Candy-apple red hot rods connect to memories at PNE
Credit to Author: Kevin Griffin| Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2019 00:22:02 +0000
In the bright sunshine at the PNE, the candy-apple red paint on the 1929 Model T sparkled like a jewel.
The hot rod has a 327-cubic-inch engine with about 300 horsepower — a lot bigger than the 177-cu.-in. engine and 20 hp. of the original engine.
In fact, maybe only parts of the frame are original, said Rick Francoeur, owner of 360 Fabrication, the Abbotsford based company that spent more than a year turning what was considered the world’s first truly affordable middle-class car into a hot rod.
“People love cars. In North America and certainly in this region of the world, cars are part of people’s lives and memories,” he said at the PNE. “We’re graced with fairly decent weather on the West Coast, so there’s all the more reason why you would want a vintage vehicle of some fashion.”
A total of 22 hot rods, muscle cars, classic cars and antiques are being shown by 360 Fabrication during the final week of the exhibition. They’re located in an area known as Festival Park.
Francoeur said the Model T has been owned by one man since 1958. He kept it in his garage for years until he had enough money to finish it the way he wanted. How much did it cost to turn the Model T into a hot rod?
“That’s something I can never discuss,” Francoeur said. “You’re definitely in the six-figure club.”
Francoeur wouldn’t say how much he’d sell it for.
“You’d have to talk to the owner. I don’t know,” he said. “It wouldn’t be cheap. I don’t think he’ll sell it for all the money in the world. I think he’s dreaming of taking his wife for a cruise.”
One of the muscle cars on display is a red 1969 GTO. Francoeur said everything is “bone original” on it, including the factory 8-track, a sound technology that disappeared in the early 1980s. He knows the 8-track works because he played the hard-rock band Nazareth when he was driving it.
“(Old cars) appreciate a lot more than any investment in the bank,” he said. “And it’s an investment you get to use.”
Every year, there are fewer-and-fewer of the classic old vehicles on the road. They’ve become a commodity that people around the world, including Asia, want to buy as they become more affluent, Francoeur said.
In response to growing environmental awareness, hot rods are being built with electric motors instead of traditional internal combustion engines. But even cars like the candy-apple red Model T on display don’t pose much of an environmental problem, he said, because they’re driven as few as 300 to 400 kilometres a year and mostly for display.
Francoeur said one of the challenges with putting on a car show at the PNE for the third year in a row is convincing people to give up their cherished vehicle for a week that often has the nicest weather of the year.
“Most people are pretty happy to have 700,000 people look at their car,” he said. “You can’t do that at any show, that’s for sure.”
The Pacific National Exhibition continues daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. or later until Labour Day on Monday, Sept. 2.