The Canadian Coasters Car Tour pulls out of Chatham-Kent this morning after a brief 1 night stop.
The car club is in the middle of a cross Canada tour, with more than 80 classic cars making the journey from British Columbia to St. John's Newfoundland. The tour began at the end of June and wraps up September first on the east coast. Of course the drivers all need to make their way back home once they arrive at their east coast destination.
The Coasters make the trek across Canada once every ten years, and this year marks the club's 50th Anniversary for the the tour. The club is also sporting red shirts to mark the 150th Birthday of Canada!
This is a “trip of a lifetime” for coasters says Jerry Tremblay; Canadian Coasters member from Chatham-Kent who travelled with his wife early June to meet with the Coasters in B.C. to begin the journey.
The History of the Coasts goes like this:
“Early in 1966 a group from Ontario, the Historical Automobile Club of Canada (HASC) started to promote the idea to have an Antique Car Tour that traveled across Canada. Canada's Centennial was coming up in 1967 and what better way to promote the old car hobby and the Centennial. Most known antique car clubs in Canada were contacted and invited to take part. The tour started in Victoria, BC and traveled to St. John's Newfoundland. Nine cars covered the total distance under their own power. This tour was hosted by various clubs as it passed through their areas. Hobbyists joined the tour where they wanted and stayed on tour as long as their holidays allowed. There were 125 official registrations. This tour unified the car clubs coast to coast and was a big step to the formation of a Canadian Chartered Organization.”
The Coasters have a mission, which is to unite Canadian Car Clubs, and their mission of friendship has been hugely successful. At each stop along the way, the Coasters make new friends, and spread the spirit of the classic car hobby.
In total each car involved in the tour will travel the back roads of Canada from coast to coast and rack up more than 12,000 kilometers in the process.
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