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Antique cars rolling in to show in Fort Langley

Model A Sunday bringing more than Fords to BC Farm Museum
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Honey Bee, a bright yellow 1927 Model A Speedster, attracted plenty of attention at last year’s Model A Sunday at the BC Farm Museum in Fort Langley. (Langley Advance Times files)

By Bob Groeneveld/Langley Advance Times

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Model A Sunday isn’t just about the iconic Ford car.

It’s just that the Model A was easily the most popular car in the period covered by the popular car show at the BC Farm Museum in Fort Langley this weekend.

“Ford had built a million cars by 1922,” explained Mike McVay, spokesperson for the Central Fraser Valley Chapter of the Vintage Car Club of Canada, which is presenting the show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 2.

“People think all the cars back then are Fords, but they were just the most popular. There were 80 different car manufacturers across North America prior to 1928,” he said, adding, “but most got wiped out when the Depression hit in 1929, and they couldn’t sell any cars.”

Model A Sunday brings together all makes and models of cars from 1932 and earlier.

“On a nice day, we can get 55 to 60 cars out,” McVay predicted.

Most of the cars that will show up will likely be from between 1932 and 1928, he said.

McVay, a member of the vintage car club for about the poast 12 years, plans to roll up to the Fort Langley farm museum in his ’28 Pontiac – an early model of one of the relatively few companies to survive the Depression.

The first Pontiac, he noted, was built in November of 1926.

McVay expects there will also be some “brass cars,” so called because “there’s an awful lot of brass on the lights and the radiators of those old cars,” which makes them shiny, “but it takes a lot of work to keep them that way, because the brass tarnishes pretty fast.”

Brass cars were mostly manufactured prior to the First World War. Stanley Steamers are sometimes included in the class, said McVay, “But not quite.”

Some of the vehicles that appear at the show are unique, McVay said.

He offered as an example “a 1926 Chevy truck a fellow sometimes brings. A one-ton equivalent, it’s completely unrestored – even the wood is original, “and there’s a lot of wood on it.”

“He keeps it running, and he keeps it covered most of the time,” McVay said. “Weather does more harm to vehicles than anything else.”

Also popular at Model A Sunday are the Valley Antique Small Engine Club.

They’ll be there with their small engines, said McVay, “making lots of noise and attracting a lot of attention.”

The Lions Club will have a concession at the show, and “nice music” will be provided by Gibson & Gretsch Combo.