PURPOSE
Our Club is registered under the Society Act Canada, Province of British Columbia for the purposes of:
Dated Oct. 21, 1980 (Revised)
HISTORY OF THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB OF CANADA
First
- we start with the very beginnings before we were Chartered. This
information comes to us by way of George
and Doris Hoffman who are Founding Members
and who are now members of the Antique Chapter
Of the
original members I was the youngest at 22 when we attended the first
meeting. In recent years and
by the urging of yourself and others I decided I'd better try to record
our history prior to the Vintage Car Magazine.
The newsletter didn't get started for several months after the Club
was formed. After this the written record is fairly complete.
The
following article covers the lead-up to and the first three months of our
Club's history. I will do a follow-up covering the rest of 1958.
We
also need to write a history of the Vinettes.
Doris was involved from near the beginning, however, we are both
rather foggy on their history. We
would be pleased to speak with anyone who has the time to write the
Vinettes' history. Please
contact Doris or George at 604 882 1355.- or e-mail us at ghoffman@uniserve.com
Doris & George Hoffman
Now for the Story:
The first interest in old cars started in the late
1940's when Rick Percy parked his 1923 Buick touring, which he used for a
service truck, at various locations in downtown Vancouver.
Through this vehicle he met several other enthusiasts who
eventually got together to form a club.
This first attempt of old car enthusiasts to organize
a club in B.C. was in 1950. A small group formed the Antique & Classic
Car Club of Vancouver. This
club slowly came to an end by 1953.
In March of 1958 the late Buck Rogers, who along with
Rick Percy, Brian Crawford and others were involved in the earlier club
ran an ad in the Vancouver Sun. The
ad invited anyone interested in old cars to meet on Sunday afternoon,
March 30, 1958. The meeting
was held at 5064 Walden Street, Vancouver - Art Falawka’s home. Eleven
men attended. Al Johnson and
I saw the ad and traveled from New Westminster where we both lived to
attend. We knew no one else
at the gathering, however they all seemed to be a decent bunch of guys.
Little did we know that many of us would become lifetime friends.
Recently I contacted all those involved in that first
meeting to verify who was in attendance.
I can now confirm the following list:
Members who have passed away but who were members
for the rest of their lives were:
Buck Rogers
Al Johnson
Newal Taylor
Don Ellwyn
Surviving members to attend were:
Rick Percy
– was president of previous club and has been a VCCC member for 47
years.
Paul Bolam – has been a continuous member for 47 years.
George Hoffman – has been a continuous member for 47 years.
George Croy – Dropped out to raise a family.
The last 10 years has become active in Cowichan Valley Chapter and
was founding President of that Chapter. Has been a member for about 20
years.
Art Falawka – Member for about 12 years then dropped out to raise a
family.
Brian Crawford – Member for about 15 years then also dropped out to
raise a family.
Bob McLean – Was a member for only about 5 years.
The ladies of the above men became involved in the
VCCC after the first meeting.
The second meeting in mid April saw the first lady
and child to appear at a meeting.
Roma Croy
with Ian Croy attended.
Ian was 8 months old and now at age 48 lives in Edmonton, AB.
Roma and George are now very active in the Cowichan Chapter.
The second and third women to attend the third
meeting then held at Rick Percy’s house at 2424 West 13th
Ave., Vancouver were Doris (Cockle)
Hoffman and Millie Johnson.
Doris has been a wife member for 47 years.
Millie having dropped out for several years is now a member again.
Rose Bolam
attended after the first couple of meetings and is still an active member
47 years later.
Ruth Percy
has been a wife member for 47 years.
The first
garage tour was held after the first meeting where we visited Art
Falawka’s garage. He was working on the 1930 Packard touring that he owned for
many years.
At the second meeting of the new Club a name was
chosen and a cheque for $125.00 received from Rick Percy.
Rick was the president of the original, now defunct, Antique and
Classic Car Club. He and the
old Club's Treasurer decided to give the residue of the assets to the new
Club. Our first president was Rick Percy.
The new Club's name was also chosen at the second
meeting. It was to be the
Veteran Car Club of Vancouver. When
application was made to register the name in Victoria, it was rejected.
The reason was the fact that the war was over only twelve years before and
the name Veteran was reserved for the various war veteran’s
organizations of the day. So at the fourth meeting a new name was chosen.
After much discussion we all agreed on Vintage Car Club of
Vancouver.
By this time we had several people from outside the
lower mainland contacted us to join the new club. It was then decided to
include all of B.C. So we then decided on VCC of B.C.
