Randy Gaveronksi, the Assiniboia & District Museum Coordinator, estimated there were nearly 70 cars and 200 participants at the Southern Cruisers car show on Saturday, September 21. Although the final count wouldn’t be known until Monday, the Fall Show ‘N Shine held in front of the museum was already showing great success in drawing participants from all parts of south central and southwest Saskatchewan. Museum staff were selling barbecued hotdogs to queues of people at the show on the museum’s grounds for $5. But aside from buying the economically-priced hotdogs in droves, the public were also eager to see so many distinctive cars arriving from various places in the province.
Kim Heinemann from Herbert entered her 1960 Chevrolet. She’d owned this car for 6-8 months, but had years of experience in rebuilding automobiles. “We have had cars all our lives,” she said. “We actually build cars. We did the interior,” she added and smiled while sitting behind the dash of the machine in black mat finish with flames embellishing the doors.
The decades of 1950s and the 1960s were well-represented at the show. Gravelbourg resident Bill Collens brought his 1955 Dodge to the Southern Cruisers Show ‘N Shine – a car he’d owned for 10 years and rebuilt with the help of some friends. Andrew Sibbald from Bengough displayed his sleek 1967 Volvo P1800. Not the usual Volvo sedan, this car with sporty Italian looks was featured on the British television program, The Saint, starring Roger Moore.
Pieter Boerma’s Essex built by Hudson in 1929 came all the way from Coronach to Assiniboia. The Essex was a showstopper at the Show ‘N Shine. Boerma’s car was especially rare, since the Hudson company became defunct in 1954 after merging with Nash-Kelvinator to form AMC. Boerma’s hot rod was purchased at auction. He has owned the Essex for three years. The Essex had a 454 Turbo 400 transmission engine, extra wide tires and rear lights fashioned from pistons and rods taken out of a Caterpillar haul truck used at the mine in Coronach. Boerma’s car attracted many sightseers with a giant motor and entertaining 1960s-hot rod trim capable of enticing car enthusiasts and the curious alike. Even Big Daddy Rat Fink made an appearance – a red-eyed rodent grinned from atop of the Essex’s towering radiator, conceivably in homage to the logo used by the American artist and custom car designer and builder, Ed Roth.
