Merry Christmas

Rich Helms' Grinch smart in the Uxbridge Santa Claus parade.
For more, including photos and instructions to make a santa hat for your car, go here.

Toronto smart car Meet

Date & Time: Thurs Oct 5, 2006, 6:30 pm
Place: Kelsey's Bar & Grill Address: 636 Dixon Road, Etobicoke
(401 & 427 - near Pearson Intl. Airport) Phone: 416-240 6932 Menu :http://www.kelseys.ca/full_menu_2006.pdf
To RSVP:http://www.clubsmartcar.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5899

Fun at the Phoenix & Firkin

Club smart car Toronto group met last night at the Phoenix & Firkin on Sheppard near the DVP.
Chatted about smarts, driving, market research and teaching over dinner. Discussed ways of encouraging more smart drivers to come out to Toronto events.
Above: Buttercup arriving in Fireball- photo by Spinner.

Ouch, that smarts!

Filed under: Cross Canada Relay — admin at 7:30 pm on Thursday, August 24, 2006
Eileen, a smart owner from Greater Vancouver, had the misfortune of a flat Wednesday evening near Cranbrook, BC. smarts do not come equipped with a spare tire, although some people are known to carry them on longer trips. The smart does come equipped with a repair kit and air compressor, however, this particular flat was beyond repair.

smart Canada provided a replacement tire to a group of relay participants in Calgary, who then made the journey from Lethbridge to Cranbrook on Thursday to bring the relay baton into BC. Here’s a photo from the day. Eileen’s car is the pink one.

Source: clubsmartcar relay blog

Support the Bruce Denniston Bone Marrow Society today.

City of Ottawa gets smart

During the Ottawa to Toronto leg of the clubsmartcar cross-Canada relay, we spotted this City of Ottawa by-law services smart car. From the city's website listed under environmental tips for residents: Choose the right size vehicle
Do you need a big truck or a mid-sized truck? Do you need a truck at all? Do you need a four-seat vehicle when only one person ever uses the vehicle? These are the simple questions you should ask yourself to ensure you are using the right size of vehicle. You may find that you will save yourself money in fuel costs and still get the job done, while cutting emissions considerably.
Take for example the Smart Car purchased for By-law Services at the City of Ottawa. It is a two-seater that is used by one person. No need for back seats. Just one Smart Car will save the City $1,000 a year in fuel and result in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by two to three tonnes per year.

New Tour Wrap Up

Our tour ended with participation in club smart car's cross-Canada relay on the Ottawa to Toronto leg. From having photos taken in front of the parliament building to breakfast at smart Centre Ottawa Star Motors to our reception at smart Canada headquarters at Midtown in Toronto it was an amazing journey. Having a police escort that blocked intersections so that the smart could run the red light was a real blast. As always, it was fun chatting with other club smart car members.
The relay is the brain-child of Garry Stearns of Kemptville, ON seen here at Midtown on August 16. Starting on August 7th in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and ending on August 28 in Victoria, BC, the relay is raising money for the Bruce Denniston Bone Marrow Society.

"New" Tour Day 24: Ottawa, Ontario

Partied at Hooley's with the Eric Eggleston Band last night. What a blast! The band get tighter everytime we see them play. Eric just got back from England as a record label expressed interest in a new single.

We've made plans to hook up with the Club Smart Car's Bruce Denniston Bone Marrow Society Cross Canada Relay here in Ottawa on Wednesday morning.

"New Tour" Day 12: St John's Newfoundland

We found a club smart car card on our windshield this morning with a message from Lorne Foote who is involved in organizing the Newfoundland leg of the club's cross-Canada relay. Unfortunately, we'll be back on the mainland before their August 10th gathering. They'll be on the 1:30 am ferry from Port aux Basques, Newfoundland to North Sydney, Nova Scotia and wish wish them a safe and successful tour.
Visited the North Atlantic Aviation Museum which highlighted the critical role that the airfield at Gander played in World War II.
Stopped for lunch at Terra Nova National Park. It is difficult to describe the majesty of the landscape here & photos just don't do it justice.
Continuing our search for remnants of the "Newfie Bullet", we drop in to the lovely little station museum at Avondale. "Built by the Anglo-Newfoundland Telegraph Company, in either 1870 or 1880, the Avondale Railway Station served as a repeater station for the first telegraph land line serving St. John's. From 1900, to 1949 the structure was a freight and passenger station operated by the Reid Newfoundland Company, and was an important terminus during World War II for transporting men working at the American military bases in Argentia. Now the oldest surviving railway station in Newfoundland, from Confederation in 1949 until its closure in 1984, the Canadian National Railway used the station as a terminus for their passenger and freight service in Conception Bay. The two-storeyed structure has a mansard roof complete with arched windows."
Booked into the Curtis House residence at Memorial University for the next few nights. Much cooler weather here than in Southern Ontario and we are thankful.

