Ramblings of a car guy.

I've always liked cars.

My dad's 1959 Riley One-Point-Five. My first car photo circa 1966 near Reading, UK.

I can remember almost all of the cars my parents had. I remember as a ten year old watching cars drive by the house and trying to name them all. I remember the first time I drove a car; it was a '64 Dodge station wagon with a push button automatic! 

Dad's '64 Dodge wagon circa 1971. Calgary, AB.

 I remember the car I took my driving lessons in and some of the routes taken. I remember the subscriptions to several car magazines that I would read almost the moment they were retrieved from the mailbox. I remember my first car and all the following purchases, most of them anyway, and fortunately the good ones outnumbered the bad ones. I remember buying my first socket set so I could fix the broken rear end in my first car. I remember the first car I bought brand new, where I bought it and how much I paid for it.

My 1959 Beetle. Calgary AB, circa 1974.

59 Beetle interior shot

 

Putt Putt: Memories of a first car

I've been involved in the Festiva community for almost twenty years and over that time I've met a lot of other owners, both locally and internationally. I've also had the opportunity to help some owners keep their cars on the road. I recently parted out a Festiva as it was beyond saving with rust having taken its toll. I asked its owner, Sara, to share the story of that car and here it is...

May I introduce Putt Putt!

My younger sister (Jana) purchased the car in July 2013,shortly after she turned 16, from a guy in Calgary named James; she named it “Putt Putt” because of the sounds it made. It was just shy of 118,000 km and from what I heard, it was very lightly used and had just been sitting in a garage mostly

One time when she was driving our cousin home from school, smoke started coming out of the radio and they had to pull over and get picked up. Luckily it turned into nothing worse!

WESTIVA... now and then

Westiva, the annual Festiva meet in Alberta's Kananaskis Country, continues with new hosts and a new date. It's being held on Saturday, August 24th. Search google maps for Wedge Pond, Kananaskis, AB for directions to the venue.

Sharon and I decided that 2018 would be our last year as hosts and we're glad to see Ryan Prins take on the project. Automotive writer Greg Williams has written several articles about this event and this year is no exception. Here's the link to the latest.

Over the years there have been as few as four cars to as many as ten. This year looks like it might have the largest attendance yet with Festiva owners coming from as far away as San Jose, California. Others are coming from Idaho, Montana, BC, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

WESTIVA X... the big day

Saturday morning dawned cool and showery so I was a little worried about the weather. But by the time we left the house to make our way to the venue the sky was well on its way to clearing and the temperature was rising. Two of the attendees, Bob from Pasco WA and Ryan from the Edmonton area, had stayed with us on Friday night so we headed out together with an initial stop at a local gas station so that Ryan could fill up.

Bob's, Ryan's and my Festiva just getting ready to leave. Yes that is a trailer behind Ryan's car!

We were running a little late so I headed off leaving Bob and Ryan to follow at a more leisurely pace.

Westiva X... almost there!

Westiva 2017 attendees

Well here we are on the eve of Westiva X. The weather is looking quite pleasant with a forecast highs ranging from of 18º-20ºC/64º-68ºF with a mix of sun and cloud.

Westiva X... seven more sleeps!!!

Westiva X is shaping up to be an awesome event. The weather forecast calls for temperatures of 25ºC/77ºF. Bring your sunscreen, bring your camera, wear a hat!

 

Westiva 2017 attendees

Wondering what you can expect to see when you come to Westiva X? Glad you asked!

WESTIVA X... two weeks to go

Fourteen days from now Festivas and other econoboxes will be making their way to Wedge Pond in Alberta's Kananaskis Country. Why, you may ask? Well let me tell you... Westiva X is the reason.

And if you're heading to the venue from Calgary may I suggest a scenic alternative to the Trans Canada Highway? It takes a little longer but its well worth it. Bow Valley Trail (or highway 1A) begins at the western edge of the City of Calgary as the extension of Crowchild Trail. This first stretch is four lane divided highway until you reach the top of the hill above Cochrane AB where it drops to one lane going down the hill. 

Looking westward to the Rocky Mountains over Cochrane AB

Stay on Bow Valley Trail all the way through Cochrane and across Highway 22 (about 15 minutes from Calgary city limits).

WESTIVA X... Three weeks and counting

For those of you traveling to Westiva from the south I would like to share one of my favorite local drives. I wrote about some of this route a few years ago but it bears repeating.

It starts at the intersection of Alberta Highways 3 & 22 reached from the west through Fernie and the the Crowsnest Pass and from the east through Fort MacLeod and past Pincher Creek. From there the route takes you north along the Cowboy Trail to Longview, west to Highwood House and then north again over the Highwood Pass to Wedge Pond.



