West Coast Meet - Vancouver, BC

By Gene Bellegarde
  

I ask this of anyone that has attended a West Coast Meet, have you ever attended a poor one? These meets are more fun than trying to add 30 Wt. Oil to the tranni of a 1966 1800S. 

   What can be more satisfying than 132 Vintage and Beautiful Volvo's to judge? Ever seen a whole row of P445/P210's? They had 'em in Vancouver. Row's of 444/544's, rows of 122/123's, row upon row of 1800's of all variation and configuration.

   Have you ever been to the Pacific Northwest when it didn't rain? Not even a little? Well, it didn't rain this year. The weather, the cars and the people were all picture perfect. 

   I attended this meet with old friend and fellow 544 owner Bob Hartz. Since my 445 was not ready for the trip, we took the lazy way….flew to Seattle and drove one of Volvo Jim's cars. He had a few to choose from; a 445, P210, 544, 122 4-door, 122 wagon, '66 1800S, '86 245, MGA-coupe, MGB, & a '89 Saab Turbo. He has a few others, but they were out and about, loaned out and being painted.

   After we decided which ones to take, the P210 and the '86 245 support wagon, we washed up the P210 and headed on up Whidbey Island. Beautiful place, and Bob could only ask. "Where are all the people?" I mean, it was only the peak of the tourist season, end August, and not raining to boot! No noticeable tourists, and not many natives either! After we crossed over that famous bridge, the one EVERY engineering student in the USA has scene in Physics Class, harmonically swinging and dancing up and down, we proceeded north thru the quiet forest to the Blaine crossing into Canada, eh? 

   Not 100 yards (metres) into Canada we stopped at the Tudor club for lunch. Bob was astonished to find an ethnic favorite of his, piroghis. I had a green salad. Jim had a burger and we all had beer. After some lunch and candy we ventured up to Tsawwassen. It is just north of the border, and all the way west to the area where the large ferry ports for Vancouver Island, City of Victoria. Another VSA West Coast Convention. Home at last!

   Where to begin. How about checking in? The lobby was efficient, the room reserved and ready, and the rate more than reasonable. The room was only $60 USD per night for 2 queen beds. Yes, the leg on my bed was broken, and they had some 'stuff' under the mattress to keep it up, it did have a little list about it, but I never fell off once! Bob's bed was, of course, perfect. 

   We went down to the parking lot and watched all the nice cars being lovingly washed by their owners. Volvo Jim washed his beautifully restored, 3-tone P210. There were so many nice cars and people, it's hard to begin the story.

   After a shower with some of the softest water (about 3 inches of lather on your chest from even the cheap freebee soap in the room!) you'll ever spill, we headed to me main building to sign-in and do the Social Hour.

   Social hour? Can't really call it an hour, since it lasted the whole evening. There were so many great give-aways in the registration packets, like nice Volvo coffee mugs (just like the sales dudes at the dealerships drink from), lapel pins, key fobs, free drink and dinner tickets, raffle tickets, printed matter, etc.; that the packet alone was worth the price of admission.

   Found Del and Bob Skoog out in the hallway, trying to find seats inside. Turns out the size of the event was limited by the size of the conference rooms. They were turning people away the last few weeks because there would no place to seat them at the banquet. A very interesting problem, to say the least.

   We did get some hors-d'oeuvres, a little corner to sit at to eat them, and many a micro-brew to melt any the travel sores.

   There was much talk about the 'scenic tour' thru Vancouver that happened Friday, keep in mind that this is a second-hand story, as we were not on-hand to attend it. Basically, the traffic is SO BAD thru the city of Vancouver during a typical Friday, that it was more of a Scenic Crawl, than a scenic drive. Another bad result of this was that a nice yellow 1800E got lightly tapped, i.e., rear-ended during this drive. (I did see the dent) Imagine getting all the way Canada just to have this happen 1 day before the judging….. 

   W.W.B.S.S. (What would Bob Skoog say?)

