Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix July 17-19, 2009 BMW is the Marque of the Year for the 2009 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix (www.pvgp.org). This event is a regional event on the club calendar and the Allegheny Chapter has a very special 10-day BMW Celebration in the works. We invite everyone to join us! The highlight of the PVGP is always the Schenley Park Weekend, July 17-19. The weekend will start on Friday, July 17th, with a driving tour to the Laurel Highlands. This drive will include lunch at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed house, Falling Water. On Friday evening, we will attend a PVGP reception at the Heinz History Center, a museum with many diverse exhibits ranging from an old city fire truck, the history of the Pittsburgh steel industry, and the making of Heinz ketchup. We anticipate that over 300 BMWs will participate in the show at Schenley Park on July 18-19. There are usually 2000 show cars and up to 200 race cars participating in the event. We are very pleased that members of the BMW Vintage & Classic Car Club of America will be joining us. We hope to have 10-20 rare cars from BMW's early history. Additionally, we expect to see many 2002s, early coupes and modern classics from the 1980's. The event, however, is open to all BMW owners. Consistent with Marque of the Year tradition, Schenley Park registration includes a catered lunch for both days, a program, poster, dash plague, a parade lap of the circuit, etc. The show is low-key and most of the cars present will be drivers but we will be posting information about a concours in the near future. The Allegheny Chapter is also very pleased to welcome Mike Miller for a Tech Talk session on Saturday, July 18th. Following Saturday's events at Schenley, we will have an evening reception and we have made arrangements for a boat tour on the rivers of Pittsburgh. During the Schenley Park weekend, the PVGP will host a BMW only race featuring 2002s, 3.0s and other BMW racecars. The event takes place in a 120 year city park and it is the only vintage race in the country that is held on city streets. In addition to hearing from many 2002 racers, we have tentative commitments from a few CSL owners on the race side. On the show side, we have heard from the owners of a 328, a 502 and a 507 plus several 2002 clubs, the e28 community and many others. Through March 31st, the cost for the Friday Tour, evening reception and the weekend activities in Schenley Park is only $159 for one car, one person; $249 for one car, two people. The boat ride is $15.00 per person. The registration form is at http://www.pvgp.org/6746108141324277...BCOB=0&C=53169 We have also made special hotel arrangements at the Greentree Radisson for only $99 per night. The host hotel is only 3 miles from downtown Pittsburgh and 6 miles from Schenley Park. (Magic word: BMW09) http://www.pvgp.org/6746108141324277...BCOB=0&C=53175 Of course, we also invite you to join us for the other activities we have planned during the 10 days including a drivers' school at BeaveRun on July 10th, a club race, car show, picnic and gala on July 11th and 12th, the car show on Walnut Street July 12th, a car cruise July 13th, a parade and car show on July 14th and our welcome reception on July 15th. Finally, we should mention that the PVGP is special because it benefits two very worthy charities, the Autism Society of Pittsburgh and the Allegheny Valley School. Since its inception, the PVGP has raised over $2.6 million for these charities. Whether you will be joining us for a day, the Schenley Park weekend or the entire 10 day Celebration, we look forward to seeing you in July! Eric Zagrocki Allegheny Chapter Event Director 2009 PVGP MOY Co-chairman Questions: ejzagro@aol.com
Pittsburgh Vintage GP discount registration ends soon!! It's the July 17-19 Weekend Special Register by April 30 and receive Schenley Park Marque Pavilion registration, Laurel Highlands/Falling Water Estate Tour and Heinz History Center Reception (does not include Boat Ride or Concours) $159 for one car/one person; $249 for one car/two people a 10% savings. Their Website is a www.pvgp.org. Also, any interest in a caravan from the coastal area out to the event? Please post if you are planning on attending and want to form up on your journey out. Remember, there is safety (and tools) in numbers, especial when you travel with a shark escort
Less than 4 weeks to the PVGP!!! July 16th - 19th Our event will likely feature the largest gathering of Pre-War BMW's in the US this year! I know there are several East Coasters registered. Any caravans? Registration: www.pvgp.org/marque We are offering some great tours on Thursday and Friday. We just added a Car Photography seminar at the host hotel. Mike Miller is giving a tech talk session on Saturday. We are also offering a concours on Saturday. Host Hotel is the Greentree Radisson: 800-333-3333 See you in a few weeks! Eric Zagrocki Allegheny Chapter BMW CCA
Is anyone planning to go to this? At this point I think me and a friend will be heading down from Central Penna early on Friday, July 17 and will participate in the activities on Friday, Saturday, and maybe Sunday, July 17, 18, & 19. Anyone else heading down from Centre County on Friday, July 17? I will want to leave early. Would be cool if we could put a caravan together. There are some great back roads going to Pittsburgh from here!!!
