The Globe And Mail - Intewrview Kavan

Crime drama Rogue airs on DirecTV in the United States and Movie Central in Canada

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Actor Kavan Smith is best known for his role as Major Evan Lorne in the sci-fi series Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1.

He has appeared in in numerous TV shows and movies including The 4400, Eureka, Fairly Legal, Supernatural, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, The Killing Game and The Twilight Zone. Nowadays, he plays Tom Travis alongside actress Thandie Newton in the gritty crime drama Rogue on Movie Central.

To get to the set, he drives a 2012 Honda CR-V, but he also owns a 1967 Ford Mustang.

Why did you buy a ’67 Mustang?

I got duped a little bit when my father and I bought it in ’88-89. I wanted a cool car and my father agreed to pay for some of it. None of us are mechanically inclined.

We bought it because it was such a beautiful car – an aquamarine blue colour. We didn’t know much about it. It was rusting out from underneath us. By the time we found out, it was too late.

No one else would buy it from us because it was bubbling up. So over the years we kept hanging onto it. And I’m still not mechanically inclined.

What have you done to it?

I’ve had all of the body work done. I had new metal brakes put in and I got rid of almost all of the rust. I’ve done some repainting. The inside was pretty great. The only thing was the heater has never really worked.

Have you always had an interest in muscle cars?

I don’t any more. Not because I don’t enjoy them. I feel I have to have the courage of my convictions and I have to do more on the environmental side, these days.

I don’t drive it a whole lot. It sits in my driveway covered 9-10 months of the year. It’s still beautiful. I love muscle cars, don’t get me wrong. I think they’re just sick and fun to drive.

But at this point in time I have to have the courage of my convictions – my wife has a Honda Fit and I have a Honda CR-V and that’s really all I need.

What do you think of the new Mustangs?

I’ve never liked the new Mustangs. I call them melon ballers. The suspension to power ratio is out of whack. They just don’t do a lot for me – there’s something about the old Corvettes and old Novas that more aesthetically speak to me. The design on the newer cars like the Charger just doesn’t do that much for me. I prefer the older stuff.

But the older ones come with more headaches?

Tell me about it! And a lot more money down the road.

How much money have you dumped in the Mustang?

Including insurance over the years alone, considering I don’t drive it a lot, is thousands upon thousands.

I only paid $3,500 for it – that should have told me something about it at the time. I’ve probably sunk at least another $20,000 into it to get it up to stock and in beautiful condition.

One of these days I’ll probably sell it. I was thinking of hanging on to it and giving it to my kids, but they destroy everything I give them.

What does a vintage Mustang say about you?

It says I don’t know anything about mechanics.

It says I’m not very careful with my money and I’m easily duped when I was a child.

But I think that it does reflect a want of a sense of style. I also think by keeping it in the driveway and not driving I hope it shows I have the courage of my convictions and I want to be more responsible and less flashy.

Does the CR-V reflect your responsible side?

That’s not a car that I would say I’m passionate about, but it’s a car that I appreciate.

I have two young kids and it has a lot of room. It’s a four-cylinder car and it doesn’t have a lot of horsepower, but it has tons of room on the inside.

What is says about me is I’m a suburbanite father. Nothing sexy, but quite accurate.

What don’t you like about it?

I was with the kids and I was shopping at a mall in Vancouver. We came out and I put the kids in the back. My kids are just old enough to get in the door and put themselves in their own car seats in the back. I got in the car and couldn’t figure out why the keys weren’t working. I was getting fed up and a little aggressive and angry. And then somebody knocked on the driver’s side window and I opened the door, ‘Yeah what?’ He said, ‘I’m pretty sure this is my car.’ ‘Oh, yeah. That makes sense! That’s my car three cars down.’

I didn’t even notice my kids weren’t in their kid seats. That is the thing I least like about the Honda – it’s everywhere and it’s less expressive of your sense of style.

What was your first car?

I had a 1963 Chrysler Imperial when I was 16. My dad and I lost on that. That was a monster! … It had giant fins on it. The whole front couch moved on electronics. It had a giant square steering wheel with a push-button automatic. You had to turn the steering wheel one whole complete rotation before the wheel even started to engage in turning. It was a massive, massive vehicle! I could literally house about 25 people in it. And it didn’t look like we were clowns getting out of a Chevette. But it was my first car – what did I care? It moved. That’s all that mattered.

What’s your best driving story?

The best story I have was in this Mustang. … I was 18 and on my way to university. I was coming up to a red light and there’s this cute girl in a Jeep beside me. I flirted with her; I was sipping a giant Slurpee and trying to be way cooler than I was. …

For some strange reason, I thought this was cool back in the ’80s, I decided I had enough of my Slurpee and I was going to toss it out of the window because that’s cool. The problem was – the window wasn’t open. I threw my giant Slurpee into the window and it exploded all over the inside of my Mustang, dripping off the roof! This girl was staring at me, laughing and laughing. She must have thought I was a giant idiot. That was my most embarrassing story ever.

Correction: Kavan Smith's Honda CR-V is a 2011, not a 2012 model as stated in an earlier version of this story.

By Petrina Gentle

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