The event year got off to a late start in 2014. The weather on the west coast was bad for the first five months of the year so it took a while for enthusiasm to build for all things Cougar. However, by June, members were chomping at the bit to get their classic cars out on the road so the summer months were busy. The first show of note was at Morgan Crossing in Surrey on June 8th where six Fordnutz vehicles were among the 250 cars on site.

The first road trip of the year was to Oakley, California, just east of San Francisco. Scott Ferguson and Heather Whitaker joined Washington members Mike Warner, Jeff & Carol Bingaman and Jim & Elaine Pinkerton for this Stray Cats event June 27-29. Friday, everyone arrived and simply settled in. Saturday there was a 100-mile cruise through wine country culminating in dinner at a popular local restaurant/

How's this for a car show venue? It's the beautiful estate of Rob & Julie Crowder. This shot looks over the pool to the pond that's right next to the tennis court. To the right of the pool was the giant barbecue area which served as "show central". With the temperature hovering around 107 degrees F., the pool was the most welcome amenity of the day.

All Pacific Northwest cars (from Fordnutz and Cascade Cougar Clubs) finished first in their respective classes. L-R: Cindy & Brian Aust, Jeff Bingaman, Scott Ferguson, Steve & Zana Goulding, Mike Warner and Cougar One's owners, Jim & Elaine Pinkerton. After such a long day, it was cold drinks and hot pizza which we had delivered to the hotel.

Legendary Cougar's Rich Truesdell set up a photo shoot for the inaugural issue of this now famous magazine at sunrise on Sunday. Two of the featured cars were the Competition Green 70 sunroof car of Jeff Bingaman and the Madras Blue 68 sunroof XR7-G of Scott Ferguson. Once the sun was fully up, it was show time.

17 members formed this year's July 1st Cruise. As usual we met at the Friesen home in Abbotsford to begin our adventure.

Left: Along the way we stopped for ice cream and fresh strawberries served by Cindy Friesen, then (right) visited a beautiful car collection in Langley

July 26th: North Saanich member Brian Schofield participated in a show on Mayne Island (one of the Gulf Islands). Here's his Turquoise 67 sitting proudly on the show field.

Every year the July cruise ends with a brief Fordnutz meeting and a delicious pot luck barbecue featuring Chef Kim Friesen manning the grille.

July 26-27: Cascade Cougar Club Prowl. 8 Fordnutz members attended including Scott Ferguson, Heather Whitaker and Rob & Kirsten Waine from Canada.
Below Left: Some cats on the lawn at the Pre-Prowl BBQ in Bellevue
Below Right: Rob Waine's yellow 67 is front and centre on show day at the XXX Root Beer Drive-in, Issaquah, Wa.

August 1: West Coast Classic Cougar open house, Salem, Or. Cougar owners came from all over the western U.S. and Canada to swap stories, buy parts and to appreciate some of these seldom seen Cougars. California, Oregon, Washington, B.C. and Alberta were all represented by a vast array of mainly 67-70 models. On Day 1 it was the men who did the bulk of the shopping in the parts warehouse while the ladies relaxed in the shade. On site meals were provided by WCCC employee, Javier, and his family.
On Day 2 the shopping was cut short in order to take our cats out for a lengthy prowl which ended up at the country home of Brian & Cindy Aust where Javier barbecued a delicious dinner for all of us. As this was WCCC's 25th anniversary, there was cake and a limited supply of specially-bottled and labelled commemorative wine that was given to a lucky few.

Cougars arrived and left throughout the day and some stayed for the entire event. Here are just four of the dozens that shared the lawn at various times of the day.

WCCC owner Don Rush (black shirt) used some of our cars for an on-line video about sloppy steering and other front end problems.

The perfect end to the day: a barbecue. All the cats on the lawn and their owners on the patio.

Part of this year's cruise involved a car ferry. Bet you've never seen this before! It took three trips to get all our cats across the river.