Hi everyone. This is likely to be the last communication before the Tour unless some last minute clarification is required. The countdown timer on the site informs me that there is less than 11 days until things kick off in Lethbridge. SOME IMPORTANT ITEMS FOLLOW so be sure to read everything.

Routes / Itineraries
On the Points West tour page, a new link has been added for ROUTE MAPS / ITINERARIES. On that page you’ll find itineraries for each day (exactly as will be supplied to you with your participant kit) and interactive route maps showing the entire route and stops. The itineraries outline the detail of driving directions, kick-off times & locations and allocated break and lunch stops with estimated arrival and departure times.

You can access the ROUTE MAPS / ITINERARIES page directly HERE

About Saturday Night July 10 in Lethbridge
If you’ll be in Lethbridge that evening / overnight, remember that we’ll be having a meet & great for registered participants at the Lethbridge Casino (next door to our host hotel) at 7:00 p.m. We have around 60 people planning to attend. Note: if you are arriving in Lethbridge on Friday July 9, don’t forget the Street Wheelers Cruise. See our Points West main page for their web site link.

About Picking Up Your Participant Kit
You’ll have various opportunities to pick up your kit depending upon your starting point:

* In Lethbridge at the host hotel before the meet & greet on Saturday July 10
* Sunday morning July 11 at the Lethbridge A&W (2924 Mayor Magrath) before 8:00 a.m
* Monday morning July 12 at our Lethbridge host hotel prior to 8:00 a.m. (before leaving for Calgary)
* At The Rod Shop in Calgary Monday evening July 12 (5:30 p.m. >)
* Tuesday morning July 13 at the Calgary 32 St. / 32 Ave. A&W between 6-7 a.m.
* Wednesday morning July 14 at the host hotel in Kamloops before 8:00 a.m.
* Thursday morning July 15 at the Langley 200 St. / Willowbrook A&W before 9:00 a.m.

About Sunday July 11 Run to Waterton
Once we have arrived in Waterton (National Park), we have allowed for approx. 3 1/2 hours for people to do their own thing before we leave. This could include checking out the photo op at The Prince of Wales Hotel on the way in, continuing down to Cameron Lake, wandering around the Village, lunch (we have a few spots noted), etc. Note: being a National park, there is a entrance fee of about $8. Check out some features of it here: http://www.watertoninfo.com/ and http://www.watertonpark.com/sitemap.htm

About Monday Evening July 12 in Calgary
A reminder that The Rod Shop will be our host that evening. Details are in the Day 2 itinerary. For registered participants, you’ll find a Rod Shop Food Ticket in your participant envelope with your lanyard badges and windshield sticker.

Calgary Departure For Kamloops on July 13
We have a very big driving day on Tuesday July 13 between Calgary and Kamloops. Because of that, we have a 7:00 a.m start with four stops during the day to regroup, meet local roddders and pick up people. Details are in the Day 3 itinerary.

About Tuesday Evening July 13 in Kamloops
As in 2007, we’ll be at Fortune Plaza and a great turnout is expected again. And, we may have another police escort from the hotel.

About Wednesday Evening July 14 in Langley
Also, as in 2007, we are being welcomed to The Old Car Centre. Should be fun – again.

About Thursday Morning July 15
After our kickoff at the Langley A&W, we’ll be dropping in at Jellybean Autocrafters in Surrey before heading to the ferry. Thanks Jellybean.

About Friday July 16
I’ve had some further questions about plans for this day, if any. While some of you may have plans / tickets to participate in the Deuce Day run / lunch in Courtenay, many of you do not. Because of that, we have planned a casual run on Friday up through Duncan, over and up through Crofton, a stop in Chemainus, and a stop in Nanaimo. We’d then cruise back with a pit stop around Somenos and then back to Victoria.

About Our Sponsors
You’ll hear me say this again but I want to express my gratitude to the Tour sponsors.

A&W / Cruisin’ the Dub has been behind up through every tour since 2007. Frankly, without their support, we wouldn’t be able to pull this off. Their locations are excited about our visits during this year’s event. Once again, Roger Barnes, Cruisin’ the Dub Manager, will be joining us on the road.

We’re very grateful to Calgary’s The Rod Shop for not only supplying a support truck/trailer but for having us at their facility on the evening of July 12.

Thanks once again to The Old Car Centre as T-Shirt sponsor and as host for an evening in Langley. It’ll be cool if it’s anything like our evening there in 2007.

Welcome and thanks to:

* Silver Wheels Antique & Custom Collector Automobile Insurance for their support and participant kits supplies.
* Jellybean Autocrafters for their support and open house on Thursday July 15
* RJ Vintage Garage for the cool nostalgia prizes

Thanks once again to Canadian Hot Rods for their advertising support and subscription prizes.

