Wild Wednesdays car meet showcases shared love for the automobile

Cars and drivers from all backgrounds converge for weekly gathering

Every Wednesday night, car enthusiasts gather in the parking lot of the Grey Eagle Casino for Wild Wednesdays, a free car show where the love for the automobile draws hundreds.

Some show up in original 1930s hot rods, while others bring cars they have been building in their garage for years.

Nineteen-year-old Daniel Sevcik, known as “Dan the Man,” pulled into the already bustling parking lot in a very familiar 1972 Volkswagen Beetle, a replica of Herbie the Love Bug. The unmistakable number 53 on the side of the car and red and blue racing stripes running from the hood to the tail pipe attracted plenty of attention. As Sevcik pulled into a vacant parking stall, his recognisable car turned plenty of the crowds’ heads.

As he stepped out of his Volkswagen, he turned to the crowd and his face lit up. “It’s a smile you just can’t buy,” Sevcik said.

The car has been a project of Sevcik’s for five years.
“My Dad and I started building it when I was in junior high,” he said. “We put a lot of time into it, but it was all worth it. Any guy can go out and buy a car, but when you build one with your own hands, it means so much more.”

Daniel Sevcik has been working with his father to build his Herbie replica for the past five years.

Photo by Matthew Hayhurst
When the car was finally finished, the day before Sevcik graduated from high school, Sevcik’s father handed him the keys.

“It was a graduation present,” Sevcik said. “It was one of the coolest things, because my Dad and I worked so hard on it, and for him to give it to me; it just meant the world to me.”

A car you can’t buy

Sevcik wasn’t the only one who put in hundreds of hours in wrench time.
Robert Miller, a former sheet metal fabricator, built his dream car from the ground up.

“There’s no other car like it,” Miller said. “I drafted the designs from scratch, made the moulds myself and built this car to be a one-of-a-kind.”

From start to finish, Miller spent over 11,000 hours getting his very unique car ready for the road.

It’s not just a show car either. Miller says that he and his wife drive the car on an almost daily basis.

“You don’t just build a car so it can sit in your garage,” he said. “You build it so you can drive it. I built a car that I would like to drive.”

Miller says that upon the completion of his unique vehicle, he destroyed the plans and the moulds for the body so “it could never be reproduced by anyone.”

Buying the car of his dreams

Jamie Spence, owner of a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, seen in the Back to the Future trilogy, just purchased his very unique car only four months ago and drove it from Portland, Oregon to Calgary in 14 hours.

“I’m just ecstatic to finally have this car,” Spence said. “I’ve loved DeLoreans ever since I was a kid, and now I actually own one.”

As the night went on, Back to the Future fans jokingly asked, “Where’s the flux capacitor?” and “Have you ever driven 88 miles per hour in this car?” As long-time fan of DeLoreans, Spence was more than happy to answer the questions with “Flux capacitors are too expensive” and “I’ve actually only driven 85mph, and I was pushing it!”

From race-built dragsters to 1931 Model A Fords, the parking lot of the Grey Eagle Casino was filled from end to end with some very unique automobiles. An estimated 200 cars were in attendance throughout the evening. The event will continue Wednesday nights until the weather no longer co-operates.

mhayhurst@cjournal.ca

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