The Thing About Car Events...

While I love and breathe cars I actually earn my living working with technology systems. You learn early that a software system consists of people, process and technology. Add a new computer but don’t change processes and nothing changes. New people, old technology and well, you get the point, you won’t see any improvements. You need a system.

The same can be said of car related events. Whether it is a Friday night cruise-in, a Saturday morning Cars and Coffee or full weekend car festival three things are needed to make it complete. You must, of course, have cars. You need a great venue and the final ingredient, and this may be the most important, are the people who attend the event. The best cars, best venue with rotten, snobby, cranky people and you will have, well, a lousy event. Great people make or break an event. If you are lucky enough to get two of the above three components you have done well. All three? That is a rare event.

This past week I hit the trifecta. Every April Bo Black and his crew create an event called ‘Mid-America 2002 Festival’ that is held in Eureka Springs, AR. This is my second year to attend and this time I brought my 14 year old son. The event celebrates all things related to BMW 2002s. Tech talks, drives, show and shines, and food. The entire weekend focuses on the person and the car.

So why a trifecta? Remember, you need people, place and cars to make an event fun, memorable and rewarding. Mid-America has done so in spades (not quite sure why spades are so great, but the organizer, Bo, did it nonetheless). If you will permit, let me explain what a trifecta looks like.

First, the location. Arkansas you say? Yep, Arkansas. I live in Birmingham, AL and I get all the comments about living in the south. Rednecks, mobile homes, and outhouses is the impression most have of Birmingham. By contrast Birmingham is a modern and pretty city with great people and simply a great place to live. 

Arkansas reminds me of the same, the state shares all of the jokes of Alabama but they don’t fit, not one bit. The mountains of northwest Arkansas are some of the most beautiful you will ever see (being a Vermonter, this is not easy for me to say). The roads curve in and through those mountains and through little towns that remind us of 50 years ago when a downtown was the heart of a community. You take all of that, double it, and you have the beautiful town of Eureka Springs. A Utopia? Probably not, but it is awfully close.

Now mix in the cars. Am I saying cars are second in importance? As Phineas and Ferb say, ‘Why yes, yes I am.' What can be said about BMW 2002s? If you have never driven, ridden in, owned or seen one I have nothing but sympathy for you. The car is possibly one of the best cars ever manufactured. It is a car the produces a smile each time you drive it. Somehow this little car built in late 60’s and into the early 70’s has a way of working its way from being a vintage car to something you cherish in your heart. In today’s world we drive new cars with power windows, door locks, automated wipers, 1,248 speaker system, 256 way power driver’s seat that cools, warms, blow dries hair and massages you on your way to work. With all of these features you simply point and drive. The 02 is not that car. you don’t drive a 2002, you experience one. As you drive down the road it talks to you. It tells you how fast you are going, how bumpy the road is, and if you are going too fast or too slow through a corner. It invites you to join it on its drive. The car, and you, experience driving nirvana together.

Add to it that 2002s are like snowflakes, where no two are alike and what can be said? 

There were nearly 60 cars at the event and not one of them similar. We had very old cars made in the 60s and ‘new’ cars made in 1976. Some owned by the same person since new while others have had the opportunity to be enjoyed by dozens of owners. Some have perfect paint and some have, well, paint, or something similar. 

And just like couples begin to look like each other as they age each 2002 has its own personality that reflects its owner. While there is not scientific evidence, I am convinced that some of the owners begin to look like the cars they drive. All in all, the cars have more personality than Shirley Temple on a dance stage.

Last, certainly not least, in fact most important, are the people. Maybe this is true of other car marques but I have not seen it. 2002 owners are just ‘good people’. Other phrases to explain them include ‘good eggs’, ‘salt of the earth’, ‘good company’ and host of other warm and fuzzy thoughts that can be associated with people that are just wonderful to be with. Walk into a room filled with 02 owners and you are immediately part of the family and that family is diverse. There is the older German couple who has owned their 1971 car since new and used it daily while raising a family. We have 21 year olds who are attracted to the cars based on the reputation of being sporty and sprightly vehicles. There are engineers, wealthy sales people, mechanics, computer programmers, business owners and everyone in between. We all come together for the same reason, we love our little cars.

I am not sure if good people purchase 2002s or if 2002s make people good? Either way a weekend with a group of like minded people who are happy to be together regardless of the condition of their car or the distance of their trip is a special thing. I am truly sorry for those who don’t have a 2002 and cannot experience a wonderful weekend of everything cars. 

That's the Thing about Car Events...