[seasvx]

We had a great day! Of the many COE (car oriented events) I have attended over the years, I can say I've never experienced such diversity in both vehicle types and interests. I loved meeting so many people with different cars and interests, and yet, still all Subaru.

The morning was cool, gray and breezy. There was a bit of mist on the drive up but not enough to need the windshield wipers or to screw up my wash job. (I did find out the SVX drive time from Seattle to Oak Harbor is almost exactly half the Mapquest drive time for that trip.) We arrived at the park, registered and parked among about 20 other Subaru’s of all (and I mean ALL) types and descriptions. (Before the day was over there was probably three times that many.)

We hadn’t been there for an hour when a young man named Austin comes over, sees my original dealer price sticker in the rear quarter window and says “Is this really yours or are you just borrowing it from the dealer?” Absolutely made my day! Later, in the kitchen building, Austin showed me a video he made of his DL offroad wagon, complete with light bar on top! He was a member of the Hatch Patrol, the offroading owners of the the EA81 Hatchbacks, wagons and Brats of the ‘80’s. Terrific stuff! Hillclimbing, mud-wallowing, snowman demolition! What a hoot! I told Austin after watching his Hatch Patrol offroad video that if I go out now & buy myself one of those, I'm blaming him! Man, those guys and their cars were as cool as anything else at the show! Looks like good, perverse fun! Austin was showing his Turbo XT coupe, which he called a junior SVX!

The next guy I met was the owner of a Gen 1 Legacy Turbo Wagon. Bob is from Vancouver and has owned Alfas and number of other cool cars. He raced one of them. We had a fine time talking about the now-departed Westwood race circuit, my all-time favorite track that used to be in the foothills outside Vancouver. Wonderful gentleman. He ended up working at the grill and served me my hamburger.

The next guy I met (whose name I never got) owned a beautiful EA81 hatchback, with new paint, phantom flames, trick wheels, sound system, the works. Gotta be the nicest Subaru hatch I’ve ever seen! He’s now working on a Brat restoration, which we can see at a future WCSS show several years down the road.

These are just a few of the really great people and equally terrific cars that were there. Subaru rally cars, a couple of new Sti’s, a new Evo, a selection of truly wonderful 2.5 RS’s, WRX’s, even a modded Outback… like I said a terrific and diverse group!

I can’t finish without mentioning Jamie (SubieGal), president of the PNWSEC, who spearheaded this event. A wonderful person who did a ton of work on a great event.

(I have a few pics in my locker, as well as some updated pics in “Our ’94 LSi” folder of the new wheels.)