The end of October was just packed with motoring events, most certainly indicating the end of ‘car season’ for those in the community. Sunday was the ‘season finale’ at ImportExpo at the airport in Mississauga, and Saturday night was Halloween night at home, but Friday night was the annual ‘Trunk or Treat‘ family-friendly get-together in Newmarket.
For the past couple of years, the members of the ‘Hwy 11 Cruisers‘ have met up at the local Harvey’s on Yonge St—also called Hwy 11—with their hot rods and muscle cars decorated for the spooky season. Some take it more seriously than others with complete skeletons in the driver’s seat, while others stick a plastic jack-o-lantern on the dash and call it done.
Young kids, and the young at heart, dress up in costume and go from car to car trick-or-treating. It’s like an early Halloween, without all that walking. And even though mom always told you never to take candy from strangers, this time of year it’s OK.
So, who are these guys with the rumbling V8 engines?
The ‘Hwy 11 Cruisers‘ are a car club founded in 2010 by a small group of automotive enthusiasts. Although they’re based out of Newmarket, they’ve become one of the region’s best-known car clubs. The volunteer-run organization really specializes in classic muscle cars and vintage hot rods, but there are a couple of Japanese imports around too. These guys have been hosting a regular Tuesday night meet in the Harvey’s parking lot, but they also organize larger car shows and special events during the summer.
In the Demaras Racing garage there are a couple of cars. Two Subaru WRX models 20 years apart, then there’s the Synthwave SVX and previously the Miata and the Mini. The only ‘domestic’ vehicle is our mini-monster truck; the ’16 GMC Sierra. It’s not a hot rod, but it is V8-powered, with performance enhancement from a Bully Dog tuner and Flowmaster exhaust. The truck’s big claim to fame is the 12″ lift and 36″ tall off-road tires.
Since the truck arrived with a giant, hairy spider on the tailgate, eerie green underglow, a fog machine and a driver dressed as the Grim Reaper, the club was quite welcoming to a gearhead in the spirit of Halloween.
The cool thing about the ‘Hwy 11 Cruisers‘ is that they’re about more than just chrome and V8s. Over the past 15+ seasons, they’ve raised over $200,000 for local charities—it’s quite amazing what a couple of like-minded individuals can achieve.
That Friday’s event was a fundraiser for CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) because a club member’s brother had recently passed away after struggling with addiction for some time. That hit pretty close to home.
Putting aside the seriousness of the fundraiser, the cars on display were just colossal. Vintage vehicles included fat-fendered pickup trucks, ’70s street machines like an AMC Gremlin with a high-rise supercharger, and plenty of Chevys from the ’80s including a Monte Carlo and a Hot Wheels-themed S-10.
But the car that stole the show was a classic ’47 Chevrolet Fleetline ‘Aerosedan’.
The fastback lead-sled had a mildly chopped top, full fender skirts, and green scalloped flames over a midnight purple paint-job. This ride looked like the distant cousin of the Grave Digger monster truck.
It had full chrome bumpers, front and back, with protruding exhaust pipes letting anyone thinking of challenging this hot rod know it’s packing a small-block V8 under the hood. The coolest part had to be the purple mood-lighting illuminating the interior.
Unlike many of the tuner-car parking lot meets, this event was fully sanctioned, with the blessing of the landlord. It’s hard for the owner of a Harvey’s—the Home of the Hot Ones—to refuse a bunch of gearheads access to the parking lot. Especially when it so clearly brought joy to the local community, and raised over $3,000 for a worthy charity.
Too bad this was the last event of the year for the ‘Hwy 11 Cruisers‘, but hopefully it will be the first of many of their events Demaras Racing attends in the future.