The first leg up to Longview takes you over 110km of rolling, meandering two lane blacktop through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

WESTIVA X... the countdown begins!

With less than four weeks to go we are getting excited as this year's event is shaping up to be another great one. We have confirmed attendees from Idaho, Washington State, Alberta and Saskatchewan. There is also a possibility of attendees from Arizona and North Carolina. A number of our "regulars" will be there too along with a few first timers.

Westiva 2017 attendees. Photo credit: Ben Rogers

Westiva X

It's that time of year again!

Artwork courtesy of Ben G. Rogers

Westiva is very casual, informal event originally geared towards owners, fans and fanatics of both the Ford Festiva or Ford Aspire with invitations extended to owners of other econoboxes from the late eighties and early nineties such as the Dodge Colt, Chevrolet Sprint, Geo Metro, Suzuki Swift and Nissan Micra.

Westiva 2017

What a great day!!!

Our drive out was in surprisingly heavy traffic on the Trans Canada Highway west of Calgary but once we turned onto Highway 40 it got a lot lighter.

Heavy traffic westbound on the Trans-Canada Highway

We were travelling with Jimmy Hawkins who had driven to Calgary from Macon GA. We were joined by Ryan and family just as we turned onto Highway 40 so the last 30km or so ended up being a three car convoy to the Wedge Pond Day Use Area.

Westiva 2017.... today's the day!

Weather has held... the forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a high of 32ºF/90ºF. Our car is ready to go and long distance attendees are getting closer!

All cleaned up and ready for Westiva 2017

Watch this space over the next couple of days for lots of photos and a full report. Also look for #westiva and #westiva2017 on Instagram.

Westiva 2017... hard to believe that it's only seven days away!

Westiva 2017 is shaping up to be an awesome event. The weather forecast calls for temperatures of 35ºC/95ºF, or as Accuweather puts it... "hot with sizzling sunshine"! Bring your sunscreen, bring your camera, wear a hat!

All of these will be at Westiva 2017 except for the red one.

Wondering what you can expect to see when you come to Westiva 2017? Glad you asked! Here's a small sampling:

Westiva 2017: only 14 days to wait now

The print edition of the on-line article I posted last week was published yesterday in the driving section of the Calgary Herald... apparently we "Festiva aficionados are having a love-in"! The text of the article hasn't changed but we all got a chuckle out of the headline

The weather forecast is looking great with a high of 26ºC (79ºF) and only a slight chance of late day showers; that being said the event is a go rain or shine.

Westiva 2017... three weeks to go!

As Westiva 2017 draws closer things are starting to get more exciting.

Greg Williams is a writer for Driving.ca (among other things) who published an article about our first big road trip back in 2011. I've kept in touch over the years and he has always included Westiva in the 'upcoming events' section of his articles.

His latest article, published on-line just yesterday, features Ben Rogers of Lexington, Kentucky as he prepares his Festiva, named Frito, for an epic 6000 mile road trip that includes a stop at this years edition of Westiva. Ben's route will take him through seventeen states and three provinces.

Ben on his 2016 trip; photo by Ben Rogers

This won't be Ben's first big trip.

Westiva 2017... four weeks and counting.

As I write this post Westiva 2017 is only four weeks away. What is Westiva you ask? Answers to that question can be found by following this link.

Some of the attendees at Westiva 2016

We are getting excited as this year's event is shaping up to be the biggest ever. We have confirmed attendees from Kentucky, Washington State, Georgia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. There is also a possibility of at least one Festiva coming up from Arizona! We have several of our "regulars" coming along with a number of first timers. 

If you have a Festiva, an Aspire, or one of many of the econoboxes from the late '80's and early '90's come and join us. If you don't and are wondering what all the fuss is about please stop by to have a look and ask your questions.

Watch this space for weekly updates!

Westiva 2016 photos

In spite of the rainy weather we had a great day! Final tally: five Festivas and one Suzuki Swift convertible.

Of the five Festivas only two were stock and only one of those was an automatic. The other three had engine swaps and some other custom work. Even the Swift had some modifications in the engine bay!

Joe and his friend Brian drove in from Saskatoon and won the "Long Distance" award, a gift card from RockAuto.

Joe's military themed Fesitva

1.8l DOHC sourced from an Escort GT

Those are not bombs but speaker enclosures!

Julian drove down from Edmonton to join us in his B6 SOHC swapped Festiva...

This definitely qualifies as a low budget build. Julian paid less than $200 for the car, sold about $100 worth of parts off it which he put back into the car, then used bit and pieces he had lying around to put it all back together. Net cash out of pocket... $160!!

