Winnipeg Jets super-fan puts pedal to the metal when revving up Whiteout spirit
If you have been to any of the Winnipeg Jets' Whiteout parties held this spring at True North Square, chances are you've come across a two-door Chevrolet Vega station wagon fully decked out with Jets decals, flags, goalie masks… even a life-size replica of the National Hockey League's championship trophy.
The vehicle in question belongs to Dan Nolin, a grandfather of two who, ahead of every Jets home playoff game, has been making the 25-kilometre trip downtown from his home in Grande Pointe to show off his set of wheels to Jets fans, sure, but also to some of Winnipeg's finest.
BROOK JONES/FREE PRESS
Jets fan Dan Nolin , 66, displays his two replica flight helmets on his 1971 Chevy Vega wagon.
BROOK JONES/FREE PRESS
Jets fan Dan Nolin , 66, displays his two replica flight helmets on his 1971 Chevy Vega wagon.
A few hours before Game 1 of the Jets' first-round series versus the St. Louis Blues, Nolin was driving west along Portage Avenue.
As he approached Canada Life Centre, he was pulled over by a police cruiser that had been tailing the Jets-centric Vega for a couple of blocks.
'The cop who stopped me had a few questions about my siren, which I installed on the roof before the 2023 playoffs,' Nolin says, seated in a Southdale coffee shop the morning after the Jets eliminated the Blues in a Game 7 nail-biter that just so happened to coincide with his 66th birthday.
('All I want for my b-day is a Jets win,' declared a homemade sign Nolin, the owner of an insulation company, brought along to the festivities.)
'Mainly he wanted to warn me about firing up the siren in traffic, which could obviously cause confusion for other drivers. I told him I was very aware of that to which he said 'great.'
'Then he smiled and said on the other hand, any time I wanted to park and let 'er rip, that was perfectly fine with him and his fellow officers.'
Nolin didn't have the Jets in mind 12 years ago when he spotted an ad on Kijiji for a 1971 Chevy Vega, the exact type of automobile he had as an 18-year-old, before it was totalled in an accident.
He contacted the owner, only to be informed the car likely wouldn't start, as it had been sitting in a garage for 14 years.
No worries, Nolin responded. If he couldn't get the engine to turn over, he knew 'a guy' who would.
BROOK JONES/FREE PRESS
Nolin purchased the 1971 Chevrolet Vega 12 years ago for $6,500, and has since put another $5,000 into the classic car.
BROOK JONES/FREE PRESS
Nolin purchased the 1971 Chevrolet Vega 12 years ago for $6,500, and has since put another $5,000 into the classic car.
'It didn't have a speck of rust on it and I ended up getting it for $6,500,' says Nolin, who has since sunk another $5,000 into the vehicle, including having a hole expertly cut into the hood to display a pair of shiny four-barrel carburetors.
'Not that I'm selling it, but there is a Vega on the market right now that's not even close to mine condition-wise that's commanding 30 grand.'
For the first couple of years he had it, Nolin, who also tools around in a 1957 Ford Thames and a vintage Pontiac Astre, drove the Vega in the summer months only.
However in the spring of 2015, the first year the current iteration of the Jets qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs, he brought it out earlier than usual, hoping it might prove to be a good-luck charm for the club.
BROOK JONES/FREE PRESS
Nolin's ride clearly displays the ultimate goal for the Jets' playoff run this year.
BROOK JONES/FREE PRESS
Nolin's ride clearly displays the ultimate goal for the Jets' playoff run this year.
'What happened was a buddy of mine had given me a Jets licence plate and because the car is blue — though some people argue it's turquoise — like the Jets (home) jerseys, I thought why not throw a few Jets things on it and parade around in it on game days, honking my horn,' says Nolin, who, in his younger days, patrolled the blue line for the St. Boniface Saints.
