The Road Runners Car Club will be honoured as the Featured Club at this year’s Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo presented by eBay Motors. The group will showcase eight cars in its display, ranging from a 1934 Hudson Terraplane to a 1969 Ford Mustang ‘project car’ that is currently being restored.
The Hamilton, ON-area club has focused on classic customs for nearly seven decades and meets regularly at their own dedicated garage space. Founded in 1956 by a group of four young guys who didn’t even have a driver’s license, the Road Runners have consistently provided members with a place to work on their prized possessions.
“One of the stipulations that we had very early on, for many, many years, was that you had to have a special interest car with at least two custom modifications,” said Road Runners Car Club vice president Paul Craig. “The club was all old street rods and customized, like ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s, very few of the ‘50s. As the membership got older, the age of the cars got newer as well…up to the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and, as of quite recently, we had a couple of ‘90s cars in our shop.”
Despite some change in the vehicle ages, history has remained a large part of the club’s claim to fame. The Road Runners were part of the Ontario Timing Association in the 1960s when the organization convinced the owners of the Kohler Airstrip to let them use the facility for drag racing; while unrelated to the track’s construction, it was the origin of racing on a property that ultimately became Toronto Motorsports Park.
As a working car club, the Road Runners’ current location features garage space for a number of active projects, along with a meeting room and a display of roughly 150 photos of all the cars that have gone through their shop.
“We’ve got about 35 members right now,” said Road Runners Car Club president George Muldoon. “We have two ’47 GMs being built in the club right now; we have a ’63 Ford Fairlane wagon, a ’79 Camaro, a ’63 Thunderbird convertible, a ‘35 Hupmobile, a ’34 Hudson Terraplane, a ’47 Buick, a ’72 Pontiac LeMans, a 205 Mustang convertible. Those are all in the shop being restored.”
The Road Runners host a big barbeque at their shop each year, inviting retired members and other car clubs to take part. They also hold an annual swap meet in Ancaster, ON on the last Sunday in April and take part in other events, including a charity fundraiser last year.
The Road Runners are looking forward to showcasing a variety of vehicles as part of their Featured Club role at Motorama 2025. The selection includes a 1969 Ford Mustang ‘project car’ that Muldoon is in the midst of restoring. The partially-completed build will provide a unique opportunity for showgoers to see the amount of work that goes into a restoration project; they’ll also be able to ask Muldoon questions about the car.
Additional vehicles that the Road Runners will display are a 1966 Dodge Charger (owned by Craig), 1971 Pontiac LeMans Sport (Brian Yakimishyn), 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 (Graham Finley), 1940 Ford pick-up (Tom Harber), 1937 Pontiac (Hans Boks), 1928 Ford Roadster (Dave Baldassi), and 1934 Hudson Terraplane (John Tuck).
Interacting with fellow car enthusiasts is something that Craig is looking forward to for Motorama.
“I always have a good time at Motorama because, being a part of a car club, there’s a huge camaraderie with the other clubs,” said Craig. “And the Motorama people too; it’s nice to go some places and run into somebody who you haven’t seen for a few months and touch base, it’s a lot about the camaraderie.”
Motorama takes place March 7, 8 & 9 at The International Centre, across from Toronto’s Pearson Airport. For tickets and show info, visit MotoramaShow.com.
ABOUT THE TORONTO MOTORAMA CUSTOM CAR & MOTORSPORTS EXPO: The tenth annual Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo presented by eBay Motors takes place March 7, 8 & 9, 2025 at The International Centre, across from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. The show features more than 330,000 square feet of custom cars, hot rods, racing vehicles of all kinds, trucks, tuners, displays and exhibitors. Motorama is Canada’s biggest late-winter celebration of automobiles and motorsports. For information about the show, including tickets, sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities, and more, call (416) 962-7223, email info@MotoramaShow.com or visit MotoramaShow.com.
