Westiva 2015... another great get together with fellow Festiva fanatics

We couldn't have asked for better weather for this year's edition of Westiva held at the usual venue, Wedge Pond Day Use Area in Southern Alberta's beautiful Kananaskis Country.

On Highway 40 southbound en route to Wedge Pond.

I drove up a bit early so as to be there before any of the expected attendees arrived. Claimed a spot, unloaded a couple of things, set up my chair and waited. First to arrive was Gary and his family in their 1990 Festiva LX. Gary is a Westiva regular, this being his fourth or fifth time. The LX the top of the line version of the Festiva with all the desirable Festiva goodies. Gary bought the car new in 90 and still uses it as his daily driver, mostly going back and forth to work. In the ensuing twenty five years he's put on just over 320,000km/200,000 miles and still boasts fuel consumption in the 47-57 mile per imperial gallon range.

Gary's 1990 Ford Festiva LX.

Chatted with Gary and family for a bit then our next attendee arrived. Ryan drove down from Leduc, Alberta a one way trip of about 360km/225miles in his 93 GL Sport. This was Ryan's first time to Westiva. His car is also his daily driver and has seen a lot of wear, tear and misfortune. How many cars do you know that have had scaffolding fall on them! On another occasion the hood has also popped open on the highway breaking the windshield and damaging the cowl. More misfortune arrived when a driver who had just picked up their loaner car from a body shop crashed into him!!!

Ryan's striped 1993 Festiva

Not too long after Ryan arrived Kevin and Damian showed up in "The Hamster", a shortened 1990 Festiva! Yes, I said shortened!!! Twenty two inches have been cut out of the length of a car that is less that twelve feet long to begin with. They were inspired by a couple of things... the shortened VW vans that were around a number of years ago and an episode of Monster Garage in which a Festiva was shortened and run in a very large hamster wheel contraption. The amazing thing is that they drove from Kamloops BC to get to the meet which is 575km/360 miles one way. Keep in mind that this is in a car with no roof and worn out rear springs! They camped overnight at Lake Louise and it rained quite a bit overnight so they were a little damp in the morning but still in great spirits. You can follow their exploits on Twitter (@DawgStrip) and YouTube.

No roof gives lots of headroom...

Seats are now located where the back seat used to be.

These guys have a sense of humor... stickers on both sides where the windows used to be!

Last to arrive was Brad and family with their1990. Brad is also a regular and travels from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. With a one way trip of 850lkm/530 miles, Brad earned the "farthest travelled" award. Although he's been to three or four Westivas and this is the first time he's won that prize! Brad's car is powered by a 1.8l DOHC engine sourced from an Ford Escort GT, features shaved door handles, custom hatch, along with a custom front bumper made from a modified aftermarket piece originally intended for a Honda Civic. I have to apologize to Brad as I didn't get any pictures of his car. The one below was taken last year just prior to leaving his home on the way to Westiva 2014.

Brad's custom 1990 Festiva

Unfortunately no other econoboxes made it this year. I had recieved a call from a Calgary gentleman who said that he and his wife each owned Geo Metro convertibles and were very interested in attending. Perhaps the forecast of late day thundershowers shaped their plans.

Here are a few more photos from the days activities....

L-R: Mine, Gary's, Ryan's

L-R: The Hamster, Ryan's, Gary's, mine, Brad's

Picnic time....

 

...at Upper Kananaskis Lake

Upper Kananskis Lake. Ryan is closest to the camera and that's where the water line should be!!!

Kananaskis Country not only has some beautiful scenery but is also home to lots of wildlife. Over the years I've seen moose, lynx, coyotes and more. Here's what we spotted today....

Mountain goats...

Young grizzly about 20 feet off the side of the road!

The goats were right at the corner where you turn off Highway 40 into Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. I spotted the bear just after leaving the upper lake just across from the road from where we had had ice cream earlier in the day! Ryan was behind me so I know he saw it too. Not sure if the others saw it as they were a few minutes ahead of us.

All in all it was a great day. Thanks to all who attended and thanks to Sharon for bringing out a wonderful picnic lunch for us all. Thanks also to Rockauto.com for the giveaways and gift certificate given as the prize for farthest travelled and to the Crowfoot Big Bucket Car Wash for the gift cards.

