'Smiles per gallon': B.C. man creates Canadian-themed art car with stuffed moose on roof

When Leah arrived at work directing traffic around a construction site, she never expected to see a van painted in all sorts of bright colours, and covered in eclectic decorations, including a stuffed moose attached to its roof.

“I think it’s awesome,” she smiles, while taking pictures of the vehicle. “I think it’s very unique.”

While many of the people who stopped to look at the one-of-a-kind vehicle call it “artistic,”, its creator didn’t at first.

“I didn’t think of myself as an artist,” Lyle Brown-John says, adding that he worked as a grocery store baker for 35 years. “We were a bit creative decorating cakes and so forth.”

But his cakes never inspired so many strangers to stop and take countless pictures.

“I’m like, ‘Whoa!’” A woman laughs after taking a drive-by photo of the Lyle’s van. “‘What was that?!”

It was a 1951 Austin Panel Van, until Lyle heard about art cars, and rather than decorating a cake, began embellishing his vehicle.

“I put the roof rack on, and trunks,” Lyle says. “And extended it with a chair.”

And in that chair, Lyle put a stuffed animal moose – wearing boots, jeans, a plaid shirt, and boxing gloves – holding a steering wheel.

“I call it the ‘Moose on the Roof,’” Lyle says. “But now people are encouraging me to change it to ‘Moose on the Loose’ because I’m on the road.”

Lyle says he’s travelled almost everywhere around B.C. in it, down the west coast to California, and over the Rockies to Saskatchewan.

“I’m trying to give it a Canadian theme,” Lyle says.

Which is why the van features almost a dozen provincial and territorial license plates, a statue of a Mountie holding a hockey stick, a painting of totem poles, recognizing this places First People, and dozens of stickers depicting locations from across the country.

And there’s more to come. Lyle is planning to embark on a cross-country trip in his moose mobile all the way to Newfoundland.

“The odometer doesn’t work or the gas gauge,” Lyle says. “So, I say it’s smiles per gallon not miles per gallon.”

While the moose mobile is fuelled by smiles, Lyle is powered by spreading positivity.

“It makes everybody smile,” Lyle smiles when yet another person stops to take a picture and asks about the moose mobile.

“Yeah!” the woman smiles. “That’s what we need!”

“I’m really happy today to see it,” another man nods.

“It makes you happy,” Leah laughs while taking another picture. “It reminds me of Christmas!”

And it is proving to be a gift of sorts, wrapped in an unconventional vehicle, and tied with a moose-head bow, Lyle is striving to present strangers with a year-round gift of drive-by delight.

“We’ve only got so long here,” Lyle smiles. “So try to be the best you can.”