The Spring Thaw Report - 2010 Edition

[Double02]

So things got off to a pretty wet start this morning. Lots of not too happy people arrived in Hope through the morning rains. Suddenly all those roadsters weren't seeming like such a good idea. Still, a really neat collection of cars and the registration setup in Hope was really well organized.

Ian took tonnes of photos but he won't be updating until after we get back, so for now there are just a few still shots from me from the lunch break. So far Ian is well behaved and I haven't been tempted to abandon him at a rest stop.

http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/2002BL/Spring%20Thaw%202010/DSCF0589.jpg
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/2002BL/Spring%20Thaw%202010/DSCF0592.jpg
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/2002BL/Spring%20Thaw%202010/DSCF0595.jpg

Will try to take a few more shots along the way tomorrow.

There's a monster 2002 Tii, and and Alfa that was in the Panamera that sounds like a beast. Weirdest engine goes to the 3 cyl. 2-stroke in the Saab 850. The Aston DB2 is pretty impressive.

The room is a palace.

[motrhead]

I saw a Fiat Spider with a rally decal on the side go through town yesterday. I though it was just a local Fiat, but it did look a bit too clean for the local one. So that's what was going on.
How do you like my roads? I grew up around Okanagan Falls, so I terrorized those back roads for years. Back in the day you could have met me or one of my friends coming through those corner sideways:D Now I'm more likely to be on my motorcycle, and completely on my side of the road.

[Double02]

Dean - your roads are concentrated awesome! If I had remembered that you were in the neighbourhood I would have tried to give you a heads-up about possible gathering points where you could come see the cars. I think you'll be in charge of route selection when we do something similar with the CECC (although on a smaller scale).

Day 2 update is short again since most of our non-driving time is being spent talking cars with other car guys. Again, the routes were nothing short of spectacular. My face hurts from smiling so much behind the wheel. A few shots from my camera until Ian and Chris can upload theirs:

http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/2002BL/Spring%20Thaw%202010/DSCF0622.jpg
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/2002BL/Spring%20Thaw%202010/DSCF0628.jpg
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/2002BL/Spring%20Thaw%202010/DSCF0606.jpg
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/2002BL/Spring%20Thaw%202010/DSCF0619.jpg

Every little stop is like a mini-meet of fantastic cars, and a pretty impressive car show at the end of each day. The driving has been pretty spirited but nobody has admitted to any tickets. There was one wreck yesterday, which was a huge shame, although fortunately nobody was hurt. We've been asked not to post any details or photos of the crash for privacy and insurance reasons. It wasn't my car or Chris's, but let's just say that many of us would be pretty choked up about which car went down.

We'll be in Squamish today, somewhere around 4-5 PM I'm thinking. Ian may try to post the location later on in case any of you want to come up.

[320iCar]

this thing is awesome! i've taken abuot 600 pics or more so far, and still have one more day to go. of course 90% of them are while driving, and lots have annoying poles in the way (and one confused woman on the side of the road)

we'll be meeting in squamish today around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. but we dont know where yet (i'll update you guys and post it in the main forum)

[E_cars]

Looks like a blast, something I need to plan for in the future ....

I await the pics.

[Double02]

Looks like a blast, something I need to plan for in the future ....

I await the pics.

Yes, more BCBimmers should do this. Or, we could do an event of our own. It was a huge blast. Chris and Ian need to post their pics, as I was busy driving.

Today the drive lived up to its 'Spring Thaw Adventure' billing since:

a) it snowed on us on the Duffy Lake road and,
b) my exaust pipe parted company with my resonator just before Pemberton, letting me see exactly how side pipes would sound on my 02. (Answer: fun for a while but not something I'll be trying soon).

At least my mechanical failure didn't slow us down after seeing what the problem was. Unlike one of the organizers, whose brand new built motor on his Beetle seized about 20 minutes into the drive this morning. Ouch. Aside from the Beetle and the wreck yesterday, the other 60 cars made it home under their own power. Nobody admitted to speeding tickets either.

