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2015 Hagerty Spring Thaw, Day Two

Day two of the 2015 Spring Thaw saw much better weather than day one! We started with a little bit of light rain, but it was tops down and only the occasionally misting for most cars during the day. This year seems to be the year of the fuel pump, with many cars now sporting replacement pumps ziptied, hose-clamped and/or tied down in the engine bay. While a breakdown isn’t desirable, it’s awesome to come around a corner and see a whole crowd of folks lending parts, tools and knowledge to ensure their fellow entrants will make it to the finish. A taste of Andrew Snucin’s awesome photography below.

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2015 Hagerty Spring Thaw Entry Forms!

Ball drops, champaign and a list of resolutions…who cares!?! The best part of every New Year is the opening of entries for the Hagerty Spring Thaw Classic Car Adventure! We might be a little bit biased, but the crowd of folks who drive up to our office each year suggests we aren’t the only ones thinking the same thing.

Before we release you to the entry forms, you might be interested to hear we’ve been hard at work all Fall planning the Hagerty Spring Thaw. This year’s version will combine many of your favourite things, along with a few new changes which are sure to excite you. “Changes,” you say, “you can’t change it!?!”  Well, lets not panic too early! We’re not tossing out the carburetors for fuel-injection, or opening the entry list to 1990 Cavaliers. But we are, for starters, changing our sweep team. Our regular guests on the Hagerty Spring Thaw are all familiar with Nigel and Yoki, who have for years followed our event ensuring each and everyone of our guests has made it to hotel in the evening. Nigel is one of the most passionate classic car enthusiasts we know of, but he’s only ever experienced the Hagerty Spring Thaw from the very back of the pack. Wouldn’t it be great to have him running ‘in the pack’ with the rest of us?

Fortunately some great friends have also wanted to give Nigel and Yoki a chance to experience more of the Spring Thaw for themselves. Robert and Jacyln, from RWM & Co. had so much fun joining us as sweep at the Fall Freeze, they asked if they could do the same for the Hagerty Spring Thaw. We couldn’t be more delighted! Robert has done more than a few road-side repairs for guests in previous Spring Thaws, and having a classic car restoration specialist at the back of the event is never a bad thing! Hagerty Collector Car Insurance will continue to offer the roadside assistance package should a breakdown be terminal, but RWM & Co. will be offering their assistance to help you repair your car and avoid the dreaded flat-deck. If you’re at all concerned about the need for our sweep protection, it might be wise to book your car in with RWM & Co. for a pre-Thaw inspection?  For more info about the shop, and photos of current projects, visit their facebook page here.

Hopefully you’ll agree with us that our “big changes” for 2015 are a great idea, and will only change the event for the better. We’ve been very careful to stick to our recipe of Great Roads, Great Cars and Great People. Speaking of which, we should mention Dave Koszegi and Mid-Island Realty. Dave Koszegi (Dave K) is always the first person to approach us about supporting the Spring Thaw each year. As we sit writing this, it seems to us that it was at registration for the 2014 event that Dave K smiled his traditional huge smile and confirmed “we’re doing this again next year, right?!” Mid-Island Realty loads up our prize table each year like it’s a Christmas Tree for the whole event, helps to fill your schwag bag with items you really want to keep and use, and (most importantly) reminds us often how excited everyone is for another year of adventures. Whether you’re looking for a home on the island, or elsewhere, it would be wise to call up Dave Koszegi. Mention you’re a participant of the Hagerty Spring Thaw and he’ll make sure you’re well taken care of.

But wait! We’re not done yet. We have one more change we think you’re going to like, especially if you live in Seattle or Portland.

For the past few years it’s been quite popular for Vancouver-area entrants to drive their entry form up to the Classic Car Adventures office in Squamish. So popular, in fact, that we’ve had to implement a new rule where you are only allowed to drop off your personal entry, and one other. This rule was put in place to allow our friends south of the border time for their couriered entries to arrive. New for 2015 we’re also going to have a drop-off option in Seattle, and one in Portland! The time frame for each drop off is a little truncated, but if you’re able to meet-up with Warwick at either location it will save the stress of tracking your entry form via Fed-Ex! Warwick will be waiting for you at the following times and locations:

Friday, Jan 2nd
3:00pm to 4:00pm
Starbucks Coffee, Capitol Hill
1600 East Olive Way
Seattle, WA
98102

Saturday, Jan 3rd
12:00 noon to 1:00pm
Trackside Motorsports
8131 N Interstate Ave
Portland, OR
97217

…and finally, HERE are the 2015 Hagerty Spring Thaw Entry Forms!

