Rinze Adriaan Ben Kiljan

Rinze Adriaan Ben Kiljan was born to parents Adriaan and Rinza Kiljan in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He was the second oldest of 5 siblings. He had 4 sisters and grew up in a small home together. They were a close family and have many great stories. One of the fun things was his dad was part of a film club and there are many 8mm movies of the family from over the years. They filmed at home and the kids would put on shows and play for the camera at big family events. These are treasures for the family.

Rinze was a gifted man when it came to machinery and building things. He started young finishing school at 16 and becoming a machinist. He worked in a shop that built mixers for industrial food products and various other equipment. As time passed he grew up and was drafted by the army in Holland as was expected of young men at the time. Here they identified that he would be suited to being a mechanic. So here he was trained to be a mechanic and completed his years in the army.

His time after the army was spent working for Citroen in Amsterdam. Here he worked on the latest and greatest from the French car company. He was always highly regard and a pleasure to be around this awarded him time to go to the big car shows and represent Citroen and drive some of the newest cars for prospective owners.

Rinze and his best friend Hank traveled Europe on many adventures. They had great memories of trips to the Alps and hiking trips. Hank’s adventure changed though, his brothers had moved to Canada and he was going as well. After a short time Hank convinced Rinze to come and see Canada for 3 months. Those 3 months turned into 57 years as he never moved back and became a Canadian citizen.

1965 Rinze came to Canada to visit his best friend. He stayed and learned how to speak English and started to work his craft in Vancouver. He was fixing cars. When a sudden closing of the shop he was working in caused him to be jobless. He and his co-worker Mike, decided they could open a shop of their own. Here they started Chequered Flag Garage in Vancouver, BC. Next to the Bay Shore in on Cadero Street these 2 guys started up a shop that would take them through the years. Mike was an avid racer and owned an early Lotus Elite that he campaigned. This became the shops advertisement and obscure British cars were their specialty.

As time went on the business flourished and they got bigger, eventually they moved to Cambie Street and were big enough to take on the Lotus dealership. The locals had already been coming to them for work but this just reinforced their expertise in this unique brand. As well bringing on new business partners and growing the business. This grew to be a British and European specialist selling used Italian cars and new British cars. They were successful and after a period of time the business was merged with McLoughlin Motors to from a new MCL Motor Cars Limited.

1988 hit and the ownership decided it was time to sell the business. So the journey ended here for him and the dealership scene. After this through contacts he had over the years he started working with Jim Brokenshaw at a little machine shop in North Vancouver. Here he spent many years working on mechanical restorations on everything from a 1902 Peugot to prewar grand prix cars and a 1960’s Indy car. He was a talented man and success seemed to follow him.

In his personal time Rinze was an avid constructor of homes. He never sat still it seems. In the early 1970’s Hank and Rinze built an A frame cabin in Whistler’s Emerald estates that still stands to this day. This was sold to finance homes for Hank and Rinze in North Vancouver. Rinze had met his wife during this time Vicki. They started up a romance and were married in 1975. After selling the Whistler cabin Rinze and Vicki embarked building their dream home in Upper Lynn Valley. Designed by an architect friend they built a custom west coast style home. Busy as he was, he still made time to help and take on projects for the build of their new home. Move in day came in 1978, to this special corner of North Van and 2 years later their son Ross was born.

As if time didn’t exist, he was on to another project and restoring a Lotus Elan convertible with pictures of Ross helping him from the earliest days. This car was completed and Vicki enjoyed driving it most days toting around young Ross. But as the days went by the little Elan was too small for the family of 3 so it was sold and a new project was started. A 1970 Elan+2 with 2 tiny back seats for Ross. This car served as a cherished memory for Ross and Rinze as it was not completed until 2018 more than 30 years later.

The big gap in time for him to complete the car was filled with many days of home restoration. In 1992 Rinze, Vicki and Ross moved from North Vancouver to Abbotsford. This was Rinze’s dream. He wanted a little piece of land to call his own. Here he did very extensive renovations of the home on their new piece of paradise. He converted a leaky old flat roof home to a country home. The work was immense, and every wall stripped and repaired. Walls moved and a new roof was installed. This was his new project and was it ever a big one. Set in a park like setting he also became grounds keeper.

Time to build a shop on the back of the barn. This place has enough work for the busiest of DYIers. Up goes the shop and in come the tools and next come the cars. As you know they won’t be far behind as he had built up the clientele that wanted his help.

All through this time his son by his side learning and enjoying these special days with him. He was always busy and always wanted to help people with his talents even up to the end always asking if he could help with something even the littlest of things.

He was an amazing Opa to Ava and Addison. Always busy and building things or playing sports and making sure they were getting places. He loved to play games and stayed busy. He was a happy man spending time with the girls was joy you could see all over his face.

He was a helper. Though it sounds like his time was consumed with his own projects it really was consumed helping others. Family and friends came first, and he used all these talents to make lives better. Whether helping family, friends, or clients there were always smile and jokes coming from this amazing man.

You will be missed more than you can imagine Rinze/Dad/Opa

Love Vicki, Ross, Kari, Ava and Addison

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.woodlawnfh-abbotsford.com for the Kiljan family.