<-- Click to see photos
As your President and Events Coordinator I would like to inform all of you of the hard work that was done to make this event a huge success by some other very passionate VEVA members.
John Henderson as Mayor of Sechelt, and a VEVA member, asked what it would take for the 1912 Detroit Electric to appear in Sechelt for this event. I responded that VEVA needed someone to tow the Detroit Electric and trailer to Sechelt and return it to the museum.
Dennis Olson, who lives in Sechelt, is a VEVA member, and has a truck that can tow the Detroit Electric on its Trailer, volunteered to do this, see picture of Dennis in my Top Hat and John in the Blue Shirt.
John Henderson assisted VEVA with the entry fee for the rod run and show n shine and some of the other expenses.
In preparation for the journey, Robert Shaw and I loaded the Detroit Electric onto its trailer at Dueck in Vancouver on Wednesday, and we both took the B.C. Ferry to the Sunshine Coast.
I met Dennis Olson in Sechelt, we drove back to Vancouver, picked up the Detroit Electric at Dueck, took the B.C. Ferry back to the Sunshine Coast and delivered it to a safe location in Sechelt.
Thursday morning we put the Detroit Electric on display in a public location in Roberts Creek for the day.
Friday evening Dennis Olson helped me and my wife position the Detroit Electric for the Coasters Car Club Rod Run from Sechelt to the Fire Hall at Half Moon Bay. Robert Shaw and Dennis Olson in their Nissan Leafs, Richard de la Mare in my Nissan Leaf, and John Henderson in his Tesla Roadster completed the 20 kilometers of the rod run followed by my wife and I in the 1912 Detroit Electric.
We estimate that well over 1,000 people saw the Detroit Electric being driven at the end of this parade of 350 vehicles.
Unfortunately, with the 6 year old batteries in the Detroit Electric, it was not capable of the return trip, and Dennis Olson returned to trailer us back to Sechelt.
On Saturday, the 1912 Detroit Electric was the featured attraction of the over 400 cars at the show n shine on the streets of Sechelt.
VEVA members Robert Shaw, Dennis Olson, Buddy Boyd, and John & Mrs. Henderson displayed their cars alongside the Detroit Electric.
Ford of Canada supplied a Ford C-Max Energi driven by Lore and Werner to add to the Electric Avenue display.
On Sunday Dennis Olson transported the 1912 Detroit Electric to the Sechelt Airport so it could compete against John Hendersons SEGWAY in a drag race.
I am pleased to report that the 101 year old Detroit Electric is twice as fast as a SEGWAY.
Dennis Olson will also return the Detroit Electric to the Museum with the help of David Koehn on Monday.
If you have read all of this, you will realize that well over 4,000 people from B.C and the U.S.A., saw the Detroit Electric, and modern cars that they can purchase, this weekend in Sechelt and will start thinking about making their next car purchase electric.
-Bruce Stout - Aug 11, 2013