The celebration of pre-1950s car culture that draws collectors and tourists alike gets underway Thursday as the hot rods start rolling into Victoria.
Buckle up, Victoria.
Get ready for splashes of colour, shiny chrome and engine revs.
Northwest Deuce Days is back.
The celebration of pre-1950s car culture that draws hundreds of collectors and thousands of tourists to the city gets underway today as the hot rods start rolling into town.
About 400 of the classic cars — including eye-popping recreations of the 1932 Ford known as the Deuce Coupe — will start rolling off the Coho ferry from Port Angeles, Washington, today.
More will travel to the city on B.C. Ferries and from up-Island for what is considered the granddaddy of all car shows in the Pacific Northwest.
“It’s going to be amazing … we look forward to getting those cars to Victoria every year,” said Ryan Burles, president of Black Ball Ferry Line.
He said all four sailings today are completely booked by car owners from California, Oregon and Washington, many of whom have been making the crossing for decades. Other hot rods are expected to fill Coho sailings on Friday.
“These cars are their babies,” Burles said, adding Deuce Days is a chance to show off the cars, rekindle old friendships and forge new ones with like-minded enthusiasts. “There’s a lot of fellowship in the car-club community, and this is an event they look forward to.”
Burles said Deuce Days is an economic driver for the Port Angeles area as well as Victoria, as the car owners often take the scenic route via the Olympic Peninsula instead of the Interstate 5 highway, staying in hotels before making the Salish Sea crossing.
He said events like Deuce Days and the upcoming Symphony Splash in the Inner Harbour will help to lift declining passenger numbers in the wake of geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Canada over trade and sovereignty.
Northwest Deuce Days, held every three years, is expected to bring 1,300 pre-1952 vehicles and their owners to Greater Victoria, with some shipping their vehicles in trailers from as far away as Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Finland.
The vehicles, festooned with chrome, colourful paint jobs and dazzling upholstery, will be spread throughout the Inner Harbour area on Sunday.
Drivers, who pay a $93 registration fee for Deuce Days, will also take part in the colourful “poker run” on Saturday, which transforms Dallas Road into “Rainbow Road.”
Destination Greater Victoria, the tourism marketing group that promotes the region, purchased the event from founder Al Clark in 2022, who started with a handful of cars at Gorge Kinsman Park in 1998, moving to Oak Bay Village in 2001 before settling at the Inner Harbour in 2004.
The last edition of Deuce Days three years ago generated $2.5 million in economic activity, supported 600 local jobs and boosted the visitor economy by filling hotels, restaurants and attractions, it says.
The drivers are given itineraries for local attractions, including Butchart Gardens, and some restaurants have tailored menus for the visitors.
The community-driven event is brought to life by a team of more than 200 volunteers who work around the clock marshalling the vehicles.
Many of those volunteers will be on hand at the Coho ferry terminal today at 2:30 p.m., handing out roses to the drivers as the classics roll onto Belleville Street.
Paul Nursey, chief executive of Destination Greater Victoria, said the event is sold out with 1,300 registered cars. He said there were other drivers who wanted to come, but space was limited.
“We’ve taken every available inch available to us around the Inner Harbour,” said Nursey.
Acquiring the event for an undisclosed amount from the founders was a good investment, he said, noting other communities were lining up to buy it.
“It’s funny how a community thing became commodified. I can’t go into details of our agreement, but I will say our board, when we deliberated about the idea, we decided that if it ran two more times, it would be worth the purchase price, and we’re there.”
Deuce Days is the world’s largest gathering of 1932 Fords, but the show welcomes any hot rod, street rod and rat rod as long as it was built before 1952.
The highlight of the show is the 1932 Ford coupe, affectionately called the Deuce, with more than 500 expected this year. The name comes from the model year of the vehicle in French.
Unlike some car shows, which highlight originality, opulence or speed, Deuce Days is all about creativity and rolling automotive art, with the majority of the highly customized vehicles sporting colours that range from mild to wild and enough chrome to blind you on a sunny day.
While they all start with the same basic body, no two cars are exactly the same, with owners spending considerable time and money customizing their rides.
In 2007, more owners chose to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the 1932 Ford coupe in Victoria than in Detroit, where Ford organized a special event.
Typically, hotel rooms are booked years in advance of the show, with some hotels reporting that guests made return reservations as they left the last event three years ago.
Social media is buzzing with comments from drivers looking forward to their visits.
“Can’t wait,” said Kimberley Blackwater. “We have a group coming from Oklahoma!”
Al Schultz from Regina said it will be his fifth trip to Deuce Days, “our favourite event,” while Dennis Groundwater from Coquitlam added: “never missed one yet.”
Kristy Bauer Brooks said she is coming from Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., while Joel Walker-van Schie is driving from Thunder Bay, Ont.
Nursey said Deuce Days builds “people-to-people relationships,” which is more important than ever.
He said Canada’s tensions with the Trump administration over tariffs and sovereignty “will eventually turn, and you really want those relationships in place for our visitor economy.”
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