtown Williams Lake, from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
READ MORE: Williams Lake Lakers look to show and shine again in May
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