Cruisin’ the Island in Portage la Prairie

Car show theory states that the larger a city is, the better its car shows will be. Thanks to the 3rd largest city in Manitoba, that theory can be put on the shelf next to that whole “earth is flat” idea.

Last weekend, the city of Portage la Prairie played host to their biggest car show of the summer, “Cruisin the Island” at Island Park. The annual event brought out more than 200 cars from all over the province, to nestle in amongst the shade trees and squirrels.

With scenery like this, it makes it easy to think that Cruisin’ the Island is what every car show should strive to be. As the name implies, Island Park is an actual island on the Assiniboine river, which makes the space just a bit cooler than most places under the Manitoba summer sun. The only two spots without shade was this one (above) and the one where I parked my black car, with the windows up (thank God for air conditioning!) And if that wasn’t enough, the play area and waterpark for the kiddies was just a stone’s throw away. When you put the whole package together, you had a show that attracted cars like this:

I won’t even pretend to know about 1960 Pontiac Laurentians like Mike Drabot’s gorgeous machine. However, you can’t help but notice how much the lines resemble a 1960 Chevy Impala.

Alan Gingles drove his ’27 Essex all the way from Neepawa to show it off amongst the trees. Parked next to him was a perfectly spotless T-bucket, which made for a sharp contrast to the Essex’s bug-filled radiator grille. ”It’s dirty because it’s driven,” Alan explained.

It’s not until some of these cars get out in the sunlight that you finally realize just how mind-blowing their paint is. This little Falcon is a perfect example of why indoor and evening shows don’t do justice to the ingenuity and talent that hot rod painters in this province have.

Model A Roadster pickups were never the most common vehicle, which makes them all the rarer today. What’s even rarer is when a specimen like this is restored for the sake of driving to car shows under its own power. There was hardly a moment that this creation of Mr. Ford wasn’t surrounded by admirers.

The only problem with old Studebakers is that you can’t tell if they’re coming or going.

The River City Cruisers PT Cruiser Club represented with three of its members, and about a hundred miniature PT Cruisers. Everything from oversized remote control cars to hot wheels appeared on dashboards, roofs, hoods, trunks, and even A&W trays hanging out of the window.

Even though there weren’t prizes for best this, that, and the next thing, “Da Judge” still came out to preside. Bruce Christian’s 1971 Pontiac GTO Judge was driven to the show, where the car was parked on a hill overlooking its jurisdiction.

Finally, Griff Gill represented the Lucky Devils C.C., “Winnipeg’s Biggest Little Car Club,” with his ’39 Ford “Blueberry” coupe. Riding shotgun was Peter Meier, which meant 2/3 of the club’s membership was present on one bench seat.

That’s it for this week, but come on back any day for new pictures and stories about this passion we call “Hot Rodding.” And yes, you did read that right-everyday, we’ll be taking one picture out of the vault and putting it out for great readers like you that keep coming back. So until then, please cruise responsibly!

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