Checkered Flag

'I put that on for the drive home because the mask mandates started to change. I considered that a victory.'

Screen capture from a video recorded by Sam the mechanic 26 February 2022.

When mild-mannered Guy, the owner of the vintage Mack, found his truck inside the impound lot, his first reaction was profanity. In a video recorded at the time, he mutters “Now this is how respectful these cops are. They broke my f**king flag on the back.” The red-and-white maple leaf that had traveled with him from the Maritimes was gone. So was his Nova Scotia flag. He says a police officer told him they’d been “thrown in the dumpster with the other garbage.”

It was an overcast, snowy Friday. Sam the mechanic, also from Nova Scotia, was onsite. They were under time constraints. The impound closed at six. Sam got the Mack started, barely. Guy says he drove out of there with only one headlight and no brakes.

First stop was 20 minutes away. A local business owner had contacted Sam, saying “I’ve got a big compound, here’s my address. Have everything towed here.” Sam remembers hearing that the government froze the businessman’s bank accounts - but he’d already transferred funds elsewhere beforehand, leaving no more than a few cents in each one.

“We got there and I put a battery on the passenger floor” of Guy’s truck, says Sam. “Got the headlights going, got a blower motor. We took two liters of water out of the air tank so it would actually build air.”

Late the next day they arrived at a garage in Quebec, an hour past Montreal. A family business that specializes in Mack trucks. There they experienced another pivotal cultural exchange. Prior to the Freedom Convoy, Sam says he considered French Canadians rude. “The way they carry on, the way they speak.”

But being welcomed into that garage made him recognize the “generational pride” involved. The shop was immaculate, he says. “The clipboards have been on that same peg for 60 years. Everything had its place and for a reason. And if it wasn't in its place, somebody was going to hear about it.”

Guy explains, “They're Mack people. When they buy a new Mack, they take the floor mats out and put other floor mats in cuz they don't want your feet on a Mack emblem. And these guys are precise.”

Sam says the garage “took apart all the wiring, took the wiring harness out, went over to a brand spanking new truck that had never seen the highway - that grandpa bought in 1986. They color matched, and put Guy's Mack right back to factory layout.”

“All my gauge lights work now,” Guy smiles. “All the switches work proper.”

On their way to that Quebec garage, Mike’s yellow Freightliner developed its own mechanical issue. Sam says the Mack garage

hired a service truck. Eight hours he was there. Done Mike’s all up. Wouldn’t take any money.

Couldn’t get the part. The guy made the part in the palm of his hand. Couldn’t speak a lick of English. I got pictures of him, and his son. He brought his son on the repair because, you know, wee hours of the morning, trying to get us back on the road so we could finally get home to our own families.

Soon Guy, Mike, and Sam were behind the wheel again. Around 9 pm on Sunday, Guy thanked the garage owners “for all the work on the truck, food and a place to stay.” He wouldn’t be posting anything further on Facebook, he said, until he hit the Nova Scotia border.

Rolling down that highway, Guy was flying a new flag. The chequered black and white. In racing circles, it means a vehicle has triumphantly crossed the finish line. He explains:

I put that on for the drive home because the mask mandates and other things started to change. I considered that a victory. The funny thing is people were asking if there’s anything we needed. So I mentioned to a couple people that I’d like to have a checkered flag that we can use if we win. So I actually have about 15 more checkered flags because people just started bringing them.