For the first time, Chilliwack resident Kevin Mindel is bringing his one-of-a-kind 1968 Mercury Cougar Fastback GT-P car to the 91原创 Good Times Cruise-In on Saturday, Sept. 7.
Named 'Predator,' the car was never produced but a car that Ford should have made.
Mindel credits JF Launier of JF Kustoms in Osoyoos for the vision and creation of the car.
They met about four years a go and Launier pitched the idea.
"As a collector, I could see the uniqueness of this custom car and jumped on the opportunity to invest in this project," Mindel said, adding that Launier already had a reputation of award-winning, custom-built vehicles.
At first, Mindel admits the project was just to add another cool car to his collection. But as they finished up the car, he felt it should be entered into car shows 鈥� particularly the one in Detroit for a chance to win a Covenant Great 8.
"I wanted to have this car appear as if it had been built in 1968 as a concept car kept in hiding until now," he said.
Predator is powered by an aluminum Kaase Boss 9, 529 cubic inch, 770 horsepower, and pushed through a Tremec transmission on a one-off custom engineered suspension system, Mindel explained.
The interior, trim, badging, head and tail light bezels, and intake manifold are all one-off CNC designs through 3D printing, hand painting, and real with wood in the console and dashboard.
"All the efforts from everyone involved, with their amazing craftmanship proved to be a winner. Our car Predator was awarded with one of the prestigious Great 8's in this year's Detroit Autorama car show," Mindel said.
Predator has been in two other shows 鈥� the Grand Champion in Toronto and the Spokane Cup in Washington 鈥� and now will be on display at the Cruise-In car show in Aldergrove.
"It's only been shown three times since being finished earlier this year, and I'm excited to finally show it here at home," Mindel said.
Mindel has been a collector of nostalgic things for as long as he can remember. His car collection has grown to more than 90 cars, which includes 56 movie cars.
"Most are replicas, but I do have a few screen used movie cars," he said.
Along with his son, he operates BC DeLorean and rent out the replica movie cars for conventions, special occasions, and movies.
Their DeLorean Time Machine was recently used in the movie "Still" on Apple TV.
"Having these cars has really opened the door for opportunities, memories, and above all meeting great new people. Seeing the excitement in everyone's eyes when they first see one of our cars makes it all worth it."
Cruise-In is open to spectators from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. along Fraser Highway between 264 and 272 Streets.
