The Vintage - Asheville, NC — Matt J Schwartz

If it hasn't been made clear by my last few posts, I kind of have a thing for old BMWs. While I can definitely blame my father for planting the initial seed, I'm not entirely sure how this specific affinity came to grow to the point where it became a significant part of my life and my identity.

I take solace in knowing that I am not alone in this crazy and admittedly pretentious hobby; all of the evidence I needed to prove this was found in mid-May at an event called "The Vintage," where 500+ weirdos like me gathered in the mountains outside of Asheville, NC.

But before I get to that, I'll back up to earlier that week. I'm fortunate enough to combine these roadtrips with trips for work, so my 1800 mile journey began in Lafayette, IN. I'd been to Lafayette a few times, but never really found the beauty in the town. This was the first time that I would have an overnight there, so I was curious to head west to where Purdue University was located so I could answer the question I'd asked myself way to often: "why do people live here?"

The TeaEye made it to Lafayette and attracted some attention from a ricer.

I was amazed at how much greener the west side of town was compared with the east side - it felt like a completely different place. A river runs adjacent to the downtown core with a large park just on the other side. A long pedestrian bridge connected the two halves of the city ensuring that a car wasn't necessary to escape to a little bit of nature. Purdue's campus was sprawling and even though it was technically summer break, I could still breathe in the feeling of college life and it's fervor. I stopped for a quick bite at Digby's Pub and Patio, mostly because the large patio offered a dramatic view of the beautiful Tippecanoe County Courthouse.

After completing the work that I needed to in Lafayette, I drove another 60 miles or so to Indianapolis, where I had a quick one night stay before heading to Cincinnati to start an epic BMW-filled weekend. Besides eating a delicious and entertaining meal with my friend Ben Younce, nothing really exciting happened in Indy until about 20 minutes before I was planning on driving towards Southern Ohio. I was at a client of mine that happens to be a Ford dealership, and I told one of the service advisors that I was on my way to North Carolina for a car show. She had a quick reply: "You know we have a classic car museum out back, don't ya?" It turns out I didn't know about the museum, so she walked me there and set me loose. After she left, I realized that I was all by my lonesome, solely in the company of some impressive American cars.

I was first drawn to the Amphicar: Half car, half boat. It’s impossible for your face to not form a smile upon the sight of this ambidextrous machine. Next to it was a Kurtis roadster. Across from that was a row of extremely rare Shelby Mustangs. Across from that was another row of rare mustangs. Then came the Corvette row. And on. And on. It was easy to get lost in this impressive collection of American iron. I did happen to spot the lone Bavarian: a BMW R65 motorcycle. If you ever find yourself in Indianapolis, Ray Skillman’s classic car showroom is just south in Greenwood - well worth a visit!

I departed Greenwood to head towards Cincinnati, a town I used to call home. I was very much looking forward to seeing old friends and sights, and ended up at Queen City Radio: a bar with one of the best outdoor patio experiences in the 'Nati. Luckily there was a cheese company doing samplings that night which we got to enjoy with our drinks (whiskey for me, always), and our bowls of french fries. My friend Ben Pagliaro lives near the University of Cincinnati and has a spare bedroom, which he graciously offered to me for the night. We retired up the hill towards campus and shared stories and laughed until we both passed out.

The next morning started at 5:15 AM for me, as I snuck out of Ben's house and headed towards Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport, where my dad had just gotten off of a plane. Dad flew into Cincy to meet me because the flight happened to be fairly inexpensive, but he never got to visit Cincinnati while I lived there. He also hadn't seen my 318ti since I purchased it 4 years prior, so I was excited to give him a driving tour of my favorite rivertown.

After we crossed the Ohio River into downtown Cincy, we stopped at Coffee Emporium for a quick cup. Dad was amazed the murals that adorned the walls of the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, where I used to live. We drove by my old apartment (which the 318ti is still registered to) and down back towards the river and Fuel Coffee owned by my friend Jason Gipson. Unfortunately, Fuel was closed that particular morning, but I still wanted to give my father a glimpse of what the "Cars and Coffee" scene was like in Cincinnati.

