Parksville and Qualicum Beach women have come together to form Vancouver Island’s only all-female car club.
Grease Nipples is the Parksville Qualicum Beach chapter, but founder Nancy DeGagne hopes more branches will develop in communities all over the Island, once the club gains more traction.
It was during the August 2018 Van Isle Shriners Show & Shine at the Parksville Community Park where the idea to form a women’s car club first arose.
DeGagne decided to bring her 1990 red stock Corvette to the Show & Shine just to check things out, not expecting to get much attention.
“I thought just for fun I’d go down and see what it’s all about,” DeGagne said. “I went down there and it was very organized. I just brought a book to read, I went for a swim and I came back and a lot of people were looking at the cars and they liked my car because it was a little different. I come back and there’s a notice on the windshield saying to stay past 1:30 p.m. to pick up your trophy.”
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DeGagne’s Corvette ended up winning in the 1990s stock category.
She said while she was at the event, she met other women who also won some prizes which led her to begin discussing the idea of an all-female car club with her friends.
DeGagne learned there was a network of women who had their own muscle cars, antiques and top-end sports cars. Currently the Grease Nipples has about a dozen members from the Parksville Qualicum Beach area and they are in the early stages of planning cruises for this season.
“We’ve advertised up and down the Island because we want to make it an Island club,” DeGagne said. “It’s basically for friendship, good times, safe travels and to have a lot of fun because women’s interests are a lot different then men’s, so we might go to a vineyard or some place different.”
DeGagne said the ladies in the club are all energetic and have a love for cars, just like her.
“My dad was a mechanic… I had to help him all the time so I got to have a love of cars and down the road I started buying them,” she said.
Rides of some of the current members include a Porsche Boxter, Mazda Miata and a 1966 Mustang.
Although the club is just in its early stages and is a non-profit, DeGagne said if it grows, the club would support an organization geared towards women’s issues.
The club’s first meet and greet takes place on Sunday, April 7 in the parking lot of the Parksville Curling Club at 11 a.m. Everyone is welcome.
For more information, visit www.viladiescarclub.com.