Like "Make A Wish" but for gearheads

"ModernHydra" (ModernHydra)
09/17/2015 at 12:05 • Filed to: RG Exotics

A week and a half ago my brother-in-law, Jaremy, succumbed to pancreatic cancer. He was 36. It sucked. He was an awesome guy, the world will be poorer without him. He was many things, but he was also a diehard gearhead. In the past, he spent years modifying his 1991 AWD Eagle Talon with new turbos, custom intercoolers, bodywork, etc., etc., but “no modifications just for looks.” He did it all himself. In recent years, he’s been rocking a Civic Si and was kind of disappointed that he had to compromise. This post isn’t (really) about him though.

This is mostly a “thank you” and “look at how awesome the guys at RG Exotics are” post.

RG Exotics is a loosely organized car club here in Regina where Jaremy lived (This appears to be a different club than the Brazilian one that comes up in google searches). One of Jaremy’s friends knows some of the people in the club. Jaremy has been sick for a while and in June the friend told him someone would bring one of their cars over and take him for a spin. I guess the group decided 18 cars was better than one. So they had a rally in his front yard then headed to a coffee shop where each of them took Jaremy for a ride.

The scenario in the video below played itself out multiple times:

My favourite moment is around 7:15. The screenshot from that will be a treasured family photo for years to come.

The group was very impressed with Jaremy’s knowledge, his laughter, and his attitude in the face of his disease. They basically adopted him. They started inviting him to their weekly coffee meetups and created a plaque that they can award to someone like Jaremy each year.

All this was awesome and - being the humble guy he is - Jaremy couldn’t understand why they wanted to hang out with him. Seeing the joy on his face in these videos makes it pretty obvious to me. Roberto, an RG member who spoke at Jaremy’s celebration of life, said that having him around helped them recapture their own passion for their cars.

Jaremy had a very rough year with chemo and all the associated health fun that comes with cancer. His main goal was to finish renovations on his house and then sell it. He’s been pretty focused on that all year. He was talking about using some funds from the house to buy a little roadster (probably a miata, that’s the right answer right?) so he could have a fun little summer car or maybe do some short trips. The whole year I’ve been sending him various ads for used cars as well as articles from Jalopnik. It’s been a nice way to connect with him, frankly. Sadly, though he finished and sold the house, it came too late, with his declining health he was not well enough to drive. The fact that the guys in RG Exotics were able to take him out really gave him the experience he was hoping for.

Jaremy’s celebration of life was last Sunday. It was what you might expect, family and friends sharing stories, but it had one very important difference. Several of the people from the club brought their cars as an honour guard and parked them in front of the funeral home. It was wonderful. I made sure Jaremy’s hail damaged Civic (did I mention he’s had a rough couple of years?) was part of the group. It felt right. (Afterwards, they did a 100 km drive/rally as a tribute.)

We are very grateful to the people in RG Exotics. They really brightened Jaremy’s last days and gave him an excellent send off. Thanks guys. I know how much Jaremy appreciated it.

Here’s a few shots of the cars that came to the celebration of life: