Campbellton — Frederick Wilkie, a disgruntled customer of Silly Sam’s used car dealership, was shocked to discover that the expensive-looking hood ornament on his 2002 Toyota Camry was, in fact, no more than a rotting deer carcass that had been embedded into the front of the vehicle.
“When I first saw it, I had my suspicions,” he said. “There was a smell, after all, which was just awful. Plus, I thought it looked way too big to be a real hood ornament.”
Nevertheless, Silly Sam was able to convince Wilkie that the dead animal was actually an ornament signifying the work that had been put into the car. “I only know 2 things about Europeans,” said Wilkie, counting on his fingers, “I know that they can put together a good car, and that they’re odd as hell. So the whole thing made sense to me.”
“The Irvings had one on the hood of every car,” Silly Sam assured him.
Wilkie said that although he was happy with the purchase at first, the excitement was soon curbed after being pulled over by police on his way home. “The officer told me I wasn’t allowed to drive around with a dead deer hanging off the front of my car, so I tried to explain to him that it was a luxury car, and that the deer was European,” he said.
Wilkie said that the officer then peeled the dead deer off of the hood of the car; it was at that moment that he knew he had been duped. “I was so embarrassed. I thought, how could I have been so stupid?”
It seems the real question is: how could the town of Campbellton have been so stupid? As it turns out, Wilkie’s lawsuit is just one of 17 filed against the dealership in the past 2 weeks since it opened, none of which have been able to stick, since no one has been able to find Silly Sam’s home address to serve him his court summons.
“There is nobody in the town of Campbellton — or in fact all of New Brunswick — registered under the surname ‘Sam,’ or with the first name ‘Silly,’” said small claims attorney Emma Howard. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the name was just another one of his elaborate cons.”
Silly Sam remains at large in Campbellton. If seen, residents are advised to avoid him at all costs — no matter how low, low, low!