Feature stories

I’m already receiving notifications from car clubs for next year’s calendar. It was never my intention to host a car show calendar on NiceOldCars.ca but it just happened when there was no complete calendar at the start of the 2022 season. I considered it to be a one-off and for one year only.

There are at least five other websites which have car show calendars, so I’m wondering if it is needed for next year. The NiceOldCars calendar was one-of-a-kind and had some unique features: [Read more…] about Do you want the Southern Alberta car show calendar in 2023?

I started this website so that non-Facebook people in southern Alberta would have a place to go to see pictures from the shows. I didn’t plan for it, but I’ve somehow created the most complete and up-to-date car show calendar for southern Alberta. The Car Shows Upcoming page has become the most popular feature on this site. The website statistics indicate that it has been viewed 28,577 times.

I hope everyone is enjoying the restriction-free summer of car shows. It’s hard to believe, but the season is more than half-over already. The calendar started with 122 weekend shows and there are only 52 remaining. I’m not including the weeknight shows which would add another 100+ to the mix.

For the most part, the weather has co-operated and few shows have been cancelled or postponed. Car counts may have been down a few times when the weather forecast was predicting thunder storms.

I’ve enjoyed chatting with hundreds of car owners and learning about their vehicles. Although I’ve attended over 200 shows in the past five years, I continue to see first-timers at every event. 

A big thank you to the readers who have made a donation towards the upkeep of this website. It’s been gratifying to know that readers are appreciative of the work I’m doing.

I’d like to acknowledge all the car owners who bring their vehicles to the shows. In the gallery below are the owners who I’ve taken a picture of this summer. The photos are in chronological order from oldest to newest, and most are vehicles which I was seeing for the first time.

For those who were disappointed at the Wild Wednesday weather cancellation, you might want to consider a couple cruise-ins which are occurring on Thursday this week, and every week henceforth.

The Westgate Community Centre hosts Cars and Coffee on Thursday from 6 – 8 pm. Now that’s too late in the day for me to be drinking coffee, but I’m pretty sure I’d be allowed to attend anyway. Perhaps Cars and Conversation would be applicable to some of us. The Westgate Community Centre is located at 4943 – 8 Av SW, Calgary.

The Cochrane Classics car club hosts a Thursday night gathering at the Griffin Road A & W from 5 – 8 pm in Cochrane. You can see photos from the June 9 show which I attended. Ted, who has the remarkable 1940 Ford truck in the photos, contacted me to say everyone is welcome. 

Both shows are listed on the Car Shows Upcoming Calendar.

 

I often get asked at the car shows, “which old car is yours?” My answer, “the only old car I have is the one I drive everyday.”

That wasn’t always the case. Back in the nineties I had a 74 Nova and an 80 Malibu which I raced at Race City Speedway in Calgary.

I was thrilled with stock car racing from the time I was nine years old when my sister Carol and her boyfriend took me to the races in Estevan. It was the most enjoyable day of my life to that point in time.

When I moved to Calgary, I decided it was time to give it a try considering the world-class facility in this city. When everything fell into place and I was enjoying success on the race track, I realized it was something I should have done years earlier.

The next “most enjoyable day of my life” came on Victoria day 1996 when I completed 300 laps(150 x 2) around Race City’s half-mile high-banked oval and podiumed twice.

I searched through the forgotten corners of the basement and found a dusty box labelled “racing trophies.” It’s been 25 years since they saw the light of day. It’s neat to relive those days at the track, and I still think stock car racing is the most fun you can have with your boots on. 

This is something a little different than I normally post. I drove to Maple Creek, SK today to take in the car show in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park tomorrow(Saturday). The venue is about a 20-minute drive from here. I was so impressed with last year’s show that I had to come back. 

It was raining in Maple Creek when I arrived at 7 pm, but when I finished dinner, the sky was turning blue and the sun, low on the horizon, was peaking out from between the trees and buildings. The forecast is calling for clear skies and a temperature of 16°C tomorrow.

I took a delightful stroll around this historic town and snapped a few photos with my phone. As I walked around, there were mourning doves cooing on every block. It was peaceful and beautiful. Coming from a small place myself, I feel right at home here.