Category: Cars

I am a “car guy”… I love old cars.

Car Photo(s) of the Day: My final “BK bunch” cruise-in.

Still Life with Odd Panel Gap & Blower.

I’ve been spending the past couple of weeks working like a mad man to clean up the property and prepare for selling the house. We’ve cleaned and painted the house and barn. We hired a handyman to rebuild the last un-rebuilt deck. Now we have to paint it. I’m brewing up as much of the remaining WVO into BioDiesel as I can so I can dismantle the brewery and clean and repaint that part of the barn. I’ve basically been running non-stop. Part of the barn-cleaning process involved moving the Jaguar – a drive from the barn to the garage. As I pulled the cover off the dirty car I realized that it has sat unwashed and unused since the Northwest Passage Rally in June(!) I resolved right then to wash the car, and take it for a drive, even if it was just a run into town for the local cruise-in. So yesterday when I finished the runs to the dump and recycling I pulled the 65E out of the garage and gave her a good sudsy washing… and zipped to the Burger King on Highway 9.

I’m always pleasantly surprised when I slide behind the wheel of the E-type after a hiatus. It sounds so good, feels so good – in fact it is always better than how I remember it. It isn’t neck-snapping, or awesome… just very very good.

Along the way I saw a pair of Morris Minors driving north – obviously returning home from the ABFM in Bellevue. At the cruise-in was the usual collection of yank tanks and muscle cars, plus a few machines I’d never seen here before. I wandered around, chatted with a few guys, and snapped some photos…

The Arlington, WA BK Bunch cruise-in… an informal car show every Saturday evening all year around.

A blown... Fairlane?

Two for the die-hard CPotD car-spotting geeks:

The only other non-domestic machine this time. Can you name it?

This car was next to mine.

Unfortunately I didn’t see many of the folks I usually run into, so I missed my chance to bid them farewell. Oh well.

Car Photo of the Day: You don’t see these every day!

Name this car.

I encountered this car in a parking lot in La Canada, California as we departed on the return trip northwards back home on our Father-Son road trip last summer. I don’t think I posted it, or made any reference to it at the time, so it is a newcomer here on the web site. In fact I’ve never seen one of these before or since… it is that rare a car.

Larry Wade was with us at the time, so he’s disqualified from guessing the car as he’s seen it!

Car Photo of the Day: Parallax View

Name that car.

This is actually a lousy photo. The depth of field is off – pushed too far towards the lens. Pushed a bit outwards, it would have been a bit better as the window frame and other further bits would have been sharp. Oh well.

However it is salvageable as a CPotD though as the odd view of this car, with a wide lens, and a close perspective on the trailing edge of the window presents a view that few people have really paid attention to. The car itself is somewhat common, and has appeared here before, so don’t go fishing into exotica to name it.

Car Photo(s) of the Day: More of that 1938 Tatra T-87

I posted a tight crop of a headlight and partial bonnet of this car a few days ago. I thought I had perhaps posted a real puzzler, but you guys are all too good. It was properly identified instantly! Perhaps my post title was the give-away as I called it a “Secret Weapon” a shortened moniker it received by the occupying Germans during the Second World War, as it had a habit of killing German officers who drove it beyond its performance envelope.

Until I stumbled upon this example I had yet to see a Tatra T-87 in the flesh. This one appeared before me as soon as I stepped onto the show field of the Art Center School of Design’s 2009 car Show. A great introduction to this amazing car as well, as this example is in near perfect condition. I hovered around it for quite a long time – so long in fact that the car’s caretaker noted my minor obsession and opened a door for me so I could photograph the interior.

I’ll just shut up and let the car speak for itself via my photos. Feel free to share observations, obsessions, and/or Tatra knowledge in the comments!

Continue reading “Car Photo(s) of the Day: More of that 1938 Tatra T-87”

A two-part Boeing Wing Truck captured.

I’ve mentioned the odd tandem trucks that Boeing uses to move large aircraft assemblies between plants here in the Seattle area on Twitter before, and people there have asked me to snap photos. I finally snagged one recently so here it is. Not great photos, but they do capture the essence of these odd wing-movers for the big lorry fans out there:

Seen from the rear.

Basically the tractor is a standard-issue truck, but the trailer is supported by an independent rear tractor unit as well. This one is low-slung with a driver underneath the covered wing section. The whole parade is completed by pilot vehicles.

Here is a blurry close up of the rear tractor:

Note the driver.

Now I’m not certain that these rear units are actually powered in some way. They could be merely steerable, but without any motive power. I never get a chance to look them over very well as I always encounter them in traffic. Not the best environment to perform in-depth analysis of adjoining lane vehicles!