Friends, family help rebuild dream car for man with terminal cancer
A retired police officer living with terminal cancer who dreamed of owning a Ford Mustang like the one driven by Steve McQueen in the 1968 movie Bullitt has gotten his wish.
Dennis Bell saw his dream car — a rebuilt 1968 Mustang — finished for the first time at the World of Wheels car show in Winnipeg Saturday.
"It's amazing," the 66-year-old told CBC News after walking around the replica with his wife Marleen. "It's so exciting. After a year-and-a-half, to see it at this stage now — it's a very short leap to see it done."
It's been quite a year-and-a-half for Dennis and Marleen.
When Dennis first bought the Mustang, the couple planned a road trip down Route 66 to the Steve McQueen Car Show this summer, a trip they'd also hoped to use as a fundraiser, making stops to raise money for a children's charity along the way.
But then Dennis got some bad news from his mechanic — his dream car wasn't all the seller had been made out to be and the Mustang would need major repairs before hitting the road.
"It was very rough, it was not what the seller had portrayed it as," said Chris Shea, owner of 2Shea Motorsports in Warren, Man., where Dennis had taken his dream car for maintenance. "He bought the car sight unseen and unfortunately it's one of those buyer beware situations.
"It's unfortunate that there's people who take advantage of people like that these days."
And then the cancer Dennis had been battling got worse and the trip to California had to take a backseat.
"That all kind of changed those plans," said Dennis.
'It's his dream'
But his friends and family couldn't let Dennis' dream of one day driving his Mustang fade away.
So his family, along with 2Shea Motorsports and Anola Custom Collision and Glass put in the time and money needed to rebuild the car from scratch, just in time for this weekend's car show in Winnipeg.
Seeing it on display at the show was a bittersweet moment for Marleen.
"It's very hard because it's his dream, and he's been dealing with so much sickness," she said.
Because of the amount of money that had to be put into the car — there's more than $100,000 of work in it — Dennis says he isn't planning on putting the car onto the road.
But that doesn't mean he won't be seen behind the wheel.
The Bells plan on showing off the finished Mustang at an upcoming Winnipeg car show in April, and Shea is hopeful Dennis will be able to drive his dream car off the showroom floor.
"I want to see him put miles on it," said Shea.
"To see someone and you know that that's their dream, or something that they've always wanted to own, and to finally have that opportunity in their life to do so, it's pretty special."
