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Southern Irrigation has mysterious plan for Chilliwack’s famous pink car

The company that bought the old Pick-a-Part lot plans on having some fun with the landmark
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Southern Irrigation signage has gone up under Chilliwack’s famous pink car in recent days, leading locals to wonder what fate awaits the landmark. (Facebook)

The folks at Southern Irrigation are being cagey about it, but something’s up with the pink car.

The Chilliwack-based company has purchased the old Pick-a-Part lot, and with it the Plymouth Duster that has served as a local landmark since 1990. Travellers have long heralded their arrival in Chilliwack by spotting the car that sits atop signage near the Lickman Road exit. Since the Southern Irrigation sign went up a few days ago, people have been less concerned with the exciting expansion of a local company and more concerned with that car.

“I would say, stay tuned to find out what the fate of the car is going to be,” said Southern Irrigation partner/co-owner Jeff Oostenbrink mysteriously. “Follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/Southernirrigationcanada) and Instagram (@southernirrigation) and you’re going to see frequent updates. We’re making a game out of it.”

Pressed, Oostenbrink offered this hint.

“You’ll see more frequent posts as we add to the mystery and it’s going to be fun,” he said. “We’re pretty big on supporting the community. We saw we had this car and said, ‘Hey, we have an opportunity to raise some money for our community here, so let’s do something with that.’”

Southern Irrigation will be moving out of the space they’re currently in at 44160 Yale Road West. Oostenbrink said the current space, about 16,000 square feet, has become extremely cramped and they’re losing a lot of money each year to inefficiencies.

“We’ll be going to seven acres and a much bigger building,” he said. “We’ll be able to operate better and it hopefully gives us the room to grow for the next 10 years or more.”

One might think the former site of an automotive recycler would need serious remediation before it could be used, but Oostenbrink said the former owner, John Davy, was very conscientious about his oil-handling processes. The property has a certificate of compliance from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

“It’s clean and we’re ready to build,” Oostenbrink said. “In 10 months we hope to have a building up.”

Southern Irrigation’s current building has already been sold, but Oostenbrink would not say to whom.

Even as the company upgrades its Chilliwack headquarters it’s also expanding elsewhere. New buildings are due to open in Kamloops and Woodstock, ON. The company currently has locations in Oliver, Kamloops and Williams Lake.

See southernirrigation.com for more info.

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The Pick-a-Part car has welcomed travellers to Chilliwack for 30-plus years. (Eric J. Welsh/ Chilliwack Progress)


Eric Welsh

About the Author: Eric Welsh

I joined the Chilliwack Progress in 2007, originally hired as a sports reporter.
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