Born in the USA

A quarterly column from our Pacific Northwest-based correspondent, Jeff Dorgay

Greetings. As commenting on the entire US is a massive undertaking, my reports will probably have more of a West Coast viewpoint, being here in the Pacific Northwest. I’m in the sleepy town of Vancouver, Washington. It turns out we were here before the Canadian city of the same name. It’s about 15 minutes north of Portland, Oregon, and about three hours south of Seattle, Washington. As fate would have it, my travels have taken me to England frequently over the last two decades, and I’m always amazed at how much the climate here is like the weather and landscape there. Rolling hills, big clouds, and our fair share of rainy days. However, when the sun does reveal itself, we are usually out in numbers, either going on drives or standing around in a car park attending Cars & Coffee events. Oddly enough, I never see anyone with a cup of coffee at any of these events…

A few weeks back, our first event here in the Oregon Chapter of the BMWCCA started on a misty morning on my side of the bridge. Staring at the Z4M and the Z3 in the garage, with their hoods down in anticipation of brighter days, I took the lazy man’s route and chose the G22. There’s just something about that heated steering wheel on a blustery morning. Perhaps I’m getting soft in my old age. Bringing this car to the classics event is a bit like being a part crasher, but it’s a pretty forgiving group, and the appearance of a new iX there made it easier to blend in. The iX is a fabulous drive, but we’ll talk about that another day. The moderate climate allows for an extensive range of cars still being used as drivers on the west coast. We’ve got everything from the late 60s and up, and all in decent shape. It’s a significant contrast to the middle of the US and the East Coast, where snow, and subsequent salts used to treat ice, really took their toll on early BMWs.

Thanks to a plethora of winding roads from the Oregon Coast, and our little bit of the famous US 1/101 highway, driving events are plentiful, and I will be making a point to cover a few of those this year as well. But nothing beats a casual get together in a local car park, especially after we’ve all been cloistered away for the winter. This day saw a lot of familiar faces and cars, plus a glimpse of what everyone’s been working on over the rainy season. One of my favourite aspects of my CCA chapter is the broad age range of enthusiasm for the marque. This group has a lot of 30-ish-andunder members, most of which are all driving 80s era BMWs proudly. Of course, the E30 tends to dominate this age group, but a few also drive the big saloons. I have to put in a plug for my friend George Pouch, and his son Daniel (see photo) who both drive E28s.

That’s all for now. I’ll be reporting back with more events, culture, and photos from across the pond. With Covid starting to level out a bit here, I am truly hoping to get out and engage with the world more this year than the past two. And of course, more driving.

Jeff attended a local CCA Cars and Coffee meet and was joined by his friend George Pouch and his son Daniel, both E28 aficionados