It’s taking me a little while to get through all of these photos, but today I have for you all Part 2 of our World of Wheels coverage! I have received lots of great feedback on Part 1 so it would appear that you guys enjoyed it, and I hope the same can be said for today’s post as well.
I’m certainly enjoying the chance to have a ‘proper’ event to share, though seeing as we’re already a few days into March our season is fast approaching and it won’t be too long now before events like this are a more regular occurrence again. I can’t wait and am looking forward to ditching the coats and shovels for t-shirts and detail spray.
Enough of that though; let’s now dive in to today’s set of photos, which pick up right where we left off with a ’33 Ford Speedster Coupe that was parked next to Jarhead…
…and an incredibly bright Speedster Coupe at that! With the insane paint job this wore it was impossible to miss on the show floor. Note the fade that was employed within the flames – they transitioned from a light blue up front, to a darker blue, and ultimately purple at the very end. The engine cover also matched not only in that it too had flames, but that the fade was lined up with that of the body.
The interior meanwhile was much more reserved, featuring a nice tan/sand colour with some select silver and metal accents to break it up. It provided quite the contrast to the loud exterior but balanced the car out well I thought, and I liked the use of different materials on the door panels specifically to add interest by way of a different texture.
Next up was this 1926 Ford Model T – the spec sheet noted that this utilized an original Model T body (given their age it’s understandable that many builds have reproduction bodies now) which had been channeled 4 inches and mated to a Model A frame.
Things were further changed up by the inclusion of a Chevy engine up front which sent drive through a 2-speed transmission back to a Ford rear end. This pickup also featured plenty of intricate pinstriping, in both white and yellow, all over – from the light buckets to the dash to the bedsides to the tail gate, nearly everywhere you looked you could find some of the expertly-applied striping.
This 3000GT really stood out not just because it was next to the Model T pickup, but also because it was a 3000GT in the first place! The fact that the base car is such an uncommon sight these days only served to make the build that much more impressive. Francois, the owner, has had this as a project for just over a decade now and it had a mod list the size of a planet as a result of that. Reading through it you’d find nearly everything you could imagine; a fully built engine, custom paint job, tons of chrome and gold plating, air suspension – you get the idea; the list was insane. What I also liked about this car was that it was a throwback to years gone by – it didn’t follow all of the trends or patterns of today but that didn’t matter because this thing was complete.
From a nearly 23-year old Mitsubishi we now turn to a 23-window 1960 VW bus. Sadly I could not get a clear shot of this due to the crowds but I had to include it anyway because it was so nice. Nicknamed Rosie due to its original red and white colourway, after sitting for an extended period of time following a restoration gone wrong it was found, brought to Calgary, and wound up on a rotisserie as it underwent an extensive rebuild. The result was an example that had to be in better-than-new condition. In fact, it was completed almost ten years ago now but in person it looked so good that I probably would have believed it if I had been told it was finished the day before.
Around back the cover was opened up to show off the 1955cc engine, and a couple of its previous awards were on display too on the rear shelf. The colours, for those curious, were an original VW shade up top with the bottom half being a hue plucked from Jaguar’s palette. As a final touch the build was topped off – literally – with a hand crafted roof rack.
Jarhead, the Harley Davidson that closed out Part 1 of the coverage, was parked alongside this – ‘Black Draggin’ – which was the owner’s other project. Also a Harley, this was specifically a 2008 Night Rod Special that had not only been an 8-year project, but also served as a daily. This too had seen a ton of work and looked downright evil with the nearly murdered-out look, broken up by just a few hints of red here and there. It also featured air suspension which I thought was rather cool! I wonder if there’s as much debate and controversy over air in the bike world as there still is in the car world?
Being a Pontiac fan and owner myself I have always been drawn to the GTO Judge, and this one in particular is an example that I always enjoy seeing at shows and events around town. It’s instantly recognizable due to the slightly odd colour combination of the Mint Turquoise paint and Red interior, and that is what also makes it so special – more so than a Judge is to begin with. This combo was not permitted by GM but this car was built with it anyway, and was the only one – this is a documented 1 of 1 car! Even with the “correct” interior it’d still be rare as only 75 Canadian Judges were ever painted Mint Turquoise to begin with. If you ask me though, the perhaps unusual combination of colours – turquoise, orange, pink, red – works rather well considering. What do you think?
The Nifty Fifty’s Ford Club had a good selection of vehicles at this year’s show including this 1948 Ford Tudor Super Deluxe. It sat on a 1985 S10 frame and was powered by a 403 Olds engine good for 270hp. And yes, that was a plush Olaf sitting inside; he was even wearing sunglasses. Haha
Fans of the Camaro will realize that 2017 is the model’s 50th birthday, and because of this extra attention was being drawn to the various examples that were all around the hall. This Emerald Turquoise 1967 was a real RS/SS with the numbers-matching engine, though the original 2 speed transmission had been replaced at some point with a 4 speed automatic overdrive (700R4). Apart from that and modifications to the radio to allow it to play FM and have an aux input, this was a factory spec car that had plenty of documentation including the original invoice! Reading said invoice revealed that it had been so highly optioned originally that nearly two-thirds again was added to the base price!
