2018 Hagerty Spring Thaw – Day Two and Three

Saturday morning arrived early, very early, for everyone involved. Entrants were offered two options for the morning; attend the 8:15am driver’s meeting, or check-in with the organizers at the 11am ferry crossing. And so, as I headed towards the lobby for coffee at 8am, I wasn’t expecting to meet with more than a handful of guests. I was shocked to discover, the lobby couldn’t hold the crowd.

Spring Thaw entrants sure are a hearty bunch! If a six hour highway closure couldn’t break their spirits, an early morning and little sleep was nothing more than an opportunity for more jokes and laughter. The sun was shining, the mountains views were incredible, and we had twisty roads ahead of us.

Departing Revelstoke, we headed south on highway 23 towards the Shelter-Bay / Galena Bay ferry. The road is sparsely populated, curves wonderfully above the banks of Upper Arrow Lake, and offers mountain views worthy of the trip alone. Ferry trips, with classic car friends, are a special experience. Rarely do we get the opportunity to hang out as a large group mid-day, and a short wait for the ferry and a cruise across the lake is the perfect opportunity. A little further south, and the town of Nakusp hosted us for lunch in multiple local eateries.

Following lunch, it was my favourite highway in all of British Columbia. The number 6 between Needles and Lumby may not have the elevation changes of the Duffy Lake Road, but it delivers a unique blend of lake side curves, canyon carving, and mountain switchbacks. From Lumby, it’s was onto Vernon, and then a CCA favourite of Barnhartvale Road into Kamloops.

Arriving at the Hotel 540, we were greeted by the doorman and whisked below to the Underground Parking, completely reserved for our entire group. A brief parking lot party was enjoyed before dinner, where we packed two nights of presentations into a single dinner. Our guests joining us for their fifth Spring Thaw were welcomed into “The Five Year Patch” club, and following that we honoured those who were earning their “Ten Year Patch”. Exclusive Ten-Year T-shirts were gifted to the group by Calye Lacefield and her company JBM Press, and then we moved onto the give-aways. Each year the guests on the Hagerty Spring Thaw are treated to a prize table of gifts donated by Dave Koszegi and the Dave Team Realty group, RWM & Co. and Eautomobilia.ca (Ted Wilkinson’s shop). Their table-spilling donations were added to by Brightsource.ca and P&R Trucking to make a truly memorable collection of goodies. We had Monaco F1 memorabilia, exclusive wine selections, a Jim Clark print, tools galore and a collection of collectable models worthy of the finest living room display.

As the party upstairs was winding down, the party in the parking garage was just getting started. In some corners, the focus was on repairs needed for the next day. A Jaguar was receiving new gaskets to stem an oil leak. Volunteers were sourced to de-bead a tire for a tube swap. In other corners, it was simply a time to share stories and admire the cars in attendance. Hotel staff joined the fun, asking questions and taking photos of the cars to send to friends. “You won’t believe what we have staying here tonight…a Delorean!”

We may have started the day on little sleep, but knowing we had just three days to spend together meant we’d be taking all the time we could to enjoy the time with our fellow car-nut friends.

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The final day of the Hagerty Spring Thaw would bring a favourite route for all involved. Kamloops to Pemberton and only mean one thing, we’d get to drive Marble Canyon and onto the Duffy Lake Road. The run began dry, and halfway through the Duffy Lake road became damp with a slight bit of rain…or almost snow-flakes…depending on the elevation. We travelled in packs, enjoying the final curves and twists in mixed groups of cars. Where else can you find a VW beetle mixing it up with a Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF, a Datsun 240, a Mini and a Ferrari Dino? Only on a Classic Car Adventure’s event, and the mixes were truly eclectic!

With the final descent into Pemberton complete, we headed to a local golf course for the final lunch and awards ceremony. Adam Trinder, and his rear-engined motorcycle-powered Mini were the unfortunate recipient of the “Hard-Luck Award”. A fun run over the Duffy was cancelled by a loss of drive, and Adam rode home to Vancouver on the back of a tow-truck. Scott Stanuil and Sterling Sobczak earned the McGyver award for their ingenious radiator fix on day-one. A rock pierced a serious hole in the radiator of their Datsun, but JB-Weld, aluminum tape, solder and vice-grips were all used in the repair that got them into town and a local radiator shop.

