Well, for us it was a disappointment. While the day started out great, Saturday coffee with RichardM and Bridget in attendance, then lunch at Native Foods at Bridgeport village, the show was disappointing. We definitely were not the target demographic.
There were several hundred cars in the parking lot, most we'd classify as super tuners. You know, the ones that sound like pissed off bumble bees. And as far as the vendors went, as long as you owned a BRZ or wanted your vehicle lowered they had a deal for you. If you owned a Forester, they didn't want to talk to you, let alone assist you in purchasing anything from their company.
The doors opened at 11 am for the general public. We'd purchased tickets online which would give us a goodie bag each, raffle tickets, and also a t-shirt for Troubadour. We arrived just after 1 pm when temperatures had soared to a lovely 103˚F (39.44˚C) can you sense the heat in the following pictures?
Troubadour actually took a panoramic picture of all the cars with the Olympus camera, but for some reason I can't get it to download. So, here are a few regular shots of the event I took with the Canon.
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| (Big NW - Portland International Raceway - PIR) |
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| (Big NW - Portland International Raceway - PIR) |
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| (Big NW - Portland International Raceway - PIR) |
We wandered over to the info table to pick up our goodie bags, then took them back to the car. We could not have parked further away from the vendors, but we did find shade. We decided to have a look at the vendor booths. One was selling this drift-trike.
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| (Drift Trike for sale) |
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| (Cool old Subaru) |
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| (I thought the blue accents on this car were interesting) |
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| (Someone brought a Datsun to a Subaru party) |
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| (I thought this color combination horrendous, but it is eye catching) |
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| (Oh look, someone rode their R1 to the Subaru party - good job) |
The vibe we got from the event was more of a Paul Walker memorial. If you don't know who Paul Walker is, he was an American actor who starred in the Fast and the Furious movie franchise before his untimely death in a car accident two years ago.
The car below even had a tribute on the lower left corner of the door. It was a vinyl sticker of Paul's signature and a quote form one of the movies. Again, I think this shows the target age of the attendees.
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| (Interesting color combination - I like the roof rack) |
We waited until all the raffles had been called (you had to be present to win - we got skunked) then joined the mass exodus out of PIR. We stopped at Starbucks in Bridgeport Village for a nice iced beverage and carried on towards home. The sun was peeking though some interesting clouds. The color is skewed a bit, as I took the pictures through the tinted windows.
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| (Interesting skies to the west of I-5) |
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| (ooooh, aaaaaaah) |
Once we got home we put some veggies burgers on the grill and spread out our haul from the goodie bags. Anyone need a cheap water bottle, cheap sunglasses or a 2015 Subaru calendar just let me know. Ill send them your way. Sorry, we already ate the chips.
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| (Goodie bags and Troubadour's shirt) |
At the end of August there is another Subaru event, this one in Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. We briefly thought of going as the target demographic seems to be a bit older, but once bitten twice shy. We decided against it.
- Au Revoir
" The first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to the left." - Jerry M. Wright
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Only 1 T shirt?
ReplyDeleteSorry Nico, just one shirt. I don't like regular t-shirts. Too tight in the neck for me.
DeleteThese overly tuned vehicles are not my cup of tea really. I rather prefer classic cars, or better... a motorcycle show ;-)
ReplyDeleteNot really our cup of tea either. Not quite what we were expecting. Motorcycle shows are way more fun.
DeleteThat's kind of disappointing. A tuner Forester would be like an old VW bus with a turbo Porsche engine...
ReplyDeleteSo how much did you lower the Fiat?
We were quite disappointed.
DeleteNo lowering the Fiat or we'd never get over speed bumps. :-)
So sorry you had disappointment. At least you got out and now you know not to go again if they have it in return. Heat: I hate it.. wish it would go away now.
ReplyDeleteLuckily our heat wave has finally subsided. Lets hope it stays away. I don't think we'll be going back to this event next year.
DeleteI'm shocked...someone taking a Datsun to a Subaru gathering.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of person would do something like that?
DeleteIn Doug's defense, he did just take a Guzzi to a Guzzi rally, lol. :-)
DeleteI don't know Brandy but I think they're missing a niche market - sup-ed up, lowered Forresters. I mean there's a lot more room for the 'whatever fuel tanks' they use in the back. (Okay, so I've never heard of such a rally before but you had to try it once right?)
ReplyDeleteThe Forester has such a nice stance on it I'd hate to see one really lowered.
