Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
Rainy forecasts resulted in fewer entries and fewer spectators at the Odessa Car Show, Flea Market, Crafts and Collectibles over the weekend, but that couldn’t take the shine off the 45-year tradition.
Vintages from early in the 20th Century up to about 15 years ago were lined up for spectator viewing. Among them, there were some real classics, some sporty hot rods, and even a few vans. One section featured only British cars, while another had military vehicles. Casual visitors and gear heads alike surely found something to meet their fancy at one of the region’s best known auto shows.
Eldon Peters, a longtime member of the Upper Canada chapter of the Antique and Classic Car Club of Canada can remember when the show used to move around eastern Ontario.
He said in 1991, it was moved to the Odessa fairgrounds and it’s been there ever since. Still, it serves a wide membership base that enjoys easy access off Hwy 401 and County Rd. 2.
“The support has been great from the community — and I’m talking about a large community. We get people from almost Cornwall in the east to Oshawa and Port Hope in the west. We have people from the Picton area and north to Bancroft. It’s a large area we draw from.”
Of course, Peters said, with a weather-dependent event it’s hard to know who will roll in.
“Today, we’re not drawing too well, as you can see, because of the forecast,” he said. “Normally, this field would be jam-packed with beautiful vehicles. The ones here today are beautiful, but I think there’s only 25 per cent of what we’d normally get. The weather makes or breaks it.”
One visitor still did travel all the way from Dexter, N.Y. to take part this year, however.
Peters said the club’s members pitch in and typically more volunteers than members help out. They do so because they love cars, but also to help the community. This year, gate proceeds and fees from the flea market and swap meet helped the Boys and Girls Club with playground renewal in Odessa.
Peters and his wife share in their hobby together, though he might be one of the few participants this year who can recall what his car was like new. It’s a two-door 1959 Ford Edsel hard-top convertible that he drove off the lot new 59 years ago this month. He’s kept it well maintained ever since.
“A lot of people, I guess, had trouble with them. I didn’t. With the exception of paint, everything else is original. The motor has run perfectly and everything else had been A1.”
Each year at the show, Peters said he tells the story of his car and takes in others.
“It’s a learning experience. All these vehicles have their own little history behind them, how they came to be where they are today,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to get. It’s always like Christmas. You get the present and don’t know what it is until you open it. At our car show, you never know what you’re getting until they arrive. Some of them are fantastic.”
That might apply to the vehicle Bob Cox, of Odessa, drove just down the road. It’s a 1925 Chevrolet Model K. The stain on the wood glistened next to a silvery metallic blue paint. Cox said it became his retirement project after he found it in rough condition.
“It was kind of a rotten thing, it sat out behind a barn for 14 years and rotted away,” he said. “I restored everything. My wife did the upholstery. Everything else, I did the work and paint… it’s been a lot of blood, sweat, and beers.”
Cox also said it’s been difficult with to have a Chevy of the age he has, noting that often Ford parts from the same period are much more readily available at swap meets.
From start to finish, it took about five years work to restore, but prior to that it sat largely untouched for almost 20 years. Cox proudly displays photos of his grandchildren sitting behind the wheel before and after. Through the years, he’s also collected stickers from some of the many places it’s been.
“We go to all the shows,” he said. “We were in Lombardy — it’s usually the first one of the year — then this one. We’ll do Tamworth on Canada Day. They always have a nice parade there.”
Often, he said, he goes to the show s just to meet people, including other car enthusiasts he sometimes might not see for a year in between shows. This show, he said, was a good one, despite the threatening skies.
“Yesterday was weather,” he said Sunday. “Today is a pretty good show, and a pretty good turnout. I’ve got a cover for the seat. The rest, rain won’t hurt it.”
Despite his feeling that rain won’t hurt his car, others with a similar vintage didn’t seem to agree.
“People don’t seem to bring the old cars out. The class here is for production up to ’49 and what you can see is two cars. People don’t bring them out, but there’s lots around.”
Gordon Bennett shows off a Bombardier Iltis that was used in Afghanistan. The Canadian Forces veteran believes it’s important to show the public an accurate representation of military service vehicles as they were used. Photo by Adam Bramburger.
A display of four military vehicles also drew s one curiosity. Gordon Bennett, a retired soldier of nearly 30 years who settled in Trenton after a posting there, brought two — a Bombardier Iltis the Canadian Armed Forces used in Afghanistan and a 1985 United States Marines Humvee, which was inadvertently auctioned off. Having grown up in a military family, Bennett has had a lifelong interest in vehicles used in service.
“Some people collect coins, stamps and hurricane lamps. We do military vehicles,” he said.
He also believes it’s important to share that collection with civilians.
“Afghanistan is kind of in the rearview mirror now, but it’s being respectful to the war and to the loss of life we had over there. The average person doesn’t get to see firsthand what we operated in over there,” he said. “The concept of three guys in a jeep bombing around with nothing more than machine guns and a rocket launcher was unconscionable to many.”
Bennett said he fulfilled his dream while serving, being responsible for his vehicles. Now, he continues that interest restoring vehicles — he has three, including one currently being restored, finding authentic parts, and talking with people at shows.
The Iltis was retired from service in Afghanistan in 2014 before Bennett was deployed there, though he said he knew friends who served in them who were able to offer photos and stories. He said it was used mostly for reconnaissance, tracking enemy movements.
Soldiers would load them with guns, ammunition, and a full kit. In restoration, Bennett said it was important for him to portray the vehicle accurately as there are people who would pick apart the slightest indiscretion. Recently, at a show in his native Alberta, Bennett learned just how well he’d done.
“A guy rolled up to it in a wheelchair and just started crying. He said ‘Where’d you get this?’ I told him I’d restored it,” he recalled. “He said ‘I served in one of those in Afghanistan’ before sharing that it got hit by an improvised explosive device and that’s where he lost his legs. The veteran rolled all around the vehicle and commented he couldn’t believe the accuracy.
“If you can food people who served in them and almost died in them, you hit the mark when it comes to accuracy,” Bennett said.
While most people in the weekend’s show strived to make their vehicles look shiny and new, Bennett said it’s a badge of honour to keep his in service condition. Generally, once he’s retired a piece, he just continues with general maintenance — which he says is fairly straightforward compared to other vehicles on the road today.
“A lot of the work is very simple. These days, everything is computers and sensors. This is old school. It you know how to use a wrench or socket, you’re good to go with a military vehicle.”
The Humvee is something Bennett says he wanted since the first Gulf War. He saw another collector in North Carolina selling it about five years ago for a good price. He was able to have it shipped to Watertown, then drove it across the border. He said it’s one of few retired American Humvees that was allowed to be street legal and he’s taken full advantage.
Just as other exhibitors look forward to taking their hot rods for a spin, Bennett loves to drive his own toys.
People sharing that passion keeps Odessa’s show running each year, rain or shine.