Cars from the 1980s and 90s lined up for the Oblivion Car Show in Owen Sound, Ont.Supplied
In the world of car enthusiasts, Justin Sookraj and Billy Chan are poles apart. Sookraj owns and operates Wells Auto in Milton, Ont., a shop specializing in the restoration of DeLoreans – the iconic gull-wing car from the early 1980s made famous in Back to the Future.
Chan, by contrast, is into much newer vehicles. He is the founder of N-SHFTRZ (pronounced shifters), one of Canada’s largest online communities for Hyundai N enthusiasts.
Yet they share a common thread: the cars they are passionate about never fit neatly into established car clubs, so they created their own.
The DeLorean was built from 1981 to 1983 and failed to meet classic-car requirements when Sookraj tried to enter one into a local Milton car show in 2016 and 2017. He was turned down both times.
“But the car was old,” Sookraj says. “We were going grey and it was always this boomer anthem that if it’s not before 1979, it’s not old and meanwhile time has moved on.”
Although there is no single defining rule, it’s generally agreed that anything older than 25 years is considered a classic car. In Canada, a vehicle can be imported as a classic once it’s 15 years old, and the earliest DeLoreans are now pushing 45.
Look around and it is easy to find car clubs dedicated to Chevrolet Corvettes, mid-1950s General Motors cars and trucks, and pre-war classic Ford Model Ts, BMWs or Jeeps. However, there were no such established spaces for the vehicles Sookraj and Chan were passionate about.
The DeLorean was a misunderstood vehicle from a short-lived company, sitting in a grey area between a modern American classic, an exotic Italian-designed, Irish-built sports car, and a movie prop.
It didn’t have a place in traditional automotive groups and neither did the Korean-made Hyundai, which wasn’t considered part of the Japanese domestic market (JDM) movement that dominated the Canadian car scene in the 1990s, especially among millennials.
Today, non-traditional car shows are becoming more common, with events like Euro Klassik, formerly Berlin Klassik, in Grand Bend, Ont., which celebrates vintage to modern European cars, and the Concours d’Lemons, which features forgotten and unloved vehicles that were just bad from the start.
Driven by frustration, Sookraj and two other DeLorean owners decided to launch a show dedicated to modern classics – 30- to 40-year-old cars that didn’t fit in with Baby Boomers’ 1967 Ford Mustangs and 1970 Chevrolet Chevelles.
The inaugural 80s and 90s Oblivion Car and Culture Show was held in 2018 in the parking lot of the Milton Memorial Arena, featuring vehicles from 1980 to 1999. Sookraj describes them as “plastic fantastic cars meant to be banished into oblivion,” because they were considered disposable at the time.
A display of old stereos at the Oblivion Car Show exhibit at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto.Supplied
A Chevrolet Camaro on display as part of the Oblivion Car Show exhibit at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto.Supplied
Oblivion has continued to evolve, transforming into the ultimate millennial nostalgia fest, attracting fans of music, movies and toys from the 1980s and ’90s. Past shows have featured a cast reunion of the hit Canadian TV show Degrassi High, retro arcade games and even a full Jurassic Park theme.
Oblivion has also brought its nostalgia-fuelled flair to the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, showcasing many of the same vehicles and memorabilia.
“Oblivion might have started out of frustration but it’s kept alive by my team who are passionate about the vehicles and the history and, more importantly, what this era was like in Canada,” Sookraj says. “Much of what we feature is Canadiana, and only found here.”
Hyundai N cars lined up for a track day at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ont.Supplied
Passion is the glue that binds car enthusiast communities together. For Chan, it began watching YouTube videos of the Hyundai i30 N and Veloster N, the first two N models Hyundai produced.
“What other brand besides Hyundai offered that level of customization, performance, and sound at that price point?” Chan says.
The i30 N, which debuted in 2017, wasn’t sold in North America, but the sister-platform Veloster N arrived here a year later. Packing a 275-horsepower, turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a manual transmission and plenty of exhaust-popping shenanigans, the Veloster N was a legitimately fun drive that threatened the status quo long established by the Honda Civic Type R and other Japanese performance cars.
It was deemed so good that it won Road & Track magazine’s 2020 Performance Car of the Year, beating out heavyweights like the Porsche 911 Carrera S, BMW M2 and Toyota Supra.
N-SHFTRZ (pronounced shifters) has become one of Canada’s largest online communities for Hyundai N enthusiasts.Supplied
Despite that accolade, Hyundai still carries a somewhat negative reputation among car enthusiasts, often perceived as a lower-quality brand compared to Honda and Toyota.
“This isn’t the Hyundai of 40 years ago,” Chan says. “Look at what the N division is doing today, from their [gas-powered] models all the way to pushing the boundaries of EV performance.”
Chan, who is based in Toronto and owns a 2020 Veloster N, envisions N-SHFTRZ as more than just an online community. The primary mission, he says, is to drive the culture forward through local…
