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2018 Rush to Gold Bridge – Day Two

On each of our classic car adventures, it’s not uncommon to see cars being worked on in the parking lot. Most cars get a quick check over at the end of the day to confirm things are alright, and others get a little deeper into their tool box. Our Spring events seem to have more parking lot fettling than our fall events, but the Rush to Gold Bridge sure tries to upset the scales!

When John & Marci’s Intermeccania arrived to our Friday night hotel, I was expecting that they would need a quick inspection of our roadside oil pan repair. Instead, they required a full front end inspection to see how much damage hitting a deer at 70kph had done! I guess bad luck comes in multiples, and John might be looking over his shoulder the rest of the weekend. Fortunately, with the exception of some scratches and new fur accents, the car was relatively unscathed.

CGS_4903Paul and Tony were burning the midnight oil adjusting the valves on the Saab 96, it seems that while most were within .005” from the factory specs, one valve was almost 0.25” out of spec. Hmmm…that is going to need some careful attention this weekend! Helen and Chase discovered their front wheel bearing was a little loose…about 8 full turns of the adjusting nut loose, but fortunately that was caught right before leaving on Saturday Morning.

DH3_6563Perhaps the most fun, however, was the Lancia Beta. After filling up with fuel Robert returned to the hotel to discover it didn’t want to run, and certainly wanted to backfire out the exhaust sounding like a 30-6 hunting rifle! Usually a CCA event books out the entire hotel, and morning tuning sessions aren’t a problem…but this time we were all rather apologetic while the Lancia (and a failed condensor) were sorted out.

With everyone finally running, it was off to the town of Hedley via a favourite of ours, Old Hedley Road. Despite the 60 km/h speed limit, the fresh pavement and twisting curves make for a wonderful driving experience, and the perfect start to a day of motoring.

CGS_5049In the town of Hedley, the gravel route turned off onto Hedley-Nickel Plate road, and immediately started a steep switch back climb up the mountain. Given the challenges of yesterday’s gravel road, I was surprised to find out that, once again, every car on the event had chosen to do the gravel route. We were rewarded with a freshly graded climb, and stunning views of the switch back route once you arrive at the top.

IMG_20180825_1001520Originally a pack-mule route, the road has seen little changes on the climb over the decades, but remains surprisingly smooth given the grade. The road eventually pops out a the Nickel Plate Gold mine, before becoming a gravel highway to the top of Apex Mountain. Along the way you pass historic cemeteries and the foundations from ghost towns, if you know where to look.

CGS_4943Apex Mountain is one of B.C.’s hidden skiing gems, and the route book suggested exploring the site to check out the ski hills. In the summer you can drive all the way to the top, where some guests found historic fire equipment. With exploration and views complete, we began the paved ascent down into the Valley, where we hit another CCA favourite paved road. Green Mountain road has all the twists and turns to entertain, and is sufficiently off the beaten path to give you the impression you’re the only one who’s driven it this week. As we got closer to B.C.’s wine country, the group split. Half of us took the gravel to Keremeos, while the other half went to explore some winery’s in Oliver. Eventually, after an afternoon of travels, we met up at our overnight location of Hope B.C.

CGS_5271293 Wallace was our dinner host for the evening, intending to be a culinary surprise for our guests from the Organizer. The tables were turned, however, as the guests conspired to host an impromptu birthday celebration for the organizer! The Rush to Gold Bridge, you see, was originally “Dave’s Birthday Touring Adventure”. Long before it became an official CCA event, the idea was to simply get out on my birthday weekend and enjoy a car challenge with friends. Over the course of a few years, the idea for the event morphed into what has become the Rush to Gold Bridge. With the addition of “Happy Birthday”, and two birthday cakes, our planned four course meal became a five course meal featuring an extra dessert course for the entire group!

Eventually we retired to bed, stomachs full and minds full of anticipation for our final day of driving, and more favourite roads to end the event.

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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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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 Collector Car Appreciation Day

In 2014, British Columbia joined with other governments in North America to proclaim July as “Collector Car Appreciation Month”.  Here at the CCA offices, we felt it appropriate to commemorate the occasion with an annual  gathering of Classic Car enthusiasts. For 2017, RX Autoworks in North Vancouver once again opened their doors and closed off the street to host our gathering of collector cars. The turnout was fantastic, and certainly eclectic. Comments were equally split between the excitement of cars driven to the event, and the restorations being done inside RX Autoworks.

