“I always said, if you want to turn this into a club, you know I’m not interested in being part of it,” said enthusiast Andy Higgs, one of the non-founders of Crankcases, which is most definitely not a car club.
“I mean, I just look after it.”
This month and into the New Year, Crankcases “non-members” are taking their tongues from their cheeks just long enough to raise money for the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation (LMHF). Crankcases are selling a 2026 calendar featuring the non-club’s professionally photographed cars and motorcycles at various scenic Salt Spring Island locations.
The initiative to raise funds for the foundation was — no pun intended, said Higgs — a “collision of happy circumstance.”
“We had a very good photographer within the club, Malcolm Carmichael, and he was very keen to do the project,” said Higgs. “The quality of the photos is amazing; he and Mario McInally were really the prime movers.”
“We average about 20 people when we meet for coffee,” said McInally, “so it can get a bit cacophonous inside the cafe once everyone is there.”
McInally said while the club meets regularly for social purposes, it mainly started out as a way to share highly specialized info — and equally specialized tools — between people working on older vehicles.
“The thinking behind starting the club, if you want to call it that, was kind of a mutual self-help kind of deal,” chuckled Higgs. “LMHF is pretty close to all of our hearts, as elderly car and motorcycle guys; we’ve almost all used Lady Minto Hospital as a resource.”
Higgs said there were 250 calendars printed, and roughly half had sold already.
LMHF executive director Eric Jacobsen said that however they thought of themselves, the foundation was grateful Crankcases chose to support health care on the island.
“Their fundraising will help provide critical hospital equipment, strengthen our staff resources and advance the expansion of primary care services,” said Jacobsen. “Every member and supporter of the club should feel deeply proud of the difference they’re making for our community.”
Still, Higgs was cautious, and asked anyone buying a calendar to avoid using words like “club” or “member” during the purchasing process.
“I think half the membership would leave if they ever realized they were a member of a club,” said Higgs. “So we have to be very careful how we actually approach the topic.”
Calendars are available at the library and many businesses around the island, including Cassette Coffee, Salt Spring Books, Windsor Plywood, Salt Spring Pharmacy, Ganges Pharmasave, Westland Insurance, Mouat’s Home Hardware, Axe and Reel and Bumper to Bumper.