Kelowna Museums giving W.A.C. Bennett's Cadillac away to a good home

Admittedly, it's not a very dignified resting place for the limousine that used to drive Premier W.A.C. Bennett around in his final term in office.

This piece of BC history, this provincial artifact, is in the City of Kelowna's works yard, parked up against a chain link fence.

"All three of our museums are downtown and we just don't have the space to get the car -- it's almost 20 feet long, after all --inside one of our museums," said Jillian Povarchook, executive director of Kelowna Museums Society.

"And we feel we just couldn't display a 1968 Cadillac Fleetwood limousine outside in a public location. It would be too big a risk and too much upkeep. We need to find it a good home."

Kelowna Museums has been home for the low-slung limo since the early 1990s.

Kelowna was considered the ideal caretaker for the Caddy because W.A,C., affectionately known as 'Wacky', was from Kelowna, was Kelowna's MLA and was the longest-service premier in BC's history (1952-72).

But, in the more than three decades the Fleetwood has been in the museum's possession, it was never really displayed and the museum was at a loss of what to do with it.

It hasn't been driven in about 15 years and before that it was only loaned out the the Bennett family a few times for special occasions and it was used as the limousine for Queen Elizabeth when she stopped in Kelowna briefly in 1983.

"Per museum ethics, when we want to find a new home for an artifact or exhibition, we try to find another public institution that's willing to take it," explained Povarchook.

"Ideally, we'd like that public institution to be as close to Kelowna as possible. If we exhaust all those options, it could go to public auction."

Since Kelowna Museums put word of the Cadillac on the BC Museums Association's 'listserv' portal last week, a few institutions have expressed interest.

Povarchook wasn't at liberty to say what institutions.

The Cadillac was the third and final limousine used to spirit W.A.C. around the province during his 20 year tenure as premier.

Povarchook doesn't know where the first two limos are.

W.A.C., which, by the way, stands for William Andrew Cecil, didn't like to fly.

So, he relied on chauffeur-driven limo to criss-cross BC on official business.

The log book for the Caddy during a particularly hectic spring and summer in 1971 shows trips to and from and between Parksville, Prince Rupert, Terrace, Smithers, Vanderhoof, Williams Lake, Kamloops, Osoyoos, Trail, Kimberley, Fernie, Fairmont, Revelstoke, Merritt, Lillooet, Chilliwack, Maple Ridge, Manning Park, Vancouver, Manning Park, Burnaby, Kelowna, Surrey, Hope and Creston.

Phew.

Povarchook describes the Cadillac as an "impressive specimen."

"It's in good shape," she said.

"With some work on the motor, it could easily run again and with some elbow grease it could look really good again."

When Social Credit Premier W.A.C. lost the provincial election in 1972 to Dave Barrett's NDP, the limousine remained with the government.

In 1982, it was transferred to the BC Museum of Transportation in New Westminster.

When that museum closed, its entire collection was handed over to the Royal BC Museum in Victoria.

It was the Royal BC that gave Kelowna Museums the Cadillac in the early 1990s.

W.A.C. was born in New Brunswick in 1900 and died in Kelowna in 1979.

Before getting into politics he owned a Kelowna-based chain of five hardware stores and was the co-founder of Calona Wines, BC's first winery.

During his 20 years as premier, W.A.C. oversaw unparalleled economic growth with expansion of the BC highways network, pushing the Pacific Great Eastern Railway northward, building two major hydroelectric projects on the Peace and Columbia rivers and creating BC Hydro and BC Ferries all while being fiscally conservative so that the government operated largely debt-free.

W.A.C.'s son, Bill, would also go on to be Kelowna MLA, Social Credit leader and premier from 1975-86.

W.A.C. was also in the news recently because the mansion he lived in, and where Bill was raised, at 1988 Bowes St. in Kelowna (near the intersection of Ethel Street and Sutherland Avenue) has been listed for sale for $3 million.