Rhya Payne was all smiles sitting behind the wheel of this 1981 Chevy Z28 that wound up winning the Mom and Dad’s Best Classic category in this year’s Car and Truck Show at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
It was hoods up again at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School.
The annual school Car and Truck Show went ahead last week in advance of the upcoming Just Kruzin’ Show and Shine this Saturday in conjunction with Ribfest.
“It’s going to be big. We’ll probably get some of these students there,” said Just Kruzin’ Car Club member Rita Rieger, who helps judge the student vehicles.
“I’ve had four kids come through the high school, so my husband Dave and I have been doing this a long time helping out.”
Rieger says it’s not easy to judge vehicles.
“We do our best and try to be fair to everybody. We have certain things we look for,” she said.
The judges took a shine to a 1981 Chevy Z28 as an eventual trophy winner entry by leadership student Rhya Payne in the fun Mom and Dad’s Best Classic category.
“It’s been in my family for a few years. It’s a tribute car to my dad’s dad,” said the teen.
“It’s all original. The only thing we’ve done is we repainted it 10 years ago. Everything from the engine to the exhaust tips is original from the 80s.”
She said the only thing they did to it was replace the carpet and paint a line at the top of the roof and install a part in the AC.
“I helped put in the carpet and paint the roof,” Payne added.
This is the first year she has entered it, but she has driven the car a few times and notes it turns heads.
“A lot of people give us waves and smiles,” added the Grade 12 student.
Payne was one of 35 students competing for trophies in vehicle categories such as Best Stock Truck, Best Custom Car, Best Import, Most Redneck and Mom and Dad’s Money.
“The whole event is planned by our leadership students,” said teacher Victoria Oldershaw, the perennial event advisor, who added her own Subaru WRX sports car to the mix.
“All of the work is done by students. It’s a really amazing event they plan and it’s a really big event. A lot of students have a passion for cars,” she said.
Oldershaw says students have to talk to the judges about their vehicles and they know ahead of time what kind of questions they are going to be asked.
“The more they know, the more passionate they are about the cars, the higher chance they are going to win prizes,” she explained.
Rieger says even if the vehicle belongs to their parents they still have to know about their vehicle, make sure it’s clean on the inside, if there’s been any upgrades, and what’s special about their vehicle.
“There’s some pretty nice vehicles out there and kids take pride in them.”
One of the standout vehicles was a Dodge Ram truck driven by Kaiden Protz in the Blood, Sweat and Tears category, meaning he did all the work on it himself, including lifters.
“It’s an ‘’03, 6-litre with an old 4.5 motor in it. It’s got 190cc injectors, turbo-built transmission,” said Protz.
He says he learned how to do things by watching how-to videos on YouTube.
“My dad helped me a bit, but mostly YouTube,” he added.
Ironically, he won his category minutes after being asked to state his chances of winning.
“I think they’re pretty good,” he foretold.
