The Treasure of Little Moments
There are little car shows, and car shows in little towns. I finally paid a visit to a great car show in a small place – Victoria, British Columbia. To Northwesterners, it’s the well-known capital of British Columbia. Located on the vast, and mostly wild, Vancouver Island, Victoria retains a small town charm. But don’t, like I was, be fooled by that. There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of people both here and nearby who harbor a great enthusiasm for cars.
Victoria isn’t particularly easy, or inexpensive, to get to. Most of us do so by Ferry, either via Port Angeles on the Great Peninsula of Washington State or from just over the Canadian border at Tsawwassen, south of Vancouver. From Port Angeles it’s the old independent Black Ball Ferry Line that uses essentially surplused (but very seaworthy) BC Ferry boats. The Tsawwassen terminal is operated by the BC government as BC Ferries. Advanced reservations are pretty much a requirement if you expect to get on this 95-minute ride. It’s also not cheap – $93 CDN, or currently about a relative $62 US bargain each way. The advantage of using the Black Ball is that it docks right in downtown Victoria, directly across the street from the Hotel Grand Pacific and less than a 1/2 mile from the Empress Hotel. Both are top notch. The BC Ferry docks about 20 miles up the east side of Vancouver Island at Sidney, and it’s not a fun drive the rest of the way to Victoria. The sometimes separated four-lane highway is fraught with stop lights and long backups. The drive usually takes about 35 minutes. From Seattle, this whole journey is 4-1/2 hours at best. Without a NEXUS border pass, you could potentially add another two hours or more.
Because it takes some effort to get here, it’s mostly tourists and locals who will be attending any kind of event like a car show. So, imagine my surprise when, on the main drag in the little enclave of Oak Bay, more than 10,000 people show up to crowd this closed 1/2-mile section of road that’s packed with show cars of all kinds, shapes, and sizes. Known formally as the Oak Bay Collector Car Festival, this show outdoes itself. Our Aston Martin club has 18 cars signed up, with a nice variety ranging from a 1938 Aston Martin Model 15-98 open two-seater to a 2023 Vantage F1 Edition. The Aston Model 15-98 is a recently finished labor of love. It’s a restoration that took 20 years, started as a barn find from only four boxes of parts and a significant number of missing pieces.
Our weekend begins with a Saturday tour of the modest but interesting BC Aviation Museum at Victoria International Airport. It highlights local aviation history and it’s not insignificant involvement in WWII aviation. Lunch follows at the nearby aviation-themed Mary’s Bleue Moon Cafe. A very nice dinner of salmon and prime rib follows later that evening at the exclusive and secluded University Club on the University of Victoria campus.
Sunday morning brings an early 8am arrival to the show. I actually show up about 8:15 to a long line. It takes about 45 minutes to be placed in my exhibit spot with the Aston group. Seems they could use a few more volunteers for the size of this show. But, all is good and by 10am the show is going full bore. There’s a non-stop line of people passing by and at least 4-6 people eyeballing my car at any given moment – all day long! It never stopped and rarely slowed.
I manage to take a break from policing my car long enough to do a loop of the show. Unfortunately, unless you want thoughtless people (and there always are a few) scratching, damaging or even sitting in your car without permission, car owners need to keep a watchful eye on both their cars and the cars of other exhibitors. There are some amazing cars here.
I know I’m lucky enough to have a pretty special car, but the number of people who come by and recognize and appreciate what I have is surprising and gratifying. Not just one or two, but several people remark it’s their favorite car in the show. To me, that is very high praise and I express both my surprise and humble thanks for their thoughts. Really, there are some fantastic cars in this show, and to have anyone think my car is above all those is truly amazing.
It’s great fun to engage with people, in as friendly a way as I can, about my car. If I see them taking a visual interest, or reading the car’s info sheet, I usually say, “Hi, how are you?”, or some other salutation to open a conversation. Many times, people want to know about the car’s special paint, or how fast it goes, or how the engine’s made, or what modifications have been done. Maybe they just want to know why I’m visiting this show, or to exchange stories. Sometimes they simply express appreciation that I brought my car for them to see. Wow – they’re appreciative for me just showing up. How simple, and how nice is that? It’s little interactions like that, all day long, that make some car shows special. Simple gratitude, humble gestures, sincere interest, the telling of stories, the relaying of information, the exchange of tips with car club members. It’s open, honest and fun.
Granted, not all shows are like this one. Is it because it’s in a smaller town? Maybe. It’s hard to say. Some shows just have that ‘look only’ vibe, while others, like this one, invite you in to talk. I’m a fan of the latter. It’s so much more fun to interact with people.
