Vintage vehicles head west

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This article was published 14/07/2023 (994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A rare car made a rare stop in Brandon. In fact, it was the first time that the American-made couple and their car had ever been on Canadian soil.

Butch and Val Buchanan of Fargo, N.D., were in the Wheat City in their 1954 Kaiser Special along with dozens of other car enthusiasts, who are making their way to Medicine Hat, Alta., to meet up with hundreds more — for the 2023 Western Canada Power Cruise.

It was Val who saw the advertisement for the cruise on social media, Butch said, so she volunteered to be the navigator.

“We’ve never been to Canada before,” Buchanan said. “Back home, there are car shows and events, but we haven’t ever done one. So, we said, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go somewhere we’ve never been and enjoy it.’”

Their 1954 Kaiser Special is only one of about 8,000 that were built in the U.S. by automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. They started their company to compete with General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, but halted production in 1955.

The Buchanans say they’re “into oddball stuff,” with a collection that includes a 1949 two-door Hudson and a 1955 Studebaker pickup.

“When we decided to come, we said eeny, meeny, miny, moe, and brought this one — and it drives like a dream,” Buchanan said.

The Western Canada Power Cruise starts at four locations where drivers meet before heading to Medicine Hat.

Brandon was one of the starting line cities, along with Bonnyville and Grande Prairie in Alberta, and Chilliwack in British Columbia.

The goal is to reach Medicine Hat today for a local cruise night followed by a weekend show and shine to coincide with The Gas City Auto and Trade Show, and a day of drag racing.

More first-timers to the Wheat City in their 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air two-door hard-top were Randy and Cindy Henrickson, from Sioux Lookout, Ont., who said, “This is the first time our car has been past Winnipeg.”

They are sentimental about their dream car, their ’56 Chevy, Randy said, and added, “I can’t tell all my secrets,” he said with a laugh, but described some of the upgrades like a V8 engine, five-speed transmission, disc brakes in the front and a positraction rear end, to help distribute power to the rear wheels.

“We had one identical to this when we first got married, but we had to sell it more than 50 years ago to rebuild our first house,” Henrickson said. “And then when I saw this on the other side of Toronto, I knew we had to have it.”

The exterior of Brandonite Jim Stewart’s 1946 Chevrolet half-ton can be deceiving as to what is underneath and inside, he said, because it looks exactly like it did when he found it in a farmer’s field 49 years ago.

“She’s got a 350 with about 300 horsepower, four-speed automatic with overdrive. It also has air, cruise, tilt, all the good stuff that you need, as well as power disc brakes, and rack-and-pinion steering. It’s good to go,” Stewart said.

Stewart has driven his half-ton to Minneapolis six times for car shows that celebrate cars from the ’50s but, he said, this will be the first time he and his wife Mavis have done the power cruise.

“It’s going to be all about the people you’ll meet, people who want to have fun. And you don’t have to have an old car, you just have to have the desire to talk with people who have them. It’s fun if you do, but it’s not a requirement,” Stewart said.

Chad Bicklmeier from Rivers and Lynda Lambert from Morden, said they agree that they’re in it, “for the fun of it.”

Their bright baby blue vehicle was originally named an AMC Rambler by its manufacturer, but Bicklmeier said, once he made adaptations, a name change was mandatory.

“This is a 1964 AMC Rambler that has been rebadged the Rumbler because it’s had the original drive train removed and replaced. It’s got a V8 motor in it, compared to the original V6, so she’s a light car with enough power to giddy up and go,” Bicklmeier said as he laughed.

As all the cars rolled out of the Brandon meeting place headed west, Buchanan said he and his wife were nervously excited.

“We think because it’s an old car, we could have a breakdown, but really, you could also have technical problems with a new car. So, we’re just going to go for it — into new territory and going to have fun.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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