Dan London, one of the organizers of the Cruise the Shore fundraising car show for the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, has a funny if slightly vulgar story about his enthusiasm for classic cars.
He was driving his 1935 Plymouth to a car show at Park Royal in West Vancouver and stopped at a stoplight right next to a gentleman in a brand new Bentley. A group of pedestrians in the crosswalk ignored the shiny new Bentley but stopped in front of London’s Plymouth and gave him the thumbs up.
“A few minutes later I heard the horn honk, I looked over and the window of the Bentley came down, the guy looked at me and said, ‘you’re an asshole,’” says London with a laugh.
The Bentley gentleman was laughing too, but the story reinforced for London the power of a great classic car. It was that enthusiasm for the eclectic that helped in the creation of Cruise the Shore, now entering its second year of bringing cool cars of all kinds together for a fun fundraising event.
In 2016 North Shore General Hospital, opened in 1929, was torn down, and as part of the Grand Farewell, London and his collector buddies were tasked with putting on a display featuring one car for each year of the old hospital’s lifespan. The event was so well received that the next year the LGHF asked London to keep the wheels in motion, turning the display into the first ever Cruise the Shore.
Now in its second year, organizers are planning for something even bigger and better with a cruise across the North Shore – including some pop-up mini shows, on Friday, July 20 – followed by a car show at Ambleside Park July 21. Food trucks, bouncy castles, raffles and a beer and wine garden will all be part of Saturday’s show, which will feature everything from restored Model A Fords to hot rods to rare classics to American muscle to modern masterpieces.
“It’s an eclectic range of cars,” says London. “This is not just another hot rod show. One fellow has just registered a 2016 Lamborghini.”
Unique cars have a great way of uniting people with common interests and bringing a bit of joy and pride to life, says London, who started working on cars when he was 17 and then came back to it later in life. His classics come with touching stories.
“In 2011 I built a 1935 Plymouth which wound up being a memorial to my first wife. They year that I bought it she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and unfortunately never got to see it finished. And then, subsequently to that, a lady in a moment of insanity decided that I was worth spending the rest of her life with, so I built her a car, a 1949 Ford that I finished two years ago. So two wives, two cars.”
A lot of love went into those cars, no doubt. To share in the love and find out more about Cruise the Shore, visit lghfoundation.com. All proceeds from the event will go to help build a new surgical centre for Lions Gate Hospital.
