Photo courtesy Clinton Brundige

By Erika Rolling

Community

Sexsmith Secondary School Ramcharger leads voting to be featured in Diesel World Magazine

Jan 26, 2023 | 7:04 AM

Voting is underway for a local school’s vehicle that has taken years to build, to be Diesel World Magazine’s Reader’s Ride – Truck of the Month.

The red 1986 Dodge Ramcharger was submitted to the contest by Sexsmith Secondary School’s automotive tech teacher Clinton Brundige.

He says the vehicle was donated to the GPRC (NWP) Campus in Fairview by Chrysler in ’86 for educational purposes and the schools shop teacher “rescued it” from the crusher for younger minds to continue learning with it.

“The actual condition of the vehicle in terms of body-wise and stuff like that… essentially rust free with very little wear and use on the vehicle itself,” he noted the Ramcharger has just 200 original kilometers on it.

Over the last six years, Brundige says different modules have been taught to students using the Ramcharger to learn different components of vehicles.

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He says since he started at the school, there’s always been the dream of getting it to where it’s at today.

“My first thought was, someday we are going to put this Cummins drivetrain in there, we are going to put a diesel in that truck, just gotta find the right one.”

He notes the project wouldn’t have been possible without community support and the local automotive enthusiast community through trading of parts as far as Lethbridge to get the drivetrain from another truck.

The Ramcharger was originally black, but received the glossy red paint-job from Sexsmith Secondary students about three to four years ago.

Brundige says it’s 100 per cent street-worthy, but legally cannot be registered or drove.

“In terms of legality, it’s legal! The only issue is, it being a donated project from Chrysler is they blacklisted the VIN, so it can’t ever be registerable.”

He says it’s sad to not have the work done by his former and present students on the road, but it has become a “trailer queen”, being shown off at Grande Prairie’s indoor car show in 2022 and getting lots of attention from car fanatics.

Hopes are set on getting the Ramcharger up to specifications for Wembley mudbogs in the future, “we have been building it for a purpose.”

If the truck wins the Diesel World Magazine’s Reader’s Ride – Truck of the Month contest; there will be a feature article in the magazine and will be entered into the Truck of the Year contest to win a professional photo shoot of the vehicle and be on the front cover of the print magazine that’s distributed across North America.

You can vote on the Ramcharger in the contest by clicking here.

“If I walked into a grocery store and seen our Ramcharger on the front cover… that would be pretty cool!!” says Brundige.

He also notes the amount of support the project truck has received has it leading the standings with nearly 500 votes the time this article was wrote.

“I don’t do any of the work on the vehicles, I just guide their (students) learning,” Brundige says there’s been hundreds of students that have worked on the truck throughout the years, being the ‘flagship’ vehicle at the school.

Brundige also noted generous sponsors that have helped his students along the journey; Sexsmith Rent a Tool, Anderson Farms, Dakota Carpentier at DC Fab, Peace Autohouse, Pat’s Auto, and Mohawk Motorsports.