Victoria 2013

The FCA Northwest Region planned a trip to Victoria, BC for the middle of September.  In addition, the Western Canada Region had a meeting planned for Kelowna, BC on the prior weekend.  So I was going to go on both and spend the days in between in the condo in Whistler working on a few things there.

However, due to a snafu in the planning, the Kelowna portion got canceled.  So I ended up driving directly to Whistler, spending three days there and then down to the ferry to Vancouver Island on Friday to meet up with the Seattle crowd.

On the way down from Nanaimo to Victoria, I stopped at a shop in Chemainus where I was told there was a 4HL 330 GT.  That turned out to be true, so I was able to take a few pictures, get some numbers and history on the car for the registry.

In addition, the owner had worked on, sold or brokered several other 330 GTs.  So we talked for several hours while he tried to remember about those cars, looked up records and pictures.  A very pleasant afternoon, but that dropped me in the middle of Friday afternoon traffic in Victoria.  Luckily it was a cool day and the 330 didn't get hot.

On Saturday, the group went up to the Cowichan Valley for their Wine and Food Festival.  The leader (from Victoria) decided to take us out of Victoria a scenic way, but that just meant that the group got split apart due to delays, lights, etc.  I ended up leading a group of six or so cars who assumed that I knew where I was going.  I did manage to get us back to Canada 1 going out of Victoria.  Then luckily another Victoria resident took over the lead and got us to the first winery.  From there, onto a second winery and lunch.  After a great lunch at a farm restaurant, another member and I decided we'd had enough and headed back to Victoria.  He was in a 430 and was ahead stopped at a light.  The right lane was open and someone drove up and stopped next to me.  I looked over and the driver was taking a picture with his cell phone.  I waved and then pointed to the 430 ahead of me.  He looked at it, shook his head, mouthed no and then drove on past up to the stopped cars in his lane.  So at least some people still appreciate the older cars.

Saturday night was a great buffet dinner at the hotel.  Sunday morning required getting going, even though the ferry didn't depart until 10:30, they required the cars to be in line by 9.  I took my car over about 8 and was the first in the group to arrive.  The parking guy came over to my car and asked if I would like to line up in a wider lane so other cars wouldn't be nearby.  Of course I said yes, so he put me (and later, the other cars) in the lane that is usually for semi trucks, which being Sunday morning was empty.  One of the group came in a Porsche Cayenne, but he got put into a regular lane.  However, a great old Rolls Royce did get put into our lane.  The owner has driven that car all over the world.  You can just see it in the next row over from my car.

   

Later the parking guy came by and I took a picture of him sitting in the driver's seat.  Then as we getting ready to drive on board, he runs up and asks if he can ride the couple of hundred feet and the length of the ferry.  Of course I said yes.  Being first in line also means being first in line to drive off the boat.

Most of the group were going to stop for lunch after getting off the ferry, but I was ready to get home.  It was raining with worse weather forecast, so I drove straight off the ferry and on my way.

The total trip was about 600 miles with only two issues with the 330.  The clutch started slipping at low revs (<2K) in fifth gear, due to the high torque and load.  So I need to adjust it.  Then the voltage regulator decided to stop working, at least some of the time.  I figured that the battery had enough juice to get me home as the electrics when running only draw about 8 amps and I only had a two hour drive left.  It did get me home.  I have a rebuilt (new innards) original red regulator to go back in the car.  This will provide the impetus to get that installed.

A couple of weeks later, after I've taken most of the parts off the car in preparation for painting, I checked on the clutch.  The adjustment is at its limit.  The only way to get more adjustment is to remove the lock nut.  So when I get the car back after painting, I'll have to remove the transmission and replace the clutch.