More than 170 cars of all shapes, sizes and eras flooded into Westlock’s Lindahl Park on July 8 for the 25th annual Westlock Wheels of Class Show and Shine.
“It went awesome,” said Wheels of Class secretary-treasurer Dave Ristoff. “It was a really good show.”
The huge attendance was helped by a wide-open sky, a far cry from the overcast conditions that limited the 2011 show to only 50 entrants.
Taking over the park were myriad vehicles dating back to the 1930s, including something Ristoff said he’d never seen at the show before — two 18-wheelers.
“We had two the same year, which is really, really cool because that’s something you never see at a show is a big truck,” he said.
It was perhaps that novelty that attracted the more than 400-strong audience because it was one of those trucks, Busby’s Tyler Spargo’s 1988 Ford Louisville, that was named the Peoples’ Choice award winner.
Ristoff said Spargo’s truck was a worthy winner given the rarity of seeing something like that.
“It’s a really cool truck, a local truck,” he said. “You don’t see it very often, but it’s really neat.”
Among the other vehicles on the grass behind the Pioneer Museum was Larry Laird’s 1954 Kaiser Darrin, one of only 435 ever made.
A unique feature of the Darrin is its doors, Laird said.
“It’s the only one I know of with sliding pocket doors,” he said.
The Edmonton resident has put more than $130,000 worth of work into the Darrin to restore it to its former glory after finding it just wasting away in a field several years ago.
A major project, Laird started with the car’s shell, built a new frame, installed a modern engine and refurbished the original body. When it was all done, it looked as if it had just rolled off the line.
Laird’s attraction to the Darrin, and other Kaiser cars, dates back to when he was first married. At the time, he owned a 1953 Kaiser Manhattan, and his interest just continued to grow.
The Kaiser line reminds him of his youth, he said, to the point where he has a few other models around his home. Unfortunately, he only regularly shows off the Darrin.
“Other Kaisers are not show stoppers,” he said. “The Darrin is.”
Laird also brought out a 1940 and a 1955 Packard. The 1955 edition was another major renewal job, as he took it from practically nothing and cleaned it up and restored it to its original form.
So why does Laird put so much time and effort into bringing old cars back to life?
“I do it for the love of old cars,” he said. “I like the old cars because they have personality and character. People know what they are just by seeing them. People are attracted by them.”
He said cars these days don’t have any personality. Sure, they run better and are better overall vehicles, but they don’t catch the eye like their ancestors did.
Up until the 1970s, Laird said he could name the cars he saw on the street just by looking at them. Now?
“I can hardly tell the difference,” he said.