Saturday: Classic Car Appreciation Day

Official Declaration

Official Declaration

Summertime motoring is in full swing for Classic Car owners, but this year things are a just a wee bit more special in British Columbia. Earlier this year, the B.C. Government proclaimed July as “Collector Car Appreciation Month”, and July 12th as the designated “Collector Car Appreciation Day”. Here at the CCA offices, we felt it appropriate to commemorate the date with an informal gathering of Classic Car enthusiasts.

What: A casual meetup with fellow classic car owners and enthusiasts. Start your weekend off right, and join us this Saturday at the Park and Tilford mall in North Vancouver for a summertime ‘Cars and Coffee’ get together. Enjoy a coffee and the company of fellow car nuts and we celebrate a government declaration we can all appreciate! Open to all Classic,  Collector and Retro Cars*, we expect there will be a wide variety of cars to appreciate!

When: Saturday July 12th 2014, 8:00-10:00am.

Where: Meeting at 8:30am in the Park and Tilford parking lot, gather in the South-West corner of the parking lot, or wherever there is parking available. [MAP].

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* Now, you might wonder..what designates a “Classic, Collector or Retro-Car?”  For an event such as this one, we prefer to leave the interpretation fairly wide open, you never know what sort of vehicles might show up. Certainly if your vehicle is made before 1979 it qualifies as a Classic. If your car was made between 1980 and 1989, and is eligible for Collector plates in BC, it definitely qualifies as a Collector car. “Retro Cars” is our designation for vehicles of interest, which don’t fit in the first two categories. Perhaps you have a modified vehicle which can’t get collector plates? Or perhaps it’s an early 90’s classic, which hasn’t quite made the year range. Truthfully, we’re all car people at heart. If you’re a car-nut like us, we’re not going to turn you away. This is about Collector Car Appreciation, simple as that.

Vancouver Open House

Lets be honest, you can’t really complain about the warm sunny winter we’ve been having here in Vancouver. But for many of us, the Classic Cars are tucked away in storage, insurance policies dropped to Storage-Only, and we’re feeling the withdrawl from our Classic Car Adventures. While hosting all our friends who brought their Spring Thaw entry forms up to Squamish, we couldn’t help but think of how much fun it would be to get a group together. With in minutes we had an offer to use RWM&Co’s shop, and it was a perfect opportunity to launch the Valdy 911 Project.

RWM&Co

Over the course of four hours we had between 175 and 200 of our closest car-nut friends drop by for a visit. In addition to the incredible cars being worked on inside the shop, the road and parking area outside was better then a televised Vehicle Auction. There were Triumphs, Porsches, Rovers, Volkswagens, Ferraris, Aston Martins and more. At times I think the crowd checking out the cars outside was bigger then the group inside. But most incredible was the diversity amongst the group. We saw lots of old friends, and made plenty of new ones.

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Also in attendance was Brendon McAleer from the Vancouver Sun & Province. He’s written a great article on the event, which you can find on the Drive.ca website. The beginning of the article may make it seem like our events are races, but CCA events are not a competition and there are systems in place to deter over exuberant participants. Ask any past participant about our yellow card system!

PhotogBrendanMcAleer

Center stage for the event was Dave Koszegi’s ‘new’ Porsche 912. Originally purchased for it’s motor, upon picking it up Dave discovered it has a history unique to B.C. We originally teased the idea of a Classic Car Adventures Restoration during the Fall Freeze, guests on the event were the first to see the car up close. Over the next two years Dave is going to have the 912 restored to its original glory, using shops and experts he’s met on CCA events like The Spring Thaw. You’ll be able to follow the whole process right here on the CCA website.

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Spring Thaw 2013 Photos

We’re not sure if it’s exhaustion or withdrawal we are suffering from, but we know one thing: we’d get back in the car and do it all again next weekend! The 2013 Hagerty Spring Thaw Classic Car Adventure was a resounding success and we would like to thank all the participants who made it so much fun. To help re-live the weekend’s adventure, here are images from our photographer, and links to all of your galleries. Continue reading

2013 CCA Event Dates Announced

Hmmm…it’s pitch dark outside in mid-afternoon, our classics are all tucked away in their garages, the streets are lit with colourful displays of mini-bulbs and we still can’t seem to find the scotch-tape. Yes, that’s right, it must be Holiday Season! Around the Classic Car Adventures’ office, that means just one thing: When will we announce the 2013 event dates? Continue reading