Two Osoyoos collectors proud to show off their beautiful machines at annual show

The smiles on the faces of Tony Mellace and Greg Mulvihill were almost as bright as the polish on their beautiful automobiles.

Mellace and Mulvihill, who have both called Osoyoos home for many years, were two of more than 100 vintage car owners who proudly displayed their beautiful vehicles at the eighth annual Cactus Jalopies Show and Shine event this past Saturday in Gyro Park.

What started out as a very small, one-day event for a few vintage car owners from the region has now expanded into a three-day weekend festival complete with food, beer garden, entertainment, motorcycle stunt show and more.

Vintage automobile owners from across the South Okanagan, many other parts of B.C. and northern Washington State now make the regular trek to Osoyoos in early June for this show. There were also a few owners from Alberta in attendance this year.

Blessed with sensational sunny and hot weather, this year’s Cactus Jalopies Show and Shine attracted record crowds and several hundred people spent hours looking at the magnificent array of vintage automobiles, trucks, hot rods and motorcycles.

Showing off his gorgeous 1967 Chevrolet Corvette, Mellace said he doesn’t attend many car shows any more, but he knows the Cactus Jalopies show has gained an outstanding reputation and he wanted to display his own vintage wheels and also take a long look at the large and impressive array of automobiles at the show.

“I have a 1958 Corvette and I drive that one around and a lot of people in town have seen it because it has been in the July 1 parade quite a few times, but I don’t show this one off too often,” said Mellace. “I bought this beauty 10 years ago off a doctor and it only has 26,000 original miles and it hasn’t been redone at all. It’s completely original and just a beautiful car.”

Mellace said his passion for vintage automobiles started when he was a young teenager and it has only grown stronger through the years.

“I grew up in a family where all of the boys had really nice cars, so I got interested that way, but none of them were collectors or had the passion that I had,” he said. “I always had really nice cars from the time I was 17 and it has been a passion ever since.”

Mellace said he has met many wonderful people because of his passion for vintage automobiles and was looking forward to meeting more during this year’s show in Osoyoos.

“The people who own cars like this like to tell stories and share stories and you always meet some really nice people,” he said. “You don’t just get interested in cars like this all of a sudden, but you develop a keen interest over a number of years, so it’s nice to meet other people who share the same passion.”

Mellace said there are very few venues as nice as Gyro Park for holding a vintage car show.

“The location is just fantastic and I think that’s a big reason the show has grown so fast,” he said. “It’s beautiful down here near the lake and very unique. It’s great.”

Mulvihill, who moved to Osoyoos from  the Lower Mainland in 2007, said he has been interested in vintage automobiles since age 15 and has been a collector most of his adult life.

He currently owns four vintage automobiles, including a 1965 Pontiac GTO and 1967 Chevelle that were on display this past weekend, as well as a 1940 and 1941 Ford pickup trucks.

He hung around with an older group of friends who were into cars and found a job working in a gas station and has been hooked on renewing and restoring older vehicles ever since, he said.

Local garage owner J.F. Launier, who helped organize this event from the beginning and is the founder of Cactus Jalopies car club, deserves a lot of credit for the show’s success, said Mulvihill.

“This show was his idea and it has become well established because of all the hard work he puts in,” he said.

There’s a nice mixture of vintage car owners who don’t know a thing about repairing or restoring vehicles and others who can put together a motor in a matter of hours, said Mulvihill.

“There are some who just love owning them and don’t know a thing about cars and there are others from the mechanical side, like myself, who are all about building them and restoring them to their original beauty,” he said. “But you definitely don’t have to be mechanical to be into collecting cars because I would guess most of the people here today are not.”

The event in Osoyoos is family-friendly and has numerous attractions for children because organizers are hoping to pass the passion for vintage automobiles onto young people, said Mulvihill.

The show now brings in so many car owners and fans that it is becoming one of the major events in town every summer, he said.

“It’s a really wonderful event for the town,” he said. “The town has really jumped on board and they have staff down here helping us set up every year. It has become a really big event for the town and it’s nice to see so many people come out and support the show.”

BY KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times