this year the GCVWS is celebrating 20 successfull years so to celebrate this milestone i thought it might be kind of cool to start a thread honouring the superb tradition that is The Great Canadian VW Show!
this thread will hopefully become a place where people can share their stories, pictures and highlights and lowlights from shows from the past...as well as post some features and press that the shows have gotten over the years.
so dig deep into that storage space/box of pictures and/or old magazines and hazy memory and lets see & hear what you've got!!
i'll start with the oldest magazine coverage i have...from hotvws feb 1995 issue. it was a feature on the 4th annual show in 1994. the show was then called The Great Canadian Bug Show and was sponsored by VW of Canada. it was also held in conjunction with shows in Calgary & Toronto...
the next mag coverage i have is from the 8th annual show in 1999. the show was now called the Great Canadian VW Show and was hosted, sponsored and organized by the DVKK, the BulliBoys and CIP.
this one is pretty special to me as it was my first time taking part in the GCVWS weekend. i had just bought my 56 oval and was stoked to be going to my first ever show with it. i had read about the show in years prior, but had never been before, so i was excited. i remember seeing geoff smoke the hides on his garnett red beetle (see pic below) at the old cip (on mcpherson, iirc) and i was giddy like a little school girl
. i dragged a couple of friends along for the ride and i remember being blown away by the quality of cars at the show and the size of the gathering, and all the friendly vw folks in the community...i was hooked!!!
next up is coverage from the 10th annual GCVWS in 2001. this show was also pretty special for me. i had had the chance to meet a few more folks and make some connections, and was really getting into the scene and the cars more than ever. iirc, brad langs ghia had just been finished and when i saw it parked in the pits at mission raceway my jaw dropped. beautifull ride. other highlights for me include the bbq at lannys old shop (split window restorations) just off sw marine drive. the food was great, the company was friendly, and brad pursers patinaed oval doing a massive burnout was way cool. and the cruise that followed through ubc and down to spanish banks was fun too...especially when we had to pass through a police road block and cameron had to explain to the officers what that bottle was doing in the luggage compartment behind the back seat
! the show was great and it was the first time i got to see a few full on mirrored-up show cars (dave sinclair, etc...see pic below)...beautifull!!
i'll post more pics and a few more stories as time allows.
but i'd really like to hear what others have to say...and seeing some old school GCVWS pics would be great too...so post 'em up and lets pay tribute to the past as we get ready to embrace the future...of the Great Canadian VW Show!!!
**edit to restore pics**
