Chrome, Root Beer, and a Volvo - The 2026 Lake Cowichan Kraken Classic Car Show & Shine Part 1 of 2
Updated: Oct 1
The A&W Parking Lot Isn't the Obvious Venue for a Car Show, or IS IT?
Over 100 shiny rides turned out on Sunday, September 13th for the Lake Cowichan Kraken Junior Hockey Club Classic Show & Shine Fundraiser. The event raised over $2000 with 100% proceeds to the Kraken Hockey team.
Thank you to the community for your support and contributing to the silent auction, which helped raise over $700 - and thank you to the billet families that came out to support the team.
Amber Battie, Owner/Operator of the Lake Cowichan A&W says she "loves planning and hosting this event in our support of the team - making them a success is our ultimate goal."
I took a lot of a lot of photos and tried to catch everyone. If you don't see your ride here, watch for the upcoming Part 2 post.
Sharing an awesome video from Vancouver Island Hot Rods,
In the upcoming Part 2 - you can hear them all! (most of them)
Choose Your Favourite, If You Can!
Many of the rides were immaculate, blindingly shiny, and beautiful 'road ambassadors', American classics with fifties chrome parked against late-sixties muscle, a couple of hot rods built out of pre-war Fords, and enough hoods propped open to make the whole row smell faintly of gasoline and detailing supplies.
The things that stuck, though, were smaller than the cars. Somebody had set two A&W root beer mugs on the dash of a Trans Am, in the sun, lined up neatly against the windshield. Very nice addition and a cool nod to the days when enthusiasts and families enjoyed the drive-thru, window-tray A&W experience. See if you can spot others.
Fargo, the Canadian Chrysler?
That red panel van with a Fargo badge, isn't a classic you see often. Fargo was the name Chrysler used on its trucks in Canada - same truck as a Dodge, different audience, different name. It was sold in Canada for decades and almost nowhere else. People walking past it probably didn't realize they were looking at something that barely existed south of the border.
