The West Kootenay Smoke and Steel Car Club will be holding its annual Show and Shine car show at Gyro Park in Trail Saturday offering area car enthusiasts the chance to admire automotive culture from a wide variety of eras and styles.
The president of the area club, Wally Drezdoff, says there could be as many as 120 vehicles on display on the weekend, with cars and drivers coming from around the Kootenays, the Okanagan, Northern Washington State, and as far away as Langley.
However, the show in the park won’t only be limited to the elite models of the automotive world, all are welcome.
“We welcome anyone with a desire to come down and participate,” said Drezdoff.
“There are over 40 different categories of vehicles, stock, custom, hot rods, antiques.
“We’ve got some of the younger guys with the customized Japanese imports, guys more my age with the muscle cars we grew up with. We’re just trying to keep the interest up.”
And cars won’t be the only entertainment at the park Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
There will also be music, the Mystic Dream belly dancers, a wandering magician to dazzle the crowds, an assortment of automotive accessories vendors, and a variety of food offerings with pizza, Thai food, and the concession for burgers and fries and the like.
For local businessman and car collector, Leo Salsman, the hard part of going to a car show is deciding which car to bring.
Salsman is the proud owner of 12 vehicles worthy of a show, most of them classic, older cars, and all of them Chevys.
“I’ve always had strong feelings for Chevrolets, mostly from the 50’s and 60’s,” said Salsman. “I guess I got it from my Dad, he was always a Chevy man, even our old farm truck was a Chevy.”
Salsman says his love of cars began as a child, probably starting when he first tried to help his father out by trying to repair the farm truck when he was only 10.
“The truck was broken down and I took it upon myself to try to fix it,” said Salsman. “So I climbed under it and was pulling apart the transmission and was just covered from head to toe with oil and grease when my mother found me.
“She said that I was really going to be in trouble when my father got home but when he did he said, ‘Aw leave him alone, at least he was trying to help.’
“After that I was responsible for maintaining the farm tractor. I think it just gets into your blood when you’re young and it never leaves you.”
Drezdoff says his love of cars began, like many males, in high school when he bought the car he still owns today and will be shining up for the show.
“It’s a ‘67 Chevy Beaumont,” he said. “It went through three brothers in a family who lived down the street from me, the third brother sold it to me.
“A lot of my friends have similar stories. I guess none of us ever grew out of it.”