Tag Archives: car

2015 Thanksgiving Run Photos

Well, it was a touch damp this morning. Okay, okay, it was rather wet. But still! 49 cars braved the weather and met in North Vancouver for the start of the CCA Thanksgiving Run. Following our slightly damp drive to Squamish, we stopped at the base of the Sea to Sky Gondola. We found the coffee shop not only featured fantastic Galileo Coffee, but a warm and dry spot to hang out as well!

With coffee finished, and the draw prizes all pulled, we figured we were done…but there was the small matter of push-starting a couple cars for their departure. Oh, and the Hagerty Spring Thaw…

“Hagerty Spring Thaw?”, I can hear you asking, yup! We put all the draw tags back in the hat, added the names and cars of anyone how hadn’t filled out a draw tag, and then pulled a lucky winner out of the hat. Ian Steward will have car number 1 reserved for his entry, no rushing to the mail required!

Here’s a small gallery from today:

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2015 Hagerty Maple Mille – Day Three Photo Preview

Whew! What a weekend! The weather was simply stunning. I’m thoroughly sunburnt from driving in a Convertible most of the weekend…and deaf from from driving the ’65 Mustang. The deaf part is probably my fault, it’s hard not to continually romp on the ‘loud pedal’, when the car sounds so good!

Day Three began, as per usual, with a driver’s meeting outside the parking lot. After sharing jokes and thank you’s, we got down to the nitty gritty; Construction and road paving had played havoc with our plans for day three. The day’s route map (found in the route book) was pulled out, and the problems highlighted. Just as the co-driver’s were readying their pens for a tonne of note taking, Dave pulled out a ‘route book supplement’ for all the participants. The route book supplement included a new map, new route and our usual style of notes and directions. Sleep? Organizer’s don’t need sleep! All kidding aside, we tossed a coffee between the front seats and embarked South towards the finish.

Today’s route, a touch shortened due to construction, wound it’s way down highway 11 with views of the Canadian Shield and the fall colours starting to emerge. Secondary roads and strategic loops took our group off the main highway for some great touring roads. As the finish loomed closer, one final road surprise was waiting. The summer camp Dave worked at in his youth was located next to a highlight in Muskoka’s road collection. Tight turns, elevation changes, lakeside views and not another car in sight. Just as the road straightened out, we turned into Golf Course and parked for our finish.

The golf-course fairway, concour d’elegance, style of parking was a first for Classic Car Adventures…and a fitting way to finish our first event in Ontario Canada.

Here are some Day Three photo previews, courtesy of Ralph Saulnier Photography:

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2015 Hagerty Maple Mille – Day Two Preview

Glorious weather welcomed us for day two of the Hagerty Maple Mille. The group descended onto a figure eight of Muskoka Loops, before heading North, and then East to North Bay Ontario. The hotel check-in staff couldn’t believe we took eight hours to get from Parry Sound to North Bay, as the trip is normally just 1.5 hours by the fastest route! But the fastest route would miss favourites such as Muskoka 632 to Port Sandfield, the Bunny Trail from Dunchurch and of course lunch at the Red Door Bakery.

Throughout the day we began to see the fall colours taking shape, and there is nothing quite like rolling hills, twisting turns and classic cars against a backdrop of yellows, red and orange.

Once again it seemed that everyone wanted to try someone else’s car. Cars, keys, seats and co-drivers were being traded so often it was hard to keep track. At one point, as a group of cars pulled into a gas station one owner was heard to exclaim “wait, if you’re here in a Triumph…where is my Mustang!?!” Eventually all the cars, drivers and co-driver’s arrived at our hotel and combinations returned to matching the entry list.

A preview of photos, courtesy of Ralph Saulnier:

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Hagerty Silver Summit – Day Two Photos

Whew! The weather gods smiled upon us today, and we all enjoyed a proper day of Classic Car motoring.

With an official winter weather warning looming over a short portion of the route, the day began with a slightly foreboding driver’s meeting. Were we destined for more of yesterday, or would today be better? Dave assured the group he had scoured the weather maps, and the route would be mostly below 6,000 feet. With Dave’s lucky flannel (ineffective on day one) retired for the weekend, we headed off and hoped for the best!

Today’s route started with roads that were all about flowing, swooping corners instead of arm-pumping switchbacks. It was a little more relaxed than yesterday, perhaps aimed at the grand tourers vs. the tiny sports cars. We explored abandoned mining roads, hidden farm-country access roads, and finished the day with an amazing mountain pass. Imagine, if you would, a bored road engineer who scribbled his idea of an amazing race track from point A to point B. The ambitious sketch was mis-filed, and Colorado ended up with our chosen pass of the day. As we enjoyed a post-drive beverage at the bar, we were struck by how the group is starting to feel like a close group of friends.

Sunshine (okay, brief sunshine), great roads and more importantly great people. Day two of the first ever Hagerty Silver Summit will go down in the books as a great and memorable day!

A preview of photos from Andrew Snucins Photography is below:

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Hagerty Maple Mille Entry Open!

The Hagerty Maple Mille entries are now open! The Maple Mille is our Ontario Canada based event. Our 2015 running of the event will start just North of Toronto, and will explore roughly 1100km of twisty backroads and highways over the course of three days. Event information page, supplementary regulations and entry forms are all posted. Entry spaces are limited, so be sure to sign up early to guarantee yourself a spot!

2015 Hagerty Maple Mille Event Information Page

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Do You Want to Work in a Restoration Shop?

