Category: Car Photo Of The Day

Just another place to look at car stuff.

Car Photo of the Day: Badges: We want more steekin badges!

A nice MG A showing off their hard-earned Gold badge, indicating a top-10 finish at the Monte Shelton rally.

I have lots of work to do to prep the car for rallying season, which opens in a few weeks with the Seattle Jag Club “Spring Thing” followed by theTulip Rallye (put on by the MG Club!). I think Nick will be my Navigator for both of those unless any locals wish to volunteer. Let me know if you are interested.

It looks like the “Run to the Gorge” won’t be running or returning this year, as there is no info on the ABFM website.

The REAL warm-up for the Monte Shelton will be the 2009 Annie & Steve Norman Classic Motorcar Rally which will be on Vancouver Island this year. I’m really looking forward to it. I say “Real” because all the other rallies are just a casual drive, whereas the Classic Motorcar rally is a serious TSD like the Monte Shelton. It isn’t TOO serious, but it is a great shakedown for the Monte Shelton as it follows a very similar format. If you want to just have fun, it is a great time, with fun people, nice cars, good food, and great diversionary events such as tours of amazing car collections. It is much smaller than the Monte Shelton, so it has a more casual atmosphere. For those of you who don’t have a vintage car (or like John, your vintage car isn’t ready yet!) this rally has a “modern” division where you can bring whatever you like. In past years there have been modern BMWs, Audis, Mitsubishis, Jaguars, etc. Come on out, we could some (weaker) competition. 😉

Car Photo of the Weekend: Fresh off the memory card!

Cruising along in the Skagit Valley. Spring has Sprung!

Indeed Spring arrived mid-day Saturday. It froze Friday night. I know this because I encountered ice in all the puddles on my walk out to the barn on Saturday morning to tend to BioDiesel production. The forecast called for sun and temps in the high 50s F. By Monday we could see temps in the low 60sF. (low teens to mid/high teens for you Celsius thinkers.)

Saturday evening I fixed one of the Jaguar’s minor ailments and went to the BK Cruise-in. While there I made plans via telephone to do a Sunday drive with Greg Bilyeau from Bellingham. We agreed to meet in north Skagit County and go to La Conner (“B” on the map)for lunch. We met at Edison Station on Chuckanut Drive at the north side of the valley. (“A” on the map:)


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Being the first day of good weather in a long time the bikers were out, both motorized and non-motorized. I stopped where Greg was waiting for me and we chatted for a bit, with a show-&-tell about my recent thermoswitch repair. Our presence caused quite a few people to stop and check out our cars, including several bikers and two guys in a modern Jaguar XK8, who were on a gimmick rally out of Bellingham.

Greg and I saddled up and went south (with a stop for photos at Padilla Bay) to La Conner, only to find it packed with tourists. No tulips yet, but the warm weather brought them all out and up from Seattle for the day. We bailed, with Greg’s backup to head towards Fidalgo & Whidbey Islands for some lunch somewhere.

The photo was taken as we left La Conner heading for SR 20 to take us to Deception Pass. This is typical lower Skagit Valley farmland, which in a week or two will be awash in tulips. Of course next fall it be awash in the Skagit River, but I digress. In the background you can see the top of the Cascade volcano Mt. Baker. The Primrose yellow S3 OTS in the foreground is Greg’s 1974 E-type.

We crossed onto Fidalgo Island, then south to Whidbey over the Deception Pass Bridge. A ways past it Greg pulled over and suggested we go to Coupeville on Penn Cove (home to those tasty Penn Cove Mussels!) for lunch. We weaved down Whidbey to Coupeville, found parking and walked to a tavern, whose service was the slowest on planet earth. Eventually we had lunch, Greg a sandwich, and me some clams.

Afterwards, we hopped in the Jags and went home, splitting up on Fidalgo, with me going south through the Swinomish Reservation to La Conner, then through Conway, and Lake McMurray, and SR9 to Arlington.

You can see all my photos from the Sunday Drive here.

Car Photo of the Day: Hit the road Jag!

Spring could theoretically arrive here soon. The forecast calls for a warming trend, and clearing skies. Of course the peak of said trend is not predicted until Monday! In one of those bizarre “fancy meeting you here” moments I was in a bar near Sea-Tac airport with my friend (and d.f client) David Kingsbury, as he was await a flight back to Minnesota… and I ran into Greg Bilyeau, a Jaguar-friend from Bellingham, essentially doing the same thing with a family member. Greg just emailed me proposing a multi- E-type drive for the weekend. I have lots of little jobs to do on the Jaguar, but it is in “driveable” condition… so I’m considering it.

Today’s CPotD requires no guessing games (though gird your loins boys, I think I have a couple of weekend stumpers for you!) as it is an iconic Jaguar XK-SS. No mistaking that shape!

Car Photo of the Day: Rust never sleeps.

This old Ford Model T truck was sitting behind the barn at RPM when I stumbled upon it last spring. I was intrigued by the pattern of the rust stains on this fender. They showed the trails of previous precipitation and the fact that it was lightly raining when I was out there made it seem that much more poignant. Rust indeed never sleeps.