CCA was very lucky to have Andrew Holliday attending the event, shooting photographs so we could share the fantastic sights with everyone. Andrew’s gallery is below:

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2017 Hagerty Spring Thaw – Day Three

Having finally made it home to a couch, I can barely keep my eyes open. I know the feeling is shared amongst many of my fellow driving friends, as we all sit at home unwinding from the weekend’s adventures. Whether it’s finding a spot in the garage for a newly received award, an assessment of just how long the road grime will take to clean, or a laundry list of ‘tweaks and upgrades’ the car might need before the next event…the final day never feels “over”.

The morning in Kelowna was held in sunshine, and after a quick “shady section” where driving expectations were reinforced, the driver’s meeting commenced in earnest. Amazingly, today’s roads would be clear and we could all enjoy the route-book as originally intended. The route would take guests out of Kelowna, through to Penticton before darting west along Apex Mountain Road. From there it was onto Princeton, via the event favourite of Old-Hedley Road. It doesn’t matter how many times we travel along Old Hedley Road, it seems everyone comes off raving about it’s curves and cadence.

New for 2017, instead of going all the way through Manning Park and down to Hope, we opted to gather the group and finish at the Manning Park Resort. Considering the rest of the weekend, and our history with Manning Park, this was a pretty risky decision! In the previous eight years of CCA events, we have never passed through manning park without rain and snow. To park and finish in Manning Park must have seemed simply diabolical…but here were were, in gorgeous sunshine enjoying the early afternoon.

Our finish party seemed a little like a successful ascent of Mount Everest had occurred. Our travellers were certainly exhausted, but the joy and excitement of what had been accomplished over the weekend was palatable. We had endured flooding, crazy route changes, and uncertainty.  We had driven 1,476 kilometres, arriving windburned and sunburned, but along the way made new friendships that will last a lifetime.

The finish of any Hagerty Spring Thaw includes the presentation of three coveted awards. First up, is the MacGyver award. This is usually given to the entrant(s) who perform the best or most amazing fix during the weekend. Perhaps it’s using mosquito netting to create a fuel filter, or modifying the windscreen washers to fuel the carburettors. This year, an entrant suggested our own Dave Hord receive the award for “MacGyvering all the route changes”. We decided that was an exceptional choice, especially since Dave hadn’t had anytime to actually assemble the award for 2017!

Our next award is the “Hard Luck” award. Jordan Rodier was certainly in the running, having arrived in an SUV when the fuel system on his Fiat couldn’t be diagnosed. Our own Dave Hord was up for this one as well, having abandoned the Rally Beetle in Abbotsford on Day one with fuelling issues. But it was Chris Beck and Sue Schneider who will be taking the award home with them to Switzerland. They had, you see, flown in to enjoy the event with friends from Calgary. Early this morning they offered to switch their borrowed Pantera with another set of friends, so they could enjoy the V8’s rumble for a stretch. What they also enjoyed, however, was the rumble of a wheel bearing which was quickly destroyed, leaving the Pantera stranded in Kermeos. Rather then finishing the event in the Pantera, it was a ride with Sweep through to the finish.

Our final award, and perhaps the most important, is the Hagerty Spirit of the Thaw award. This one is reserved for the entrant or entrants who best exemplify the Spirt of Classic Car Adventurism that Dave and Warwick set out to establish nine years ago. This year’s winner has been trying to get into the Hagerty Spring Thaw for three years. Even their 2017 entry was listed on the wait list for many, many weeks. But it wasn’t just their entry, they had roped three of their friends to enter the event as well. Amazingly, all three found spots on the ‘Thaw, and they were quickly making friends. Despite being a first-year entrant, Greg Long was the one holding spots at his table for new found friends. They heard about special car rotting away in a field, and instead of going off to find it themselves…they convinced other entrants to join them on the hunt. His cars, while certainly precious, were offered to new friends to try, simply because he wanted them to experience why he enjoyed them so much. Greg’s enthusiasm was contagious, his love of classic motoring obvious, and we couldn’t think of a guy more deserving of the Hagerty Spirit of the Thaw.

And so with that, we head to bed for some much needed sleep. Tomorrow’s route for us consists of relaxing and unwinding…and will not be be re-routed!

Special thanks, once again, to Andrew Snucins for providing us with amazing imagery from our weekend’s adventure.

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2017 Hagerty Spring Thaw – Day Two

We awoke this morning to sunshine, and the promise of fantastic road ahead. The driver’s meeting covered the usual items; yellow-cards, lunch options, and (new for 2017 it seems) the alternate route which had been prepared for the washed-out highway. Our original plan was to take the group along a CCA favourite, highway 8 from Merritt to Spences Bridge, but a highway closure necessitated a re-route.

