Classic car owners react to cancellations

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/03/2020 (2007 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last Friday, the organizers behind the 46th World of Wheels convention — which was supposed to run March 27-29 in Winnipeg — made the difficult decision to pull the plug on their event due to mounting concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak.

This announcement hit especially hard for members of the Road Rebels car club here in Brandon, since the group had been working tirelessly to set up an exhibit at the convention, which normally attracts hobbyists from across North America.

This display would have featured five different vehicles in various stages of restoration, and was meant to illustrate how rural Manitobans can take a “barn find” car on its last legs and turn it into a well-oiled machine.

“We had lots of meetings for that,” Road Rebels president Dave Burba said on Wednesday. “The props were going to be there, we had signs made, we had barricades, we had T-shirts, so we had all that stuff in the process.”

Lindsay Rystephanuk said news of the event’s cancellation was “devastating,” since he had been pulling out all the stops to make sure his 1973 Dodge Charger was ready for the show floor.

“We had spent so much time pre-planning to put on the very best show that we could possibly put forward, and it got pulled away from us,” he said. “So we’re very disappointed.”

Unfortunately, the disappointment didn’t stop there, since car events in Canada and the United States began falling like dominoes as the coronavirus situation got increasingly worse.

These cancellations include: the 60th Draggins Car Show in Saskatoon (April 10-11), the Manitoba Street Rod Association’s 2020 Rodarama Car Show in Winnipeg (May 1-3), the Viva Las Vegas Car Show (April 9-12) and all Dakota Cruisers events until at least April 30.

The ongoing COVID-19 situation is also putting upcoming Westman car events in serious jeopardy, like the first downtown Brandon cruise night of the year, which is supposed to take place May 14.

Burba told the Sun he has never had to grapple with anything like this throughout his many years of organizing car events in the region.

“The only thing we had to deal with is rain cancelling one of our shows,” he said. “We’re always dependent on the weather for the majority of our stuff, but never anything of this magnitude. This is global, whereas before we only had to worry about local.”

Rystephanuk went on to say that this string of cancellations is especially tough to swallow at this time of year, when classic car owners finally have the chance to bring their vehicles out of storage and reconnect with fellow hobbyists after a long winter.

“Anything early in the spring season is a highlight, where you get to meet each other again, all of your car buddies, and just get reacquainted,” he said.

However, some local gear heads are looking to make the most out of the provincial government’s recommendation to practise “social distancing.”

Since he’s not able to visit World of Wheels, Mike Fontaine said he’s going to use these next couple quiet months to chip away at his 1968 Ford Falcon, which he has been working to restore for the last eight years.

“You always got to have something to do on the side, or else you go crazy,” he said. “There’s only so much TV I can watch. I’m not big on watching television. I’d rather tinker with something or build something.”

As for Rystephanuk, he’s still going to take his Charger out for a solo spin as soon as weather permits it.

“I do intend to get my car out a little bit earlier, in the first part of April,” he said. “And when a nice day presents itself, I’m going to be out there driving around.”

Meanwhile, Burba is trying to remain positive in these trying time and hopes that the COVID-19 situation can stabilize before Brandon’s remaining cruise night events take place on June 4, July 2, Aug. 6 and Sept. 3.

“We’re hoping that by June or late May that some of this might be reverting back to the way it was,” he said. “I guess we’ve got our fingers crossed that we’ll still be able to cruise and meet up and things like that somewhere down the road.”  

For up-to-the-minute updates on the status of various upcoming Westman car shows, visit the Road Rebels’ official Facebook page.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson