Hot rods, wrenches and friendship: Alberta's summer car show season is in full swing

At age 12, Devin Hauswirth bought his first Volkswagen: a Biscay blue 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle.

It was a love that never faded and so, 28 years later, he teamed up with friends with a similar taste in cars to create the group, Bugs, Bunnies and Buses. 

"We started this group in 2016 with a group of friends. We're just a group of Volkswagen owners and people who love them," he said.

Today, his Facebook group has more than 1,600 members.

For many, being part of a car group is a great way to meet people, share ideas, and sometimes, find car parts for projects. It also offers community and identity.

"We just like to get together for cruises and shows like this, and just talk to each other about everything Volkswagen, and all the fun they are," Hauswirth said.

In Alberta, hundreds of car enthusiasts crisscross the province to take part car shows each summer, catching up with old friends and old cars. They trade information and share tales. 

Spectators come to admire the vehicles and take photographs. For some, it's about nostalgia.

Yet, for a number of owners who spend thousands of hours restoring old hot rods, the process also helps forge deeper connections with loved ones.

With the summer car show season in full swing across the province, CBC News caught up with local enthusiasts to talk about their passion for cars, the community and the hobby that brings them together.

A couple that rides together

Greg Fulmes' love for cars grew from playing with Hot Wheels at age three. In his early adult years, he owned several old cars, including a 1976 Gran Torino. 

His wife, Nicole Dunsdon, was born into a family of car lovers. Growing up, she watched her father rebuild a 1955 Chevy Bel Air. She also enjoyed watching neighbours race modified dune buggies and eventually started driving one, too. 

"I used to drive our family's dune buggy in the backcountry in B.C. And I had a Dodge Dart when I was in university. So lots of memories," she said.

Fulmes and Dunsdon currently own a 1948 Chevy, which they bought on a whim three years ago while visiting family in Penticton, B.C.

With help of friends in the automotive industry, the pair spent many months restoring the car at their home in Chestermere. It was a bonding experience.

"I feel like I'm Greg's friend when we're working on that stuff together, and we come up with ideas all the time about how to fix things or troubleshoot things," Dunsdon said.

The first time Fulmes took the car for a test drive, the transmission broke. It would not go out of first gear. Frustrated, he was ready to give up on the car. But Dunsdon and his youngest daughter would not let him.

"They said just go … get a new transmission. I'm like, 'No, I'm done spending money on it.' They're like, 'No, go do it.'"

Today, they enjoy taking the car for drives and like that it makes people smile.

"One time we were driving through Inglewood and a guy actually stood up and clapped like he literally was applauding the cars we drove by," Fulmes said. 

Like Father, Like Son 

Doug Bernie started working on cars with his father, Dave Bernie, when he was 14 years old. Like his son, Dave grew a liking for cars from working with his dad, who owned a car parts business in Lethbridge, Alta.

"I would drive the parts truck around to all the garages and look at all the cars," Dave said. "And everybody who comes in to get parts would have their cars parked out front, and that's how I got into it."

An only child, sharing a passion for cars helped Doug stay close to his father when they were apart. In 2017, while working abroad, Doug found his father's dream car: a '69 GTO.

Dave actually bought one in 1969 for $4,500, but traded it in after moving to Edmonton and getting married.

Doug knew his father really wanted to own the car, so he never stopped searching for it. While he was working in Dubai, he found it.

"It's a pretty rare colour, a lime light green — and I found one in Edmonton," said Doug. "Bringing that car home and being able to have that GTO back in the garage, that's my favourite car memory."

Back home and only eight minutes apart, Doug and Dave worked tirelessly to restore the GTO.

According to Kathie Bernie, Doug's mother, "they go in the garage and you will not see them for hours. They just come in greasy and dirty and laughing and I don't hear one bit of discourse or argument."

"It's pretty special that you know Doug's back hanging out with his dad a couple times a week, all day on Saturdays, working on what broke during the week and making those memories," added Devon Donaldson, Doug's fiancee.

Now that the GTO is restored, the Bernies enjoy driving it in the warmer months.

"That's the fruit of your labour, right? You spend winters tinkering and doing all that sort of work. And then you get it out in the summer, and the GTO drives perfectly good. We get to cruise in that and have a great time," said Doug.

He would like to "keep that culture alive, and pass it on to others" so that they can experience what he has with his family.

Named after the man, not the car

Gord Goulding saw a red Ford Mustang in his neighbourhood in 1973 when he was seven years old. He bought one before he got his first driver's licence, and has owned nine Mustangs over the years.

A service manager at a car dealership in Airdrie, Goulding has restored several classic cars over the years, including a 2009 Shelby GT500, which he says, technically, belongs to his wife.

"Every nut, bolt, clip, wire, everything I put together myself. The only thing I didn't do was actually spray the paint on the car," Goulding said. 

Like Goulding, his daughters are car lovers, especially Shelby Goulding, who works in the automotive industry as a certified assistant parts manager.

"He did name me after Carroll Shelby, the gentleman who made the Shelby, so if I wasn't in the industry, you might look at me like I was crazy," she said.

Like her father, Shelby's first car was a Mustang. She's had three Mustangs and is currently the proud owner of a 2001 Mustang GT, which she calls her "black beauty."

One of her favourite memories is driving with her father to pick it up in Fort St. John, B.C. 

"Everybody had bets as to when we would get our first speeding ticket. And everyone failed because it was the day of. Three seconds apart, him and I got tagged.' 

Shelby Goulding loves having a shared interests with her father. She also enjoys working with him.

"We get to spend time together. We enjoy each other's company and we have fun."

Gord Goulding also loves having a family that shares his interest in cars. 

"It's pretty cool, the fact that we can continue doing things together," he said. "My wife and I joke about it that we managed to raise two children and we have never ever owned a minivan."