   After the Social Event Bob Hartz and I went out to explore Downtown Vancouver, eh? Nice clean city.

   Saturday morning came early, and I was asked to Judge cars this year. Art Banks was filling in for Bill Webb who could not make this event due to illness. Art is a judging veteran that usually makes both East and West Coast Conventions each year, and directs the judging regularly at the East Coast Meets. I was asked to judge stock 122's, a very fitting category for me since I did have the West Coast champion car for 2 years running. If I only would'a (could'a- should'a) kept it one more year, it would now be in the Masters Class.

   I was teamed with Glen from the Vancouver Club, he was the gentleman that designed the sweet Event T-Shirts. OK, let me get my dig in now: The colors selected for the shirts were colors that a 544 could be purchased in 1961; Tan, Drab Green, or Med. Blue. They made yellow ones also, the judges were each given one of these and were asked to wear them during judging. As you can see, a very classy Club and Event!

   Glen and I had the dubious honor of being the last judges to finish, by about 2.5 hours! Seems that a last minute 122 pulled in and DID NOT place the Judging Number or Score Cards on the windscreen. Since our class was broken into 2 groups, (yes there were that many Stock 122's) we had no way of knowing it was our car to judge!!!!

   Swap Meet. There was none! If you came looking for parts, you had 3 choices: 1 participant, Bill, that had mostly '73-'74 145 parts; Olaf, parts for 445/544's, new mail order from Sweden, with a modest collection of used parts at home; and Roger, who runs a junkyard somewhere just south of the U.S. Border, in the toolies, with a table full of expensive used stuff. I guess the Canadians don't see the advantage of selling excess parts when the whole West Coast is gathered at one place, eh?

   Cars. Got a minute? Let me tell you, there was variety and duplication the likes of which I'd never seen. How about VSA coordinator Greg Morris with a 444 sedan with a roof rack? Ever seen that? Two-tone 544's 445's, a 122 4-door sedan with a real wood dash, VDO gauges, a wood and leather center console, wood steering wheel, and full leather interior, tan leather like is found in a Jaguar!! This event line-up even had a pink 122 panel wagon with a two-column list of non-Volvo items that even included a hose from an Arctic Cat Snowmobile. Most of you don't know what that is, but I used to own an Arctic Cat that took me 93 MPH on a frozen, glass smooth lake in Western Maine!

   After a fun day judging and veiwing, talking, uhing and ahing, it was time (barely) for a shower and the social hour/awards banquet. Ever eat a can of those super fine bristling sardines from Norway? Well, being in that banquet hall was similar to being packed into that sardine can. Good thing Greg started to turn away participants (really?)!

   It started with endless bottles of fine Merlot, salads, breads and Gilled Pacific Salmon to die for. Great meal. The event had non-stop speakers, the local Volvo dealership, Art Banks, Irv Gordon, and even the last Hurrah from Bob Austin, who is retiring from VCNA. He had a few interesting comments that I'll share. Ford Motor Co. considers Volvo to be their 'strongest' marque, in terms of being known for something significant. Volvo is known for Safety, and it stands stronger than any other of the Ford Companies, which include Aston-Martin, Jaguar, Mazda, Kia, etc. He even said not to be surprised if Ford cars have a little emblem in the doorway, vis-à-vis "Body by Fisher", that could say; "Safety by Volvo."  Now that would be cool.

   To end, I'll just say that, aside from the guy that got rear-ended, we were all winners. Maybe him too, as were every participant and attendee. If you ever have an opportunity to attend a West Coast Convention, do it, you'll be glad you did!

   Volvo Jim MacIndoe, former San Diegan and gracious host to Bob Hartz and myself, with his 3-tone, 1967 P210, won the final and most coveted award at the Banquet. His car won Peoples Choice. It just doesn't get any better that!

   The list of SDVSA members in attendance, for the record: Del Skoog, Bob Skoog, Goran Freske, Bob Hartz (well almost), and Gene Bellegarde.