I plan on attending for Driver's school 7/10 and Laurel Highlands Tour 7/17. Plus the wife and I volunteered to help out (not sure with what yet).
I hope a bunch of you are going to be here this weekend!! My plans changed slightly, ended up on a Business Trip this week, so won't get back to Philly till 7pm on Friday. Driving out to Pittsburgh Friday night, staying near Mt Pleasant. Will be there all day Saturday and Sunday. Should be a great weekend. Not enough time to get my M3 out of storage. I have no place to keep it in Philly. That will change soon though! So, who else will be there? I will be in my white 1991 325ix 4 door.
Denise and I are leaving Thursday in our 1975 2002. We will spend Thursday night in Watkins Glen and arrive in Pittsburgh Friday. Staying at the Radisson.
Too much going on... Enjoy the weekend folks! We will be holding down the fort at Lime Rock and hopefully picking up our new to us 89 325iX. Get lots of nice pictures!!
Will do! I just bought my 91 325ix, in May from my brother. Haven't put too many miles on it yet. It was down for about a month having a the trans swapped from an auto to manual. Then it was out of commission again to get the oem wheels repaired. I also have steels with snows on them, but they are studded, so can't drive on them legally this time of year. Wheel Collision out of Bath, PA did the repair on the wheels and I am very happy with their work. I had the z3 shifter put in the car during the trans swap and all I can say is wow. It really puts my 318i to shame. That car is like stirring soup when shifting, so I guess I know the next project for that car. Mine is a white 4 door, what is yours?
Say hi to my friend Brad and his wife Anne Marie. Maybe I'll go next year when the M5 is back on the road. P.S., Grant- if your sis is still in C'ville, and you need anything brought to you or back from, let me know.
Ours is going to be a 89 white four door with an automatic. It looks brand new, has been cared for by an engineer and then a mechanic, and should be in our hands by Tuesday. I'm looking forward to our first E30, but I gotta admit, having a 5 in the family since 1995 has spoiled me forever.
Yes it is Rootbeer! And you know Princess needs an automatic!!! Thats why I bought the Euro.... so when I need to row through the gears I can take that one out.
Paul, thank you for the offer! I think I am set. As the bad brother that I am I have still not visited her in Cville!!!!! She made the unfortunate decision to buy a Honda Civic instead of a Mini. I was really urging her to buy the Mini (which is what she wanted so badly), but she is a little too practical and could bring herself to get a loan to buy one. She doesn't really listen to her big brother anyway.
Well if you ever want to convert it to Manual just call Chris of BMW Wholesale in Newville, PA. He did the swap on my ix. I got lucking though as he just happen to get a near perfect manual ix in without a title. So he couldn't sell the car and had to part it out. The ix has it's own transmission and the transfer case is different for the manual and auto cars. So you need both when doing the swap. Watch that front drive shaft as the splines wear out. There is room to shim it deeper into the transfer case. You might want to do that now for preventative. You can probably do it yourself. I put a used front shaft on my car with the trans swap and Chris shimmed it in deeper. Read the newsletters on http://home.earthlink.net/~wardellhix/iX/ lots of valuable info there. I think you will love this car, I have mine so far. Got big plans for it of course. Next spring it will get H&R springs and rear sway bar with bilstein sport shocks. It will then get the proper size tires, as now they are too tall, which is okay considering it is a manual with 4:10 diffs. I would do the tires now, but I just dropped money into restoring the wheels (I love the oem 15 basket weaves) and the tires are like new with deep tread. I now have three sets of E30 BBS 15 inch basket weaves that are all different. 5 lug for the M3, the standard that are on my 318i, and now the et41 offset for the 325ix. It is a disease folks! Now if only I had an E30 cabrio!