Dad admiring Cincinnati ArtWorks’ murals

The famed Fuel Coffee owned by Jason Gipson

We continued on towards Ault Park and the Mount Lookout neighborhood, which was especially quaint on this cool spring morning. The California roof was open and the trees were in full bloom, which certainly enhanced our tour.

Eventually we jumped on to the highway headed south towards Lexington to meet up with a convoy of other vintage BMW enthusiasts. We knew we were in the right place when we stumbled upon Mike Self in a rest stop parking lot. Over the course of the next hour, the lot filled up with Bavarian metal in many different forms - an E12 Alpina 5-series, Ben Younce's blue E30 325e, Dirk in his Bavaria, a pair of E34 5-series and of course a couple of 2002s. The group headed south and we had a fairly uneventful first stint of our cruise. My father and I used this time to catch up and we were able to have some pretty thoughtful conversations.

Ben Younce’s ‘68 2002 with rare frosted hubcaps

The trip remained uneventful with the exception of a few rain showers. The last 30 minutes of the cruise was beautiful - the constant switchbacks combined with rainbows and lush greenery made it feel like we were driving through Jurassic Park.

We arrived at the host hotel to find it completely full of vintage BMWs; When I say full, I mean REALLY full. Like, a few hundred cars full. It was a party - people hanging out, drinking beer and talking cars in a hotel parking lot. We met up with my mother, who drove from my grandparents' house in Raleigh, and commented on the spectacle of an absolute rager in the parking lot of a 2-star airport hotel.

A group of us took a shuttle to the Sierra Nevada Brewery, which happened to be around the corner. I drank a porter called "Bock, Stock, and Barrel." Little did I know that it was 10% alcohol - I was quickly inebriated. Delicious beer! It went extremely well with the duck fat fries.

The next day, mom, dad, and I took the 318ti down to Greer, SC to the BMWCCA Foundation museum's exhibit entitled "The Icon," which was in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 2002 in the USA. I took the backseat and volunteered my father to drive. For a brief moment in between rain showers, we were able to open the California roof, and I witnessed what it's really good for: entertaining backseat passengers. It was pure bliss - a canopy of trees enveloped the twisty South Carolina backroad, and since we were in a car, the view was dynamic and evolving. It was similar to the feeling of laying in a field and staring towards the sky, except the view was continuously interesting.

The exhibit at the BMWCCA Foundation museum was exceptional - as was the spectator parking lot show! Everywhere we turned there were priceless examples of the rarest versions of these BMWs. Inside the exhibit were some carefully curated cars including my friend Jason Gipson's fantastic "MZehn," a Verona red 2002 which he recently restored to his preferred specifications. The car features Volkswagen Golf fender lips to accommodate wider HRE wheels, Scheel bucket seats, sidedraft Dell'Orto carburetors and a host of other period correct modifications.

True butt variety: a 2002 cabriolet, targa, and touring

Ali’s 2002 was shipped from Northern California

On the way back to Asheville, we pulled over at the Lake Lure Inn on Memorial Highway/I-74. Lake Lure is a man made lake nestled in the mountains of southern North Carolina near Chimney Rock state park. This place was stunning - breathtaking, really, but not due to the altitude. The Inn at Lake Lure is famous for being a filming location for Dirty Dancing. The characters' cabins are still there, and across the road there's even the beach where the famous "lake lift" scene was filmed.

I sat on the beach amazed that I had not previously known about this idyllic place. In one vista I had beach, a lake, and a mountain that appeared carved by Zeus himself. I will definitely be back to visit.

That night we went out with some of the caravan crew to a pizzeria in Downtown Asheville. We knew about the threat of storms, and storm it did. After some courageous trips to the car to retrieve more umbrellas, we all still got soaked.

The following morning I arose early for the big event: The Vintage. The name of the show comes from the fact that it used to be held at a vineyard in Winston-Salem, NC, and appropriately called, "The Vintage at the Vineyards." The event has since moved to a small town outside of Asheville called Hot Springs, NC, triggering the name change.

