Impressed as I am with the major international concours, auctions, and classic car rallyes that populate equally glamorous locations I sometimes forget that wherever old cars are driven there are small, local clubs putting together events that, in their own, highly sociable way are just as much fun. I was reminded of this while viewing the Web site of such a group that, as it happens, is headquartered about three dozen miles from where I live. Unfortunately those miles consist mostly of water so it's not likely I'll become a participant. Actually I'm wrong in suggesting Classic Car Adventures is a "club" for it is actually an informal and occasional gathering of like-minded sports and import enthusiasts who just want to share the pleasures of driving interesting roads to interesting places.

On Thanksgiving weekend the Classic Car adventurers gathered in West Vancouver for a run up the Sea to Sky Highway, one of the world's great driving roads. It begins on Vancouver's north shore and winds its way to the ski resort town of Whistler where some of the 2010 Winter Olympics events will be held; you may even catch glimpses of it on your flat screen if the TV directors covering the show are kind enough to pleasure us with a few heli shots showing how the highway snakes along the waters of Howe Sound. Some 50 souls drove their classics to Britannia Beach and a warm brew at Galileo's Coffee Shop; the brave ones with their tops down in the cool autumn weather. The photo above, from the Web site, shows the variety of cars plus a glimpse of the scenery behind. (Britannia Beach is not a beach in the true sense of the word so if you visit don't bring your bathing suit as I did when I first arrived in BC many years ago.)

Classic Car Adventures is currently taking entries for its Spring Thaw, April 30th to May 2nd, which it describes as "a budget-minded 3-day driving adventure through British Columbia for pre-1979 touring and sports cars. This is for those who enjoy spirited driving on some of the most challenging and beautiful roads in the world. Concours cars are more than welcome, but we also encourage those less-than-mint, hard-driven, budget classics to take part. Enthusiasm for driving old, unreliable cars counts more than anything!" So if you live anywhere in the Pacific Northwest and need something to keep you excited through the long, wet winter, here's your chance, folks.

(In case our American viewers are wondering... Thanksgiving comes early in Canada though few Canadians can tell you what we're supposed to be giving thanks for, this country never having had a boatload of religious escapees land on its shores, unless you count the 80 Tamil illegals who just arrived in a rusty old freighter.)

[Photo credit: Classic Car Adventures]