Over 300 cars filled the Paris Fairgrounds for the Kinsmen Club of Brantford’s 50th annual Car Show and Swap Meet on Sunday, September 14, 2025.
Throughout the event, several hundred drivers, passengers and spectators took the opportunity to check out the different vintage, antique, classic and newer model entries into this year’s show including a 1915 Ford Model T, 1951 MG TD, 1954 Chevrolet Belair, 1969 Chevrolet Corvair, 1955 Ford Panel Truck, a 1966 Shelby Cobra, and a 2022 Corvette C8.
“There’s a whole assortment of cars out here today, we’ve got some hot rods, lots of the old 1950s cars, maybe even some from before that, as well as newer cars too,” said Norm Philpott, Chair of the Brantford Kinsmen Car Show. “I would say a lot of them look to be anywhere between the 1950s and the 1980s though.”
With the event being known as one of Southern Ontario’s largest annual car shows, registered owners from Brantford and beyond came out to show off their colourful rides with many visitors coming out of town from Burlington, Cambridge, London and Elora to name a few.
Kitchener resident Jorge Machado, who was just one of the many visitors that traveled into Paris to attend the annual car show.
“I always like going around to different car shows but I like that this is a car show and a swap meet, that’s pretty cool to wander around,” he said.
Machado said that while he’s collected several different cars and vans throughout the years, he came upon his 1956 Chevrolet 1300 pickup truck by chance.
“I was actually working doing a job putting up signage and everything else when this truck ended up pulling in. We just stopped for a break, and I was admiring the truck and I had sort of said, ‘wouldn’t it be nice if this was for sale,’” he recalled. “The guy was kind of humming and hawing, and he ended up going inside, but then the big boss man, he came out and said, ‘oh yeah, it’s for sale’ and sure enough, I ended up buying the truck off him. It was originally all this teal colour back then, but I ended up adding all the black to it.”
The event also featured well over 20 vendors participating in the swap meet. From car parts to collectables, vintage books, hubcap clocks, pins and more, there was plenty to browse and buy for all.
Towards the end of the show, organizers presented awards in 21 different categories, 22 including the People’s Choice award.
The annual car show and swap meet has been running since the early 1970s after Brian Heap, a member of both the Brantford Piston Pushers and Brant Street Rods brought the show to the Kinsmen Club.
While the show started off as a three-day event held at Ontario Park on Highway 24, it eventually moved over to the Paris Fairgrounds around 1981 as a one-day event.
The show is one of the Kinsmen’s largest fundraisers of the year, alongside the group’s annual Ribfest in August and the Brantford International Villages in July. Philpott said the funds raised from their events go towards supporting a number of local causes.
“I think people like coming out to our show because there’s always a great variety, but also because they know we support cystic fibrosis as well as a variety of other community projects,” he said. “It’s just a great way to get out and about, but to give back too.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
