Author: chuck goolsbee

First of all, it is sort of NOT a car, but sort of is. Second, MarkC & ShaunR are ineligible, but perhaps they can fill in for me today in saying if guesses are right or wrong. Do you know what this is?

I will be gone most of the day at the Seattle Jaguar Club’s “Spring Thing” rally (which is really not a rally, more on that later) with my son Nick. At first he could not go, now he can so we’ll be off in a few minutes for the long haul down to Issaquah for the start. I’m going to poll the group and see if any of them are interested in a real TSD rally. I expect underwhelming response. I then hope to stop in Kirkland and check out a 66 E-type on behalf of an interested buyer in Oregon. “I may be some time.”

Corvairdad & J. Ro got it. This is a White Seventeen Passenger Touring Sedan. They were commissioned and built by White for the National Parks (Glacier, Yosemite, Zion, Yellowstone, etc.) in the 1930s and largely retired by the late 1950s. They soldiered on in Glacier park though (likely due to the short season and route, and the Going to the Sun road’s inability to use anything larger!) until the late 90s when an axle fell off one (no injuries!) and the fleet was restored by Ford.

Their most unique feature is that the entire right side is made up of doors. They also have canvas tops that can be rolled back for better viewing on sunny days. In a small way, they are national treasures.

Like the 300sl shown yesterday, this pre-war Bentley was seen in the paddock at the NW Historics. It is hard to describe in words how phenomenally HUGE this lump is in real life. Though I suspect that my little 1.9L TDI engine is more powerful, this engine has a pure presence that can’t be matched by anything built today. This thing is magisterial. It is as English as Winston Churchill and probably smokes the same brand of cigar.

While the Bentley’s of that era may have been the pinnacle of the “high performance truck” concept (just joking!) I have a truck-ish CPotD “weekend stumper” lined up for you. Stay tuned.

I shot this photo as I walked though the paddock at the Pacific Northwest Historics, which happen every year over the 4th of July weekend at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA. The “NW Historics” are a great place to get up close and personal with old cars, both race and stock. Spectators are free to walk the paddock, which is wonderful… in some ways better than the action on the track! The drivers/owners are usually happy to chat about their cars. You also see some amazing stuff. This 300sl for example. It wasn’t there for the racing, it was just casually parked here between a pickup truck and a multi-million dollar Ferrari.

If you are in the region in early July, I strongly suggest a visit. Unlike similar events in other cities, the NW Historics are very lightly attended and access, parking, etc is rarely a hassle. Admission is cheap and the weather here that time of year is usually quite mild.

The cars are… amazing.

This is the nose of a Jaguar XK 120. As you can see it is not a mollycoddled trailer queen. That slight patina lends it an air of authenticity you don’t see in a museum exhibit, or a collector’s “Garage Mahal”.

So no, this is not a posed shot of a buffed to a high gloss car, in a perfectly lit photo studio. This is a car sitting in a parking lot, whose engine is still ticking from the heat coming off it. Raindrops are drying on the bonnet, leaving behind dust and dirt. It smells of oil and dead bugs. It is real.

Enjoy it while it lasts.