The inaugural Vancouver Island Region, Porsche Club of America Comox Valley Cars & Coffee rolls into Courtenay this Saturday, April 11 at 10 a.m. at Starbucks in the Crown Isle Plaza.
All VIR PCA members, anyone who has a Porsche, former Porsche owners, want-to-be Porsche owners, or those who just want to see some classy Porsches are invited.
"The V.I.R. began in 1996 as an offshoot of the Canada West Region," said VIR PCA North Island director Wendy Woodley of Courtenay. "We have 209 primary and 131 affiliate members from Victoria to Port Hardy, including Courtenay and Comox."
Woodley and her husband Gary were members of the Victoria Motor Sports Club when they lived in The Capital City and have owned a number of classic sports cars, including a Sunbeam Tiger, Austin-Healey, MG Midgets and Minis.
They became, quite by chance, Porsche owners in August of 2012 while on a trip to the Comox Airport in their Volvo. "It's kind of a funny little story," Wendy said. "At the corner of Idiens and Anderton we saw this cute little green car by the side of the road.
"Gary's had a Sunbeam in British racing green and I wanted another sports car again, so I said we should go back and have a look. So we did. It was all covered in dust and there was cat hair on the soft top. We didn't even know it was a Porsche, to be honest, because we're not Porsche lovers, just sports car lovers.
"We contacted the owner, took a test drive, had the vehicle inspected, and we're now proud owners of a 2002 Boxster in (rare) rainforest metallic green," Wendy said.
The car is a dream to drive. "Switching from a Volvo to a Porsche is like switching from a tank to a plane," Gary said, as he pointed out a few of the high-performance features of their vehicle.
Wendy says there are 18 club members in the Comox Valley (nine in Campbell River and 25 in Parksville-Qualicum) and she expects 25 to 30 cars from the North Island will wheel their way to Saturday's get-together.
She added Porsche Centre Victoria is sending a representative to the event, and says "they have been making some noises about sending an interesting car."
Wendy notes the Porsche owners she has met are all personable people who enjoy their regular rendezvous. That is why she is looking forward to making the Courtenay gatherings a regular occurrence. "It is not about the cars, it is the people," she emphasized.
"We plan to hold the Comox Valley Coffee & Cars, monthly, on the second Saturday. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, April 11 at Starbucks at Crown Isle Plaza," Wendy added. Questions can be directed to Woodley at virpca.org or wendyski@shaw.ca