Parked at the end of this particular row was a pair of extremely vibrant red cars; the first being a 1969 GTO. Judging by the ‘before’ picture shown on the info card there wasn’t much left of this car when it began its fifteen-year rebuild, but it had managed to retain its numbers matching transmission and rear axle at least! A year-correct engine block was utilized and the body was resprayed its original Matador Red, but it wasn’t all a factory-spec build as the brakes, suspension, exhaust, and wiring (among other items) had all been upgraded along the way.
The second half of the bright red pair was this 1968 Mustang Convertible. Unlike the GTO which was red on red, this Mustang’s interior used the colour more sparingly with the carpets and gauge faces being the only instances. This had definitely seen a lot of work to upgrade and personalize it, but unfortunately I can’t share much more than that as I’m not fully clear on the specifics of it.
It seemed that no expense had been spared on this 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT (say that five times fast) when it was originally purchased, for not only was it a Comet Cyclone GT in the first place (out of 158,951 ’66 Comets, 13,812 were these) but it had received a staggering amount of dealer installed options and performance parts after it was built. Those included but were not limited to a new 427 V8 engine, exhaust manifolds, radiator, differential gear, tachometer, fire extinguisher, wheels, intake manifold, and even an engine dressup kit. The display for this car was also impressive as it had a plethora of old ads, magazines, information labels, and even a little roadside tool kit with reflectors.
This 2011 Mustang GT was one that I’d encountered at events before and it’s always impressive. For starters the exterior had seen a lot of work but due to the OEM+ approach you’d really have to know your Mustangs to pick up on what was changed; parts from the California Special, Boss 302, GT500, and even the 13/14 Mustangs could all be found, and all worked together very well. The interior meanwhile featured new seats, auxiliary gauges, and an upgraded sound system, and the suspension had seen work as well. It was under the hood where things got really serious though – this GT featured a twin turbo setup complete with water/meth injection! All of this was good for roughly 666 whp and 627 wtq! Also worth noting is the fully custom black pearl and Root Beer brown paintjob, complete with an airbrushed mural on the underside of the hood.
Moving ahead a generation, this ‘15 Mustang GT also featured a two-tone paint scheme with a custom black pearl top over the factory Race Red. To flow with the resprayed upper half the windows had been tinted, and this particular car had been optioned with the Performance Package as well.
In contrast to the iconic and well-known Mustangs, this one was much harder to identify – but as the info sheet revealed there was a very good reason for that. The “Backyard Coupe”, as it was called, was hand-built by one individual with “basic tools” (their words) in a small backyard shop! The body had been built to look like a 1930’s 5 window coupe and sat on a chassis that was also handcrafted. Power came from a 290hp crate engine as understandably making an engine from scratch wouldn’t exactly have been the most feasible option. It was issued a VIN and therefore was a registered vehicle, and for anyone interested in building their own apparently plans for it will be coming! I suppose this is the ultimate case of ‘built not bought’!
Sitting next to the Backyard Coupe was this ‘77 Toyota Land Cruiser. No, it wasn’t a Jeep, though it surely must be a common mistake as the owner had even written “It’s not a Jeep!” on the information card. Powered by a 408ci small block Dodge it had also received a 250hp nitrous fogger kit because, well, why not? The main attention-getter for me however was the beautifully intricate cage work, and I really liked how it and the frame stood out against the raw body with their metallic blue finish.
This clearly very serious build had indeed seen track time as shown in a magazine article, and apparently some of that track time was spent on only the rear tires!
Look away purists, for this 1931 Model A pickup was powered by a 1997 Chevy 5.7L engine! It did retain its original frame somewhat surprisingly, though that had been reinforced and extended. Inside there were some modern amenities to be found such as digital gauges, digital climate control, cruise control, power windows, and more. The vivid exterior paint was also carried inside on the dash, with green stitching across the black leather seats and door cards to match.
To my knowledge this 1970 Mercury Cougar had been restored to original spec as there were no mentions of alterations made – this is the point where an expert will come in and possibly correct me. Displayed alongside the car was the original invoice, showing that it was sold new here in Calgary!
Here we have a prime example of why it’s worth reading the information cards shown alongside many of these vehicles. Being a ’67 Corvette Stingray this was cool enough anyway, but this specific car was one of only two yellow GM Canada imported Stingrays, and one of two ever built in this colour combo – Sunfire Yellow paint with a White interior. It also only had 4 owners since new, with the third owning it the longest – 1974 to 2012. To make it just that much more impressive still, it also had just 35,000 miles (~56k kilometers).
Not far from the ’67 Stingray was this 1959 Corvette which had followed a different route, being restomodded instead of restored to all factory specs. Utilizing a more stealthy silver/grey/black scheme allowed for your attention to be captured with the custom touches and the impossible to miss dish on the wheels, instead of a loud paintjob or interior.
