Ladysmith trucking company competes in North America-wide calendar contest

A Ladysmith trucking firm is hoping community spirit and the public's love of big trucks will help them with a mission: to get one of their big rigs a big win in a calendar contest.

A Ladysmith trucking firm is hoping community spirit and the public's love of big trucks will help them with a mission: to get one of their big rigs a big win in a calendar contest.

Coastal Trucking operates more than 50 Mack trucks in their fleet on Vancouver Island, but one built in 1987 is part of a contest where 12 rigs will be featured in a 2024 calendar distributed to Mack dealerships throughout North America.

"We just want everybody to vote. It's North America-wide and we're really trying to get in the top 12. Currently we're 13th, but we're getting close," says Janine Cornett, the company's office manager.

Cornett says despite having a fleet of more than 50 Mack trucks, owner Jag Basi is particularly fond of the one he purchased and restored for his 50th birthday.

"It is his special truck, he is the only one that drives it, he's the one that polishes it, he's the one that keeps it in pristine condition," she says.

Basi convinced the truck's previous owner, Richard Mayer, to sell it to him even though Mayer himself had plans to restore the rig. Mayer owns Vancouver Island Mack, a big-rig dealer with locations in Ladysmith, Nanaimo and Victoria.

"Jag, one of our long term and largest Mack customers on the island convinced me to sell it to him, and the restoration was his 50th birthday present to himself," Mayer says.