It was a reveal nearly five decades in the making: An Edmonton man surprised his father with a restored beloved car which was seriously damaged in a highway crash in 1970.

For Leona Calhoun, the vehicle her future husband Tom was driving when they courted in the 1960s holds a special place in her heart.

“Lots of good memories, yeah,” Leona Calhoun said. “I was 18 and he was 20.”

Back in the day, Tom would take Leona on dates in his 1960 Plymouth Fury – which he had purchased for $300shortly after moving to Alberta from the Maritimes.

They travelled to dances and on trips together, until a fateful drive on an Alberta highway, when he hit a deer in the spring of 1970.

“The deer jumped out in front, and bent my bumper and the hood, and I stopped,” Tom said. “The deer was dead, and put it back in gear, and I limped it back.”

The damaged car was parked, and it stayed stationary for decades. The couple’s son, Dave Calhoun, said he remembers his dad wanting to fix it up for years before finally giving it him.

In a process that started in 2014 with the help of a mechanic in Saskatoon, Dave brought the old Fury back to its former glory.

On Monday, in an elaborate scheme, he surprised his dad with the restored car.

“[It is] pretty exciting, dad’s had a bad run here lately,” Dave said before the surprise.

“Hopefully he doesn’t have a heart attack.”

On the day of the surprise, Tom, a retired real estate agent, went to visit friends (who were in on the surprise) at Royal LePage in Camrose.They’d told him they needed his expertise on a contract.

The family contacted CTV News ahead of time, and reporter Dan Grummett and videographer Dave Mitchell were there, pretending to cover a story on real estate as to not raise suspicion.

Meanwhile, his family hid in a storage facility nearby.

Eventually, Tom was led inside, and saw the vehicle for the first time in years.

“This is a pleasant and great surprise over stuff that has gone on the last two years,” Tom said.

In February, 2016, Tom’s mother passed away, and in the last six weeks, he also lost both of his brothers.

Tom was shocked and overwhelmed by the surprise.

“[I] can’t thank (Dave) enough, when I’m done with it, I hope he keeps it in good shape because that’s where it’ll go,” Tom said, choking back tears.

With files from Dan Grummett