Back where it belongs: Vintage Cadillac restored and returned to Angel’s Drive In

A vintage Cadillac that's long been a fixture on the roof of a Calgary diner is back where it belongs.

A vintage Cadillac convertible that’s long been a fixture on the rooftop of a northwest Calgary diner has now been fully restored and returned to its iconic location thanks to an outpouring of community support.

The 1963 classic car, a longtime fixture on the roof of Angel’s Drive In in Bowness, was spray-painted by vandals with graffiti in late February.

A volunteer group of auto body professionals took matters into their own hands just one month later and restored the vehicle.

On Thursday, it was returned to the diner and placed back on the roof.

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Angel’s Drive In manager Brooke Wetzel, who has worked at the diner since she was seven years old, told CTV News that the love and support of Calgarians never fails to put a smile on her face.

“It was so sad to see the car vandalized, but I’m not shocked that we had so much support from the community that wanted to help out right from the beginning because that’s really what the Bowness community is about,” she said.

“This has always been that place with the iconic red car on the roof so having it come back up is going to be iconic all over again.”

The Cadillac was restored thanks to a crew of 15 employees at Legacy Speed and Body in Strathmore who all donated their time to strip away the graffiti, buff out scratches and repaint the car’s exterior to its original “Matador Red” – the factory colour for 1963.

Derek Zuck, owner of the body shop, says he first heard of the need for help while listening to CJAY92 with some of his co-workers.

“So everybody just started texting CJAY saying we’re willing to help, we know this community well so we just did it for free and when they called us back it was a no brainer that we were going to get involved,” he said.

Matt Nolan, a Legacy Speed and Body employee, says dozens upon dozens of hours were put in to touching up the vehicle and bringing it back to life.

“We did a ton of body work, all the guys in the shop fixed the cracking on the side of the car and all the vandalism, we stripped it down and it was so rewarding to give it a new lease on life.”

Another one of the businesses that came to the cafe’s aid was Stonewall Foundations, a nearby contractor that offered to lift the car off the diner’s roof for transport to Strathmore.

Owner Jason Steiert, who grew up in the area, said helping out was an easy decision.

His team was back on hand Thursday to place the car back up on the roof of Angel’s Drive In.

“I grew up in northwest Calgary, so I’ve been down here quite a few times. My family, my dad, my uncles, we all came to Angel’s religiously the morning for coffee for years, for as long as I can remember so it was no problem to come over and offer help the way we could,” Steiert said.

“It’s overwhelming, and it just shows how much the community supports this. We were all upset about what happened, but I’m so glad we can make it right.”

The original owner of the car was also in attendance Thursday.

“I bought the car in the early 80s, I drove it for a long time but I didn’t want it to be stuck in a garage forever so I decided to donate it,” said Al Gohmann, who gave the vehicle to Angel’s Drive In when he was done with it.

“What they’ve done to it is pretty astonishing, I have to give credit to everybody that restored the care, this makes me really happy.”

Angel’s gives back with new CJAY 92 Burger

The restoration effort was originally sparked by the CJAY 92 morning show hosts Jesse Modz and JD Lewis, who brought attention to the vandalism on-air and called on listeners for help.

Angel’s Drive In was so touched by the love and support that they decided to give back to the community themselves by creating a new permanent item on their menu called the CJAY92 burger.

Valued at $9.20, the diner will donate one dollar from every purchase of the fried onion ring and cheddar cheeseburger to the CJAY92 Kids Fund.

Modz said the whole initiative speaks to Calgary’s spirit of community.

“The first guys that reached out were Stonewall Foundation and then we had so many people flooding our text line with people saying go check out these guys at Legacy Speed and Body.”

“We asked them ‘what do we owe you?’ Everybody wanted to just do it from the goodness of their own heart and to give back to Angel’s Drive In like this is really special.”

Angel’s Drive In handed out 92 free burgers on Thursday for the first people in line to celebrate the occasion.