The sky may have been grey Sunday morning in Wells, but there was more than enough colour to make up for it with the cars parked on Pooley Street for the second annual Wells Classic Show and Shine.
A bright blue 1977 Triumph Spitfire, a bright yellow 1957 Chev Bel-Air, a baby blue 1957 Thunderbird and a red 2008 Mustang GT are just some of the vehicles that were part of this year’s car show.
Organizer Robin Sharpe says they held the first show and shine last year for the 20th anniversary of Wells being incorporated. That show was in early June, and the weather was cold and wet, so people asked if they could do it later in the summer. They chose to do this year’s show on Aug. 11 because the Hixon and Quesnel car shows are the next two weekends (Aug. 17-18 and Aug. 23-25, respectively).
“It’s just another event in town to draw people out, and it’s a bit of entertainment,” said Sharpe. “It’s nice. Everybody likes coming out for the drive.”
Sharpe says Barkerville Historic Town and Park donated passes for the participants, so many of them were headed out to Barkerville after the show.
Most of the cars came from Quesnel this year, but there were also four cars from Wells and one from Prince George.
“I’d like to thank everyone who came out and thank the local merchants who sponsored different things,” said Sharpe. “They put a goodie bag together with different discounts.”
Don McClure of Quesnel, who is a member of the Vintage Car Club of Canada Quesnel Chapter and the Quesnel Prospectors Car Club, brought his 1957 Thunderbird to the show.
He has had the car for 25 years, and he bought it as soon as it came up for sale in Kamloops.
McClure will be showing his car in Hixon and in Quesnel over the next two weekends.
He says he likes taking part in the car shows because it’s a chance to connect with other people who are interested in cars.
“I just like talking to the people,” he said.
McClure doesn’t just show his vintage car though — he drives it a lot.
“In the 25 years, I’ve put 73,000 miles on it,” he said, noting he just got back from Spokane, Wash., a couple of weeks ago. “That’s the fun part, the driving it.”
Bill Turner of Quesnel showed his 1978 Pontiac Firebird. It is a four-speed manual, which he says is pretty rare, as only 152 had the M/20 four-speed manual option.
He has owned the car since 1981. He bought the car as a birthday present after seeing it advertised in the newspaper. Turner says the first owner still lives in Quesnel — and he wants the car back.
“It wasn’t until about 10 years ago I realized how rare it was, and then I started a full restoration on it,” said Turner. “I had done a rebuild of it, so I had to take a lot of that stuff off.”
Turner says it took him at least seven years to do the restoration.
“In the mid-1980s, I had souped it up and everything, and I didn’t really want to sell it to anyone because it was too fast. I said I’ll get around to de-tuning it and selling it, but I never did.”
Instead, Turner worked on restoring the car for himself.
He says most of the interior is all original, although he did have to replace the roof liner, two door panels and the driver’s seat cover.
Turner will be at the Quesnel Prospectors Car Club show Aug. 23-25, and he hopes to have all four of his classic vehicles at that show.
Like McClure, he loves to drive his vehicles.
“We have four collector vehicles and no trailer, so we drive them everywhere,” he said. “They are meant to be driven.”
Kelly Lautsch of Quesnel brought her mint green 1979 Chevy pickup truck, which has been shaved and has no door handles or tailgate.
Her husband bought her the truck for a birthday present, and she has had it for about four years.
“We went looking for something that was a little bit more sporty, but every one of them didn’t feel right until I got into this one,” she said. “It’s fun to drive because you are sitting upright and tall.”
This was the third time Lautsch, who grew up in Wells, has had the truck out this summer.
Wells Mayor Gabe Fourchalk presented the Mayor’s Choice trophy to Gord Phillips of Quesnel for his 1964 Ford Galaxie, which he has owned for about 10 years.
“You all have lovely cars,” Fourchalk told the group. “It was a really tough choice, but it came to five for me. That you all for coming — this is great.”
Chris and Vanessa Finch of Quesnel won the Best Late Model Vehicle trophy for their 2008 Mustang GT, while Dave Lieffertz of Wells won the trophy for Best 1990s Vehicle for his 1996 Lotus Elise.
Lautsch won the Best 1970s Vehicle trophy for her truck, and Sonny Swanson of Prince George won the trophy for Best 1960s Vehicle for his 1968 Chevelle.
The trophy for Best 1950s Vehicle went to Dave Heppner of Bowron Lake for his 1957 Chev Bel-Air.
There were no vehicles from the 1980s this year, so the trophy for that decade went unclaimed this time.
READ MORE: The District of Wells celebrates its 20th anniversary with a weekend of events
