British Columbia Buick Tour -- Day 1

[Centurion]

Since forming in the late-1980's to support the BCA members living north of Seattle, the North Cascade Chapter has always been fortunate to count as members and friends a few Canadian Buick enthusiasts living in British Columbia's lower mainland and Vancouver Island.

Our club has discovered that touring in the old Buicks is great fun, and it's been the multi-day driving events that have really brought the Chapter together. Don & Peggy DeMarco, Steve Eremenko, Teri Hill, Lloyd Hunter, and Dave Fisher are Canadian Buick enthusiasts who have joined us on a number of excursions over the past few years, and we've appreciated their willingness to travel south of the border to participate.

North Cascade members Eric & Karen Bernard noted during the recent Skylark Nationals that it would be great for the USA members to head north of the border in their vintage Buicks to sample the beauty of Canada. For once, we'd be making the drive north, and the Canadians could host on their home turf.

Don, Peggy, Steve, and Teri took up the challenge and planned a fantastic two-day Canada tour for the weekend of September 16/17. Other Canadian members, Lloyd and Dave, made plans to meet us at our first Canada stop.

I've received an abundance of fine photos from the tour participants, and I'll share a few of the shots under separate threads for each of the two days.

[Centurion]

Five cars headed north to the Canada border on Saturday morning, including a 1953 Special sedan, 1955 Roadmaster 2-door, 1958 Century sedan, 1961 LeSabre sedan, and my wife and I in our 1959 Electra 4-door hardtop.

We met up with our Canadian hosts across the border in Abbotsford, BC, where we had our first look at Steve Eremenko's recently-acquired 1956 Special convertible. My wife confessed how much she wants this car.

Don & Peggy participated in their turquoise-and-white '59 Electra coupe, finished in the 1959 "Spring Accent" two-toning scheme.

We soon headed north to Don & Peggy's beautifully-landscaped property near Maple Ridge, where we enjoyed pastries and a look at Peggy's horses and Don's Buick projects. Don's driveway was a sea of Buicks.

[Centurion]

Leaving Don & Peggy's home, we headed to a cabin restaurant in the woods for lunch.

We then cruised to the museum housed in the old Staves Lake Hydroelectric Powerhouse.

The driver of this Sunbeam must have found the sight in his rearview mirror to be that of a dazzling highway locomotive bearing down on him. Whenever Mike and Linda Little cruised behind me with their fabulous, original '58 Buick Century, it was almost necessary to switch my mirror to the "night" position!

Karen Bernard shot a few action photos from the passenger seat of the '61 LeSabre.

Karen called this photo of my car "tight squeeze" as we shot across a one-lane bridge.

[Centurion]

Buicks lined up at the Staves Lake powerhouse:

More of the famous '59 delta wings:

We see Lloyd Hunter's 1970 Estate Wagon, which he drove to Flint in 2003 and to Rochester in 2006.

From the excellent powerhouse museum, we headed to the beautiful monastery at Westminster Abbey, and walked the path to this fabulous overlook of the Fraser River Valley.

[Centurion]

Saturday's tour concluded at scenic Harrison Hot Springs, where we enjoyed the international sand sculpture competiton and "happy hour" in Don and Peggy's room. The hilarity traveled to dinner, where my wife and I laughed so much that our faces hurt as we headed to our hotel room.

Stay tuned for a separate thread covering Day 2.

[Mark Shaw]

Brian,

I am really glad to see your posting with photos of your tour. Hopefully, it will motivate others to do the same.

The BCA PWD is planning an after-tour starting the day after the 2007 national meet. We would be interested in any tour routes your group might recommend north of Seattle. We are currently considering tours via Anacortes ferries to one or two islands in Puget Sound as well as to La Conner and other small towns in the area. Please contact me with any info you may have on good hotels, destinations, etc.

Thanks!

[Centurion]

Hi Mark, I've got your e-mail address and will certainly follow up with some information. Gene and Rosalee Lander with our chapter are especially active with touring, and have participated in countless tours with their 1931 Buick -- often with the Horseless Carriage Club. I'll ask them to provide some input. They may even be interested in joining with you.

[Guest imported_Thriller]

Thanks for posting this...great shots of beautiful cars. See, we Canadians are a pretty friendly lot <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

[Guest DELTAWINGFLYER]

Thanks for posting theses great shots Brian , my Wife and I had a wonderful time puting this tour togeather , it was a wish come come true having my driveway full of Buicks other then my own .

It always amazes me how a common interest brings people from diffrent back grounds together

All Buicks are amasing cars and so are the people that own them , I hope we can do this again in the near future <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Don & Peggy De Marco

[Centurion]

Derek, we hope that you, Susanne, the family, and the Wildcat can head west to join us for a future tour!

I agree -- the Canadians were great hosts and great fun. Don, it's folks like you who make these tours so successful.

Hope you'll enjoy the photos included in the new topic for Day 2:

http://forums.aaca.org/showflat.php?Cat=...ge=0#Post413611

And thanks to all the tour participants who have contributed your wonderful photographs for this topic.

[Guest imported_Thriller]

Well, that's sort of the plan for next summer...the hotel is booked...I'm going to get the upholstery done over the winter and touch up a few things and enter the Wildcat into 400 point judging just for kicks. If it place, great, if it doesn't, I probably won't bother with 400 point again.

Probably after the meet, we are going to drive down the coastal highway to the Lincoln City, OR area to spend some time with Suzanne's sister and her family.

[Centurion]

I've added a few more car photos, with apologies to those on dial-up!

[Guest imported_Thriller]

More Buick Babes <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> I'm not entirely sure which are the new ones, but those from the scenic lookout sure are purdy.