Commemorating 10 years of Group Drives
Ten years ago, I was in the 8th grade, still more than three years away from obtaining a driving license, much less a car of my own. I had no idea I would one day own an example of the car that was making such a splash in all the automotive magazines, or that the enthusiast community would prove so important in my life. S2ki, however, was almost a year old and going strong, as were the first-model-year S2000s. In April 2001, some of the early members on the East Coast decided to get together for a spirited group drive through rural Maryland in their new toys. Their gathering served in part as inspiration for the first Fall Colors Tour, an event that continues to this day.
This year, many of them reunited (along with a few new faces) to retrace that route, in celebration of eleven years as a community and to commemorate that first drive. Original owners and early S2Ki members paS2K and Ricks2k organized the meet and planned (or re-planned) the route. Despite some protracted detours due to a variety of road closures, both on the route and the journey to the starting point, the drive was a resounding success.
Sorting through a pile of S2000 memorabilia, paS2K came upon an original route handout that was prepared by Ricks2k for a drive on April 7,2001 and it occured to him that maybe he should ask Ricks2K if he wanted to do it again. Plans were made on the hush and seven original owners gathered in Maryland in early October to drive the backroads to the Prettyboy Reservoir.
Upon completion of this drive, paS2K started a thread in Vintage about the drive alongwith a poll asking how many members were online on S2Ki in 2001. The thread also contains pictures and links to pictures from earlier drives. For many of us this is a look back into time to when the S2000 was the stuff of our dreams and yet for several of our original owners this may be reminiscent of their early days with a very special car.Our member, Matt_in_Va, sums it up best on behalf of the original owners “If this car does not put a smile on your face, you either do not like cars or you are dead”.
It speaks volumes of the kind of community we are and of how special the S2000 is based on the fact that even after production has ceased, we still have original owners gathering together to commemorate and celebrate what could very well have been one of the first organized group drives and continuing to enjoy the car as much as they did during those early days. A deserved tip of the hat to paS2K and Ricks2K for organizing this drive.
What were you doing in 2001 around the time the original drive was planned? Did you own an S2000 or Was ownership of the S2000 within reach? OR was s2000 ownership a dream for the distant future? Click here to access the 10 Year Commemorative S2000 Drive thread and join the discussion.
Images courtesy of paS2K & canberra
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