In a small Newfoundland town, a garage holds some of the world’s finest classic cars

Vernon Smith's Antique Car Museum.Photography by Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail

Vernon Smith is apologetic that he has no brochures to distribute for his car collection. “The printer sent them to Swift Current, Saskatchewan,” he says. “Happens all the time.”

If you blink, you might miss the Newfoundland town of a couple of hundred people, 15 minutes off the Trans-Canada Highway and a couple of hours west of St. John’s. Keep your eyes open, though, and you’ll notice the large building next to the water that houses Smith’s car collection. Pause and go inside and you’ll see the most astonishing display of vehicles in Atlantic Canada, and probably anywhere in the country.

There are 56 cars, Smith says, and they have to be “outstanding in engineering and design, limited production and predominantly convertibles,” to reflect his tastes.

The oldest is a 1908 Buick Model 10, and the newest a 1970 Ford Mustang Twister. Almost all are North American, though there’s a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle and a 1967 Amphicar 770, both made in Germany. All are in running order, ready to drive out of the building, and all are immaculate: Show-winning immaculate.

“When I go to the United States [to attend vintage car shows], I am frequently told there are standards, and there are Vernon standards,” Smith says. His 1933 Chrysler Imperial won third place in its class at California’s 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, while his 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham won its class at the Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2022, as did both his 1958 and 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz models, in 2025 and 2024. Winners’ rosettes are everywhere in the 24,000 square-foot building.

“When somebody comes in the door, usually their first reaction is, what in the world is this doing in the middle of nowhere?” says Smith. “Well, it’s home. When I built the first section [of the garage], I never intended for it to be open to the public. It was private. But then I opened it up one weekend as a fundraiser for the community, and it was such a resounding success I realized I couldn’t keep this secret to myself. That was about seven years ago.”

The museum, also known as Vernon’s Antique Toy Shop, charges an admission fee of $20 (including taxes) that is donated back to the community, where Smith was born and raised. He made his money as the owner of a local company that supplied and installed overhead power lines – “the transmission lines, steel poles, wood poles” – and when The Globe and Mail first visited in 2009, Smith owned 34 classic cars. When he sold the company in 2011, the collection began to balloon to its current size.

1942 Chrysler Windsor Town & Country Barrelback

Part of the appeal of Smith’s collection is that there are no ropes or barriers shielding the cars from visitors – this is his personal collection in his garage, after all. People are asked not to touch the vehicles without permission, and while visitors shouldn’t be fooled into thinking there is poor security, Smith says his trusting approach is a Newfoundland thing.

“A lot of other places, you don’t get within 15 feet,” he says. “That don’t happen as a rule. It’s roped off. But then, the owner’s not standing right there, and I’m here every day.”

The outside of Vernon’s Antique Car Museum in Swift Current, N.L.

Some of Vernon Smith’s favourites

1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

“They built 1,320 and they were all convertibles, however I wanted a bucket-seat car and now we’re down to 99 [that were made with bucket seats]. [I wanted it] for the rarity.”

“A few years back, I showed this car in Warwick, R.I., to a Cadillac international meet – 285 Cadillacs. Stiff competition. It was a pretty high-end affair, held at the Ritz, about 700 people attending. And when the moderator stood at the podium with the best-in-show in the envelope, it was as if everyone held their breath. Dead silence. Not easy to shut up 700 people, right?

“The moderator opened the envelope and he started off like this: ‘All the way from Newfoundland …’ The jackass from Newfoundland! Best in show. That car scored – they work on a 100-point system – 99.5.

“My nearest competition was one half-point behind me, and you’ll never believe what I lost a half-a-point for. Look under the hood of that car. It’s such a vast motor compartment, and busy. You could lose 40, 50 points in a heartbeat if it’s not right. When I pushed the button for the windshield washer, it didn’t spray.”

Vernon Smith with his 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, which won its class at Ontario’s Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Twister Special

“You’d be shocked at the number of Mustang aficionados that come in here who’ve never heard of the Twister. They built 96, all the same colour, Grabber Orange, built in Kansas City, the capital of the world for the tornado and that’s where the name came from.

“However, out of the 96, 24 had the 428 [cubic-inch] engines and four-speed [transmissions]. This is pretty rare.”

A 1970 Ford Mustang Twister in Grabber Orange, the only colour the Twister came in.

1933 Chrysler Imperial

“They built 36 only. Awesome car to drive. It has a 384 V8 engine, and [in 2010] it was invited to Pebble Beach, the most prestigious car show in North America. Winning wasn’t on the radar. Just to be among 250 of the most prestigious cars in the world was reward enough for me.

“However, it did win third place in its class: ‘American 1920s to 1940s.’ Of course, you drive the car up on the grandstand to receive the award, and if the car doesn’t make it, you don’t get the award. We’re all conscious that, at 80 years of age, things can happen. You don’t get the award if you can’t drive it. We drove it okay.

“So the moderator’s talking about the car and where it came from and, as you can appreciate, there was a lot of people who didn’t know where Newfoundland was, let alone Swift Current. But the most humbling part of that experience, with the crowd in the thousands, was that when I was on the grandstand on that red carpet, the crowd called, ‘Go Canada go!’ Now, that was a nice feeling.”

Smith's 1933 Chrysler Imperial, which won third place in its class at California’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

1958 Chrysler De Soto

(Equipped from the factory with a record player)

“The discs play at 16-and-two-thirds [revolutions per minute] and they’re spring-loaded, but they still work better when you’re parked.

“This particular car, the ’58, the Adventure, was the top of the line. In a convertible, they built 82. We know of five remaining today. Two in Sweden, two in the United States, plus this one, in Swift Current, Newfoundland. It’s got a 361 [cubic-inch engine] with twin-fours [carburetors]. It’s got the instant gas heater and, in the centre of the steering wheel, how about a self-winding clock? It winds as you drive.”

The front seats and dash of the 1958 Chrysler De Soto, which came with a record player.

Records on the front seat of the 1958 Chrysler De Soto.

1957/58 Ford Fairlane Retractable

“They built these cars for three years. It was nothing short of an engineering miracle. There are 13 limit switches, and 10 solenoids, and eight circuit breakers, and 604 feet of wire that controls that roof – and it should disappear into the trunk in less than a minute.

“The three-piece luggage is rare as hen’s teeth, we say in Newfoundland. I found the luggage in Sweden – it didn’t come with this car. Of course, back in the day, people only ordered what they needed. My grandfather, for example, didn’t have power steering until 1970, because he had to pay extra for it. That’s the way it was, right? So there were very few orders for luggage.”

A 1958 Ford Fairlane with the hardtop roof half open.

The hardtop roof on the 1958 Ford Fairlane retracts into the trunk with the push of one button.

1911 Ford Model T

“I’ve had her probably 10, 12 years. She wasn’t in this condition – I had to get to work on this. The eight-day clock is a pretty rare option; on a $700 car, it was a $25 option.

“To really appreciate the impact that Henry Ford had on us, we’ve got to kind of roll back the curtain and realize that, look, when the first Ford was introduced, people rarely travelled over 25 miles from home in their entire lifetime, and our average wage was 22 cents an hour. Henry’s objective was to manufacture a car that the common man could afford to buy. By 1911, it was up to 40 miles an hour, rightly dancing along.”