Car Photo of the Day: Name that Beater

Every Saturday evening here in Arlington there is a mini-cruise-in at the local Burger King off of Highway 9. Rain or shine, with far more of the former, all year-round. I only amble down there occasionally, but always bring my camera. It is a VERY laid back crowd, with amazingly eclectic tastes. Every car is welcome. No “Concours d’Arrogance” here at all. I’ve seen everything from Rat Rods to Italian exotics, ’57 Chevys to Volvo P1800s, and Nash-Healeys to Packards. People show up in whatever they have, or in some cases are still working on, as project cars are welcome too. This car showed up once and I had to get a photo of it. Completely unrestored, but far from a “survivor” it is a very tired old beater. Can you name the car?

More Images of the “Hot Hatch” for you.

It did not take long for the mystery car that was the BMW 2002 Touring to be identified. I encountered this car at a lunch/rest stop on last year’s Annie & Steve Norman Classic Motorcar Rally. Doug’s Rallies always have great pauses to complement the competition with some relaxed meals and views of car collections. This stop was at a shop that built licensed Lotus Seven cars and featured a nice little collection of unusual makes and models, including this rare BMW.

Sorry for the bad lighting on this shot.
Can you name the car in the background?

Perhaps I should have used this angle for the original CPotD?

Engine bay

Data plate

I wish I could write something significant about this car, but I know nothing about it at all. If there are any BMW fans among my readership perhaps they can fill us in via the comments.

(Guest) Car Photo of the Day: Name That Car.

Can you ID this car?

Reader Stephen Foskett relayed this image to me looking to ID the car. My first thought was a Cisitalia, based on the shape of the windows, then I thought better of it and guessed Talbot-Lago. Given how many Talbot’s were finished by coachbuilders this might be a tough one to narrow down, but my vote goes for a Talbot-Lago T26 from the early 50s. What do you guys think?

Rain, mixed with showers and occasional drizzle

Forecast for western Washington

I love living in the Pacific Northwest. Really I do. Mostly because it rarely, if ever, gets very hot here. 80°F, which is about my tolerance for heat, is about the average peak summer temp. Oddly, it also rarely, if ever, gets very cold as well. This is all due to the moderating influence of a huge expanse of water to the west. You may have heard of it: The Pacific Ocean.

Weather here is very predictable. Unlike those places where the old saw “don’t like the weather? Just wait five minutes!” gets trotted out often, here you can stretch those five minutes into five months. In winter we have months of light drizzle. In summer we have months of clear blue skies.

My only quibble is the transitions between seasons. In Autumn we get storms. Big winds. Floods. Alternating grey and blue days. In Spring it is sort of the same, though the storms are nowhere near as powerful as Autumn’s. Some years we get lagging winters and others we enjoy early summers. This year, as you can see by the forecast above, is falling into the former camp. However unlike light, misty, drizzly winter rain we get honest to goodness RAIN. In winter rain you can walk across a parking lot and not really get wet. Spring rain drenches you in the same span of time or distance. As a homeowner it means your lawn is becoming a jungle but can not be mowed. As a classic car owner it means you look at the calendar and recall great drives of past years around the same time but instead look out the window in disappointment. Oh well.

Thirty days until the first JCNA slalom in the region. Hopefully the sun will come out by then.