I will be doing everything possible to get in on this again next year. Wow - so much awesome in one weekend.

Thanks to Chris, Ian, and Lea for being good company. Met a bunch of cool new folks but always nice to have a few buddies along.

[Double02]

In other news, Chris drives like an old man in the rain. Srsly Chris, how slow were you going back from Squamish? I'm surprised you're home already. :ponder:

[320iCar]

chris drives uhm... responsible.... in the rain. braking down to 40km/h in some turns on the s2s. but i have no complaints since he drove me home.

im going through some of the pictures now. deleted the crap ones. and am left with 865 photos, or over 2 gigs.

so tomorrow i'll have a few awesome ones up. will need a new fake photobucket account to handle the bandwidth

[B10er]

Ouch!

Well, if I wasn't laden with *your* co-driver, his three bags, and his Costco sized flat of 144 bottles of water, it might have been different...

Besides, didn't I finish the actual event like 2 hours ahead of you?

In other news, Chris drives like an old man in the rain. Srsly Chris, how slow were you going back from Squamish? I'm surprised you're home already. :ponder:

[B10er]

Some quick pics...

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-01.JPG

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-02.JPG

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-03.JPG

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-04.JPG

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-05.JPG

[B10er]

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-06.JPG

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-07.JPG

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-08.JPG

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-09.JPG

http://www.classiceuropeancarclub.com/ST2010-10.JPG

[MC Hammered]

That looked like a great meet.

[Double02]

Ouch!

Well, if I wasn't laden with *your* co-driver, his three bags, and his Costco sized flat of 144 bottles of water, it might have been different...

Besides, didn't I finish the actual event like 2 hours ahead of you?

Kidding Chris. I was just shocked that the guy who had been so authoritatively showing M30 power all weekend was suddenly so relaxed. I was glad for the chance to demonstrate my temporary hooligan exhaust as I blew past you though.

Nice try on the finish time, but Lea already admitted that you only finished 30 minutes ahead, which is 100% attributed to the incredibly slow service at our lunch stop. Thanks for dropping Ian by the way. Did he at least pay you in Costco candy?

[B10er]

Did I say 2 hours? Oh, I meant 1/2 an hour! Sorry...slip of the fingers...

To be honest...with all of the extra ballast (aka Ian and his water bottles) and the shock of the 15th bottomless gas tank fill over three days settling in, I was in pure cruise mode.

One major lesson I learnt from this Thaw: old M30 + 4 speed + 'enthusiastic driving' = simply brutal fuel economy! I have to say I'm envious of your M10/5-speed set up...

Any news on the exhaust?

Kidding Chris. I was just shocked that the guy who had been so authoritatively showing M30 power all weekend was suddenly so relaxed. I was glad for the chance to demonstrate my temporary hooligan exhaust as I blew past you though.

Nice try on the finish time, but Lea already admitted that you only finished 30 minutes ahead, which is 100% attributed to the incredibly slow service at our lunch stop. Thanks for dropping Ian by the way. Did he at least pay you in Costco candy?

[B10er]

The TR8 apparently didn't make it either. That makes three DNQs out of 60. Not bad...

Yes, more BCBimmers should do this. Or, we could do an event of our own. It was a huge blast. Chris and Ian need to post their pics, as I was busy driving.

Today the drive lived up to its 'Spring Thaw Adventure' billing since:

a) it snowed on us on the Duffy Lake road and,
b) my exaust pipe parted company with my resonator just before Pemberton, letting me see exactly how side pipes would sound on my 02. (Answer: fun for a while but not something I'll be trying soon).

At least my mechanical failure didn't slow us down after seeing what the problem was. Unlike one of the organizers, whose brand new built motor on his Beetle seized about 20 minutes into the drive this morning. Ouch. Aside from the Beetle and the wreck yesterday, the other 60 cars made it home under their own power. Nobody admitted to speeding tickets either.

