A vintage Cadillac undergoing extensive restoration work will be used to promote an anti-bullying message when the work is completed this spring.
Dave Fraser, a security consultant who owns the car, said he plans to take it with him and show it when he provides event security.
Fraser, a long-time automobile enthusiast, said he was moved after he heard the story of Port Coquitlam teen Amanda Todd who took her own life in fall after experiencing ongoing cyberbulling. She was 15 years old.
Fraser said the story triggered memories of his own childhood.
“I was always picked on because I was First Nations,” he said.
He added that he hopes the car restoration project will make an impression on younger children so they can learn at an early age that bullying is not acceptable.
“The only way you’re ever going to educate people about bullying is if you start when they are two or three or four,” he said.
The car is a 1962 pink Mary Kay Cosmetics Cadillac. Kreative Kustoms of Summerland is doing the restoration work and numerous local and area sponsors are involved in the project. Names of the sponsors will appear on the vehicle.
Fraser plans to have the first showing of the car in May at a motorcycle rally in Okanagan Falls. He also plans to have it in parades and at other functions.
“I think the awareness has to get out there at a high level, he said.
