The Draggins Car Show in Saskatoon is one of the biggest car shows in Saskatchewan and is held, generally, over Easter weekend. Car enthusiasts from all around head to Saskatoon to take in a wide variety of vehicles and show off their cars as well. 

One of this year’s enthusiasts was Weyburn’s Chad Barnes. 

“I had decided to enter our car in the Draggins this year as this is an indoor show that we had never participated in before,” said Barnes. “I entered my 1964 Impala SS by registering it on the Draggins online registration site. I was excited when I received an email back that they had accepted our car into the show. This is the 1st time I have entered into this show, so I felt I had to step up my game by getting creative with how to display the car. I had spent countless hours cleaning and polishing in my garage at home up until it was show time. I also came up with some accent lighting and a couple of information boards to display what I had done to this car in the restoration process.” 

Chad noted that while this may have been his first time at Draggins, restoring this car dates back to around 1984.  

“I had saved up enough money and wanted to buy a classic car to fix up,” he said. “My dad and I had found this car sitting in a barn. Needless to say, it needed a bit of work. My dad, as my mentor, helped me with the restoration back then. Over the years, I had decided to redo the car again by doing a frame-off restoration and took it to a whole new level.” 

The work appears to have been worth it as Barnes took home first place for Conservative Custom Car from 1961 to 1969 and a cash prize for Best Engineered (driven) car post-1949. 

He says the best part of any car show, including the Show and Shine he entered in here in Weyburn, is meeting other enthusiasts.  

“Meeting new people who have the same interests as I do,” he said when asked for the best part of the shows. “It is a great feeling when you show something that you have put countless hours and sweat into and get a positive response on it.”