Fred Ewanuick
Profession: Actor
Age: 39
Hometown: Port Moody, B.C.
Notable achievements
-Played Hank Yarbo for six seasons on Corner Gas, which was nominated for an International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Show and won a Gemini Award for Best Ensemble Cast in 2007
-Other TV credits included Robson Arms, DaVinci’s Inquest, Dark Angel and The Addams Family series
-The lead in the indie feature, The Delicate Art of Parking, which won him a Best Actor Award at Spain’s Peniscola Film Festival, after it premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival, where it won Best Canadian Feature
Currently
-Stars as Dan in the Gemini Award-nominated CTV series, Dan for Mayor; Season two premieres on June 5
-Just wrapped his latest feature film, French Immersion
He gained fame as sidekick Hank Yarbo on the hit series Corner Gas. But nowadays, Fred Ewanuick plays the lead role in the new comedy Dan for Mayor.
His character is a bartender who becomes the mayor of a small fictional town in Ontario. But in real life, Ewanuick is an adventure seeker who loves hitting the open road in his 1992 Volkswagen Westfalia.
Why did you buy a Westfalia?
We bought it used three-four years ago because my wife and I love camping, but we hate sleeping in tents.
We wanted something we can sleep in. It’s great – you don’t even have to get out of bed to make your tea in the morning. You just lean up, turn the kettle on and, when it boils, lean back up again, put the tea bag in, let it steep and then have your tea.
When people think of Westfalias they think of the old ones with the huge VW symbol. This one literally looks like a minivan and when you camp and pop it all open everybody pokes their head in it: What? That’s got a kitchen?
What’s the best feature on it?
The pop top is pretty cool. You can sleep four in it.
There’s literally an upstairs – you can sleep upstairs or downstairs if you wish.
There’s a full-on kitchenette and cabinets. And it’s small enough it just looks like a minivan. So when you’re driving around town, it’s easy to park.
But it must cost you a fortune in gas?
No! It’s great! It’s a four-banger so it gets really good gas mileage.
Our other car is a Jeep and it gets lousy gas. We’re actually trying to get rid of it.
Now we end up driving the Westfalia more because it is a lot better on gas.
Is there anything you’d change on it?
It’s a work in progress. The one thing I’d love to do if I had unlimited funds would be to make it an all-wheel-drive. I added a solar feature on it so when the world goes to pooh we could actually drive up to the hills and live off the grid.
Not that that’s what I want to do, but if we had to, we could.
Actor Fred Ewanuick is photographed at Spanish Banks beach in Vancouver with his 1992 VW Westfalia.— John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
What’s under the hood of the Westfalia?
It’s an Audi four-cylinder engine. It’s the stock engine that came with it.
I have a great mechanic in Port Moody – all he does is work on Volkswagens and Audis. He’s in love with this van.
He says back in Europe they use these as delivery vans. They’ve got this big hefty clutch. He says you’re not going to get anywhere fast, but you’re gonna get there.
Have you had any problems with it?
We got our first tow last year – the starter blew up. That’s the only major issue.
Everything else has been maintenance and adding new cool stuff like the solar panel.
Are you handy with cars?
Not so much any more. When I was a kid I used to be.
