Waterwagens 2002
The weather Gods laughed mightily on the first weekend of August 2002 as Olympia, Washington turned into a deluge time and time again. Hence, Waterwagens 2002 lived to its’ name. St. Martins College was the site for the show this year and featured over 235 cars and nearly 20 sponsors. In force were vendors such as Futrell Autowerks, Matrix Engineering, Neuspeed, Bahn Brenner, Hillside Imports, and RPI. This event has become one of the largest shows in the Pacific Northwest and continues to grow and attract a great diversity of cars. Many of the shows participants were diligent in their efforts to dry off their cars the first two or three times that the sky cleared and the sun showed some promise of shining if only for a moment. Out came the chamois, the towels, and the Armor-All products and off came the hats and rain slickers that the people who know Washington State were smart enough to pack. It fortunately did very little to deter the level of enthusiasm for the people involved in the show because hey, what is a car show without a little conflict? If you have never visited the Northwest Coastline it is certainly a sharp contrast to the hectic pace of the Northeast. Much of what we experienced at Waterfest less than one month prior such as the high heat and humidity and traffic was pleasantly missing from this particular venue. At night the weather in Olympia was in the mid-fifties and during the show didn’t reach out of the mid sixties. To compare a show like Waterwagens to a show like Waterfest is actually quite absurd given the completely different perspectives that the shows bring. Certainly they both have vendors, people and cars but there is where the similarities end. A show like Waterfest you could certainly spend your day viewing the entire display of Mk1V cars and never see the rest of the field; a show like Waterwagens you can have the pleasure of actually spending time talking to each owner and learning more about their car and what went into being there that day. Both types of shows have their merits, but this show like others of its’ size like CVO’s Treffen is less about flash, and more about the hard-work of the individual. Most of the cars that were present at Waterwagens were driven to the show, shown with pride, and then driven home. All and all, this East Coaster was impressed with the cars that he viewed and the people that he met. Hopefully the next time I will be smart enough to pack a sweatshirt and a raincoat. The results were as follows: Audi A4 Audi Other |