Finally, thanks to Brightwork Auto Art for the design support for event shirts and stickers, The Canadian Hot Rod Tour identity and more very cool art prizes.

In Summary
That’s about it, If you have any questions about any of the above, please let me know. Otherwise, we’ll be seeing you very soon. Wherever you’re coming from, have a safe trip.

Remember to have a look at the itineraries for details about your starting location should you have any doubt about where and how to hook up with us. Should you wish to provide details to anyone about what A&W’s we’ll be at, the ROUTE MAPS / ITINERARIES page has a link to a summary.

Amidst the glitter that can be Hall 1 at Toronto, Ontario, Canada’s Performance World Custom Car Show last March sat somewhat of an anomaly. That is, a stark display featuring a very traditionally-styled, understated hot rod. Specifically, Fabrice Monceaux’s Speedster Special. While not well known in English-speaking Canada, Fabrice is the editor/publisher of Quebec’s V8 Passion magazine. Together with Delson PQ’s CCR Technologie, Fabrice definitely made a statement and, in the process, created a beautiful tribute to the roots of hot rodding.

The car is based on a new 1931 Ford Roadster body with a Deuce radiator shell, a Model A frame, a 348 c.i. Chevy mated to a T5 transmission and a quick change rear end out back. The complete package features many tasty details.

Oh, by the way, the Speedster Special copped the Grand Champion honours.

For all the details of this car, click HERE (PDF document – Adobe Reader required)

Click to enlarge the thumbnails below and click HERE to access a full photo gallery of the Speedster Special (album photos courtesy of Brightwork Auto Art).

More photos from Performance World 2009 can be  This Canadian Rodder Photo Album.

This year’s Performance World Show will be held March 12-14 at Toronto’s International Centre. Visit them HERE.

There was no more appropriate truism for the 2009 Canadian Hot Rod Tour than “the one thing you can never plan for is the weather”. Leading up to our departure, the weather had been shaky at best and the forecast for our route was not much better. Despite that, on departure day, an enthusiastic group representing the first seventy cars assembled in Whitby Ontario with big smiles on their faces (and fingers crossed). As it turned out that day, the crossed fingers did absolutely nothing but the smiles remained that day and throughout the tour – with one major exception. More about that in Article 2.

Day 1: Whitby to Ottawa, Ontario

It had rained overnight and was overcast as we left Whitby but what a fabulous convoy of cars! The planned stops in Havelock and Kaladar went as planned and we picked up five more cars. Unfortunately, shortly after leaving Kaladar, en route to Perth, it started to rain and, by the time we arrived in Perth, it was raining hard. As fate would have it, it continued raining all afternoon and well into the evening – wiping out a planned event at the A&W in Ottawa. Bummer. Wouldn’t you know it though, by about 8:30 p.m. the sun came out.

Thanks to: The women and men of the Perth Curling Club for hosting a welcome soup and sandwich lunch.

Day 2: Ottawa to Riviere-du-Loup Quebec

Our itinerary for Day 2 was a pit stop in Cornwall then stops at the Chateauguay A&W, a visit to the CCR Technologie shop in Delson Quebec (both just south of the river from Montreal), a stop at the A&W in Levis, Quebec and our overnight stop in Riviere-du-Loup. Just before crossing into Quebec, the sun came out and we got to enjoy that beautiful golden orb (for a few hours at least).

At the Chateauguay A&W, we arrived to a nice reception of local cars and spectators and, after a too-short visit (tight schedule to keep) we made our way to the CCR Technologie shop in Delson for our lunch stop / shop tour. Once again, we arrived to a parking lot full of local cars and more great hospitality with lots of great shop projects to see. CCR very generously provided tech help to a number of our participants.

The sun was still shining as we left Delson but not for long. En route to Levis the rain started – hard rain. After Levis, the rain was accompanied by fog which made for very nasty driving. The good news? Everyone made it to Riviere-du-Loup safe and sound.

Thanks to: A&W Chateauguay and CCR Technologie.

Day 3: Riviere-du-Loup to Miramichi, New Brunswick

I could write a complete story about this day but you’re going to have to settle for a very condensed version. Theme of the day: East Coast hospitality. After a stop at the Campbellton New Brunswick A&W, we cruised down into Bathurst for lunch at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre. We were honoured not only by the friendly reception of cars and people but by the warm welcome delivered in person by Stephen Brunet – Mayor of The City of Bathurst.

