The longer, sunnier days of spring have arrived in Vancouver, and with them, the city's vintage cars are being rolled out of dusty garages onto city streets.
One place to see them is at The Vancouver International Auto Show, on until Sunday.
Collecting vintage cars is a growing hobby in B.C. -- the province's more temperate climate makes it the best place in Canada to drive a collector's car.
"It may also have to do with the demographic... our aging population is becoming empty-nesters," said Nigel Matthews, the specialty vehicle program manager for ICBC.
There are 50 vintage car clubs across the province and an even greater number of show grounds and gathering points for the prized vehicles.
"I remember one weekend last year, I counted 13 car shows on a single weekend," said Matthews.
The "cr�me de la cr�me" show, says Matthews, has to be the Steamworks Concourse, Gastown's show held on the Labour Day weekend with 75 invite-only vehicles.
An all-British car show at Van Dusen Gardens on May 16 is the biggest show of its kind in Western Canada, drawing more than 500 vehicles to the Vancouver gardens.
Matthews has worked on vintage cars since the early 1970s, when he fixed up Alfa Romeos with a Vancouver mechanic.
He now owns a 1976 Alfa Romeo, but he says it's difficult to find time to care for his car.
"It's a bit like the cobbler's children running around with holes in their shoes; I'm so busy doing other people's cars that I never have time for my own."
