Erin Haluschak
Record staff
Denise Meyer and her husband Frank are heading back to Vancouver, but it’s certainly not in black.
The Comox couple is hoping their car - covered in all shades of the rainbow - will catch the attention of Denise’s favourite rock band, which will be performing at BC Place Sept. 22.
“I’m a big AC/DC fan. I have loved them my whole life and I’ve never had the opportunity to see them,” she explained. “I’ve either had children, couldn’t afford it or moved around … last year I turned 50, and I heard they were coming out with an album. I knew that they were going to be doing a tour, and I said that’s it, we’re going to go see them, and we’re going to go with a bang.”
With a $500 car, Denise created her self-described Highway to Hell-mobile, a vintage Saturn completely covered with photos and lyrics from the band, and topped with pylon ‘horns,’ a donated cannon and a Cheech and Chong-inspired fur roof inside.
Denise, who said she is the bigger fan out of the two, credits her husband for “(letting) me do this crazy thing.”
“Who would not support something this crazy? This is awesome,” replied Frank.
The pair are planning to spend a few days in Vancouver prior to the concert, in hopes of catching the attention of the band members to answer one of their dreams of thanking them in person and maybe getting backstage passes, added Denise.
“They’ve been to every party I’ve ever been to, they’ve been to every nightclub, they play Thunderstuck, they play Shook Me All Night Long. They’ve always been there; it’s like a constancy. Just good rock and roll, great guitar riffs … just a lot of fun altogether.”
Using what Denise estimates is about $400 worth of ink, she downloaded between 800 to 1,200 pictures of the band. She hopes the five coats of Varathane used to keep the photos on the car and protected from the rain will hold for their trip. The front of the hood displays an airbrushed image of the band, which she hopes to have signed and eventually mounted inside their house.
“I get a lot of people who look at (the car) once, and then look at it again out of the corner of their eye. They don’t really want to make eye contact,” said Frank.
Denise added they take the car out every three or four nights when the weather is nice and drive around town.
“It’s great when you get (people looking) especially at stop signs when they get to see it close up. But the reactions that I’m most looking forward to is at the concert. When you get 50,000 people that love AC/DC just as much as I do, it’s going to be really great.”
While meeting the band backstage is the ultimate goal, Denise hopes that at the very least, the band will be able to see their car - either in person or otherwise.
“I would just love for them to be able to see it - whether it’s in a picture or I just hope they realize that there are people out there that truly feel like they’re family. It’s like a favourite TV show that never ends; it’s the same thing - they’re going to be there until the end.”