Vancouver auto show turns 90 this year
When it began, people arriving by horse and buggy had to be convinced cars were here to stay
BY ALYN EDWARDS, VANCOUVER SUNMARCH 26, 2010
Attending the 90th Vancouver International Auto Show next week is really quite easy.
You can drive right to BC Place and park nearby. You can use public transit since the SkyTrain stops right at the show -- or you could take the train or a horse and buggy as our forefathers did when the first show opened at the Pacific National Exhibition.
The now century-old Pacific National Exhibition was only a decade old when automobiles first rolled onto the grounds and into the buildings to be part of the annual fair. Automobiles, as they were called, were such a rarity in British Columbia at that time that some of them were corralled to be on display.
People arriving from various parts of the Vancouver area by train or horse and buggy were allowed to camp right at the fairgrounds.
This wasn't a place to sell cars, it was to show the latest models with innovations such as pneumatic tires, acetylene lights, self starters, side curtains to protect passengers and horsehair stuffed seats. Salesmen first had to sell the concept of driving and car ownership before they could sell an automobile. Ninety years ago, people were skeptical of this "newfangled invention," believing it was a passing fad and that the horse and buggy was really a more reliable mode of transportation.
The Vancouver Province newspaper gushed on Aug. 13, 1912, that: "Vancouver's great auto show opened as part of the Vancouver Exhibition. The man who is completely ignorant of the working of a car and who would be unable to steer it even if his hand were placed on the wheel will have an opportunity of learning in a few minutes the exact method by which auto locomotion may be effected."
The Vancouver Auto Show was immodestly described as the "second best" in North America, deferring only to the annual auto show in New York City. The show held during the annual 17-day fair at the Pacific National Exhibition was made up of dealer exhibits.
Back then, there were no closed cars. They were all open cars with folding tops like the buggies they replaced. Cars had funny names such as Locomobile, Kissel, Flanders, Peerless and Maxwell. Farmers, contractors and the general public came to look at vehicles that would be workhorses during the week and take the family to church on Sunday.
The Vancouver Auto Show dates back to a time when Vancouver's Georgia Street was once new-car row with dealers selling Pierce-Arrow, Auburn and Hudson automobiles within an eight-block stretch. Begg Motors, once at Georgia and Bute streets, was a longtime Chrysler dealership in Vancouver and one of the first to do a company display of cars at the PNE.
There, Dodge cars were displayed alongside other car makes including Chevrolet, Hudson, Chalmers and Republic trucks. Cars made in the eastern United States were sent to Vancouver by train, many of them partly disassembled to be completed by the dealership once they arrived.
By the 1930s, the car show had become a fixture at the PNE Forum building at Hastings and Renfrew. Cars came in a much wider variety of body styles including roadster, touring cars, convertibles, coupes and sedans. But it would be tough times for the dealers trying to sell expensive cars such as the massive Pierce-Arrows and Packards. Many automobile brands would disappear before the decade was over, including Duesenberg, Auburn, Cord and Stutz.
With the end of the Second World War came a surge in demand for automobiles, and the auto show was the place to see the latest models by the big three manufacturers -- General Motors, Chrysler and Ford -- along with independents such as Hudson, Packard and the all new Kaiser and Frazer cars.
The Vancouver Auto Show expanded in the 1950s to include elaborate displays by the Big Three auto manufacturers, including concept cars that could later become regular production models.
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The expanded Vancouver Auto Show was an annual presentation of the New Car Dealers Association of B.C. and is now the third largest in Canada and one of western North America's premier automotive events.
"The Vancouver International Auto Show continually reminds us of how much British Columbians love automobiles and provides car enthusiasts an opportunity to see the history of the automobile through features like Classic Alley," says spokesperson Laura Ballance.
"What it has proven over its 90-year history is that British Columbians have a multi-generational love for automobiles."
Classic Alley will feature cars of the past, including a 1937 German-built Horch Model 853, a 1931 Duesenberg and a 1957 Bentley S1, each of them representing the height of luxury for the era in which these automobiles were built.
Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and a partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. He writes weekly in The Vancouver Sun Driving section. aedwards@peakco.com
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