Tag Archives: classic car

Silver Summit – Day One Photos

SilverSummitd1-0845Day one of our first ever Hagerty Silver Summit is in the books!

The theme for today could best be described as “adventure”, and we sure delivered loads of it.

The day started with our best start location to date. Next door to the Hagerty Collector Car Insurance office in Denver is the “Club Auto Colorado” facility. Once our entrants had checked in, they enjoyed the usual getting to know one another, while exploring the automotive museum and collection at Club Auto Colorado. Once the driver’s meeting was finished, Dave changed into his “lucky flannel”, and we were off!

SilverSummitd1-The first road out of Golden delivered interesting curves and climbs through the sunshine…but it was not to last. The ‘adventure’ started with a brief thunderstorm, with (as Dave would say ‘a slight touch of weather’). But a couple of hours down the road we got some real Colorado weather. Slightly damp in one moment, and 6″ of pure SNOW the next! Perhaps ten miles up the road, sunny and warm for the lunch stop.

SilverSummitd1-1142And so our day went. Fantastic weather one moment, and a “heavy touch of weather” the next. The mechanical gremlins attacked more than a few cars, with electrical issues being the most popular ailment on the tour. Arriving into the finishing hotel, we were a bit surprised to find smiles, laughter and friendly faces. Even our teams who limped in late were excited about the day. Despite the weather, the road selections were spot on. Our entrants reported that we managed to find some incredible “driving roads” to entertain those holding the steering wheel, and amazing scenery for those in the co-pilot seat. We even managed to surprise Colorado locals with some selections they hadn’t driven before.
Our first day running a Classic Car Adventure in Colorado has taught us two things: 1) the state serves up a healthy portion of ‘adventure’! and 2) we’ve found yet another amazing group of Classic Car friends. Incredible people, and perhaps a touch nuts…just like our Classic Car friends in BC.

…we can’t wait to see what Day two has in store for us!

A preview gallery of Andrew Snucins photography is below:

2015 Hagerty Spring Thaw Day Three Photos

Day three of the Hagerty Spring Thaw finally brought the full sunshine! Our run from Kamloops to Whistler was with tops down and windows open, and for many of us the most fun we’ve ever had. Typically on a Hagerty Spring Thaw cars shift out into groups of 3’s and 5’s, and run together at similar paces. A sunny stop just before the Duffy Lake road saw a number of cars bunched up into large groups of 12’s and 15’s. As fate would have it, the paces matched and we travelled towards Whistler in large groups. The air at the finish was one of excitement and joy, with many people commenting on how it was the most fun they’d ever had. Wonderful photos by Andrew and Samantha Snucins are below:

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.

Hagerty Spring Thaw Day One Photos

Day one of the 2015 Hagerty Spring Thaw saw quite the weather changes. As some groups mentioned, we got all four seasons plus two or three you probably didn’t know about. Fortunately the entrants seem to be a hardy bunch, and it was nothing but smiles and laughter everywhere we stopped. Check out Andrew Snucins‘ photographs below.

 

Colorado Road Scouting

This past week Dave was in Colorado scouting roads for our new Hagerty Silver Summit event. Exploring over 1100 miles of roads, Dave thinks he’s found the perfect route for our first-year Colorado event. We’re aiming to take you off the beaten path, and ensure that locals aren’t going to know each of the roads in the route book. If you’re thinking of joining us for this year’s Hagerty Silver Summit you’ll experience a mix of super tight and twisty mountain passes, amazing ‘destination’ roads with great views, and a great collection of what we think of as ‘cruising roads’ where you’re definitely going to have to keep an eye on the speedometer! Take a look at our sneak preview, in the gallery below:

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

Maple-Mille-Poster

Project Rrr…er Valdy…Continues

We’ve just enjoyed a fantastic few days in the garage, aka “The CCA workshop”. Dave’s been working on a new ’58 Beetle project, and Warwick has been tackling the plans for his new MK1 Escort rally car. With each project comes certain frustrations. Poorly executed previous-owner maneuvers on the beetle for Dave, and crazy-long shipping times for parts for Warwick. And so, with our own projects a little bit stalled, we started wondering how things are going out there with everyone else’s. Fortunately for us, Robert at RWM&Co has checked in with an update on project Valdy. You may recall our last look at the project was an overview an assessment of the project. We’re happy to report that project Valdy is fully in the tear down stage! Here’s Robert’s latest report on our beloved 912:

 

