World of Wheels tradition continues, rain and shine
The rumbling of thunder mixed with the roar of car engines Sunday afternoon as Peachland’s World of Wheels got wet this year, causing the show to shut down two hours earlier than planned.
Early morning rain subsided in time for the show’s start and thousands of people strolled Peachland’s Beach Avenue which had been closed to traffic.
Now in its 24th year, World of Wheels has evolved into a giant street party with live music, beer garden, food trucks, vendors and bouncy castles.
Pam Cunningham, one of the organizers of the car show, said rainy weather meant only about half of the more than 550 anticipated cars came to the show as many collectors don’t want to get their cars wet.
Besides Canada Day, World of Wheels is Peachland’s largest event, she said.
The show can bring up to 10,000 people to Peachland for the day and makes a huge impact on the town’s economy, including local restaurants whose business is slower during fall and winter.
Before the rain, Beach Avenue was filled with people and the restaurant patios were packed with customers.
“We can’t control the weather, but we make the best of it,” said Cunningham.
When Kelowna’s Jim Dickson saw Sunday’s early morning downpour, he wasn’t going to bring his 1970 Mercury to the show.
But at 9 a.m., the weather was looking better, so he changed his mind.
Dickson, who has always worked on cars and boats, enjoys the Peachland car show because it attracts a crowd, there’s entertainment and there are the wooden classic boats.
Dickson had been admiring Steve Leslie’s 1942 Chris Craft 17-foot special runabout docked at the Peachland wharf.
Leslie had brought the gleaming mahogany boat out from Vancouver for the show.
When Leslie had bought the boat, he said it looked like a lobster trap as the outer planks weren’t attached to the boat.
Describing himself as a car guy who loves woodworking, Leslie took over two and a half years to restore the boat.
For Michael Pacholuk, who was showing his 1951 Mercury, car shows are all about sharing stories about cars with other people.
“I’ve always been a Mercury fan, from the moment I saw American Graffiti I had to have a Merc, just like the Pharaohs,” he said.
He found his ‘51 Mercury on Craig’s list in Saskatchewan about 12 years ago.
He has rebuilt the motor and the transmission. “I can fly by everybody on the highway,” he said. “It’s a fun car to drive.”
While some collector cars have shiny new paint jobs, Pacholuk’s Mercury has the original blue paint, now with a natural patina.
“It took 72 years to get it looking this good,” he said.
This weekend was the Canadian debut for John Foxley’s 1952 Chevy, as the Pitt Meadows man brought the car to the Summerland car show Saturday and World of Wheels Sunday.
The gleaming gold custom highly-modified car has similar year Cadillac influences, with a Cadillac bumper and headlight rings restyled and applied to the Chevrolet for a distinct style of its own.
Foxley bought the car from a friend as a dilapidated project.
The Chevy had no motor, was missing parts and had been smashed in the front and rear in a towing accident.
“It was a big lump of potential, but that was about it,” he said. “I basically took the car, took all the ugly off it and brought out all the hidden beauty.”
For Foxley, working on cars and seeing the end result is satisfying. He doesn’t build cars to sell them. To Foxley, they are an art piece that functions to a degree.
Foxley’s 16-year-old son Jackson has recently gotten into cars and worked on the Chevy, helping with putting on the bumper and with the car’s interior.
“It was really nice because now we get to do a lot of father-son stuff,” said Foxley. “It's actually the best part of it.”
Cherry Chris from Kamloops won the popular vote as one of the six contestants in the World of Wheels’ inaugural pin-up girl contest.
She was sporting a 1950s retro crinolinelined teal blue dress with a pink flamingo pattern accessorized with a large pearl necklace.
This was the first contest of the season for Chris, who started competing in pin-up girl contests about three years ago.
Chris grew up in the car world, but now that she no longer has a car, the pin-up girl contest is her way to stay connected to it.
The steady rain in the afternoon saw some exhibitors and visitors leaving early, but Grant Mitchell who brings his family to the car show from Coldstream every year wasn’t bothered by the weather.
“There are some sweet rides here,” he said. “The work that’s been put into them, everything lines up perfect and perfect paint jobs, nice motors and interiors well done.”
Not all the cars on display were vintage. One local car dealership brought in a 2022 Tesla Model X Plaid as part of the display of luxury electric vehicles.
The X Plaid can accelerate from zero to 60 miles-per-hour in just over two seconds.
Kevin Gulbransen got to drive the vehicle to Peachland and confirmed it was lightning-fast. “The G Force is quite aggressive,” he said.
People stopping to check out the Tesla loved the gull wing doors hinged at the roof, which is not something they see every day.
Even used, the Tesla Plaid X has an asking price of over $160,000.