Whether fixing them up and driving them, or admiring them from afar, there's something about old cars that many people find hard to resist.
River City Classics & Eamon’s Garage Historical Society president Ray Bouillet has been with the club for almost 20 years and has a trio of classic cars to his name.
“Even people who just have one car, they're preserving the history of that particular vehicle,” Bouillet says.
A 1966 Mercury Comet Cyclone, a 1952 International pick-up and a 1953 Packard Mayfair make up his collection.
He did all the restoration work on the Packard and has been driving it for 18 years.
“I re-did the bodywork, basically stripped the car down,” he says, using books to teach himself the finer points of restoration.
“Now everything’s on the internet,” he says with a laugh, “but back then, you just read books.”
The Packard and the Mercury remind Bouillet of cars he used to drive.
Interested in cars since he was a teenager, Bouillet bought his first Packard in 1974.
“I've had about three or four different ones since then,” he says.
He also had a Cyclone that he bought as a family car in 1976.
“I thought it was it was a really cool car at the time.”
The International reminds him of his dad, who owned one when Bouillet was growing up.
Beyond memories, Bouillet likes working on classic cars, and says there’s something about the ride.
“It's getting into the car and going on a tour,” he says. “They’re totally different from the modern cars.”
Fixing them up was a way to get away from work for a while, he says.
“It was just to get your mind onto something else that you really love to do, and work was over there.
“And even now, I still like to go tinker,” he says, “it's relaxing.”
He says there’s a huge classic car community in the province.
“You go to any major town or city, and you'll have some kind of a restoration shop that's in that city,” he says, calling it a business and a passion.
“When you come to think about it, it’s not just a bunch of guys with some old cars in their garage, it’s big.”
Beyond the business of collector cars, clubs often raise money through car shows and fundraisers to give back to their own communities, he says.
“It's an economy within itself, too, within the collector car industry.”
The experience of stopping at a service station was also different then and is an important part of automotive history.
River City Classics became a society in 2018 and is now called River City Classics & Eamon’s Garage Historical Society, after the group obtained Eamon’s Garage from the City of Calgary.
The historic garage was going to be sold or demolished, Bouillet says.
“After some negotiations, we got it,” he says. “We moved it here, and we restored it.”
The building now operates as a museum, and the society works to promote the history of vintage and classic vehicles through tours, car shows and fundraisers.
People from all over Canada and the United States have visited the garage to take a step back in time.
Modeled after a typical Texaco service station that would have operated in the 1950s or 1960s, Eamon’s Garage features tools and equipment from that period.
One visitor actually worked in that particular station, Bouillet says.
“Back in the day, a guy would be dressed up in a uniform, he’d go out, check your oil, wash your windows, put in your gas.
“Today it’s all self-serve, there’s none of that personal touch, per se.”
River City Classics & Eamon’s Garage Historical Society has about 60 members.
The group hosts the Brian Chipchase Sr. Memorial Show and Shine in downtown High River every September. This year's show, set for Sept. 24, is the 20th hosted by the organization.
For classic car enthusiast and collector Roger Hamel, the design of vehicles back then is a big part of the draw.
“It’s so unique by today’s standards,” Hamel says of the classic designs.
There’s a big contingent of classic and hot rod vehicles in southern Alberta, he says, but it's still not something you see every day.
“People love to go look at them and think of an era gone by.”
When it comes to collecting non-daily driver classic cars, Hamel has been at it for 15 years or so. He has gone through about 15 different ones during that time, with as many as nine at once.
The classic car enthusiast is also the vice president of River City Classics & Eamon’s Garage Historical Society.
“When we drive down the road in our vehicles, people are honking their horns and waving,” he says.
He joined River City Classics, a car club based in High River, about nine years ago, and says that keeping automobile history alive is important to him.
“I love my cars,” he says. “I don't show them a lot, but it's just knowing that each one that I own is one that didn't go to the junkyard.
“I do it to continue the spirit of maintaining those cars.”
He always dreamt of owning one, but says that not being mechanically inclined held him back.
“I thought well, if I don't build it, I shouldn’t own it.”
Eventually, he changed his mind and currently has four classics, all from the 1950s.
“I love the style of the 1950s, with the big fins and the big chrome grills.”
There's a 1952 Chevy 3100 five-window pickup, a ’54 Chevy Bel Air roadster convertible, a 1955 two-door Chevy Bel Air and a ’56 Cadillac that's a replica of Elvis Presley’s mother’s first Caddy.
The cars he owns pre-date him, and Hamel says he always thought the ’50s would have been a great time to be a young guy.
His favourite is the ’55 Bel Air, thanks in no small part to the movie American Graffiti.
“A ’32 Ford Roadster and a ’55 Bel Air are, in my mind, the two classic hot rod cars.”
The vehicles are unique to their owners, and people who are into classics and hot rods really have a passion for it, he says.
“One thing about car people, men and women, is they love their cars. I’m always so amazed at the different dreams people have.”
His cars were in various stages of repair when he got them, with one needing ground-up restoration, and the others being tinkered with here and there.
“One of the big things for me is belonging to the car club,” he says, “and the camaraderie.”
A few younger people are getting involved with the car club, but the price of finished cars has gone up significantly, he says.
“A lot of the cars that I could have afforded 10 years ago, I couldn't afford now. I think the desire is there for young people, but the financial commitment is not available.”
