One of the classiest communities in Alberta, Canada is the picturesque community of Lacombe where time has not eliminated its long list of heritage buildings.

Lacombe has experienced rapid growth in recent years because the town is situated in a province with the hottest economy in North America.

Yet Lacombe has managed to protect its past while it grows into the future, so a stroll in the downtown area in 2014 will seem a lot like a stroll decades ago because Lacombe’s vision was its respect for its past.

We live in a time where very little is preserved from the past and bulldozers are on standby for building removal, regardless of their history in the community, so towns like Lacombe are a big exception to the rule.

Think about the modern philosophy where newer is always considered better and even a cell phone can become outmoded in mere months. Perhaps this shocking rate of change is one of the reasons a car show in a town like Lacombe where the past is embraced is one of our favorite annual events.

I know the way to Lacombe very well because my grandmother, grest-aunt and an aunt and uncle lived in the town for many years and our family visited them on a regular basis. I have fond memories of Lacombe and a visit to its annual car show brings back many of them.

For example; I came across a beautiful 1966 Olds Toronado originally purchased by a local Lacombe guy who owned the dealership from which my uncle bought all of his cars. The car happened to be parked on the street in front of its original owner’s former house at the show. I learned this information from its current owner who is the son of the original owner.

Later in the interview, I also learned how the Toronado left the family and eventually came back to them so look for the full story in a future MSCC feature.

I also discovered a very original 1970 Dodge Charger 500 owned by a couple with very strong Mopar loyalties. They were proof positive that a happy marriage is based upon common interests because this husband and wife team both love the old car hobby.

The Charger 500 is not a common participant in car shows and they explained how they were able to find a well-optioned original power train 500 in its original glory. We will tell their story in a future MSCC feature.

We also spotted a 1956 Oldsmobile four-door hardtop at the show and knew these cars are also not a common sight at car shows. The car has some mild modifications to it and we will reveal its secrets in a future MSCC story.

We had some trouble connecting with the owner of a restored 1950 Chevy 1-ton truck because its owner was at a wedding in a nearby church. A young guy from Holland was visiting the truck owner and he was able to fill in a few blanks on the truck while we waited for the owner.

However, we will need to connect with the owner to finish off the details before we run it and decided not to distract him from his duties as a wedding guest.

The annual Lacombe Days car show is one of our favorites because it also connects us with one of our favorite towns.

Thanks for another great show.

Jim Sutherland

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My nephew told me a story that seemed so implausible I thought he was just trying to get a rise out of his gullible uncle.

We were on a road trip and spent much of the time immersed in all automotive matters ranging from horrific highway traffic to what kind of horsepower was at his disposal with his wife’s minivan.

My nephew is a consummate car guy who has spent more time under the hood of old rides than any random combination of ten Generation X contemporaries.

This nephew has worked on plenty of vehicles in his time and takes the car hobby very seriously in a hands-on kind of way.He has owned a variety of blasts from the past and has a special fondness for large 70s cars from Detroit.

For a while I just assumed my nephew had overdosed on Rockford files reruns because he even owned a giant Cadillac convertible well-suited for the kind of broken noses chasing Rockford’s Firebird every week.

My nephew used a full-sized Ford wagon from the 70s as a daily driver in his younger years during the 90s and felt terrible pangs of seller’s remorse when he sold his project (early 70s) Satellite.

Clearly, he comes by it honestly because his dad was also a fan of big iron from the 70s and owned several land barges, including a mid-70s Olds 98.

This preamble about my nephew as a hard core car guy leads me to a startling point in the conversation when he told me he had a buddy who had never driven a V-8 engine powered vehicle. The buddy was essentially a non-car guy who felt no shame with this confession and saw no need to ever own or even drive one of the mainstay components of the car guy culture.

How hard does one have to try in order to lurch into his 30s with no experience behind the wheel of a V-8 powered vehicle, particularly here in Alberta where many new trucks are still available with the V-8 engine in their gasoline models?

The saddest part of this story is the notion my nephew’s buddy may be a part of a majority (non-car guy) and my nephew may be part of a minority (serious car guy) in Gens X and Y. A car may just be a simple convenience for them and they feel no joy of the open road or spirit of adventure when behind the wheel of a car.

An old car or truck has no appeal to them and any notion of owning or working on an old classic would just be the focal point of a full-on nightmare for them.

My nephew’s buddy and others of his ilk have lost their connection with their inner car guys, if it was ever there in the first place.

They don’t care whether or not they have driven a V-8, know how to change a tire, or even how to add oil to a car. My only concern is what happens when they get out of cell phone range and have to fend for themselves on the road.

All I know is my V-8-driving nephew who loves old cars will be alright in these conditions because he has already been down this road.

Jim Sutherland

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One of my nephews is a religious reader of Mopar magazines so he gives me a stack of them whenever they start taking up too much room.

I appreciate the offer because these magazines are kind of pricey in today’s world where the difference between the Canadian and US price is about the same as the down payment on a new Jeep.

That’s why I’m glad he picks up the tab on these various Mopar magazines.

One of these unnamed Mopar magazines did a piece about a survivor 1968 Dodge Charger. I love these stories because survivor cars have built-in cool based on their ability to survive time, brutal owners and new technology that renders them hopelessly obsolete and expendable.

This was a particularly good story because ’68 Chargers rarely survived the Swinging Sixties in survivor form. ‘68 Chargers were used up, beat up, burned up and trashed in ways that make the ending of the Bullitt chase look positively tranquil.

That’s why this ’68 Charger was a freak of nature. The elderly owner and her late husband bought the car brand new a week after returning their brand new ’67 Charger to the dealer after some serious electrical issues. The new Charger had just come out so this ’68 was one of the earliest to hit the showroom floor.

This was a 318 car with some odd options because it was built to show customers what the new Charger looked like so the visual was more important than the build sheet. The couple loved this car and quit driving it in the winter a few years later.

This car had more documentation than the OJ Simpson trial because the woman’s husband was a very precise guy so every new fan belt, hose, oil change and tune up was documented in a notebook.

They even kept another notebook that explained the negotiation numbers in the deal for the ’68 Charger with the ’67 as a trade-in.

Needless to say, they kept every piece of paper like invoices, warranty and build sheet. The now widowed owner met some guy by chance who builds and flips classic Mopars for a living and he made an offer on the car.

She took a few months to consider it but eventually she sold the car to the guys who “made a fair offer based on 2009 prices” – according to the magazine.

A scant few days later this guy flipped the car to a member of a rock group that was famous about ten years ago. Apparently the rock star plans to change the color, dump the 318 and stuff a big block in it…among other things.

The survivor part took up three quarters of the article so that was clearly the hook for readers but the last 25% of it is what bothered me.

The guy who flipped Mopars for a living clearly misled the widow about his intentions with the Charger because he skipped the part where he was going to sell it to a rock star a few days later.

He also skipped the part where the 318 engine that was so lovingly and painstakingly maintained was going to get yanked like a bad wisdom tooth.

The Mopar magazine saw the Mopar curber and the rock star as heroes but I see them as opportunistic bottom feeders. There is no reason why this survivor ’68 Charger should have been turned into a non-survivor on a whim.

I’m guessing they never drove the new rock star version of this beloved Charger past the widow’s house because it would represent nothing to her except a mutant version of what she and her husband bought back in 1967.

The Mopar magazine that covered this fiasco was free, thanks to my nephew but the haunting story in it came with a price.

Jerry Sutherland

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