Immediately after we all agreed to this, Don Ellwyn stood up and
said, “Let's think big and take in all of Canada.” After some futher
discussion we agreed why not. So
about May of 1958 the name VCCC was registered.
I believe the name was later also registered in Ottawa as a
national club.
The forming of the club was in response to a request
from the B.C. Government to assist in organizing the 1958 - 24th
of May Centennial Tour. The
government had appointed Alan Appleby to organize 20 or so old cars to
tour from Fernie to Victoria.
Mr. Appleby wanted an organized group to help put on
the event. This single event
gave enthusiasts an organization to belong to so the club was borne.
When the Fernie to Victoria Centennial Car Tour
arrived in Vancouver, the club organized the first vintage car show. The
venue was the new B.C. Building at the P.N.E.
40 cars were shown and the public attendance was reasonably good.
We didn't make much money, however it was a fun event.
We were pleased that our very first attempt at a car show went so
well.
At the windup banquet of the 1958 Centennial Tour in
Victoria it was agreed that the tour had been a lot of fun.
It was also agree that we should continue this tour as an annual
club event on the same weekend, the 24th of May each year. Thus
the annual VCCC May Tour was started.
One of the first organized events the Club entered was the Vancouver Easter Parade of 1958. If my memory serves me correctly, there were approximately a dozen cars in this event
________________________________
It all started in Vancouver B.C. Canada in 1957 with a fellow by the name of Buck Rogers who placed an ad in the Vancouver Sun for anyone interested in' forming an old car club'. He did this in response to a request by the Provincial Government to organize an old car tour of British Columbia as part of the upcoming B.C. Centennial celebrations scheduled to take place in 1958 15 people responded by showing up to the first meeting on the front lawn of Art Fulawkas parents on Feb. 12, 1958, all of them with one common interest - old cars. And so this was the beginning of our club.
The Centennial Tour went ahead as hoped, with 38
cars taking part in an 840 mile run from Fernie B.C. to Victoria
B.C. The oldest car to make the entire run was a 1907 Cadillac owned
by Quinton McAdam, and the only one of the participating cars that
did not complete the run was a 1923 Brooks Steamer. The tour was
followed by a car show at the Pacific National Exhibition grounds in
Vancouver where 42 cars were put on display by this new car club as
its final contribution to the Centennial
events.
The first name decided upon for this new club was
'The Vintage Auto Registry of British Columbia; which was destined
for a very short life as the B.C. Government rejected this name.
Later on in 1958 another attempt was made, this time to register a
new name 'Veteran Car Club of Canada', but this name as well was
rejected by the government of the day- The 15 club members pondered
for awhile and finally someone proposed the name 'The Vintage Car
Club of Vancouver' - Another suggested 'The Vintage Car Club of BC'
and finally, another club member suggested they should think big
and go for all of Canada, and so we were finally named and
thereafter known as we are today - - 'The Vintage Car Club of
Canada'.
The first elected President was Rick Percy who
served for two years, and who is still an active member today!
With
very little experience in deciding what would be appropriate for a
constitution, it was decided to adopt constitution and by-laws the
one used by the Horseless Carriage Club of Seattle / Tacoma, in
Washington State.
The second chapter to get organized was Victoria
on June 28, 1960 with the first meeting held at Bob Cameron's home.
Bob remains active in the club to this
day.
Our first May Tour took place in Victoria in
1961, and since then we have carried on with the tradition of our
National May Tours, which take place on the May long weekend every year
at various locations within the Province.
We have grown from a single Vancouver chapter of
15 people to our strong presence today. We now boast 24 chapters
with 1200 members, and a likely estimate of between 2500 and 3000
cars. We are a "make & model gender free" club in that unlike
many car clubs of today, we welcome any and all vehicles so long as
they meet the minimum age requirement of 25
years.
In 1958 our original club made an effort to have
the government supply 'Vintage 'license plates, but this did not
happen until 1969. In recent years this special licensing has been
expanded to include the 'Collector' plate which still recognizes our
old car status but provides for more liberal driving
usage.
Our main reason for existence is to share with as
many other 'old car enthusiasts' as possible the joy of preserving
and enjoying our precious historic vehicles. In doing this we are
growing as a united voice to have a say in what our provincial and
federal politicians propose by way of legislation aimed at removing
all old vehicles from the highways & byways of
Canada.
We publish a club magazine bi-monthly as well as a
complete Roster every year. Annual membership dues are $45.00
for National affiliation, plus whatever the Individual chapter to
which you belong charges - usually around $5 to
$15.
Please join us and have some fun. For more
information please contact our President or any of the people
identified on this site.
HAPPY MOTORING!
