For Western Movie Sets, He Reinvented the Wheel

Rick McAvena has seen his handcrafted creations shot at, blown up, rolled over and filmed from every angle.

And he’s loved every minute of it.

For about a decade, McAvena was among the few craftsmen sought by movie makers to build the custom buggies, covered wagons and even horse-drawn hearses needed to make westerns come alive on the silver screen. He’s seen his handiwork on films including “Legends of the Fall,” Sam Elliot’s “You Know My Name” and, most recently, “Shanghai Noon.”

In his custom shop outside Calgary, Alberta, McAvena put skills learned in part from the Amish in Ohio to carefully build the vehicles of yesteryear. His work earned him the respect of not only filmmakers but also those rough-and-tumble Canadian crews that put everything on the line during chuck wagon races.

His redesign of wheels used in the popular races have helped cut precious seconds in the scramble around the track, while at the same time making it safer for those wild few who race in a wagon never designed for speed.

“I wound up getting so busy that my business was beginning to control me,” he said. “I was working seven days a week.”

The fast life finally caught up with this 45-year-old self-taught wagon and wheel maker. Montana’s promise of a slower pace looked too good to pass up.

Recently, he and Sandy Prohazka and their two chocolate Labs, Remington and Colt, moved into their new home amid the pines southeast of Butte.

“I’m at the point where I don’t need to work, but I still have to work,” McAvena said. “I have to keep doing something all the time.”

McAvena moved to Canada about 20 years ago. Back then, McAvena said it was an entrepreneur’s dream.

“Back then it was like the country was still in the 1960s,” he said. “They were behind in technology and abilities. . . . There wasn’t that much competition.”

He built an electric motor rewind company from scratch. When he decided to sell, the company employed 54 people. About the same time, a horse-drawn carriage he’d built caught the eye of folks who asked him to build one for them. One thing led to another and “suddenly I found myself with another business that was taking off,” McAvena said.

The Wild Rose Spoke and Buggy began to find a following among wagon lovers with an appreciation for fine work. His first opportunity for working with the movie industry came when Disney was filming “One More Mountain,” a story about the Donner Party. A man working with the film called and told McAvena he needed six big wagon wheels. He then asked how many wheels of that size McAvena had built.

“I told him, ‘With your six, I will have built six,’ ” McAvena remembered.

The man liked his candor and a long-lasting relationship was formed that led to other projects.

“It’s always been something special to go to a movie and see something that you’ve built,” he said.

McAvena also developed a following among Canada’s chuck wagon racers.

“I did all the top guys’ wheels,” he said.

After watching races, McAvena found a way to build wheels that helped keep the wagon on the ground and closer to the rail as the men raced around the track. It not only saved time, but it helped keep the wagons from flipping.