Can-am Curmudgeons enjoy cross-border cruising and camaraderie

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The parking lot of the Coquitlam Grill on the outskirts of Vancouver was full of hot rods and custom cars early on this Saturday morning. Many of them had California license plates. Some were from Washington and Oregon.

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The Can-Am Curmudgeons were meeting with fellow hot rodders who have been having breakfast together every Saturday for more than 30 years. The curmudgeons were on their annual tour involving hot rodders from both Canada and the United States. Their somewhat irreverent motto is: Celebrating cross-border bitching and bulls%$#.

“We are all a similar age and like-minded in terms of the hot rod hobby,” says Burnaby hot rodder Tom Whiffin. “The success of this group being from both the U.S. and Canada is that we enjoy each other’s company. The hospitality we have been shown is truly incredible.”

The rules are simple: No country is better than the other and no talking politics. “We just have fun,” says Tom Whiffin, who has 150,000 miles on the odometer of his Ford Model A coupe hot rod.

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Fun they do have. In June, hot rodders from California and other western states drove north to be hosted by the B.C. group. In previous years, it’s been the other way around with the American hosting Canadian hot rodders.

The 2023 tour took a year of planning. The group visited car collections in the Lower Mainland and Bowen Island, went to the century-old Stave Falls powerhouse and then took off into British Columbia’s interior and then on to Washington State.  Their destination was the sprint boat races at St. John near Spokane to watch 13-foot boats with 1,200 horsepower race through a narrow circular watercourse.

“We are a bunch of guys touring,” Burnaby hot rodder Ken Green says. “We love the sound of our engines, the scenery, experiencing new areas and meeting new people.”

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The 2023 Can-Am Curmudgeon tour began with 23 cars and ended with 15 hot rods heading for Portland, Oregon where the group split up. The Americans went south while the Canadian contingent drove north.

“We’re like a family, meeting up once or twice a year,” Ken Green says. “It not a club or a formal group. The bond is with people who share the same interest.”

He says the curmudgeons try to find motels where they can meet around a pool. “We’re all different sizes and shapes and look like a bunch of seals and walruses basking in the sun. We laughingly call it the bay of pigs.”

On one tour, the Can Am Curmudgeons met in Salt Lake City and then toured to a hot rod meet in Lexington, Kentucky. The group of hot rodders headed home along the famous Route 66. The destination of another tour was the Back to the 50’s car show in Minnesota. “We have done a number of trips to Reno for the Air races, then down to southern California to the Outriders picnic,” Tom Whiffin says.

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Tour organizer Bill Story, a retired industrial designer from Mission Viego, California, is affectionately called ‘the colonel’. He and Tom Whiffin are among the four originators of the tours which flow from much larger hot rod tours that were more structured and formal. Story estimates he has driven his 1957 Dodge hemi-powered 1932 Ford roadster 160,000 miles on tours over the past 13 years.

Orange County hot rodder Mike Rockwood built his 1956 Ford Courier sedan delivery using a complete 2005 Ford Crown Victoria chassis and running gear to participate in the Can-Am Curmudgeon tours. So far, he has driven his car 90,000 miles on tour.

“The tours are really traveling car shows and the camaraderie we all enjoy is very special,” he says. “We have developed a lot of close relationships with our Canadian friends.”

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Abbotsford hot rodder Terry Friesen did 2,200 kilometers on the 2023 tour in his customized 1951 Ford pickup truck.

“We share a lot of technical information and advice on how to build and maintain our cars,” Ken Green says. “This has helped me design my latest build – a 1930 Ford roadster built as a high boy without fenders.”

Californian Bill Story and Canadian hot rodder Wayne Shantz are planning the route for next year’s Can-Am Curmudgeon tour with shorter miles and more stops of interest.   A lot of time is spent researching different places and points of interest to see, driving on back roads as much as possible.

“We have some things on our bucket list, and we are all circling the drain,” says Ken Green. “There is this urgency to get it done but we are still living the dream. We are all looking forward to the tour next year.”

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. [email protected]