Author: Cam Tait

I’ve never been serious about getting a vehicle. Until now.

A good reason why, perhaps, is because I’ve never had a driver’s license. I live with cerebral palsy and operating a motor vehicle isn’t practical.
But, I have driven. Sure I have.

Just ask my cousin Glenn Tait about that summer evening when he put me behind the wheel of his green Mustang in a Saskatchewan pasture that had more up and downs than an amusement ride at the nearest country fair. Only, I didn’t know that.

So, I floored the Green Machine. Heads hit the roof. The engine made a sound I never heard before.

“Ah, Cam,” Glenn said, hanging onto the dashboard. “You might want to slow down a touch. My universal might not take much more.”

I squeezed the steering wheel as tight as I could, adjusted my favourite baseball cap, and innocently asked: “What’s an universal?”

So safe to say — and for countless drivers and pedestrians — I’ve never owned a car, truck, SUV or motorcycle.

I’ve also been vehicle shopping.

But there’s always time for a celebrated first, right boss?

Now, I need to make one thing absolutely perfectly clear: the vehicle hunt I am currently on isn’t for me.

If you can believe it or not it could be for you.

Nic Good — known as The Good Guy, you know — and I had a meeting Friday to brainstorm ideas for the ATCO Edmonton Sun Christmas Charity Auction, set to sizzle the internet this fall.

I gave him my wish list.

“There are only two answers,” Nic said. “Yes or no.

“But, we’ll never know the answers unless we ask.”

You may have noticed we’ve been talking about the auction quite frequently lately. And even though it’s a few months away, we want to do everything we can to raise as much money as we can for the Christmas Bureau, Adopt-A-Teen and Catholic Social Services.

Because we know the needs of the community are going to be high this festive season … and, we want to do everything we can to make sure as many folks as possible can enjoy Christmas.

We’re already at 105 items, and we have our eyes on securing 195 more to give us the best possible chance to raise $135,000.

So, wouldn’t it be cool if one of our items was a vehicle?

A car?

A truck?

A SUV?

A van?

A motorcycle?

It sure would be … wonderful.

And here’s the neat thing: if you are planning to purchase a vehicle this fall, you could through the auction and make a significant community investment.

If you have any thoughts or ideas or leads, my email is ctait@postmedia.com.

Call me crazy. But the heat gives me all kinds of different of ideas.

I promise I will not, under any circumstance, take it for a test drive.

That universal thing has me rather spooked.