Wayne Wright proudly displays a picture of himself as a seven year old boy, sitting behind the wheel of his father's 1924 Model T Ford. The picture was taken at the 1967 Centennial parade in Strathroy Ontario. His father purchased the car from the original owner in Hamilton, the year before. Which means the car, which Wright says will eventually go to his son, has been in the family for over 50 years.
"I look after it and keep it inside when the weather is bad. I drive it quite a bit in the summer," said Wright. "It's all original. It's never been restored. I didn't realize it would draw such a crowd."
Wright was referring to the steady stream of people who stopped by to check out the vintage car, and his picture, along with another one featuring his sisters, during the ninth annual 'Cruisin' Downtown car & bike show' Saturday in North Bay. Hosted by the Downtown Improvement Area roughly 100 new, classic and specialty vehicles and motorcycles were on display.
"We have people here from Parry Sound, we have people here from Sudbury, we have people here from New Liskeard," said Jeff Serran, executive director of the DIA. "So it's more than just the region. It's really an event that, because we have a really good following, we have people visit from around the province."
As a young man, Max Burns owned several Lotus car's, corvettes and MG's. While he loved anything with a motor and wheels, his taste learned more towards British versus American-made cars. Out of all his purchases, the 1972 Lotus 7 was his favourite. Burns enjoyed looking at all the vehicles on display.
'This is the period we grew up in, late 60's, early 70's," said Burns. "And in the late 60's we were looking at cars in the 50's which many of these are. We were able to drive them at that point, so that's the kind of car we would usually be looking at. Great memories here today. The kids look at them and say they're old. They don't feel old to us."
Fourteen-year-old Ryan Jones is still a few years away from driving, but he has already developed an appreciation of the many vehicles from by-gone years.
"I've seen a Camero SS before, and I've seen a Pontiac Sunfire but this is the first time I'm seeing some of these cars." He went on to say, "I think it's absolutely awesome like, look at these cars. They're so old and they look new, almost like out of a shop or something. I'm glad I'm here today."
Allan Griese owns an '84 Corvette he bought new, a '67 Mustang Coupe and an '85 Eldorado. For this show, he brought his 1936 Ford two-door coach which he purchased in Timmins back in 1987. Griese says he drives the Ford quite often.
"This motor I put in a couple of years ago. I've just been changing the oil in it lately. It's been running real good. And I've just been greasing it and cleaning it for the last couple of years." As for people touching it, "They can touch it if they've got a rag in their hand and they can polish it," he laughed.
