Vancouver VCCC History

The Vancouver Chapter started in 1957 when Buck Rogers placed an ad in the Vancouver Sun Newspaper for”anyone interested in forming an old car club, ownership of a vehicle is not a requirement”. He did this as a result of a request by the Provincial Government to organize an old car tour of British Columbia, as part of the upcoming BC Centennial celebrations that the government had planned for 1958. In response to the ad 15 people showed up for the first meeting held on February 12 1958, with one thing in common, “OLD CARS”.

After a number of meetings and a whole lot of enthusiasm the Centennial Tour, to be held in the first part of August, went ahead as planned. There were 38 vehicles, of various makes, that took part in the 840 mile run from Fernie BC to Victoria BC. The oldest car to make the run was a 1907 Cadillac driven by Quinton McAdam, Quinton has since passed away but his daughter still takes the vehicle out on tours. The only vehicle that didn’t complete the run was a 1923 Brooks steamer. The tour was followed by a car show at the Pacific National Exhibition where 42 cars were put on display to complete the new clubs contribution to the British Columbia Centennial Events.

The first name given the club was “The Vintage Auto Registry of British Columbia” which was to have a very short life due to the rejection of the name by the government. It was followed later in 1958 by the name “Veteran Car Club of Canada” that was also rejected by the government of the day. The 15 founding members were getting nowhere and finally came up with the name “The Vintage Car Club of Vancouver”. Someone else suggested “The Vintage Car Club of BC”. Another said “what the heck why not go for Canada” and with that our club was born, “THE VINTAGE CAR CLUB of CANADA”.

The first constitution was based on the Horseless Carriage Club of Seattle/Tacoma as no one knew what a constitution should entail. George R. Wood said he would have his lawyer draw it up and register it. He was given the clubs first life membership for taking care of this and underwriting the costs.

One of the first things the original members did in 1957 was to convince the Provincial Government that there should be a Vintage License plate for the old vehicles. It took longer than expected but in 1969 the plate became a reality. Since that time we have been enjoying the one time cost of the plate and the accompanying lower insurance rates.

When sufficient additional chapters were created a National Executive group was formed in 1965. This was to look after the administration of the chapters, handling the memberships, newsletter (the Vintage Car), and club insurance.

As time went by the membership and the number of chapters grew so that there are now about 1,200 members in over 20 chapters throughout the province.

The two Vancouver Chapter governors attend the semi-annual National meetings that are held “centrally” within the province in Merritt.