Our new route would take us first along Highway 5A, before turning north on highway 97C towards Logan Lake. Here, we turned left and enjoyed a section of yesterday’s route in reverse, this time running down the hill into Ashcroft instead of up it. Our group of 95 cars basically dined together, in one of two places. Half of the group descended upon Cache Creek, where we enjoyed Herbies Drive-in…a famous burger joint which has been in operation since the 1950’s. The other half of the group continued on to Clinton, where I suspect the restaurant of choice was the Cariboo Lodge, famous for it’s country fare. I had just settled into my Herbie’s Milkshake when the first text arrived…

“Flooding on highway 97”, it read from living near by, “barely got my truck through” was the next text. A phone call quickly followed, and I pulled Warwick and Andrew in for a speakerphone conversation and a roads consult. Between the three of us, (Andrew Snucins, Warwick, and I) we quickly determined that my route book was no longer going to work, that two of the main options for getting to our evening hotel were closed, and an emergency plan would need to take place.

Warwick and I went car to car and table to table in Cache Creek to give the best information we could on the “new route option”. I suggest that in quotes, as at this stage it consisted of “drive the route book to this town, and then google your way to this other town.” While we gave Cache Creek lunch guests these vague directions, Andrew was dispatched to Clinton to provide the same for those folks. The group would still be following the route book for a good 2-3 hour loop, which would buy me time to determine a solution.

While the classic cars headed North, my co-driver Greg and I headed back to Kamloops to find a spot the cars would cross on their way to Kelowna. Greg drove, while I scoured road reports, closure reports and the maps to try and give our guests the best option possible. We parked on the road-side, created the best “CCA STOP” sign we could muster with the supplies we had, and I hand-wrote two copies of the new route instructions.

As each car came into our impromptu checkpoint, we handed the sheet over and asked them to take a photo of the notes on their cellphones. Directions were confirmed as understood, and guests were waved off with a laugh and hopes they’d find the hotel without too much trouble.

Despite three major route re-routes, pulling off in a somewhat-questionable checkpoint location, and having to drive off with only a small cellphone photo of the route instructions…every one of our guests, to a tee, was smiling and laughing and having a great time. Flooded roads, questionable new directions and roadside re-routing just didn’t seem to matter. Sometimes “getting there” is the adventure, and today our guests were living it…and loving it.

Our previous loop through highway 24 from Green Lake to Little Fort had proven to be a favourite of the weekend. Little traffic, phenomenal curves, exceptional elevation changes. By the time cars rolled into the re-route checkpoint they’d had a wonderful sunny drive. Our re-route allowed them to skip some of Highway 1 and Highway 97, and instead sent them south on the twisty Salmon River Road. If you’re going to re-route your entire event, you can do a whole lot worse than a twisty road which would make a great trip on it’s own!

All 95 cars made it to Kelowna for dinner, and while certainly exhausted from the day, everyone was clearly enjoying themselves. Behind me at dinner was a prize and give-away table literally stuffed and overflowing with gifts. Thanks to Dave Koszegi, Ted Wilkinson and RWM&Co, almost every car will be heading home with a new automotive related item in the trunk tomorrow.

The day may have been an organizing challenge, but as one guest suggested to me at dinner; I don’t even have to worry about a route for next year, we’ve barely used this one that was printed in the route book!

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2017 Hagerty Spring Thaw – Day One

Gathering in Squamish this morning, the air was filled with anticipation, the joy of seeing old friends again and the excitement for the start of the 2017 Hagerty Spring Thaw. Usually the organizers are greeting our guests, enjoying a coffee and checking out the wonderful cars that appear in the parking lot. This year, however, I’ve been told I was looking slightly more stressed…typing away on my laptop.

You may think the weather, slightly raining in Squamish was to blame, but no. I was on the phone and laptop checking weather reports, avalanche reports and road closure reports. Our main road for the day, Duffy Lake Road, was closed the night before by an Avalanche. By 7:30am it was open, and avalanche dangers were lowered from high to moderate. Perhaps the event could travel as planned? At 7:45am, however, the text messages started coming in. “Mud slide closes highway 99”, “Have you heard…Duffy’s closed.” Where I would normally spend the morning greeting and catching up with guests, instead I was typing out new instructions to replace almost the entire day in the route book.

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