My parents elected to come to the show a little later than I had planned, so I rode with Jake and Liz Metz in Ben Younce's 1987 BMW 325e. The Metz's are fantastic people and conversationalists, so this short cruise was definitely a highlight of the event for me. We arrived to a scene of hundreds of old cars parked in a field, surrounded by lush mountains and the quaint downtown area of Hot Springs.

I didn't actually take many photos of the show, likely due to the fact that most of the time we were huddled under an EZ up laughing, drinking beer, and eating snacks off of the bumpers on Dirk and Michelle Rasmussen's BMW Bavaria. I did stroll through the parts swap area of the show and ended up snagging a brake master cylinder for my 1600 that was in New Old Stock condition (my 1600 is unfortunately still running a single circuit brake system so this part has been hard to find).

Riviera blue 02 touring- was for sale for $35,000

My father and I strolled through the field in the afternoon only to get caught in the only torrential downpour of the day - without our umbrellas. Luckily we were in the company of some kind strangers who shared their umbrellas. The protection of an enormous tree and the umbrellas did nothing - we were still soaking wet. We ventured back over to the EZ up to check on my mother only to find that she was in worse shape than we were. The rain water had collected on top of the EZ up and splashed on top of her right at the perfect time, and for everyone to see. Needless to say, we left the show immediately.

A 4 door Bavaria with some extra light output

Jason Gipson’s other creation: “the beer snob”

Later that night, after we had dried off, we explored downtown Asheville a little more and enjoyed a nice dinner. Asheville is an extremely charming town that I could totally see myself living in. It has that feeling of being removed from a lot of the problems that big cities have but still having most of the amenities that you would need in a mid-major city.

The next morning, after saying our goodbyes to our old and new friends, my parents and I elected to skip the pricey tour of the Biltmore Estate and drove towards a recent Omni purchase - the Grove Park Inn. The historic hotel is situated on Sunset Mountain and offers stellar views of the surrounding city and countryside - stellar enough for a few Presidents who have passed through, the first of which was William Howard Taft.

We gave ourselves a quick walking tour and found our way to their onsite automobile museum - the car content never stops! The small collection contained mostly early 20th century domestic cars like a Ford Model A and the detailed Cadillac El Dorado - even an Edsel sedan!

At this point, I said goodbye to my parents and they headed towards Raleigh so that they could return my grandparents' car and catch a flight back to LA the following morning. I drove north towards Ohio on I-23 which turned out to be a road of constant switchbacks through the Appalachian Mountains. Over those next 6 or so hours, I drove through 6 different states! The scenery was beautiful, but did start to become monotonous after a while. I ended up staying the night in a small river town called Gallipolis on the border of Ohio and West Virginia.

Gallipolis is a tiny town (actually designated a village now) with a population of around 3,000 people. The bucolic downtown area had some nice shops and restaurants which were all closed by the time I got there on Sunday evening. The riverside park was being enjoyed by the residents on a beautiful 80 degree evening. As I strolled around studying the monuments, I could see why people were attracted that lifestyle.

The Silver Memorial Bridge that crosses from West Virginia into Ohio

The next 2 days were fairly uneventful besides a nice meal in Columbus' Short North District and another pleasant meal with Ben Younce in Carmel, IN. I visited 3 clients along the way back and the 318ti performed flawlessly as usual.

This trip was my longest yet - 1500 miles in 8 days! I got to dawdle, meander, and wander around Appalachia throwing myself into a few different and uncomfortable environments; I'm always grateful for these opportunities because they consistently widen my perspective on this vast and diverse country. There are so many types of people and lifestyles to experience, and in my opinion, remaining insular and isolated ensures that you'll be missing out on the opportunity to be exposed to people who live life differently than you do.

Most importantly, I'm also extremely appreciative that I got to explore a new part of the country with my parents. I love wandering often, but it's a lot more enjoyable to do it with loved ones by your side :).

Hi there

Jun 26 The Vintage - Asheville, NC

Hi there

Jun 26 The Vintage - Asheville, NC

Aug 16 Oktoberfest and the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix

May 13 MidAmerica BMW 02 Fest - Eureka Springs, AR

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