DeleteSo I, too, would have been out of place in my early '90s Legacy Wagon from back in the day?... I bought that used white wagon shortly after I graduated from high school--it had been a US Ski Team car--and, boy, did it serve me well for many years: big enough for a bunch of friends, plenty of camping gear, and for me to sleep inside while those suckers cowered in their leaky tents in a drizzle (heartless, I know). Plenty of folks did think it strange, though, that a fresh-from-high-school kid chose to buy a Subaru Wagon.
ReplyDeleteI like the vintage one that you captured (cool color): I wonder how many miles it's sporting.
Still, a Subaru--rally?, gathering?, car show?--strikes me as a bit of an odd thing, though I don't know why.
I imagine that you'll be unloading the calendar at half price--you know, since we're already into August. :)
Wagons are really popular where we live but maybe the population is younger in Portland. Subarus are hugely popular in Oregon and the PNW. I think because of their reliability but also the AWD. And you can tell ho popular by this gathering in Oregon and the one at the end of the month in Washington.
DeleteThe calendar is less than half price. Email me your mailing address (email link on my profile page) and it will be in the mail the next day. I'll even pay postage. :-) We were a little surprised they weren't 2016 calendars, but now we know why they were free.
All those boring subarus and nothing to look at, what's that. Wait someone there has some taste in vehicles after all, that gorgeous Yamaha. Ah that at least saved this post from the scrap bin.
ReplyDeleteSorry Brandy, well I am a one eyed R1 fanatic after all.
I took the R1 picture with you in mind. The show would have been a lot better if there were more motorcycles and less cars. I guess we attended the wrong kind of gathering.
DeleteI never cease to be at least a little bit surprised that cars stand up on their own. I mean how can you trust a vehicle that doesn't topple over in sadness as you walk away from it? Bound for disappointment.
ReplyDeleteVery well said Michael. :-)
DeleteFunny, I thought RichardM would mention our son and how he would have liked the show. He has a Subaru that is a pretty blue and goes Vroom Vroom. It looks a lot like the blue one with the green wheels, minus the green. I don't remember the model.
ReplyDeleteKyle says that he likes Subarus from a mechanical point of view, but they are not his dream car. He would rather have a Nissan GTR. Kyle's Subaru is a WRX. It is the most talked about car on Reddit. How's that for trivia?
DeleteRichard has mentioned Kyle's Subaru to us before, but I don't think he mentioned the model of it. WRXs are another popular model. More performance than the wagons. Thanks for the bit of trivia, I didn't know they were the most talked about model.
DeleteAh, well....you did at least get out, visit with friends, see some cool older cars, and have good coffee. weather looked to be perfect.
ReplyDeleteWas a little toasty weather-wise, but by south Texas standards it was probably cool at 103˚F.
DeleteUgh, I probably would have felt misplaced like you did. ;-) But you had an entertaining trip and some great summer weather, although a bit on the toasty side again.
ReplyDeleteIt was just an odd feeling walking around there. But it did get us out of the house.
DeleteI see from reading your posts that it gets very hot there, I live in a small fishing town on a bay which tends to keep the temperature down, even in the middle of summer we get low to mid 30's whereas only about 100kms inland we have had mid 40's on occasions. Not sure that I would like continuous heat. Love your photos!
ReplyDeleteIt has been too darn hot here. It is cooler at the coast so I can see why your temperatures would be better on the bay.
DeleteI've been to some sucky car shows over the years, so I really feel ya. My exx was really into Mustangs, so we went to so many shows. . . Ugh!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter was heartbroken when Paul Walker died. She watched all of his movies growing up and would tell us she was going to marry him one day. When I heard the news I was so worried about telling her. She cried and cried on the phone with me. It broke my heart too.
I'll be she would have liked this car show, but then again, she's 25.
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Your daughter would have enjoyed the event. I think she is the perfect age.
DeleteWell, at least you guys got out in the fresh air for a little stroll! Ha ha!
ReplyDeleteI know the disappointment though after lots of hype and no delivery.
Didn't Nissan used to be "Datsun"?
Some remote brain cell conjured up that thought....
Fresh 103 degree air stroll. Thought we were done with the heat waves but we're back at 100 degrees again.
DeleteYes, Nissan used to be Datsun once upon a time. Good for you for remembering.
hmmm, thats a bummer on the car gathering (i cant call it a show now, lol). it wouldn't have been my cup of tea either. but yay for nice, albeit warm weather! :)
ReplyDeleteTechnically it was a show - it showed us how old we are getting, Bwahahahaha.
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