By Trevor Busch Alberta Newspaper Group


2020, car shows and show and shines are not immune to the impacts. “Our guys are already talking about


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cancelling ours, and that’s not until the end of August,” said Jerry Doell, presi- dent of the Gear Lords of Taber.“There’s a lot up in the air right now with this COVID, everybody’s pretty nervous about the whole thing.” Club membership averages between 20 - 25 people annually,and Doell reports there’s roughly a hundred vehi- cles owned in total among members. “We got a couple of guys that have got


quite a good collection.We’ve got one guy that’s got over 30 cars, and another guy that’s got 25. I have four myself.” Doell is the proud owner of four vehi- cles which, include a ’47 Fargo Half-Ton, a ’50 Chevy Panel Van, a ’55 Chevy Two-Ten (or 210),and a ’68 Chevy Impala Coupe. Doell did most of the restoration work himself excluding the paint. “I guess basically from when I was a


kid I always had a passion for vehicles, and once my kids grew up and were fin- ished with school I could afford to start working on my own stuff. It’s not a cheap hobby to have,so you gotta to be able to have the wherewithal to be able to do some of this stuff.Once your kids grow up, then sometimes you gotta a little spare cash to put on them.That’s about the only way you’re ever going to get it.” Virtually all eras of vehicles are repre-


sented among the club membership, but interest varies among the age range of members. “It’s pretty much all across the board,”


PAGE 6 ❙ WHEELS 2020


ith pandemic restrictions wreaking havoc on the timelines of multiple community events in


said Doell.“The older guys have the older vehicles of course, and the younger they are,the newer they become. I think probably the newest vehicle that we have in our group would basically be mid-80’s.” Doell indicated there are only a few


projects currently on the go among club members. “Most of the guys, all of theirs are all done and they’re just sitting in the garage just waiting for spring to get here so they can actually get out and drive them.” Local car enthusiasts interested in getting involved with the Gear Lords of Taber can contact Doell at 403-382-7908. “We typically meet once a month,


every month.But the last time we met this year was in February, most everything else has been cancelled since.We basically have no business other than paying our chamber dues and what not. Basically, they (poten- tial members) just have to have an interest in cars, and give us a call and come out to a meeting when we do get back to work, and they can join up with us.” Putting rubber to the many roads in southern Alberta in 2020 could serve as a minor panacea for relief from some pandemic restrictions. “I just hope we get some spring, and get some time to be able to drive these things.Most of the guys aren’t working, so whether they can afford to do anything this year or not remains to be seen. Hopefully we just get everybody safe, get everybody up and running again, and get the country back together,” said Doell.


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