The Hagerty Spirit of the Thaw award was renamed for 2018, honouring the memory of David Ellis, a five-time Spring Thaw entrant. The Spirit Award is saved for the entrant(s) who best demonstrate both the enthusiasm for classic car ownership, and a desire to share that enthusiasm with other people. This year, the list of people worthy of our finest award was long, but in the end there could be only one winner. Arriving upon the stricken motorcycle-powered mini, our honoured entrant could have simply waved and offered to call Hagerty Roadside Assistance. Instead, not one to leave a man behind, Morgan Hay opened his trunk and offered assistance in the best way he could. You might say say Morgan and Adam were tied together by a love of curves and mountain passes. You could say Morgan reached out, and pulled Adam from the brink of disaster…and a long wait for a tow truck. You should definitely wonder why they remained linked for the downhill section, vs simply coasting it out at a slightly different spacing! Regardless, Morgan would not leave Adam and Bob Trinder stranded behind!

And so, for his willingness to put his own Duffy drive aside and render the best assistance possible to a fellow entrant, Morgan Hay is the first recipient of the David Ellis Spirit of the Thaw Award.

With the event closed for another year, we begin to dream of the 2019 Hagerty Spring Thaw…but in the meantime, Andrew Snucins and Samantha Snucins have a wonderful preview of images below. We’ll post up a link to the full photo gallery as soon as they’ve had some sleep, and the editing is completed!

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Hagerty Spring Thaw – Day One!

Whew! It’s been quite the adventure today…and it’s still not over. The day began in wonderful sunshine, and we’ve enjoyed the entire run right up to the town of Sicamous. The challenge, for those of us dining in Sicamous, is that we’re supposed to be in Revelstoke!

A highway closure has all but four cars camped out, enjoying dinner, and waiting for the highway to open. I did promise an awesome parking lot party when we arrived in Revelstoke, and we’ve instead just turned it into an awesome party in the Super 8 Parking lot in Sicamous!

Photos, and stories are short today…but with good friends to hang out with, we’re far beyond simply making the best of it.

Spring Thaw Convoy!

If you’re heading to the 2018 Hagerty Spring Thaw this year, perhaps you’d enjoy the drive with other entrants? We’ll update this post with further details as we have them, but for the moment we’re aware of two convoy groups that are heading from the Vancouver area to Kamloops on Thursday April 26th. The details are below:

Langley to Kamloops
Note: Meeting time & departure times updated April 2nd.
Meeting Location: Chevron Fuel station at Highway 1 and 232 st.
Meeting Time: 9:30am
Departure Time: 10:00am, sharp!
Look for: John and Marcie Hinde, driving a Porsche 944 or their Blue Intermeccanica Roadster
Driving Route: will be updated as soon as we have details.

Mission to Kamloops
Meeting Location: Cedar Valley Alignment
Meeting Time: 9:30am, gassed up and ready to go.
Departure Time: 10:00am, sharp!
Look for: Nolan and Deanna Kitchener…and a handful of Mini Coopers!
Driving Route: This group will be heading to Hope, and then up the Canyon via Hwy 1, with a stop at Hell’s Gate for a ride on the Tram. They’ll then continue North through the Canyon to Kamloops.

Delta to Kamloops
Meeting Location: RWM & Co.
Meeting Time: 10:30am, gassed up and ready to go.
Departure Time: 11:00am
Look for: Robert Maynard and Jaclyn Carmichael…inside the shop!
Driving Route: The usual route to Hope, and then route to be determined morning of.

Squamish to Kamloops
Meeting Location: Squamish Chevron
Meeting Time: 10:00am
Departure Time: 10:30am
Look for: Sue & Charlie in the Red Alfa Romeo Duetto, Dave & Greg in the Rally Bug, Warwick in the Escort Mk1
Driving Route: North on the Duffy, and then to Kamloops.

2017 Sea to Sky Thanksgiving Run

This morning Vancouver classic car enthusiasts woke up to blue skies and sunshine, and thus a huge crowd of classic cars met up in North Vancouver for the annual Sea to Sky Thanksgiving Run. After a short parking-lot show and shine, while we waited for everyone to arrive, there was a quick driver’s meeting and we were off!

The group enjoys a drive North on the famous Sea to Sky highway, where twists and turns swap between hugging cliff edges on one side, and ocean views on the other. Along the way you may find yourself driving with a group of pre-war cars, early volkswagens, European sports cars, Italians, American Hot-Rods or an example from pretty much any enthusiast area of interest.

Our destination was the Sea to Sky Gondola in Squamish, where the group enjoys coffee, morning pastries and a chance to really check out each other’s vehicles. As per our tradition, donations for the Squamish food bank were collected. This year we raised just over $450 in cash donations, and enough food to take up the parking space of an entire Volkswagen in the garage!