Looking forward to Westiva 2016. Tentative date: July 16th, same place, same time!!!

Afternoon drive in my 1992 Ford Festiva powered by a Mazda B6 SOHC

An afternoon run in my customized 92 Ford Festiva GL Sport powered with a modified Mazda 323 1.6l SOHC engine. This is just a short section of the drive northbound on Alberta Highway 762 between Millarville and Bragg Creek. I mounted the camera on the dash directly in front of the driver and was surprised at the amount of wind noise that was picked up in spite of the windows being rolled up. I'll have to try a couple of different spots.

The video is my first GoPro film and first YouTube post. It's pretty basic with no fancy editing or music. Hope you like it...

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

Another trip to add to the bucket list

While looking over some more road trip articles I came across another stretch of highway to add to the bucket list that's not too far from home. The Beartooth Highway is a stretch of US Highway 212 that runs from Red Lodge MT through the Absaroka-Beartooth National Wilderness, reaching elevations nearing 3350m (11,000ft), to Cooke City MT and the northern entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

Charles Kuralt called this the most beautiful highway in America. It even has its own website which features a 20 minute video.

From the Visit Yellowstone County website

Red Lodge is about nine hours south of our home in Calgary. It would be quite the trip if we first headed directly for the Beartooth and then made our return trip up through the Going To The Sun Highway and southern Alberta's Cowboy Trail both of which I've written about in earlier posts. This makes for a 2300km (1400mile) round trip. 

I'll close this post off with another Charles Kuralt quote:

"Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything."

Here's to backroads and less traveled routes! If you've driven the Beartooth please leave a comment!

A 'bucket list' drive: Bow Valley Parkway

In an earlier post I shared a link to an article listing five great Canadian roads you need to drive one day. One of those drives was the Bow Valley Parkway in Banff National Park. Here's a quote from that article on www.driving.ca that sums it up better than I can...

"Winding between Banff and Lake Louise inside Banff National Park, the Bow Valley Parkway (Highway 1A) is a remnant of a different time in Canadian motoring. The Parkway was built to be an enjoyable route to the glamorous Chateau Lake Louise hotel some 85 years ago. Today, it serves as a scenic alternative to the bustling TransCanada. The road actually splits the eastbound and westbound lanes at several different points for no apparent reason other than to send drivers along different curving paths. These “one lane” sections are delightfully twisty and fun." (Link to full article above)

My wife Sharon and I were on a mini vacation in the Banff/Canmore area and decided to drive the Parkway on a rather cool and damp afternoon. We took highway 1 west from Banff, past the eastern access to the Parkway to the western end at Lake Louise.

Approaching the eastern access to the Bow Valley Parkway.

Westbound on the Trans-Canada Highway Weather starts to close in near Castle Mountain.

 

Bow Valley Parkway entry sign

Me and the Festiva at the west entrance to the Bow Valley Parkway.

There are a number of spots along the way with exhibits of one sort or another. We chose to stop at Johnston Canyon and save the rest for a day trip of their own. Johnston Canyon is a short distance east of the mid point of the Parkway. It's a popular tourist stop during the summer with the parking lot overflowing and large crowds up and down the trail. Being off-season, mid-week and with iffy weather we found a parking spot very close to the beginning of the trail and very few people around. 

Some straight bits...

 

Some curvy bits...

The Parkway has a split personality....

Two lanes rejoin.

Johnston Canyon is a beautiful spot. If you plan to go on a weekend and especially during high season we would recommend that you either get there early, before 10:00am, or later in the day, say after 4:00pm. That way you should miss the bulk of the tour busses that have this as part of their itinerary.

One of many catwalks on the way up the canyon

Upper falls in Johnston Canyon, May 7, 2015

On the way down.

A beautiful afternoon for a stroll in the mountains....

A little bit east of Johnston Canyon you will find a gate! From this point to the eastern portal the Parkway is only open from 08:00 until 20:00. There is a major wildlife corridor in the area so the closure, along with the low 60kph speed limit, was implemented to reduce animal/car collisions.