After a police escort out of Bathurst and a short run down to the outskirts of Miramichi, we were met by Brenda and Richard Goguen of the Miramichi Rock and Roll Festival in their pink Caddy. Brenda and Rick passed us off to a Miramichi Chevy SSR police car which led us downtown where we were greeted by a public address system announcement, clapping festival goers and reserved parking in the town square. That evening, the Festival hosted a fabulous reception for us at Miramichi’s Goodie Restaurant with live music and Elvis! (That’s where he went…) A fabulous day overall.

Thanks to: Yvette Lavigne, The City of Bathurst, The Miramich Rock & Roll Festival and Goodie Restaurant.

The Canadian Hot Rod Tour is presented by Canadian Rodder Inc. in conjunction with A&W / Cruisin’the Dub.

Points East was sponsored by: Classic Car Insurance, Performance World, Brightwork Auto Art, Horton Hot Rod Parts and Canadian Hot Rods Magazine.

Photos Row 1: Kickoff in Whitby, the fog en route to Riviere-du-Loup, A&W Chateauguay

Photos Row 1: Arriving at CCR Technologie, Mayor Stephen Brunet of Bathurst NB, Following the Pink Cadillac into Miramichi NB

Check out the Tour DVD, with over 400 slides, HERE

Want to leave a comment? Click on “Comments” just below this post.

About Registration
For those that have registered, thank you very much. For those that have not, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of registering as soon as possible if you intend to participate in this event. Why? With only just over 150 days until we kick off, we need to plan for tour consumables, create an itinerary based upon participation levels AND hotels will only continue to hold group block space if reservations are active. These blocks are only available to registered tour participants.

If you haven’t registered yet but are planning to in the very near future, please let us know so that we can track numbers and plan for supplies, venues/events, etc.. Once again, this is extremely important to the organization of the event – critical in fact.

About The Lethbridge Stop
If you’ve looked at the itinerary, you’ll know that we are planning on gathering in Lethbridge Alberta to start our trek. Coincidentally, that weekend is the Streetwheelers “Street Machine” weekend. You can check out their weekend activities HERE. Note that, if can arrive in town on Friday, July 9, they have their parade-style cruise on 3rd. Ave. We also look forward to hooking up with The Le Barons Car Club of Lethbridge while in Lethbridge.

Amongst other things, we will likely have a group dinner on Saturday July 10 and are planning for a rod run to Waterton Lakes National Park on Sunday July 11.

Other Tour Stops
Another update will follow with information about our stops in Calgary, Kamloops and Langley and Victoria.

About Friday July 16 on Vancouver Island
I would like to hear from you about this day so read on. You might be aware that Northwest Deuce Days has a cruise to Courtenay BC planned for this day. You may also be aware that this event has been sold out for some time.

So, if you are planning on joining The Canadian Hot Rod Tour Points West group to Victoria, I would like to know if you are interested in a separate Friday rod run activity for Tour participants.

About BC Ferries
We have been keeping an eye on availability of schedules and reservations for July and can now report that BC Ferries are accepting reservations.

For those travelling to the Island on Thursday July 15, we are suggesting the 1:00 PM sailing from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay. Return trips will be dependant upon your length of stay on the Island. We will be there until Monday morning (July 19) and have reserved passage on the 10:00 AM sailing from Swartz Bay back to Tsawwassen. You can access the BC Ferries site and make reservations HERE.

Answers To Two Commonly Asked Questions
1. All makes, models and years of vehicles are welcome.

2. You can “drive a little or drive a lot”. In other words, it doesn’t matter whether you’re out for a day or the week. We’d love to have you along.>

In Summary
- If you haven’t registered but plan to, we’d really appreciate that you do so ASAP
- Let us know if you are planning on registering
- Let us know if you’re interested in an activity for Friday July 16.

Anything else, just let me know. I look forward to hearing from you and joining you on the road. Please pass this on to anyone who might be interested and might not be on the distribution list.

Points West Tour page with registration, accommodation and who’s coming is HERE.

On May 26th 2009, an announcement was made about the new ownership of Performance World Custom Car & Truck Show.

Excerpt of press release: Canada’s largest in door Custom Car show has been presenting the best in custom cars and trucks since 1964, at the Toronto International Centre. The previous owners have passed the torch onto a group of car enthusiasts committed to the industry and hobby, who will be managing the day to day business for The Justus Group Inc. This new life blood will ensure incredible visibility this year and in the years to come with its “Take it to the Streets” promotion campaign, as well as a grass roots enthusiast approach to the business. “We want to build a business to support the hobby and its enthusiasts. Today we are looking at all aspects of the economy, the industry and the ability to deliver the best cars, vendors, and entertainment value for our partners”.

With PW now in the hands of car enthusiasts, look for a bright future for this long-running show. We’re happy to have them on board as a 2009 Canadian Hot Rod Tour sponsor. Complete release HERE.