Collector Classics: Historic Hot Rod Reunion of B.C.

Retired steamfitter Dave Tomlinson is a hot rodder through and through and couldn’t be more excited about plans for the Historic Hot Rod Reunion of British Columbia. The event will be a gathering of some of Canada’s oldest car clubs and a time to celebrate their combined 235 years of hot rodding. The mega show will be held on August 27th of 2cc022 in the pits at Mission Raceway Park, a fully National Hot Rod Association sanctioned drag strip with a three-kilometre-long motocross course an hour east of downtown Vancouver.

This will be a celebration like no other. The British Columbia Custom Car Association was formed in January 1952 at a meeting of like-minded young car enthusiasts in an empty store on The Kingsway in Vancouver. BCCCA, which owns and operates Mission Raceway, will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year at the event. Dave Tomlinson is a Director/Secretary of the British Columbia Hot Rod Association, formed in 1957 as an umbrella group to bring together a growing number of car clubs. Next year, that club will celebrate 65 years of promoting the hobby.

The Langley Loafers Car Club also dates to 1957 when it first brought Fraser Valley car enthusiasts together. The club celebrates its 65th anniversary next year. The fourth club organizing the reunion event is the Pacific International Street Rod Association – formed in 1971. The club celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Building hot rods and custom cars started in Vancouver in the 1940’s following the lead of returning World War Two servicemen who began hopping up roadsters and racing them on the dry lakes east of Los Angeles. The hot rod and custom car craze gave young people a creative way of expressing their individuality and ingenuity. It continues to be an international passion which has accelerated during the pandemic with many hot rods and custom cars being built and restored.

“We hope to get a lot of the historic cars that were well known in Vancouver, Vancouver Island and the British Columbia interior at our show,” Dave Tomlinson says. “We want all clubs to attend the show including those involved with sports and vintage cars, motorcycles and even tuners and drifters which involves younger people.”

The idea for a mega show to celebrate the longevity of the Vancouver-area hot rod and custom clubs came from B.C. Custom Car Association president Ralf Ehlers, who contacted executive members of the other clubs and a committee was struck to hold a one-day super show. Brianne Kindzersky of Hagerty Insurance says her company will provide full sponsorship for the event, which promises to be one of the largest car shows ever held in Western Canada.

“It seems like a good opportunity for all the clubs to celebrate how long they have been going,” says Keith Biddlecombe, president of the 420-member B.C. Hot Rod Association. “For us, it’s an opportunity to do something with other clubs.

He is not worried about the hobby dying, but it takes a lot of energy to keep the interest up and people together. “It all started with hot rodding but we’re not excluding any group of car enthusiast. We want them all to be a part of this reunion event.”

Biddlecombe says historic drag race cars, nostalgic customs and hot rods will be sought out with the owners invited to bring them for special display along with contributors inducted by the Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneers Society.

“There will be a lot of people there who haven’t seen each other in a long time,” he says of the planned reunion.

For Rob Petty, chairman of the 100-member Pacific International Street Rod Association, the reunion at Mission Raceways Park is a perfect setting to show the hobby is still alive and well.

“A lot of young people are into building what is called Old Skool hot rods,” he says. “The skills and craftsmanship they have outguns what we had in the 1950s. “The event will showcase cars built over the past 75 years along with contemporary hot rods and customs.”

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. aedwards@peakco.com