We’ll post more photos as we have them, but here’s a selection from Dave and Warwick

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2017 Hagerty Maple Mille – Day Three

“How did you find these roads?”, I was asked at our finish. “We’ve lived here all our lives, and travel up here almost every weekend in the summer and we’ve never driven those roads…”

With the sun rising on Lake Simcoe, and the morning mist slowly burning off, a number of cars made use of the lakeside lawn for early morning photos. Not having the keys for the Mustang, I made my way to the breakfast room. Inside, groups of friends new and old were already seated and eating, and the effects of our late night gathering were clearly non-existent. You could feel the anticipation for another great day of motoring.

Departing Jackson’s Point, we headed counter-clockwise around the lake, on a route not usually used by most people. Typically when travelling the east side of Lake Simcoe, one endures the straights of highway 48, 12 and then 169 on the north side. A closer look at the map, however, and you’ll notice a shoreline ribbon of tarmac that follows almost the whole lake, with wonderful views to compliment your morning drive.

On the north end, we explored Cooper’s Falls, Housey Rapids, and then almost into Gravenhurst before turning south for a portion of CCA’s favourite Ontario road. With the afternoon beginning it was time to head towards our finish, at the Erindale Aerodrome.

The Aerodrome was packed with classic cars, all attending the Hagerty Family Funfest weekend. As our group of cars rolled into the show grounds, it was clear we were a little more dusty than the show cars already on the field! Having just finished roughly 1100km of driving over the past three days, however, we were welcomed with great interest from a number of the other attendees.

The Hagerty Maple Mille group retired to the Hanger for Lunch, a much needed cold beverage and a chance to share our final stories and goodbyes. Mike Kieley was awarded the Hagerty Spirit of the Maple Mille Award, for his efforts in ensuring Scott Gray would still make the event. When Scott’s 356 motor gave up the ghost in final testing, Mike wouldn’t accept Scott’s cancellation. “Take my ’74 Targa,” he insisted, “it would be a shame if you missed the event.”

And that, really, is the type of people we get to share our weekend with. Wonderful Car guys and gals who love classic cars, driving great roads, and getting to meet new and wonderful friends. We’re already planning the 2018 route for the Hagerty Maple Mille, mark your Calendars for September 21^st to 23^rd2018!

Photos of the day were provided by our talented photographer Ralph Saulnier

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Additional photos of the Maple Mille, by CCA’s Dave Hord

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2017 Hagerty Maple Mille – Day Two

A tradition at Classic Car Adventures is the parking lot party. At every event we do, it becomes a natural thing to enjoy stories with fellow enthusiasts at the end of a day of driving. Standing in the parking lot at 1am, with the party still in full swing, it was perhaps a little out of character…but with the day we had, and the location we were in, it seemed absolutely perfect.

Saturday morning in Gananoque began as any driving adventure does. There were classic cars being warmed up, trunks being packed, coffee and breakfast being searched out. Where yesterday’s roads were flowing and meandering, today’s would serve up the twisties. Our route began by heading north, towards cottage and lake country.

Within minutes of leaving our hotel, the pink and grey rocks of the Canadian Shield began to show itself in the rock cuts, river banks, and surrounding hills. Ancient glaciation stripped the shield of it’s soil, and cut its many lakes into the surface. In more recent times, the Canadian shield has proven challenging for road builders, who often choose to go around rather than through it’s many outcroppings. For drivers, this means many twists and turns, ups and downs, and wonderful motoring!

Following Phil’s Jaguar XK120 through the turns, with the red paint playing beautifully against the early changing leaves, you could see how suited the car was for today. We enjoyed an hour of touring with Phil and Linda, enjoying the curves and the lakeside scenery, before they pulled over and we reluctantly agreed to pass. I was a little sad to see such a wonderful car disappear in my rear view mirror, but then quickly realized who was now filling it!

The corner of my eye would catch the light blue or red in my rear view mirror, and I soon realized I was the 5.0L Mustang leading a gang of Porsche 356’s and 911’s! With cottaging season over, and our selected route through more remote locations, we could open up the throttle a little more than yesterday. Lakeside views were replaced by apexes and concentration, as the speed limits rarely dip for the twisty sections. The 5.0L barked at each use of the throttle, and I did my best to keep from slowing the Germans down.

We travelled north, and then south, and then north, and then south, and then…You get the picture. We zig-zagged on multiple highways and country roads as the route book took participants over the best the region had to offer.Gas stops and coffee stops were in tiny towns, with wonderful history. You would be filling up at a modern gas station, while gazing across the street at a general store or post office originally built in 1904.