Julian was accompanied by Ryan and his family in their stock '93 Festiva. This car has seen a lot of misfortune over the years that Ryan has owned it but it keeps going strong. They are planning a cross country trip in their Festiva for next year and making some improvements and modifications to make the trip a little more comfortable.

Next to arrive was Sara, a family friend, in her '93 Festiva with automatic transmission. Other than the aftermarket wheels this car is stock.

Our special guest this year was Drew from Calgary in his Suzuki Swift convertible. The engine bay features a 1.0l 3 cylinder turbocharged engine which I believe was sourced from a Swift GTI, as were the wheels.

I had my B6T Festiva there as well of course. You can go to this page if you would like to learn more about it.

A Westiva regular call me in the morning to say that he wasn't able to join us and the gentleman I was expecting from Macon, Georgia had to cancel at the last minute. Met some new friends, lots of car talk, great ice cream... all in all a great day.  Looking forward to Westiva 2017 already. 

Thanks to RockAuto.com for providing some giveaways and the gift card that was used for the long distance  award. Thanks also to Rallysport.ca for making the Westiva 2016 stickers for us.

Here's a few more shots of the meet...

 

Thanks most of all to all those that were able to join us on a rainy day. Comments and questions would be greatly appreciated... use the space below. 

Westiva update!

It's been an exciting couple of days for us! The producers of a local radio show, Calgary Eyeopener on CBC Radio 1, contacted me and that discussion led to a live in studio interview on Wednesday morning!

Radio interview

That interview resulted in a follow up article on cbc.ca later in the day. A writer for a local newspaper heard the segment and gave me a call which resulted in an article in today's edition of the Calgary Metro paper.

Getting even more excited about the day.

Thanks to the Calgary Eyeopener crew and to Brodie Thomas at Metro News for promoting our little event!

Update of the update.... 
 
Here's a blog post on "The Truth About Cars" that resulted from the Metro News article! You never know who's going to find you.

Westiva is only a few days away!

Only a few days left until Westiva (details in the featured post). Looking forward to reconnecting with long time friends and meeting new ones.

Should be an interesting day. There will be at least three Festivas there with different engine swaps, ours with the Mazda 1.6l DOHC turbo, one with a Mazda 1.8l DOHC and another with a 1.6l SOHC. One of our regular attendees will be there with the 1990 Festiva LX he bought new and still drives almost every day.

Come back early next week to see photos of the day! For now, here's one taken by our son from the top of "The Wedge" during our 2011 meet....

Westiva @ Wedge Pond Day Use area. July,2011

 

Westiva 2015: an event for econobox fans!

On July 11th we will be hosting Westiva 2015. This will be the seventh time we've held this event with the first being in 2008.

2008 attendees with 'The Wedge' in the background.

Westiva is very casual, informal event originally geared towards owners, fans and fanatics of both the Ford Festiva or Ford Aspire with invitations extended to owners of other econoboxes from the late eighties and early nineties such as the Dodge Colt, Chevrolet Sprint, Geo Metro, Suzuki Swift and Nissan Micra.

The meet is held at the picturesque Wedge Pond Day Use Area in beautiful Kananaskis Country. The "official" start time is around 10:00am. At about 1:00pm we’ll cruise up to the Boulton Creek Trading Post in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park for ice cream, about a 30km drive. From there we'll continue to Upper Kananaskis Lake.

2010 attendees (This shot was taken before the tenth car arrived)

When Westiva was first held in 2008 there were four attendees. Two from Calgary, one from the lower mainland of British Columbia and the fourth driving up from Worland WY. Our best year attendance-wise was 2010 when we had 10 Festivas show up with the furthest being from Ontario. This year we already have owners bringing the cars from as far away as Pasco WA and St. Albert SK.

In keeping with our expanded area of interest we had the owner of a Suburau Vivio RXR come to the 2012 edition. There was no event in 2013 due to significant flooding in southern Alberta

The 2014 event saw a couple of Suzuki Swifts in attendance, one from Calgary and the other from Spruce Grove AB.

Westiva 2014 attendees.

So consider yourself invited! I hope to have my new Festiva project car done in time for the meet.


7th ANNUAL WESTIVA

When: Saturday July 11, 2014
Where: Wedge Pond Day Use Area, Kananaskis, Alberta
Who: Ford Festiva and Aspire fans and anyone interested along with owners, fans etc of other econoboxes from the era.
Why: Why not?

If you'd like more information either leave a comment here or check out the "Meets & Events" section at FordFestiva.com