PNW Oppomeet 2019

"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
05/14/2019 at 11:30 • Filed to: pnw oppomeet

I’ll have more photos when I get the film developed, but here’s what I got digitally this weekend. This was an awesome time, it was great to see those I’d met before, and great to meet those I hadn’t. Thanks to COFL for organizing this, I think we all appreciate your commitment to the PNW Oppo community. I hadn’t driven past Whistler up to Pemberton in a few years, and I’d never driven the highway between Pemberton and Lytton, and I was missing out. I need to do it again in a more fun car, and again for the express purpose of taking pictures, it’s just crazy gorgeous. Anyways, here’s some pictures.

First stop at Porteau Cove

Coupla wagons

The genuinely impressive little E30

The source of my want for a V8 W210

A lovely shark

Hot hatches

I thought I go t photos of the Acura and the Dodge, but apparently I forgot.

Now onto the Whistler train wreck

Next photos I’ve got are from Nairn Falls, near Pemberton. This was the second day, after staying the night in Whistler.

Now here’s what I got on my phone. These are from the highway between Pemby and Lytton.

Seton Lake, a gorgeous BC Hydro reservoir near Lillooet

That brings us to our last stop before going our separate ways, Hell’s Gate, in the Fraser canyon between Yale and Hope. By this point, I was 17 minutes behind everyone else. I was going very easy on the Legacy after Lillooet, since I slightly cooked my ATF trying to keep up with the sportier cars between Pemby and Seton Lake. Thanks for waiting for me at Hell’s gate, n ext time I’ll hopefully have a car that can keep up.

That’s all for now until I get a couple rolls of film developed. That was a seriously awesome weekend everyone, it sucked to come back to work and reality yesterday.

DISCUSSION (23)

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > gmctavish needs more space
05/14/2019 at 11:43

to quote my wife “I hope he didn’t do any permanent damage to his car”

We all ran our cars hard. I think the ST has a wheel bearing issue, the AMG has never run that hard the mighty BMW was quite toasty under the hood.

That was a demanding drive!

gmctavish needs more space > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
05/14/2019 at 11:48

I also hope I didn’t do any permanent damage, but it was behaving pretty much normally by somewhere between Lytton and Boston Bar. Yesterday it seemed the same as it aways is. I think I may have taken some life off the trans, but I haven’t killed it. It’s also possible that once it gets hot enough it cuts throttle to avoid damage, which is what it felt like it was doing.

Definitely a demanding drive, and a really fun one too

someoneatacura > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
05/14/2019 at 12:04

I wish I was there for the second day! I would have also been extremely embarrassed if something went wrong with the A-Spec.

someoneatacura > gmctavish needs more space
05/14/2019 at 12:06

Great shots! Excited to see how the film ones turn out!

gmctavish needs more space > someoneatacura
05/14/2019 at 12:08

Thanks! I think I’m gonna have to do this drive again for the purpose of taking more photos, there are too many amazing potential shots along the highway

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > gmctavish needs more space
05/14/2019 at 12:25

Clearly the solution is an EJ257 and manual swap! Haha I meant to ask if you were taking pictures with film, thats awesome. Gotta be harder and harder nowadays to get the film developed.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gmctavish needs more space
05/14/2019 at 12:46

Glad it's doing better! You might want to get that trans serviced asap just to be safe.

someoneatacura > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
05/14/2019 at 12:54

Depends where you live. Vancouver has a thriving hipster community, so there is lots of options (and most major photo printing stores will develop 35mm colour film). I had to get some Medium Format stuff developed (2 rolls of 120 - 1 B&W, 1 Colour) and scanned to a digital file for editing, that set me back nearly $100.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > someoneatacura
05/14/2019 at 13:09

That definitely sounds like the most hipster thing that I could possibly think of. Only moreso if in order to get to the photo shop, you rode a fixie there.

someoneatacura > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
05/14/2019 at 13:38

I rode my road bike, yes.

gmctavish needs more space > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
05/14/2019 at 14:03

Haha I like that idea, but I think it would be cheaper just to buy a Legacy GT. What I really want is an EZ30 with a 6 speed, but those were never sold here.

I was indeed, I had 2 film cameras going, as well as my dslr and my phone. I didn’t take as many photos as I thought I would, but I think here’s some good ones. And yeah, there aren’t a ton of options, but the London drugs down the road from me does quite a good job

gmctavish needs more space > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
05/14/2019 at 14:28

Me too! It’s going in for an oil change and summer tires on Friday, so that’ll either happen then as well, or soon.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > gmctavish needs more space
05/14/2019 at 14:59

mmmm yeah I wanted to find a Legacy GT (especially a Spec B) so badly when I ended up buying my STi instead. It was a shame that the only ones I could actually find for sale were automatic. And the occasional one that would come up in manual that wasnt ruined would easily be $20k+

gmctavish needs more space > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
05/14/2019 at 15:44

Oh wow, I don’t see them all the time up here, but they’re usually 8-12k, and manual at least half the time. Basically never any Spec Bs though

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gmctavish needs more space
05/16/2019 at 01:57

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-mercedes-benz-e55-amg-10/

gmctavish needs more space > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
05/16/2019 at 10:17

Geeez. I know it’s an auction, but that’s just over half the usual prices I see locally

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gmctavish needs more space
05/16/2019 at 10:18

But it's a super clean 55 with low miles! The last two went for 20k us and 30k us.

gmctavish needs more space > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
05/16/2019 at 10:21

Oh wow, so it’ll probably jump a bunch close to the end. Damn, that would be fun to pick up and do a road trip home with

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gmctavish needs more space
05/16/2019 at 10:45

Trust me, that road trip home is awesome! Mine was much less, and higher miles, but still extremely clean. Worse condition, I've seen them as low as 2k us.

gmctavish needs more space > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
05/16/2019 at 11:51

I’d be inclined to wait for one that was less as well, but if that one didn’t go up much in price, it would be an awesome deal.

This is the cheapest one locally, and the mods make me very wary

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van/cto/d/2001-e55-amg/6845995918.html

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gmctavish needs more space
05/16/2019 at 14:06

Price seems high for the mileage. If you could get him down to 6-7 it might be worth it. Grill looks dumb, lights are questionable. Lights look good, it’s the quality and extent of work that make me nervous. Factory lights that look like that were on newer years. Koni shocks are a big upgrade. At that mileage it probably needs control arm bushings and ball joints, probably valve cover gaskets.

gmctavish needs more space > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
05/16/2019 at 15:58

That’s along the lines of what I was thinking, and good to know about what might need done. I do worry that the Konis would be less comfortable than I want, but I did have an e28 with Koni yellows and liked them. Thank you!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gmctavish needs more space
05/16/2019 at 16:29

I’m curious to know how the konis feel too. I've considered putting them on mine. I know they're an extremely good shock, but don't know how that translates to ride on these cars.