Man bursts into tears when family, friends fix up late father's classic car

Bill Porter collapsed to his knees and broke into sobs of joyafter getting a 60thbirthday gift that wasmore than four decades in the making.

Friends and family presented the Winnipeg man with a gleaming, gold-coloured 1973 Ford LTD the same car his father took him for a ride in when it was brand new.

His father died a week later.

The car sat in a garage ever sinceby order of Porter's grieving mom. She became protective of it, a connection to her late husband, and never let anyone take it out again.

"She says, 'Make sure no one touches the car. I don't want nobody touching it or anything like that,'" Porter recalled.

When presented to Porter earlier this month,the car's odometerhad just767 miles on it (the adoption of kilometres, and the rest of the metric system, wasstill a few years away in Canada).

"It feels like I am back with him," Porter said.

When Porter was just 15, his father bought the car and brought it home, immediatelyinviting him to go for a ride.

"I could see the pride in my father's face. It was really something to remember," Porter said.

They got ice cream and drove home, where Porter's father parked the car in the garage.

"I get emotional when I talk about it because my dad and I were close," Porter said."I was 15 going on 16, looking forward to dad taking me out and learning to drive, and stuff like that went by the wayside."

Over the years, Porter thought often about the car but never broached the subject with his mom.

"I had to respect my mom's wishes because I guess that was an attachment for her," he said.

After his mother died in 2015, Porter started toying again with the ideaof getting the car road-ready once again and rolling it outbut the ideanever came to fruition.

Friends and familytook it upon themselves to give the old car some TLC and spit shine before surprising him for his birthday.

Between December 2016 and July 2017, they silently worked on the vehicle unbeknownst to Porter. On July 7, the group blindfolded Porter, walked him into a parking lot and told him to wait.

"I had no clue what was going on," Porter said. "I went, 'What the heck is going on?'"

CBC News Manitoba7:47Family fixes up grandpa's classic car, gifts to dad after decades spent in dusty garage

Bill Porter's family and friends fixed up his father's 1973 Ford LTD and gifted to him recently for his 60th birthday. Porter's father bought the car in the 1970s and died a week later. It remained in a garage until this month.

In front of a crowd of loved ones, Porter removed the blindfold to see the sparkling, nearly new vintage car. He dropped tohis knees crying, stunned to see his father's old vehicle polished like new.

After a false start, Porter's next tentative turn of the ignition key led to the magical engine rev he's waited to hear again since those final days of his father's life.

"Starting this car, in 44 years, is like opening up a door to, wow, ecstasy."

The flood of memories and emotions still overwhelms him weeks later.

"The car is a lot more than an object. The car is an instrument that brought my friends and family together to give me this precious gift," he said.

"I'm not a wealthy man, but I am a wealthy man because I have beautiful family and I have beautiful friends. And a beautiful car."

Bill Porter takes late father's 1973 Ford LTD a spin after 44 years spent off road

7 years ago

Duration 0:26

Bill Porter's family and friends fixed up his later father's 1973 Ford LTD in the lead up to his 60th birthday. It had sat in a garage for more than four decades.

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