The Vintage 2022 Asheville- Hot Springs NC May 19-21

I'll be there Friday nite at the Clarion, in the big white Volvo wagon with some stuff to sell, and walking and talking trash/telling lies, perhaps, Sat at the venue. Really looking forward to meeting a few folks that that I haven't yet. Coupe and 02 staying home to care for my wife...
Its going to be a little warmer than normal, so hats, sunscreen, and coolant are prescribed. I live an hour east of Asheville, so if anyone has needs, trouble, etc, give me a yell.
 
I'll be there Friday nite at the Clarion, in the big white Volvo wagon with some stuff to sell, and walking and talking trash/telling lies, perhaps, Sat at the venue. Really looking forward to meeting a few folks that that I haven't yet. Coupe and 02 staying home to care for my wife...
Its going to be a little warmer than normal, so hats, sunscreen, and coolant are prescribed. I live an hour east of Asheville, so if anyone has needs, trouble, etc, give me a yell.
I’ll have to come see you and your parts.
Tom
 
Good morning all. It was great seeing you, although once again I feel we missed meeting many people. We had a little snafu with our lodging that made Saturday a difficult adventure. As a result, we bugged out pretty early.

While there I counted 14 coupes grouped together at the left (separate from the larger collection of cars). But while walking through the event it was a delight to see two more coupes out "in the wild". I don't know that this is a popular sentiment, but I like seeing our cars out in the field. When I walk and talk to folks at this event and they ask what car I have, I almost always get the same reaction when I say an e9. "Oh, an e9. What are you doing out here talking to people with the 'regular cars'.". Suddenly, I'm not a BMW enthusiast, but one of those stuffy people with an e9. Jeez, if they only knew... Personally, I think grouping the cars to the left of the entrance further reinforces this stigma. Anyway, it was really great to see a couple of coupes out there in the field. Not sure who's cars they were, but I think they were both from Georgia (at least one was for sure). I saw at least one of them at the Foundation on Friday, too.

Hope everyone makes it home safely. On our way back there was a huge wind event in Indiana that had traffic slowed or stopped for miles. The winds were so strong that a semi truck had been knocked over. Trees were blown over into the lanes. Southbound was much worse. The traffic was stopped for tens of miles. Again, be safe - I am thinking of you @Mot27cars and a guy name Scott who drove an E30 convertible (he lives very close to us in Wisconsin).
Stephen
 
Good morning all. It was great seeing you, although once again I feel we missed meeting many people. We had a little snafu with our lodging that made Saturday a difficult adventure. As a result, we bugged out pretty early.

While there I counted 14 coupes grouped together at the left (separate from the larger collection of cars). But while walking through the event it was a delight to see two more coupes out "in the wild". I don't know that this is a popular sentiment, but I like seeing our cars out in the field. When I walk and talk to folks at this event and they ask what car I have, I almost always get the same reaction when I say an e9. "Oh, an e9. What are you doing out here talking to people with the 'regular cars'.". Suddenly, I'm not a BMW enthusiast, but one of those stuffy people with an e9. Jeez, if they only knew... Personally, I think grouping the cars to the left of the entrance further reinforces this stigma. Anyway, it was really great to see a couple of coupes out there in the field. Not sure who's cars they were, but I think they were both from Georgia (at least one was for sure). I saw at least one of them at the Foundation on Friday, too.

Hope everyone makes it home safely. On our way back there was a huge wind event in Indiana that had traffic slowed or stopped for miles. The winds were so strong that a semi truck had been knocked over. Trees were blown over into the lanes. Southbound was much worse. The traffic was stopped for tens of miles. Again, be safe - I am thinking of you @Mot27cars and a guy name Scott who drove an E30 convertible (he lives very close to us in Wisconsin).
Stephen
Thanks Stephen, we actually are leaving Monday morning and hope for clearer weather. Again wish we had more time….
Tom Wilburn
 
Good morning all. It was great seeing you, although once again I feel we missed meeting many people. We had a little snafu with our lodging that made Saturday a difficult adventure. As a result, we bugged out pretty early.

While there I counted 14 coupes grouped together at the left (separate from the larger collection of cars). But while walking through the event it was a delight to see two more coupes out "in the wild". I don't know that this is a popular sentiment, but I like seeing our cars out in the field. When I walk and talk to folks at this event and they ask what car I have, I almost always get the same reaction when I say an e9. "Oh, an e9. What are you doing out here talking to people with the 'regular cars'.". Suddenly, I'm not a BMW enthusiast, but one of those stuffy people with an e9. Jeez, if they only knew... Personally, I think grouping the cars to the left of the entrance further reinforces this stigma. Anyway, it was really great to see a couple of coupes out there in the field. Not sure who's cars they were, but I think they were both from Georgia (at least one was for sure). I saw at least one of them at the Foundation on Friday, too.

Hope everyone makes it home safely. On our way back there was a huge wind event in Indiana that had traffic slowed or stopped for miles. The winds were so strong that a semi truck had been knocked over. Trees were blown over into the lanes. Southbound was much worse. The traffic was stopped for tens of miles. Again, be safe - I am thinking of you @Mot27cars and a guy name Scott who drove an E30 convertible (he lives very close to us in Wisconsin).
Stephen
Stephen
My Son (Nick Wood) and I were traveling with a 2002 and the other E9. We were waved to the open field. Sorry I missed meeting you. There was also an e9 behind a MB Van that reportedly had a mechanical problem.
We just got got home safely.
Thx, Dan
Edit: We could have moved the cars and it was our decision to stay where we were.
 
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Good morning all. It was great seeing you, although once again I feel we missed meeting many people. We had a little snafu with our lodging that made Saturday a difficult adventure. As a result, we bugged out pretty early.

