Category: Car Photo Of The Day

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.

This photo was taken two years ago at the Classic Motorcar Rally. We had one rainy day, amid the other wonderful sunny days. I actually like the light that accompanies our grey days here in the pacific northwest, as it deepens and enriches color. I also love to shoot vintage cars covered with raindrops, as it means they are being driven, not just mollycoddled and obsessively stroked with Q-tips on the lawns of “Concours d’Arrogance.”

Do you know what car this is?

Today is a rainy spring day here in the Pacific Northwest and I’m dreaming of this year’s Classic Motorcar Rally. It will be held on Vancouver Island, and as always Doug the Rallymaster will have a challenging route, and some great mental breaks planned such as a tour of some collection of amazing cars. In the past we’ve toured John Shirley’s Ferraris, and Siegfried Linke’s amazing collection of Mercedes cars, including several 300sl, and a 540K Special Roadster under restoration.

You can participate in the Rally, even if you do not have a vintage car, as they have a “Post-1976” division. We’ve seen Audis, BMWs, Jaguars, Mercedes and Mitsubishis. C’mon out and join us, you’ll have a blast!

As Promised: Here’s the badge:

I never did note the make and model of this truck (30’s Chevy IIRC) because to be perfectly honest, old trucks hold no special place in my heart. But I can recall spending quite a bit of time looking when I saw it at our local home town car show for two reasons:
1. The mechanical restoration was very well done, in that it was not OVERdone as so many cars are these days.
2. Almost in violation of what I just said, the paint was truly gorgeous.

Here was a flat lacquer job that had a deep lustrousness to it that you could swim in. Two-tone blue/black with a business name hand painted on the doors, it was exquisite. My photo does not do the paint justice though, especially since yours truly is reflected in the fender, big floppy hat and all.

Glad to see CorvairDad pull off a win on this weekend’s CPotD. And here I thought it was an easy one. 😉

I like to pull out unusual machines for weekend CPotD posts. I doubt this one qualifies as a “stumper” but it certainly is unusual, and both are quite rare.

Can you name the cars?

I can not recall what sort of car this was on, sorry, but my first instinct says “Oldsmobile”. The shape of the ornament took me aback as it seems to morph from one item to another depending upon how you look at it. I don’t know if it is stock, or an aftermarket add-on. I’ll defer to those who know, so feel free to clue me in.

This was shot in Libby, Montana at the lunch put on by The Libby Igniters car club for the Going To The Sun rally a few years back. The Igniters are a great bunch of folks and they lay out an AWESOME barbeque, with amazing food and deserts that’ll blow you away. Their cars are nice too! I recall hearing that they are the second or third oldest car club in the USA.

These two guys spent an entire week with a smile plastered across their faces. They attended the 2006 Going To The Sun Rally is this lovely little Coventry-built car and always motioned us to pass them whenever we came up behind them. When I finally asked them why, they said because they loved to hear the exhaust note of the E-type as it roared by. True car guys!

Yes, they are all low-hanging fruit, but lets name all the cars in the photo shall we?

This car was famous in its era for podium finishes at prestigious international sports car races, yet it comes from an unlikely place. Can you name the car, and the place?

Corvairdad nailed it on the first try: It is a 1952 Nash-Healey roadster. Here are some additional photos:

It belongs to John Gumbinger of Lake Stevens, WA, and he brings it out to our local cruise-ins at the Burger King in Arlington on sunny Saturday evenings.