While wrenching away in your garage or shop, do you ever find yourself thinking you wish you could do this as a career? Or, perhaps you’ve thought it would be amazing to do this part-time, and help pay for your classic car addiction? Well, if that thought has ever crossed your mind, here’s your chance! Our good friends over at RWM&Co are looking for some new staff to help keep the restorations moving on schedule in the shop. If you’ve ever been to the shop, you know it’s a dream space for those of us who love classic cars.

messRobert and his team specialize in everything from simple maintenance, to full-blown restorations and even ground-up custom builds. Some customers arrive with no parts or car, just a photograph of some long forgotten piece of automotive history. Robert and his team can recreate those body panels using the english wheel, an entire wall of hammers and wizardry which we here at CCA don’t really yet understand.
We know what you’re thinking…”I’ve never even seen an english-wheel in real life, yet alone used one?” Don’t worry, RWM&Co is looking for a much wider variety of skills. As you read through the list you might think that you’re not a specialist in any one area, but have some of the skills needed for two or three of them. That’s perfect! RMW&Co is looking for both specialists, and staff who can become a little bit of everything around the shop. Here are the areas RMW&Co is currently looking for staff:

IMG_7688Tear Down – Tear down of a restoration is much more then just yanking it all apart. This a job where detail-minded individuals find their calling. Nuts, bolts and washers must be tagged with their proper locations. Photographs, lots of photographs, are taken to ensure everything goes together correctly in the assembly stage. Teardown is also the part where all the hidden issues or unseen problems are found in a restoration. A tear down specialist is part-mechanic, part librarian and part Indiana-Jones. There is nothing more exciting then removing a structured assembly to find the grease-pencil signature of a factory worker in 1958. Come to think of it, with the number of project cars in boxes on Craigslist, we think the tear down specialist might be the most common type of enthusiast!

IMG_8205Mechanical Work – If you’re anything like Dave at the CCA office, your youth was spent borrowing dad’s tools so you could tear apart and rebuild whatever mechanical or electronic item you could get your hands on. Years of ‘mostly’ working toys taught you the careful skill of bolting things back together in the correct order. At RWM&Co mechanical work ranges from simply replacing worn bushings in a suspension overhaul, all the way to engine and transmission rebuilds. In this area of the shop, there’s room for folks of all skill levels…as long as they’re willing to learn. While rebuilding a Bentley wheel cylinder might not be an item currently on your resume, perhaps after being shown how to do the first unit, the other three won’t seem so challenging. If you were to end up working at RMW&Co, the mechanical work you’ll experience will be dependent on your skill level, and always under the supervision of Robert’s top trained technicians.

Welding – Here at the CCA office we’ve (okay, Dave) has blown enough holes through metal and warped enough panels to understand that welding is both an art-form, and a skill. If you can weld, RMW&Co wants to hear from you! In the shop the guys are welding with both MIG and TIG, on both steel and aluminium. While experience in both welding types (and materials) is certainly an asset, the shop would love to hear from you even if you’re just experienced in MIG. The ability to weld thin panels, however, is definitely important!

6821328187_c134f11815_bAssembly – The most exciting stage of any restoration is the assembly. Finally, after many hours of work, the car is starting to look like a car once again. For many of us, it’s also the scariest part of a restoration. It’s here that one slip, or a tool misplaced, can really spell disaster. Assembly specialists are those who are detailed oriented, and can think ahead. They know that you just can’t focus on one part of the window trim, you have to be aware of what the loose end is doing as you try to attach the first section. They’re also people who look at each restoration as if it’s their own. Other shops might simply mount the gauges, or wire things up to work, but you want every job to look like it’s going in a magazine.

So, does any of that sound like you? Whether you’re thinking of a full-time career change, or perhaps working in a restoration shop part time, the team at RWM&Co would love to hear from you.

RWM&Co
rwmandco@gmail.com

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Holiday Get-Together!

Shortly after Thanksgiving, it was starting to get a little dreary here in BC. The rain seemed relentless, and the classic car motoring season gone for the year. Our recent cold-snap, and subsequent sunny weather, has us dreaming again of hanging out with our classic cars and friends. The weather at this time of year can be a little unpredictable, and up here in Squamish they’ve already salted the roads, so we were delighted when Robert and Jaclyn called us up to see if we’d be interested in joining them for a casual indoor hangout at their restoration shop. If the weather is good, feel free to bring your classic! If you choose to leave yours at home, however, you’ll find plenty of classics to check out inside. We hear project Valdy, the Porsche 912, is looking quite different from our last group visit!

Together we’ll be providing some light snacks, as well as a selection of drinks for you to enjoy while you peruse the projects and catch up with your Classic Car friends.

A Special Project
Much like our Thanksgiving Run, we’d really like to take the opportunity to help out others in our Communities. If you’d like to join us in helping out, we’re collecting donations for two programs during our Sunday get-together. RWM & Co. and Classic Car adventures are arranging to sponsor two families in need this year. We’ll be putting together a hamper for each which includes all the items needed for a holiday dinner, as well as toys purchased for the children of the families. If you’d like to be involved, you can do so with either a financial donation (we’ll take care of the shopping) or send us an email and we’ll share with you some toy options the kids are asking Santa for.

If you’d prefer a simpler donation option, we’ll also be collecting non-perishable food items which will be donated to the Ladner Food Bank. Our Thanksgiving Run donated over $450 in food to the Squamish Food bank, and we look forward to helping out families in South Delta.

Meeting Time and Directions:

Sunday December 7th2pm to 5pm
RWM & Co.
Unit #1 – 7440 Ottawa Street
Delta, BC
V4K 0B4

For directions, you can use our Google Maps pin to get you to the Boundary Bay Airport area (and Ottawa Street). Once there, the new building at 7440 Ottawa Street is quite easy to find.