Classic cars turn heads at local shows

From Guelph Mercury: Classic cars turn heads at local shows
GUELPH — Even without a Delorean on display, classic car shows are still able to bring spectators back in time.

With autumn on the way, more and more vintage cars are hitting the road to soak up that last bit of summer. This past weekend saw a number of car shows in and around the city of Guelph, with hundreds of visitors stopping in to view the classic machines.

“Every car brings back a memory or a feeling to the owner,” said Josie Alford of Cambridge. She and her husband Gary were showing off their 1997 Mustang Cobra SVT at the Riverside Park car show Saturday.

Her husband bought the car in 1999 and has been showing it off since then. He said he’s motivated to come to these shows and work on the car because these were the kinds of activities he used to do with his son, before he died in a car accident in 1993.

“It’s therapy for Gary,” Josie said.

While some car owners sit deep in their camping chairs and squint with arms crossed at anyone who gets too close to their car, the Alfords try to strike up a conversation with anyone passing by, giving out cobra stamps and displaying their car with fake snakes made of rubber.

The Riverside Park event was a blend of hotrods and hot sauces as the 14th annual car show was paired up with Guelph’s Ribfest. The show brought out 166 cars to line the park in colour and chrome.

Dianne and Win Braun of Everton have been the proud owners of an aqua-coloured 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible for the past 42 years. Unlike most other classic car owners, their “Jewel” is insured the same as any other car on the road, allowing them to drive it any time they want to.

“Other than me, that’s his precious Jewel,” Dianne said about her husband as she pointed to the licence plate JEWL 66.

Two winters ago, the couple refinished the interior of the car, paying $10,000 for the custom work. But they said the cost was worth it.

“This car has been with us since day 1,” Dianne said. The couple went out for their first date in the convertible. They’ve driven it across the country, and now their children are driving it.

“It means a lot to us,” she said.

Although both of them have newer cars, they said nothing compares to the look of the cars from the 1950s and ’60s. “Cars back then had style,” Dianne said. “They spoke of an era that means so much to us.”

The car shows continued on Sunday with a number of events throughout the county. The 36th annual Antique and Classic Car Show took place at the Wellington County Museum and Archives.

“These cars are about a culturally specific moment in history,” said Libby Walker, the activity programmer for the museum car show. “They reflect what’s important in that time period.”

This element of nostalgia caused many to stop and look closely at certain vehicles.

Jack DeWilde has been to several car shows already this year. He said it’s nice to see the different styles of the past.

“Older vehicles have so much more style. The new cars look so plain in comparison,” he said.

Apart from the style of these classic cars, each machine has been around so long it has its own story to tell.

Ray Death, of Rockwood, has owned his 1934 Lincoln Town Car for 52 years. When asked about the year of the car, 87-year-old says, “I’m a 1924 model, myself.”

He said he and his car have been in 300 weddings and three movies. Death said he even had Colonel Sanders ride next to him years ago during a parade in Milton.

“I never was a hunter. I never was a fisherman or a golfer,” he said. “So, you need something in life.”

Residents at the Guelph Lake Commons retirement community also got to drive down memory lane as more than a dozen cars from the 1950s flooded the parking lot for their Nifty Fifties Car Show.

Elvin McNally was able to step outside and revisit some of the cars he used to own.

“It brought back a lot of memories of cars that I had,” the 81-year-old said, adding some of the cars he used to own are like these vintage machines.

“I should have kept them,” he said.