Grazing elk spotted in a meadow just east of Johnston Canyon.

The weather co-operated while we did the hike to the upper falls in the canyon, with a little bit of sunshine and very little precipitation. Once we left the parking lot we ran into quite a bit of rain so didn't get a lot of photos. This trip down the Parkway reinforces my opinion that you don't have to go fast to thoroughly enjoy a drive.

Tree in the way? No problem, we'll just split the lanes around it!

So there you have it. One drive off the bucket list. We'll be trying to fit in a couple of close drives listed in the linked article over the summer.  For our Alberta and British Columbia readers please be sure to let us know what your favorite drive is. I'm hoping to put together a list of reasonably local drives, perhaps something that could be done as a day trip.

Thanks to Sharon for taking the photos. 

Flashback!!! Compact Imports at the 1987 Chicago Auto Show... is this the beginning of the econobox era?

This video has popped up on Facebook and other social media just recently. It's a flashback to the early days of the 'econobox' era. 

The title of this video refers to compact imports yet there's several domestic manufacturers shown. 

The '88 Mercury Tracer  was a rebadged version of the Ford Laser model already sold in Asia and Australia, which was itself a restyled Mazda 323.The '88 Pontiac LeMans was manufactured by Daewoo and the '88 Mitsubishi Precis was a rebadged Hyundai. To top that off, the Ford Festiva was engineered by Mazda and manufactured by Kia. Mazda is Japanese; Daewoo, Hyundai and Kia were all based in South Korea.



I noticed that the Ford Festiva was presented as being equipped with a 1.1 litre engine with a 1.3 litre as an option. Although the smaller engine was available in other markets the larger, 1.3 litre, was the engine that came as the standard in North America. 

Not all of the cars in the video are what I would consider an econobox though. The LeMans is borderline and the VW Fox isn't really a "box". 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Earliest road trip memories

I recently came across a couple of photos of one of my early cars. This was my second car and the  first I ever bought from a dealer. It was 1975 and I paid $400 for it. Can't remember how many miles were on it at the time but I do recall it needed a new windshield and within a couple of months of ownership I had to replace the brakes.

Even back then I couldn't leave things stock. I wanted to up the performance a bit so I installed a Mr. Gasket dual point distributor and a carburetor from a '69. The choke had to be converted to the '59's 6 volt system from the '69's 12 volt. I purchased an AM/FM radio and a voltage converter to go with it. Other modifications were the custom steering wheel and interior door panels. I also started on painting the stock steel wheels to resemble the then popular Jackman 5 spoke steel wheels.

The reason I'm sharing this is that the photos reminded me of my first road trip! I had only had my driver's license for a couple of years and hadn't ventured much more that two or three hundred kilometers from home. Friends had recently moved from Calgary to Campbell River BC, which is located on Vancouver Island, and had extended an invitation to come and visit. That was the seed for my first solo road trip.

There was no gas gauge in the early Beetles so planning for the trip was based on an estimated fuel consumption and how far I thought I could get without risking running out of gas. It turned out that my initial estimates were very conservative. My route took me west from Calgary along the Trans-Canada highway through Banff with the first scheduled fuel stop in Golden BC, 265km / 164 miles away. I only needed 18 litres / 4 imperial gallons of gas which netted me 40 miles per gallon. This turned out to be the average for the whole trip, 1600 miles and 40 gallons of gas.

The Coquihalla Highway was still 10 years from being opened so my route followed the Trans Canada Highway through Fraser Canyon. I remember the exhaust developing a leak somewhere after Kamloops BC. In those days oil came in cans so I stopped at a gas station, asked for an empty can, purchased  a couple of clamps and had my exhaust quieted down in no time.

Stopped at a campsite near Hope BC overnight planning an early start the next morning. Made it to Vancouver in time for the noon ferry across to Nanaimo BC and then headed up to Campbell River from there. 

The trip was a lot of fun and other than the exhaust patch I had no problems with the car. I didn't run out of gas either! I showed the pictures to the family the other day and one of the first things they said is that I should have kept the car! Perhaps they were right.

Do you remember your first road trip? Please share it by commenting below.