Around mid day we pointed our cars west, and began to head through the Kawartha Highlands. With potential lunch spots sparce, the recommendation to pickup a picnic lunch was utilized by many. We saw folks stopped at lake side and river side parks, enjoying a period-correct lunch style not often used in today’s road trips.

The remainder of our route today took us through Bancroft, Kinmount and south-west to Beaverton. From there it was a quick dip to the southern shore of Lake Simcoe, where our group arrived at Jackson’s Point. Here we parked our cars lakeside, and began the post-drive parking lot party.

Perhaps it was our late arrival, or the beauty of our lakeside setting, but it seemed dinner time was suddenly upon us, before we could fully enjoy the socializing and winding down. Could it be that’s why the party continued after dinner?

Each of our rooms in the resort had a door that opened into our reserved parking area. As I made my way towards one of the many rooms I had been invited to for a “post dinner party”, I was expecting a small in-room gathering, and figured I’d make my way from one party to the next. Instead, I discovered the entire event was outside mingling in a big parking-lot social. Where we may have spent the day driving primarily in groups of Porsches, Mustangs or British cars…at night, the group becomes one of a single designation; great friends, new and old…

Today’s photos are once again provided by Ralph Saulnier

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2017 Hagerty Maple Mille – Day One

The classic car world is full of stereotypes; British cars have terrible electrical systems…Porsche enthusiasts won’t drive in the rain…Italian cars only come in red…Japanese cars aren’t really classics…the list is long, and usually ridiculous. The one stereotype that has held up over the years, however, is that American brand car owners “don’t drive their cars”.

The Hagerty Maple Mille began today, as with all our events, at the morning driver’s meeting. Route book instructions, driving styles, cautions and Hagerty road-side-assistance were highlighted, before the entire group set out to explore Northumberland and Prince Edward Counties.

We began in Bowmanville, and quickly zipped down to the shores of Lake Ontario where we wound our way through the twisties and trees, crossing historic bridges and towns you’d never realize were just a stones-throw from Highway 401. We explored north to Warkworth, and down through the lakes of Glen Ross before stopping for lunch in Wellington (or Picton). From there it was the twisty and flowing roads of Prince Edward County, winding our way through the vineyards and farms before arriving at the Glenora Ferry. A quick ferry trip, which helped to gather the group and give a break for stories, before we were off to visit historic Kingston. Finally, a short 20km later, we were pulling into Gananoque for our overnight stay. The temperatures were quite warm all day, and it was either into the pool, dipping our feet, or parking lot beers that helped to cool us off.

Here in year three, you’d be hard pressed to figure out whether American Muscle, or European Sports Car is the predominate enthusiast. We’re almost split 50/50, with the American’s taking a sizeable (yuk yuk) portion of the parking lot. What is going on? I decided I must infiltrate the ranks to find out.

I started this morning as co-driver in Paul Hord’s 1966 Mustang Coupe. I can remember being 5 years old going for Ice-Cream in this particular Mustang, back when it was a 289 Automatic. So it was pretty exciting to ride with Paul in what has become a restored 302 5spd car with wonderfully throaty noise and a fantastic amounts of horsepower. In our driving group today were three other Mustangs, and a Ford Fairline 500. We toured flowing driving roads and wonderful small towns. We stopped for butter tarts, lunch in stone-mason building and even stopped to check out a church…turned brewery. Along the way we gathered a Datsun 1600, the Plymouth Fury and even an original Audi Quattro for part of the journey.

I set out today to discover what makes these particular Ford enthusiasts different, why they love driving their cars so much, and how I might encourage more American brand enthusiasts to try out the Classic Car Adventures brand of excitement…

What I discovered, however, is a group of die-hard driving enthusiasts, friends who are exactly like my driving friends back home. Their love of exploring, driving and road trips is what fuels their passion. The brand of car never came into question, just as my Mini and Italian friends back home don’t look down on me in my lowly Volkswagen. We’re car people, we’re driving people, we love the open road. My new group of Ford Mustang friends are exactly the same. Come to think of it, these Ford folks have done more miles today than 90% of my VW buddies back home have done all summer. Hmmmmmmmm….

Nine years ago, as Warwick and I set out to create the concept for Classic Car Adventures, one of our primary rules was “the type of car doesn’t matter”. Today I re-discovered how true that is. It’s about the people, the love of driving and a chance to get out and enjoy the roads together.

Our wonderful Hagerty Maple Mille Photographer Ralph Saulnier, was out chasing us down on his Motorcycle all day. A selection of his photographs are below.

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