If you ever scout out Kevin McDonald for a ride in his car, pray that you're invited to the front seat.

McDonald is the proud owner of a mean-looking 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse done up in grave black, if you will, and resplendent with a plush red velvet interior.

The brauny Buick was one of the wheeled highlights of Territorial Auto Parts' third annual car show. Held last Saturday under persistent cloud and stubborn showers, the event drew some 30 vehicles whose vintages spanned eight decades.

McDonald acquired the near-complete hearse in 1992 from the Sale salvage yard at the Carcross Cutoff.

Working nights and weekends for three years, he disassembled the Buick, stripped it bare, smoothed the dents and plucked the body onto a 1997 Chevrolet pickup truck frame.

'Now that it is done, the pain and suffering is fading from memory,' McDonald laughs.

The door panels and the interior lining of the roof are original; the curtains came from Seattle a perfect match to the original interior.

'I found chrome pieces on eBay,' McDonald says. 'The fender skirts were a hard find, but if you look long enough, it will show up there.'

Melding the modern with the historic has equipped the seven-foot-tall hearse with such conveniences as power disk brakes and power steering.

All this is adorned with a Yukon licence plate that invites surprised onlookers to 'R.I.P.'.

The vehicle's daunting, macabre personality draws mixed reactions, McDonald has found.

'Some people like it and others take a wide walk around it. One lady at the supermarket said, Nice car, but it creeps me out.''

A decal on the side of the car pronounces its name as Arlene, honouring the memory of McDonald's mother-in-law, who succumbed to cancer.

As she grew more seriously ill, McDonald says, it became clear she wouldn't live to see the full results of the Buick's restoration.

'I said, I don't think I will be able to take it for your last ride, but I can name it after you.' She said, That's nice!''

Mike Stockstill, a veteran local collector of 15 vehicles, showed six at last Saturday's coming-together. One was a handsome 1937 Packard, used as both a parked and a moving vehicle in the The Untouchables, the 1959-63 TV series starring Robert Stack as crime fighter Eliot Ness.

Stockstill, a native Californian, bought the Packard in Hollywood from Ted Factor, brother of cosmetics magnate Max Factor, and trailered it to the territory. It's one of Stockstill's favourites of his rubber-tired brood.

'Ted left it for years on the set because he didn't have the means to store it,' says Stockstill, who came to the Yukon in 1972. 'Packards are getting harder to find some of the younger kids have never heard of them.'

Stockstill also had a 1970 Honda, one of only 2,500 made, at the car show. It's delivered 70 miles to the gallon for 36 years, he says.

'They didn't pass the 25-miles-per hour crash test,' Stockstill says of that era of the Honda.

'The rest were dumped into the Pacific (off California) because it was the cheapest thing to do. They figured they would make a reef out of them.'

Near the Honda was Stockstill's 1927 Ford hot rod, churning out 550 horse power. He made the chasis and suspension and spent 400 hours toiling on the grille.

Seven years ago, Stockstill drove his 1946 MG also in the show to Whitehorse from Florida. It had been in storage for 20 years, and many times during the long odyssey, Stockstill had to stop to fix an assortment of ailments.

Conversely, fortune shone on the aircraft mechanic when he linked up with a British MG car club entourage in California. He spent a few hundred kilometres of the trip in their company.

'It was a good adventure,' recalls Stockstill, whose favourite part of the car hobby is comparing notes and anecdotes with other enthusiasts.

The legendary Mustang was represented by several shining examples at the show.

'I've always liked Mustangs,' says Ellery Andre, who was showing the 1989 pony car he's owned for four years. 'They are classic.'

The longtime partsman at Whitehorse Motors also owns a 1987 Mustang convertible.

By far the exhibitor with the most experience at owning a Mustang was Lionel Stokes. His gleaming tourquoise metallic example, complete with a white vinyl roof, drew many admirers.

Stokes joined the spectacular Mustang phenomenon when he bought the car new in 1965 in Vancouver while living in Kamloops, B.C. He drove the car to the Yukon in 1967.

The Mustang has undergone a two-year restoration Stokes calculates cost about $25,000.

Having been sent to Edmonton for rebuilding and balancing, the 'peppy' 289-cubic-inch engine with a four-barrel carburator has 90 kilometres on it. The interior is from California.

The handsome car is for sale, with Stokes looking for about $5,000 more than he's invested in its revival before he drops the keys into other eager hands.

Though he's willing to part with his mechanized companion of 41 years, Stokes definitely regrets having sold another Ford product years ago.

'I had a '56 Crown Victoria,' he says. 'I sold it to a mechanic and he wrapped it around a tree a week later.'

Vintage iron from the former Chrysler Corp., meanwhile, was represented Saturday by such survivors as a white '69 Dodge Monaco convertible and Colin Horsnel's purple '70 Dodge Challenger SE, powered by a legendary brute the 383 Magnum.

Horsnel found his car in Auto Trader magazine and swapped his $15,000 four-by-four truck for it. He and the Challenger's Edmonton-based seller finalized their exchange by summiting in Dawson Creek, B.C.

Horsnel spent about $9,000 on the mighty Mopar's restoration. He estimates its current value as in the high $20,000s.

'I like the sleek look of the car and the body lines and plum-crazy paint,' he says. 'What amazes me is no interior head room and no trunk space, yet it's a big car.

'It sure turns more young kids' heads now than it did 15 years ago.'

A 1956 Pontiac Laurentian was one of the vehicles that figuratively flew the General Motors Corp. banner at the show. Owner Jerry Quaile bought it two years ago in Whitehorse, essentially as is.

'I had a '57 Chev in the bush that was going to take a lot longer to get on the road,' he says. All the Pontiac needed was brakes and wheel bearings work.

'I like old stuff,' Quaile says about his affinity for the car hobby. 'But this is a Canadian car, so it's not as easy to get parts for it.'

The show also featured older examples of the Audi and Volkswagen name plates.

Sleek, brand new sports cars and trucks were also sprinkled through Territorial's parking lot. They snared scores of envious gazes, but ones that weren't necessarily hovering above sufficiently-padded billfolds.