MDA Fabrication celebrated its grand opening in style with a classic car show.
Hundreds of South Cariboo motor enthusiasts came to the new automotive shop to showcase their favourite cars, take part in a dyno competition and do some classic burnouts. MDA owner Mac Harris was thrilled with the turnout, noting he met dozens of new people.
“We had lots of people, lots of cars and it was a very good hangout day,” Harris said. “Between all the trucks and cars, we had a couple of hundred. It’s about what we expected and the people who came, came to have a good time.”
Harris remarked that there were “so many beautiful cars” entered into the car show. As a judge, he had a hard time judging them, along with his wife Sheena and their employees.
“It’s stressful being a judge, picking your favourite and then not being biased. I got vetoed on two of the classes but that’s how being a judge goes. You get everyone’s opinion, and not everyone has the same choice of car.”
The cars were separated into several categories. The winners are as follows:
GM Class: Jim Williscroft’s 1967 Chevrolet Camaro.
Ford Class: Trevor Burkit’s 1967 Ford Custom Police Car.
Chrysler Class: Justyn Antone’s 1967 Plymouth Fury II.
Import Class: Brandon Ottie’s 1991 Nissan 240SX.
Truck Class: Bruce McLaren’s 1976 International Scout.
Motorcycle Class: Eric Mclean’s 2023 Harley Davidson Road Glide.
Modified Class: Barry Regan’s 1964 Nova.
The Overall Best In Show went to Brody Popadinac in his 1970 GTO Judge. The Best Burnout Trophy went to Justyn Antone who blew two sets of tires up on his Jeep.
Longtime South Cariboo residents and car enthusiasts Ben Donovan and Wesley Silverton both entered their vehicles into the show. While neither won in their category, they both agreed the event was a great way to introduce MDA to the community.
“It was awesome. There’s no better way to introduce yourself to the town I think,” Donovan said.
Silverton added “Go big or go home, I say, and they went big. It’s nice to finally see something most people in 100 Mile love to do.”
Donovan brought his pink 1994 Ford F350, which he said isn’t anything fancy but is a ton of fun to drive. Silverton, meanwhile, entered his custom 1973 Oldsmobile Omega, which unfortunately didn’t fit into any of the car show categories. In the future, he said he’d like to see MDA add more categories to the car show to accommodate more unique vehicles like his.
Watching people burn out their tires at the end of the show was a ton of fun, Donovan added. Plumes of burnt rubber could be seen rising from MDA, with the crowd cheering heartily every time one of the tires popped.
All proceeds raised from the event were donated to the Cariboo Mental Health Association. Harris said that raising awareness about the importance of looking after mental health is a cause that matters a lot to him.
“There’s a lot of people that don’t talk about their mental health and I’ve lost a couple of very close friends. I talked to them a lot about it but the pressure of life just got to them so I think (mental health) is something we need to bring to light more and just make it okay to talk about.
“Everybody has shitty days and it’s okay to say you have a shitty day. That’s life, if it was all great it would be boring.”
Harris said he will absolutely run another event like this in the future. While he’s not sure if they’ll make the car show an annual event, he is considering organizing another dyno competition and burnout day near the end of the summer.
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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