So what if the Jets were swept by the Anaheim Ducks four games to zip that April? That didn't dissuade Nolin from rolling what some had started to call the Jets-mobile out again three years later, when the team made the playoffs for the second time, after finishing second overall in the league, three points behind the Nashville Predators.
The Jets advanced all the way to the Western Conference final that year. As the victories piled up, so did the number of decorations adorning Nolin's ride.
(To be clear, all of the crests, placards and so forth are held in place with magnets, so as not to ruin the car's finish.)
'It was getting kind of dicey there for a while, as I added more and more stuff. I remember driving down (Highway) 59, doing 90 clicks, watching in the rearview mirror to see if anything was blowing off or not.'
In late March, a representative from True North Sports + Entertainment reached out to Nolin to see if he was interested in becoming an official part of this year's game-day goings-on at True North Square.
He was even invited to a press conference to announce the return of the Whiteout parties, a get-together he almost missed entirely owing to an oversight on his part.
The press conference was scheduled for 10 a.m. on April 8. Except as he was preparing to hit the hay the night before, he suddenly realized he had neglected to change the MPI coverage on his car from storage to active.
He raced to an insurance agent first thing in the morning, and explained the urgency of the situation.
The agent, an admitted Jets fan, completed the necessary paperwork in a matter of minutes, fast enough that Nolin was able to make it to Hargrave Street in time to drive behind a limo carrying the press conference's guests of honour, Jets mascots Mick E. Moose and Benny.
TREVOR HAGAN / FREE PRESS FILES
Nolin first decked out his Vega in Jets paraphernalia in spring 2015 as a good-luck charm for the returned team's first-ever NHL playoff series.
TREVOR HAGAN / FREE PRESS FILES
Nolin first decked out his Vega in Jets paraphernalia in spring 2015 as a good-luck charm for the returned team's first-ever NHL playoff series.
Nolin, who has been arriving at Whiteout soirées sporting white trousers paired with a Jets blazer and white crash helmet, can't count the number of people who've begged him to take them for a spin before puck drop.
One of those requests came from Rob Psaila, a resident of Melbourne, Australia who travelled 15,000 kilometres to cheer on the Jets in games 1 and 2 of the Blues series.
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS FILES
Nolin usually attends Whiteout soirées sporting white trousers paired with a Jets blazer and white crash helmet.
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS FILES
Nolin usually attends Whiteout soirées sporting white trousers paired with a Jets blazer and white crash helmet.
'I also ran into two guys from Minnesota who told me I absolutely had to bring my car to St. Paul one day, maybe during the regular season,' says Nolin, mentioning he does have a 40-foot tri-axle trailer that attaches to his work truck, which means there's no reason he can't haul the Vega to an away game, perhaps in Edmonton, if the Jets continue to advance through the playoffs.
'I'm not currently travelling to the States because of you-know-who, but yeah, an all-Canadian western final would be something else, right?' he says.
One more thing: if you're thinking Nolin is watching Jets games downtown with one eye on the big screen and another on his car, to make sure nobody's snatching a Mick E. Moose stuffie or mini hockey stick-as-windshield wiper, think again.
Nolin is pleased to report that everybody who stops to admire the car — a combination of people headed into the rink as well as those attending the street parties or on their way home to catch the action on TV — have had the utmost respect for his ongoing project.
'The folks at True North told me they'd give me a special place to park, but I was like, 'no, I'm not going to need that,'' he says, polishing off the last of his coffee.
'Seriously, from the reactions I've received — all 100 per cent positive — I get the feeling I could leave it overnight in any part of town and nothing's going to happen to it, what with everybody currently pulling for the Jets so hard.'
BROOK JONES/FREE PRESS
Nolin can't count the number of people who've begged him to take them for a spin before puck drop.
BROOK JONES/FREE PRESS
Nolin can't count the number of people who've begged him to take them for a spin before puck drop.
david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca
David Sanderson
Dave Sanderson was born in Regina but please, don't hold that against him.
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Read more about Mike. Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