Hello friends! We’re just popping our heads above water for a few quick minutes to share a little bit about where we are at with the Rolling Restoration of Valdy, the Porsche 912 that we’ve been entrusted with. As you might remember, last time we outlined the results of our diagnostic testing and assessment on the car. With a benchmark set, we began the process of dismantling the car so we could begin to really sink our teeth into the project.

valdy5As anyone who has ever taken apart anything can attest to, one of the biggest concerns with a restoration project that has been scheduled over an extended period of time is that parts will get misplaced, or vital information will be forgotten when it comes time to re-assemble the car many months (or years) later. We are always careful to document the disassembly process thoroughly, and ensure that any components that are removed from the car are labeled and organized accordingly. Let’s just say we go through a LOT of Ziploc bags and Rubbermaid tubs over here…after all, it’s amazing just how valuable an old, rusted out part becomes when another one cannot easily be found or created. Even eBay has its limits, as anyone who has started (or attempted to complete) a restoration can attest to.

The majority of the disassembly process was handled by our in-house Porsche aficionado & expert, otherwise known as Alex, and “supervised” by my son Charlie who happened to be visiting from the UK while this was happening.   I’m so grateful for their continued enthusiasm for the project, and really appreciate their passion for Valdy. I’m also grateful that only one of them is on payroll, and the other agreed to trade his time for Tim Horton’s hot chocolates and vague promises of an early inheritance.

After we had a little paparazzi action in the shop – in other words, taking a million and one pictures of the car, from every angle – we got down to business. Lest you think we are trying to give the Kardashians a run for their money, fear not: as good as our memories are, it can be hard to remember every little detail of every car we have in the shop and photographic evidence is invaluable to preserving our sanity.

valdy1It probably goes without saying, but prior to disassembling a car the battery must be disconnected, along with the hoses and wires connected to the engine. Safety first! The car was then drained of its oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, and gas, which we safely recycled and disposed of.

After removing what was left of the exterior trim, we began by removing the larger pieces off the car first; namely, the engine hood, bonnet, and gas tank. We then removed the front and rear bumper. Everything was relatively straightforward, which was wonderful (but slightly unnerving at the same time – is this too good to be true?!). Unless of course you count a minor gas spill that happened while removing the tank…but we won’t talk about that one. A good reminder to double-check that the tank is 110% empty before moving on, right guys?

When it came time to remove the fenders, we were met with a lot of resistance. Apparently, they were glued on with a rubber substance of some sort, and determined to stay on the car. Let’s just say Valdy could have been driven at 100 miles/hr with no bolts attaching the fenders to the car, and they still wouldn’t have fallen off. A little lot of manpower later (and maybe a power tool or two), they were pried off and set aside while someone went for a little visit to their Registered Massage Therapist.

valdy4With all of the major exterior components removed, we got started on the interior. As you’ll remember from our last update, the interior has had a re-trim at some point in time but the car is more than overdue for a facelift. We removed the seats first, and then all of the carpets. This allowed us to get a proper look at the metal floorboards, and gain a more thorough understanding of the overall condition of the frame of the car. As we quickly discovered when we had Valdy up on the hoist for the inspection, the floors were replaced with flat-sheet steel at some point. Leaving the floor at it is is not an option, so it will be redone along the line.

Certain makes of cars are more prone to issues than others, so when we’re disassembling a car we are always keeping an eye out for any problems that weren’t apparent during the initial inspection. Porsche’s are notorious for having buried rust spots in the door pillars and kidneys, which we want to know about now rather than in 6 months. Thankfully, the front wheel wells look really good, with no other surprises or hidden problems so far. Unfortunately, the rockers aren’t as lucky – they have most certainly been covered with bondo at some point, and we are expecting to find rust behind them. Oh the suspense! Luckily, we have repaired more than our fair share of rusted out panels and feel confident that we’ll be able to handle whatever comes our way with this car.

And that’s it! As you can see, disassembling a vehicle properly is time consuming and labour-intensive, but we believe it’s well worth taking the time to be methodical and strategic in order to save time, money, and therapy bills down the road.

Where do we go from here? In our next instalment, we’ll walk you through what we’re doing to the mechanical side of the car – the engine, transaxle, brake system, clutch, and suspension are all (over) due for tune ups and rebuilds, along with the starter, alternator, and exhaust components.  Will the mechanics be what we are expecting, or will there be any hidden surprises? Stay tuned…

valdy2