smart fortwo owners organize cross-Canada Relay

Club smart car.ca members drive to raise funds for charity
TORONTO, July 18 /CNW/ - The success of smart in Canada is still unwavering thanks in large part to a passionate and dedicated customer base. A strong consumer interest in smart very much helped launch the brand in Canada less than two years ago. Ever since, several smart owners' clubs and on-line forums were developed and now thrive all across the country. One of these very active groups is the Clubsmartcar.ca, the largest privately run smart forum in Canada; it has close to 1,000 members. This past February, smart customer Garry Stearns of Kemptville, Ontario took it upon himself to start organizing a cross-Canada relay which would take place in August. It has been a full-time hobby since. This initiative will see smart owners drive their own cars in sections of a pre-determined route starting from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and ending in Victoria, British Columbia. The owners will actually pass a baton through the relay posts. Drivers can drive one hour of the relay, or two hours, six hours or for days. The relay will start on August 7th and end on August 28th. A total of approximately 10,000 kilometres will be driven and so far, there are at least 75 participants formally registered to drive various sections of the cross-Canada relay. Close to 200 cars will be involved in some way or another. Read full press release here.

MB Canada Barbecue at Marie Curtis Park

The very hot and hazy weather made us glad we brought our lawn chairs and could sit the shade at Marie Curtis Park on Lake Ontario at the Toronto/Mississauga boundary. Approximately 20 smart fortwos made a colourful display (I think we outnumbered the mercedes). As always, it's fun to meet folks who's posts your read on the club smart car forum and see what mods and accessories people have added to their cars. Many thanks to the organizers, sponsors and barbecue chefs who made the event a success.

The Green Machine vs The Radish

Rival Isetta owners John and Heinz threatened to drag race their respective British and German built cars at Saturday's season opener of the Street Classics Show and Shine Association's meet. It was great to meet up with other smart drivers Mr. Natural, smart65 (of clubsmartcar) and the Hewetsons.

Club smart Car Toronto Group's inaugural monthy meet

Left work promptly for drive across town to the Phoenix & Firkin at 2175 Sheppard Ave. East in North York. Enjoyed chatting in the parking lot, although the wind was brisk, and checking out Hooey's silver smart Kompressor and seeing Gina's new look. Good food, good talks and great fun getting to know other Club smart Car folk from around Toronto and beyond. Many thanks to Lynda for starting the proverbial ball rolling. We're looking forward to next month's gig.

club smartcar cruise to the CIAS

To smart centre Mississauga for the cruise to the Toronto Auto Show -CIAS. Coffee and doughnuts courtesy of Ed & Justin, our smart specialists. Eleven strong we head out down the 401 and the Don Valley Parkway to smart centre Midtown where we hook up with some 60 odd smart cars making an estimated total of 75. We cruise down to the Rogers Centre en masse. A passing motorist asks, "Are you all together?".
Free parking on the Lakeshore and shuttle bus to the venue, courtesy of Nissan, without a hitch. The show is a bit of a zoo but we battle our way to the smart stand where the $40,000 Canada 1 racing red Brabus show car is on display. The stand is a magnet for fellow cruisers and we bump into Glen, owner of the lovely Gina, in town from London and already dreaming of a smart grandstyle special edition. We head over to the Subaru stand to view the new all electric R1e, not for sale in North America, there are only a handful on the streets in Japan. It uses new manganese lithium-ion battery technology that means it could be recharged to 90% capacity in just five minutes. But of course at present there is no network of recharging points.
We checked out the NASCAR stand briefly on our way to view the Cruise Nationals winners. Saw a splendid display called "Octagon Dreams" hosted by the MG Car Club of Toronto. We headed up into the North Hall to Transport Canada's stand where they had a smart forfour cdi on display. A spokeswoman said, "we are expecting type approval for this car in 2007 or 2008". The forfour has a 1.5 litre, 3 cylinder 12-valve diesel engine fitted with a turbocharger.
We were delighted to receive free tickets to the show from smart centre Mississauga, coupled with the free parking it made for a splendid day out at low cost. After collecting our complement of free newspapers, we cheerfully headed home.
Many thanks to club smartcar, Brian, Ed, Justin and others who made the event possible.

smarter by the dozen

We met up with club smart car members at Mapleview Shopping Centre in Burlington last night. Unfortunately on the night of the season's final meet, sponsored by the Burlington Central Lions Club, it was pouring rain. Several "hard core" classic car enthusiasts and 13 smart car owners showed up so it wasn't a wash out. It was great to see the smart "tuners" in action. We met James Gillam of Smartimes magazine and enjoyed chatting with the owners of Grunty, Gina and other smarts.

Keith Hebert begins 100 MPG Challenge in Victoria, BC

Photo by deezle.

From: www.100mpg.ca
"A group of fellow smart car owners from Club smart car will be getting together for the grand opening of the new smart centre in Victoria at Three Point Motors, 2546 Government Street.
After this event, a convoy of smart cars will go to mile zero with Keith, and then some will even head north to Duncan (home of Canada’s most enlightened parking regulations), as he logs his first of an anticipated 15,000 kilometres over the next 33 days.
Monday will see Keith travel from Nanaimo to the Kelowna area, with brief stops in Vancouver and Abbotsford."