While there I counted 14 coupes grouped together at the left (separate from the larger collection of cars). But while walking through the event it was a delight to see two more coupes out "in the wild". I don't know that this is a popular sentiment, but I like seeing our cars out in the field. When I walk and talk to folks at this event and they ask what car I have, I almost always get the same reaction when I say an e9. "Oh, an e9. What are you doing out here talking to people with the 'regular cars'.". Suddenly, I'm not a BMW enthusiast, but one of those stuffy people with an e9. Jeez, if they only knew... Personally, I think grouping the cars to the left of the entrance further reinforces this stigma. Anyway, it was really great to see a couple of coupes out there in the field. Not sure who's cars they were, but I think they were both from Georgia (at least one was for sure). I saw at least one of them at the Foundation on Friday, too.

Hope everyone makes it home safely. On our way back there was a huge wind event in Indiana that had traffic slowed or stopped for miles. The winds were so strong that a semi truck had been knocked over. Trees were blown over into the lanes. Southbound was much worse. The traffic was stopped for tens of miles. Again, be safe - I am thinking of you @Mot27cars and a guy name Scott who drove an E30 convertible (he lives very close to us in Wisconsin).
Stephen

In 2017, when we pulled onto the mountain top without cell service, past the e3s all nicely lined up by the entrance, we were told we needed to be mixed in with all the other cars because we needed to “mingle.” As a consequence, I did not get to talk to half of the coupe owners who attended that year. And I only managed to deliver the part I had sold because the buyer left his trunk unlocked. I never did meet the buyer.

Afterwards, in response to a suggestion I made (seconded by at least two others I am aware of) that the organizers allow us to park together so that we can find one another, we were informed the event is better enjoyed when we mix with owners of other cars. And because we had the impertinence to ask to be able to find other coupe owners, we were labelled as snobs in the Vintage social media discussions.

So, I stopped going.

I’ve been told that this problem is in the past. Based on Stephen’s little vignette, it obviously is not.
 
Just a silly idea..... what about having just an e9 event? Somewhere nice, where everybody could meet each other and discussions could be focused more specifically to our cars? I’m sure it’s been talked about before. It could be in an interesting and different location in the spring or fall (or even in the early winter in the south or west. I’d recommend Fairhope Alabama in early November or December ( I’m biased as I have a place there).
 
Just a silly idea..... what about having just an e9 event? Somewhere nice, where everybody could meet each other and discussions could be focused more specifically to our cars? I’m sure it’s been talked about before. It could be in an interesting and different location in the spring or fall (or even in the early winter in the south or west. I’d recommend Fairhope Alabama in early November or December ( I’m biased as I have a place there).

SharkFest is the best event to tag onto, usually in Tennessee the 3rd or 4th weekend in April. Usually the same weekend as the Mid-America '02Fest in Arkansas.
 
Just a silly idea..... what about having just an e9 event? Somewhere nice, where everybody could meet each other and discussions could be focused more specifically to our cars? I’m sure it’s been talked about before. It could be in an interesting and different location in the spring or fall (or even in the early winter in the south or west. I’d recommend Fairhope Alabama in early November or December ( I’m biased as I have a place there).
Im not too terribly far from there, over in Newnan Ga. I have a Biergarten in my backyard and I am always looking for a reason to fire up the smoker. Although I love the Mobile area.. That sounds like an awesome idea.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr
 
SharkFest is the best event to tag onto, usually in Tennessee the 3rd or 4th weekend in April. Usually the same weekend as the Mid-America '02Fest in Arkansas.
I have been talking up Sharkfest as a place for coupe people to meet up for several years now. When I started looking for my coupe more than ten years ago, I picked a handful of events to attend to attempt to meet couple people and talk about coupes. I discovered Sharkfest, and I like the way Kai and Nat and the gang run that event. The event is much smaller in scale, making it much easier to find kindred spirits. Alas, as Andrew notes, it sometimes conflicts with '02Fest, so many owners of coupes and 2002s have to make a choice.

And this year, one of Nat's family friends arranged an air show: https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/southeast-sharkfest-2022-celebrate-the-e9.39391/post-351813
 
Very cool. Will have to check that one out in the future. Is it always in the same location (Chattanooga)? Or does it vary?
 
Here are more Coupe photos from The Vintage in Asheville/Hot Springs
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I have been talking up Sharkfest as a place for coupe people to meet up for several years now. When I started looking for my coupe more than ten years ago, I picked a handful of events to attend to attempt to meet couple people and talk about coupes. I discovered Sharkfest, and I like the way Kai and Nat and the gang run that event. The event is much smaller in scale, making it much easier to find kindred spirits. Alas, as Andrew notes, it sometimes conflicts with '02Fest, so many owners of coupes and 2002s have to make a choice.

And this year, one of Nat's family friends arranged an air show: https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/southeast-sharkfest-2022-celebrate-the-e9.39391/post-351813
Sharkfest would absolutely be the best place to organize an E9 FEST.

We had 16 E9's at The Vintage parked together.
We all talked and had a great time.
I think all of us also walked the whole field of 500 cars to see what was out there.
I've organized this 2 years in a row and promoted it the best I could. Only my friendship with the organizer of this show made this possible.
I was extremely disappointed that 2 E9 owners did not park with us. One E9 was not running and on a dolly trailer.
A group of 19 E9's would certainly have been an East Coast record and makes for great memories.

I will probably not do this again.
I have a Golf 2002 Tii that has never been to The Vintage and it needs to go next year.
My M5 has been many years as this was my 15th year of attendance.
One year with my help we had 18 E28 M5's.

I have an All German car show in Norcross, GA I started with some other enthusiasts last year and all my extra time is devoted to that.

Gary Beck
Deutsche-Klassic.com
 

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