SPRING IS HERE, IT’S SHOW TIME!
Car nuts wake from winter slumber
(Editor’s note: That thermometer on your back porch might not say it, but the return of Cam Hutchins’ weekly B.C. car show roundup is a sure sign that spring is back. If you’ve got an event taking place, tell Cam all about it at camhutchins@shaw.ca)
After what seems like two years worth of rain, many of my fellow Carnuts are looking forward to the 6th season — or Car Show Season as we call it. (The fifth season is Hockey).
Things get underway in grand tradition this weekend with the 21st annual B.C. Classic and Custom Car Show — held indoors — at the Tradex Event Centre in Abbotsford.
My friends at the B.C. Hot Rod Association will he handling the impromptu parking on the grass in front of the Tradex for showgoers’ hot rods, classics, muscle cars and other specialty cars. You still have to pay the parking charge but you get wider spots right close to the door. A sort of cool car show within a show.
I’ll be at the show all weekend, so won’t be able to go to a couple of other great shows on the schedule. There’s the Dubs in the Barn at the Cloverdale fairgrounds, followed by the motorcycle show and swap held there the next day.
We lost one of the biggest Carnuts ever with the passing of my father, Dr. John Donald Hutchins last month.
As readers of this column might recall, my dad bought our Austin Healey brand new as his company car at G&H Holdings, a company started by dad and his best friend Dr. Don Gain in Coquitlam. In addition to their thriving medical practice, they dabbled in many other commercial ventures and remained best friends their whole lives.
We often vacationed with the Gains, who introduced us to trailering and Birch Bay. Dad’s Healey took us on many adventures as kids, from hockey games to car shows to many meandering drives.
My brother Jeff recently put insurance on our 1966 Austin Healey, got his buddy Gerrit to adjust the SU carbs, bled the brakes with my niece Kim and got my nephew Andy to install new mufflers.
Dad would have loved to see our Healey at the St. George’s British Motoring Show this Sunday, but we blew the head gasket Tuesday evening, the night before we were to drive it to the Austin Healey Club meeting Wednesday evening.
Jeff and I went to the meeting and Jeff picked everyone’s brains on who was the best to rebuild the head with hardened valve seats, etc.
Then we went to the Vintage Car Club of Canada meeting in Burnaby. The VCCC meeting was special for me because I got a ride home in Earl Tucker’s 1953 Packard.
Last weekend, we went to the VCCC car cruise that started at the Planetarium and I got to see one of Earl Tucker’s other cars, a sweet 68/69 Chevelle Convertible. Tucker, like many “experienced” car collectors, downsized last year and sold off a few of his prized possessions and cars. Although probably sad for the Tuckers, lots of Carnuts are benefiting from their new prized possessions.
This scenario is happening quite often these days, so the astute Carnut or “want to be” Carnut should keep their eyes and ears open.
Try to get one with the Millennial anti-theft device — a manual transmission.
And when you’re out on the hunt, take a kid along and teach a them to drive a stick.