For Henry Peters and his wife Sharon, three is a charm.

At Saturday's Langley Good Times Cruise-In, the Langley couple showed why they are car collectors in every sense of the term.

Henry and Sharon delivered not one, but three identical 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Rallye 350 models to the Cruise-In, and lined them up, one next to the other, just west of the one-way section of Fraser Highway.

Henry Peters, 68, bought the first of the three 41 years ago in a private deal in New Westminster.

"All that's ever been done to it is it's been painted," Peters said. "It's all original."

He bought the other two models in 1984 and '88, respectively.

One of those two he saw in an auto trade publication, Peters explained.

"Somebody had actually painted it a different colour but I recognized it as the car that I had," Peters added.

The Cutlass Rallye 350 is a one-year production car, and it was produced only in yellow.

They have an unusual nickname among muscle car owners, Peters explained.

"The reason it's called a Rallye 350 is because the motor is a 350 cubic inch, and when they first brought these cars out in 1970 they called them the poor man's muscle car," Peters said.

At the time, insurance companies were starting to compare horsepower-per-weight ratio, he recalled.

"These cars, with the smaller motor in them, are rated at 310 horse[power]," Peters said. "They look exactly like a 442. They've got the same suspension, but they've got a smaller motor, but of course, the [Oldsmomobile] 442 have 455s [cubic inch engines] in 'em, and 360 horse versus 310, and [that's why] they called it a poor man's muscle car."

Peters insures the three Cutlass Rallye 350 cars for the summer months and drives them "as I feel like it."

During the "off-season" the Oldsmobiles are kept in a heated, enclosed garage.

So what is it about Cutlass Rallye 350 that makes him want to own three identical cars?

"They were different," he said. "I had my original one for 41 years. I wasn't married then, eh? Then I got married and I wanted to get rid of the car, I was tired of it, but my wife wanted to keep it, so I kept it."

Peters said the cars, outfitted with 350 cubic inch motors, are fun to drive, but admitted "I've had faster cars."

Peters actually owns four cars that he uses collectors plates for. He used to call the fourth car, a 1978 Oldsmobile, his "family car" when he bought it back in '79.

tlandreville@langleyadvance.com