It was love at first sight. Radiating perfection across the road from my Glacier, Washington, cabin sat my dream van, the Mitsubishi Delica, with high clearance, four-wheel drive and a diesel engine. In the past, searching for a backlot camper had ended in either compromise or disappointment, but Miss Delica was different with her sporty confidence and British Columbia plates. We could run biodiesel – I fantasized –as we’d roll from powder days to shuttle runs to lakeside campsites. She could be the one. Caught off guard by my reverie, I left my cabin in a flustered rush to make first chair.
Even with the cross-cultural obstacles, this export-import synergy matches Canadians with lightly used vehicles for bargain prices –with shipping, taxes, broker fees and modifications included –as well as access to attractive models, such as the Toyota Hiace, that satisfy an unmet provincial urge for burly mountain vans. Estimates from Transport Canada now place the number of landed right-hand-drive vehicles at more than 70,000, with a burgeoning industry of JDM brokers, dealers, shops and parts suppliers, as well as an online forum –Delica.ca –that includes matchmaking sites for vans and their slightly obsessed owners.
Although I know her issues, I still pine for her. Through my own stalking – or what writers call “research” –I finally scored a blind date with a Delica in the Lower Mainland.
For now she remains on a pedestal, preserving this story as an ode to the unrequited or impossible. But a rare Japanese beauty is waiting for me on the Number 3 Road in Richmond, and I can’t wait to take her out. If sparks fly and this match is truly meant to be, I may do something drastic, like move north to make her mine.
