Five Healeys and one BJ9 met in Washougal, WA on a glorious Friday morning.  We departed  as advertised at 10:00 AM and began our trek to Wenatchee, WA with an overnight stop in Ellensburg.

Highway 14 along the Columbia River was the initial leg of the drive with one stop to admire the view of Mount Hood.  The group was soon joined by Kent and Judy Lambert who had crossed over the Columbia from Hood River, OR.  When the group reached the  junction with Highway 97, the road over Satus Pass, we headed north toward Ellensburg.   Goldendale provided a lunch and petrol stop.  It was here that George Koeber found a fuel pump to be a little stubborn.  That is George  stretched out on the blanket in the photo. Notice a few helpers hanging around.

We arrived in Ellensburg in the late afternoon but just in time for a Happy Hour at an eatery/tavern a short walk from the motel.  On return to the motel we found one of the Seattle-based Healeys had arrived at the motel and the owner, Al Wales, was intently working on a faulty set of points.  A few Oregon club members joined into help and several hours later, after multiple installations and removals and re-installations of a standard set of points and a solid state ignition, the engine was finally burbling away around 10:30 PM.

Saturday morning we launched once again for  our drive to Wenatchee.  Along the way the group pulled over several times to readjust the ignition points in the Wales’ BJ8.  The points would not retain a setting but kept slipping to a closed position causing the engine to sputter and quit.  We also stopped at a great bakery in Cle Elum for some goodies.  A few cars topped off fuel tanks.  We arrived in Monitor, WA , northwest of Wenatchee a little before noon.

After stopping in a local grocery store and raiding the deli department we enjoyed our lunches in a park along the Wenatchee River.  The wanderers finally arrive at the destination, the British Car Ranch (BCR) owned by Steve and Laurie Day.  The BCR is a unique facility.  The Days offer a large variety of British car services, ranging from simple tune-ups to engine/transmission/overdrive rebuilds to total restorations.  The unique aspect of Steve and Laurie’s operations is car storage over the non-driving season (aka winter) during which Steve and Laurie will pursue maintenance and restoration projects on the stored vehicles.  When the next spring roles around the owners reappear, take their trusty Brit steeds from safe, warm and dry storage and head home for the driving season.

Once we had a short tour of the BCR we settled into chairs spread around the shop area and listened to a very informative technical session on cooling systems conducted by Steve Day.  Following this we took a tour up to the highlands above East Wenatchee and a very nice winery that offered a congenial tasting room complete with a singer/guitarist entertaining tasters.  The group returned to the ranch and a great dinner prepared by Laurie Day.  The monthly meeting of the Austin Healey Club of Oregon wrapped up the day (see meeting summary posted elsewhere on the website).  Slowly we all then straggled down into downtown Wenatchee and our motels for the night.  Early Sunday morning the wanderers headed back to Portland, Seattle, Prineville, Redmond and Hood River.

See more photos in the image gallery!