I will be doing everything possible to get in on this again next year. Wow - so much awesome in one weekend.

Thanks to Chris, Ian, and Lea for being good company. Met a bunch of cool new folks but always nice to have a few buddies along.

[B10er]

Yes, more BCBimmers should do this. Or, we could do an event of our own. It was a huge blast.

I completely agree - I really think we should plan something for July or August - get out of here and have some fun driving - informal, formal, whatever...!

[Double02]

To be honest...with all of the extra ballast (aka Ian and his water bottles) and the shock of the 15th bottomless gas tank fill over three days settling in, I was in pure cruise mode.

One major lesson I learnt from this Thaw: old M30 + 4 speed + 'enthusiastic driving' = simply brutal fuel economy! I have to say I'm envious of your M10/5-speed set up...

Any news on the exhaust?

I haven't figured out my total mileage yet since I didn't do a final fill-up yesterday, and have one receipt floating around the car, but I'll be looking at only 4 tanks, so that's about 20 mpg. This depite laying into the accelerator pretty heavily most of the trip. That's better than my 2.1L fuel injected Volvo. Small frontal area FTW! By the way, I was carrying Ian and his ballast the whole trip.

Exhaust-wise, Poon is certain he has a decent used resonator section laying around his crawl space, so for the price of a new one I'm hoping to get his plus a floor jack and stands. Everybody wins. I think I'm grounding Coco until I fix the exhaust though since the car is way too recognizeable to allow me to drive around like a punk.

[Double02]

The TR8 apparently didn't make it either. That makes three DNQs out of 60. Not bad...

Made it from Hope to Sqamish though. Does it count if it dies on the way home after the event is over?

For the BCB drive, that should go in a separate thread. I'd suggest a route planning session with someone who knows the back roads of the Fraser valley. I thought the route-plan idea from the Thaw was great but that would require a day or two of homework mapping things out. August would likely work best for me. Let's talk.

[320iCar]

i have a huge amount of pictures and not alot of photobucket bandwidth... so just a few from day 1, in cronological order

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/320iCar/DSC_0054.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/320iCar/DSC_0093.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/320iCar/DSC_0116.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/320iCar/DSC_0170.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/320iCar/DSC_0259.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/320iCar/DSC_0267.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/320iCar/DSC_0271.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/320iCar/DSC_0279.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/320iCar/DSC_0307.jpg

[Double02]

Sounds like it's time for you to open a Flickr account. As an added bonus, Flickr isn't banned at my work for some reason.

[bMar]

That looks like a good time. There were some nice looking cars in the group.

[320iCar]

im not sure how to post up pics from a flickr account. so just go look yourselves in here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30576355@N04/

chris, i got some great action shots of your car.

bruce, your car pics are coming on day #3

[320iCar]

i just updated the photostream on my flickr.

bruce i've already hit 100% of my alloted space for flickr for this month. so you'll have to wait til next month.

i'll still be burning them on a cd for you anyways. all 850 pics

[Double02]

Nice shots Ian. I didn't realize that Flickr was so restrictive. Other galleries I've seen must be pro accounts. To me, these two really got the spirit of the drive. My favourite parts were when we were bombing around with 20 other vintage cars and nothing modern in sight...

http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/2002BL/Spring%20Thaw%202010/4576920221_5cfdf2bbe6_b.jpg
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab206/2002BL/Spring%20Thaw%202010/4577554862_051eb5c772_b.jpg

For those who can't get enough of this, or have trouble letting go (like me), here are links to the main Classic Car Adventures page which will post official photo updates:

http://www.classiccaradventures.com/

and the Spring Thaw forum thread where people are posting their photos (warning - many, many photos here):

http://www.classiccaradventures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=67

[B10er]

No doubt...

I can't believe we were doing this just the other day!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/4576771995_fb04a3e7f4_b.jpg

[GrandmaSideways]

Very, very cool.