Welcome back to our semi regular tour of the Canadian automotive scene. The Canadian International Auto Show is in full swing in Toronto, which is a good thing. Not so good for many is the fact that the only real stars of the show this year are cars of the vintage variety. Outside of the Shelby exhibit, the baby Auto Union above might just be the coolest car at the show. Inside the Shelby exhibit is likely the largest collection of historically significant Shelby cars ever displayed in Canada. To be in this room, soaking up the good vibrations of racing history is worth the price of entry all by itself. As for the rest of the show, your level of enjoyment may vary.
While I’m still feeling the vintage vibe, we should begin our travels with a visit to Classic Car Adventures where Warwick Patterson talks about the differences between shooting video on film as compared to digital. Backing up the story is a must see film shot at the 2006 Rolex Invitational at Lime Rock by Dikayl Rimmasch using vintage cameras. Very cool.
Over at Marque 1, Philip Powell tells the tale of the Skiff Tourer, which is going across the auction block next month. What is a Skiff Tourer? I didn’t know either. You’ll just have to visit Phil and find out!
Moving on to somewhat newer vehicles, Jonathan at CarEnvy is going to be a Daddy soon and needs to update the family hauler. That means making a switch to a wagon but not your usual wagon. The potential choices are a BMW 5 series or a Volvo 940. With a twist! Given that we’ve had 2 Volvo Turbo wagons in our driveway, I know which one I would choose.
We now have a 16 year old in the family, so Peter Johnson’s post at AutoNorth rings a bell in my brain. It seems that Cato & Vaughan have a slightly distorted view of what makes the perfect first car for a teenager. Peter doesn’t actually tell us what he thinks would be the best choice, so I’ll chime in with my 2 cents. Sitting in my driveway is my beloved 2000 Nissan Xterra. 4 wheel drive with a 5 speed. Bulletproof, safe and slow but still pretty cool. It also has enough dings and dents that I won’t notice or care about new ones!
New to Border 2 Border, yet certainly far from new to Canadian automotive readers is Bill Roebuck’s CarTest. This week, Malcolm Gunn wonders if Canadian buyers will be as excited about the 2011 Buick Regal as they are around the world. Gunn feels the new Regal is the right car for the time. I tend to agree.
The news has been full of Toyota’s woes over the past month or so and many Canadian auto writers have had their say as well. Jil McIntosh spent time working in car dealers earlier in her career, so you should believe her when she says the Toyota’s biggest problem right now is public perception. Beyond media hype, a big part of the cause of that skewed perception is a general lack of knowledge. Brian Early rightly wonders why a police officer and his family died in a car, when he had time to call 911 yet didn’t know to put the car in neutral. Perhaps Crash Corrigan has the answer to Brian’s question. Like some of us, Crash grew up with much simpler, older vehicles. Vehicles that broke down and drivers had to actually have a bit of knowledge to continue on their way. Of course Crash has a tendency to go off on a tangent now and then but the gist of his rant is this: bring back simple automobiles, learn a bit about your car and take some advanced driver training. We could all learn something from that guy!
That’s it for this week. If you know of a Canadian auto site that I should be including in the next Border 2 Border, let me know in the comments section or e-mail gary at drivenwheels.com
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