Entered in the Street Machine Custom (1949-64) class, this 1950 Meteor Coupe looked to be quite the performer if those massive rear tires were anything to go by. To fit said rear tires the car had been tubbed too, as was shown off by the open trunk – you can see one of them here.
This 1951 Pontiac Coupe had some very cool styling, most notably those very pronounced rear fenders. The license plate this wore read “ELEEGAL”; I’m curious to know the story behind that one.
I had to include this guy – he was too cool!
While it was black on black on black and surrounded by much brighter vehicles, there was no missing this ‘70 Camaro because of how insanely mean it looked. Built as a bracket racer it featured a full cage, massive rear slicks, battery disconnects on the tail light panel, and pretty much nothing beyond what was required for it to go fast.
Like I had mentioned earlier, as this was the 50th birthday for the Camaro many were on display and that ’70 bracket racer you saw just above was part of this grouping which featured one of each generation from the original to the newest. It was very cool to have them all together to see how the styling had gone through both revolutions and more subtle evolutions (i.e. 5th to 6th gens) over the years. Which generation would you pick?
This 1934 Ford pickup was powered by Buick V6 engine with a few upgrades, and was another vehicle with an undercarriage finished to perfection – it’s a shame these can’t be put on hoists for shows like this because mirrors can only show so much! The body was accented with pinstriping which utilized a perhaps unexpected colour – light green – that worked very well against the light blue paint.
This is one of my favourite photos of the day because of the subject matter – a funny car! Specifically, a 1970 Challenger R/T funny car. How often do I get the chance to have one of these in front of my lens? The answer is nearly never, so it was very cool to have the opportunity to see one up close and personal (relatively speaking, because of the ever-present barriers) and take in some of the details of what is a truly unique style of racer. Speaking of details, note how the cutouts in the side windows are pentagons for the Pentastar logo – a nice little touch.
However, the Challenger wasn’t the only funny car on display – nor was it the owner’s only funny car! Next to it was his 1972 Plymouth Cuda funny car with a layout opposite that of the Challenger – driver first and engine second. I find these cars very intriguing and I’ve even very briefly started some research following the show just to learn a bit more about them. Perhaps I should run down to the hobby shop and pick up a funny car kit to build…
Now we return to street cars with this 1974 Plymouth Duster. Like I mentioned in Part 1 about how even just a few select accessories will add a lot to a car as a ‘display’, I thought that the original 1974 oil filters were an awesome detail to have set up alongside this Duster. Something that in the time wouldn’t have even earned a second thought (imagine how exciting a box of oil filters for a new Hellcat would be) made for a very cool accessory at the show. The fact that a full package existed in this condition all of these years later was amazing enough on its own if you ask me!
World of Wheels offered something for everyone and these last few photos do an excellent job of illustrating that – we’ve gone from a pair of funny cars, to a restored Duster, and now to this chopped (and stretched and widened and dropped) pickup. Talk about variety!
This ’71 GMC Rally Sport was a definite head turner not just due to that insanely vibrant colour (a custom 3-stage Tango pearl) but also all of the radical body modifications, some of which I quickly mentioned above. Inches had been added and removed all over – the roof had been chopped by five, the box shortened by five, fenders widened by three, and so on. A huge amount of work had gone into this pickup and along with the more immediately obvious changes were some very subtle ones too such as the rounding of the doors’ lower corners. Out back LED tail lights for a ’67 Camaro had been retrofitted, and the whole thing sat low on 20” wheels.
Keeping with the variety, now we move to something that I’m sure the bulk of my readership will have a much easier time recognizing – a 2013 FR-S. This one had seen tons of aero work with new mirrors, a splitter, canards, vented hood, GT wing, massive diffuser, and even drilled out fender trim pieces. This was part of VEX’s booth, which we now return to after the peek in Part 1.
Considering that VEX had both a big turbo MKIV Supra and bright yellow R34 GT-R parked up front (again, check out Part 1 for those if you haven’t read it yet), what else could they possibly bring that would provide competition for attention? The answer was a Factory Five GTM.
The doors were off providing a great view of the interior, so even though this shot wasn’t exactly the best of the day I’m sharing it anyway! An ample amount of blue stitching could be found to match the paint, and overall it was finished very nicely while still keeping a very clear focus on performance, with limited distractions and unnecessary additions. The inclusion of a Key’s wheel was a nice touch.
If the car’s overall appearance and massive wing didn’t already scream ‘don’t try’, one peek through the rear window/engine cover probably would. There was always the plate too, which read 026DB4U (zero to sixty before you).
Lastly, we have Jimmy’s own 1972 Datsun 240Z on CR01s to wrap up the look at VEX’s booth as well as Part 2. A gorgeous build with an awesome selection of high-end parts (because Jimmy, what else would you expect from him?), the future plans noted on the info sheet suggested that it will only get better – but again, what else would you expect?
Thank you as always for reading, and watch for the third and final set of photos to wrap up the World of Wheels coverage! Additionally, the next update on Sriracha has gone live over on Project ST so a quick post with some additional information will be published here to accompany it.
-Bill