SASKATOON — Car enthusiasts and curious onlookers trooped to Prairieland Park on Saturday to witness the third installment of Driven Saskatoon Indoor and Outdoor Autoshow. The one-day auto show had more than 100 modified and sometimes flamboyant cars displayed indoors and outdoors with a demonstration of drifting at the nearby parking lot.
The event was also a platform for local and out of town — from Port Coquitlam in British Columbia, Calgary in Alberta, Lloydminster, Prince Albert, etc.—establishments to promote their latest auto care, car products, and other services.
Local auto repair shop owner Steven Cusson joined and displayed two of his prized possessions, two Lamborghini Aventadors that cost $700,000. Cusson owns Phobia Auto Care and has his own channel on video sharing site YouTube where he creates content about exotic automobiles and how-to videos.
“I make some income off YouTube, which basically covers the cost of the cars … [Originally], I wanted a Ferrari 488 GT, but I just got a really good price from two friends on these two cars. I did pay $700,00 but that’s what they’d be worth. Both came from Kelowna [British Columbia],” said Cusson, particpating in a car show for only the second time.
Michael Ehman, who is from Prince Albert, displayed a car that he assembled onhis own — a creation that caught a lot of attention as it has features of automobiles that were used in the Mad Max movie franchise.
“I just do it on my free time. Like after work, I work on it for a couple of hours, and I’ve worked on this one for about five years. I kind of do all the stuff. I don’t do any of it by trade, it is more of a past time for me. I also have a couple of projects I’m working on,” Ehman told SASKTODAY.ca.
“I like Mad Max and I like cyberpunk stuff as well. I took parts from my grandfather’s original truck and I didn’t want to paint it, because it’s been in our family pretty much. I thought might as well make the most of the truck. It’s got an LS engine. It’s just like a modern vehicle and the bike deck is self loading. You just basically operate one button.”
Mark Seto, one of the organizers, said it was nice to be back in Saskatoon after the pandemic cancelled their show last year.
“The turnout is great. We love Saskatoon. This is our third event on our calendar. Saskatoon is the smallest city that we visit, but the people here are amazing. There’s so many people today and the turnout is amazing.”
Saskatoon was the third stop of Driven shows after Calgary and Winnipeg. They will also have separate shows in Winnipeg (Sept. 11), Toronto (Sept. 18), Montreal (Sept. 25) and Halifax (Oct. 2) before ending the tour in Vancouver later this year.