October 2023 City of Surrey corporate report<\/a>, the museum\u2019s roof is \u201cbeyond economical repair\u201d as the cost to replace it exceeds the value of the building. As such, the truck aficionados\u2014and all their vintage vehicles\u2014orginaily noted they had to be out by November 2027, after their lease ends. In the report, the city wrote it may redevelop the spot the museum is currently sitting on or sell the southwest-corner lot of Fairgrounds\u2019 property.<\/p>\nMike Breed, a volunteer with the Surrey Heritage Society, the not-for-profit organization that runs the truck museum, said it\u2019s not all bad news anymore. In the three years since that report, the city has agreed to let the museum stay in its current spot for the time being and they are allowed to repair the roof as they see fit. This will get them through until a permanent home can be found.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went to the city three years ago about the need to repair the roof,\u201d he said. \u201cThey got prices\u2014absolutely exorbitant figures, absolutely crazy figures\u2014and they would not touch it. And rightfully so. An old building like this, why would you put $700,000 or 800,000 into it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Breed agrees with the city\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, the city told us we can do our own patching and fixing, as needed, for leaks,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s gotten so bad, that when it does rain, we\u2019ve got buckets everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breed noted they now have a retired roofer who\u2019s joined their volunteer ranks. The roofer plans to patch and repair some of the more serious issues to help get the museum through until a new home is found.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hoping we have a future here on the \u2018Grounds,\u201d he added. \u201cDepending on how the plans go to redevelop the \u2018Grounds, maybe there\u2019s a place for us in a different building?\u201d<\/p>\n
Breed said their new plan for a future home has now been stretched out to five more years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel that we are comfortable for that amount of time,\u201d he explained. \u201cI believe we can find something in that amount of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also noted they are out of space. With the collection filling up every corner of the sprawling museum, a new location would have been needed anyway.<\/p>\n
Paul Orazietti, executive director of the Cloverdale BIA, said the B.C. Vintage Truck Museum is a \u201cgreat addition\u201d to Cloverdale and the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. He said the museum is another jewel in the crown of both Surrey and B.C. heritage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe museum is real B.C. history. It\u2019s not replaceable. It\u2019s one of a kind. There are some very valuable and rare vehicles there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noting the museum is \u201cunique\u201d in B.C., he added it\u2019s part of B.C.\u2019s trucking history and would work well remaining Cloverdale as part of a \u201cheritage area\u201d that includes the heritage railway, the Museum of Surrey and its heritage campus, and the Fairgrounds itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would elevate the City of Surrey\u2019s entertainment district to a provincial level,\u201d Orazietti explained. \u201cA museum like this enshrines our history. So from that perspective, the truck museum is indispensable and it makes sense for it to be a part of the future of the Fairgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Truck museum members have logged more than 115,000 volunteer hours since 2012 both restoring and preserving vintage vehicles and their history for future generations.<\/p>\n
The B.C. Vintage Truck Museum is located on the south-west corner of the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. It\u2019s open every Wednesday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
For more info, visit bcvintagetruckmuseum.org.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surrey museum still searching for a new home Published 9:30 pm Wednesday, July 15, 2026 They still don\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,163792,87674],"class_list":["post-805060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-lower-mainland","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}