Muirhead ‘a classic car guy’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/09/2024 (561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CARBERRY — It’s a tale of three Carberry classics, counting the cars and the collector.

About 45 minutes east of Brandon, are a 1980 Cadillac Eldorado, a 1984 Chevrolet Corvette C4 and Ray Muirhead — the man who keeps them in the same shape they were in the day they rolled off the assembly line 40 years ago.

“I’ve always liked classic cars,” Muirhead said. “In the early ’80s back in the day, I would buy what we called beaters, so I’ve had them all, Camaros, Mustangs and Chevelles.

“But I especially like the big floater vehicles like the Buick Riviera, Lincoln, Oldsmobile Toronado and the Cadillac Eldorado.

“They were all based on the same kind of lines, except the Cadillac had the best sharp lines, and just the name — Cadillac Eldorado — I’ve always liked that.”

Muirhead has had his 1980 Cadillac Eldorado V-8 engine for 25 years — “the longest I have ever owned a car,” he said. It’s a purchase he was able to make thanks to his wife, Lorna.

It was 1999 and Muirhead was leaving a grocery store in Brandon’s Shoppers Mall when he noticed an advertisement on a bulletin board.

“I rounded the corner and right in the middle of the whole panel was this white Cadillac. And when I looked closer, he wanted $2,900. I wanted that car, but I had to go to work, shift work at Carnation Foods. So, I called my wife.

Lorna and Ray have been married for 35 years and have three grown daughters, but at the time, “the girls were little,” Lorna said. “So, I got a sitter and went to see it with my brother-in-law.

“I called Ray and said, it’s beautiful, do you want me to buy it? And he said ‘yes!’”

So, when Muirhead got off work, he said, “there it was sitting in the driveway.”

Over the last 25 years, the Caddy has taken the family on many road trips, and always in the lap of luxury, said Muirhead.

“The interior is a cobalt blue velvet, it’s just like riding on a comfortable couch,” he said. “One of my daughters says it’s as smooth as white silk.”

“I’ve threatened to sell it a couple of times over the years, but once I take it out, I think no, because I’ve never been in a vehicle that rides that nice.

“But I don’t like to go too far because everything is still original.

“There’s not a chip on the windshield, everything’s good and I want to keep it that way. Going through construction and I get a chip in the windshield? That would be me, making up new swear words,” Muirhead said as he laughed.

Muirhead’s most recent vehicle purchase happened last spring when he wasn’t looking to buy, but rather to sell.

“I made a horse trade for the Corvette several months ago with my old Ford truck,” he said. “I had my 1975 Ford F350 1 Ton truck for sale to either trade for a car, truck, classic car or truck of equal value. And the guy phoned me and says, ‘I have this old Corvette.’ We went back and forth, and long story short, I thought, why not?”

The 1984 Chevrolet Corvette C4 is silver, which Muirhead said his daughters have nicknamed the “silver bullet.”

Muirhead’s fourth-generation sports car was brought up from Mesa, Ariz., and has 54,000 miles on it. A few of the distinctive features include a rear hatchback glass window and a targa roof, which some people confuse with a T-roof. But the targa is a removable section of roof with no bar in the middle.

The engine is a 350 V-8 crossfire injection with a “Doug Nash 4+3” manual transmission. Nash was a well-known hotrod racer in Detroit in the 1960s. After he retired, he developed the manual transmission for General Motors’ Corvette for the C4’s 1984-88 model years.

The “4+3” transmission is a four-speed manual with an overdrive unit that engages in second, third and fourth, giving a total of seven ratios.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, Muirhead said he has never seen anything quite like the interior with the digital liquid crystal display.

“It looks like that TV show ‘Knight Rider,’ way ahead of its time.”

Muirhead retired in 2016 but started his political career in 1989. He served on Carberry town council for two three-year terms, and was elected mayor in October 2022.

And all along, he said, “I’ve been a classic car guy.”

“Lorna and I have gone on a few trips, and I like this Corvette. But I have to laugh because I used to be the young guy, and when I saw old, grey-haired guys driving cars like these I thought, there’s a guy with a midlife crisis.

“Now, guess what? I’m that guy,” Muirhead said as he laughed. “Good thing the side window is factory-tinted, so nobody can tell it’s me when I’m driving up the street.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

» X: @enviromichele