Car Photo of the Day: A priceless classic undergoing full restoration.

I saw this car at a rest stop of the “Annie & Steve Norman Classic Motorcar Rally” a few years back. It was the centerpiece of a very valuable collection, arrayed around a true “Garage Mahal” near Stanwood, Washington. It is about one-third the way through a complete nut-and-bolt restoration, but even stripped and primer-ed it was stunningly beautiful from all angles. Even in their day (surrounded by Bugattis and Duesenbergs) this car was ne plus ultra. In coming posts I’ll have some photos of the car’s mechanical bits, which are works of art.

Do you know the car?

If you have a car and any interest in TSD rallying I HIGHLY recommend the rally mentioned. They’ll take about any car (even new ones), and the roads, cars, and people are a ton of fun. My dad & I are going again this year, which will take place on Vancouver Island. Doug the Rallymaster is a total gearhead and always plans a stop or two at some amazing collections. Come joins us!

Car Photo of the Day: Bonus post for carspotters.

Today’s CPotD was a nice photo, but it clearly displayed a badge, so made for no challenge for the carspotters among the audience. Mind you none of the cars here are all that challenging, but what the heck. This photo was taken on the 2006 GTTSR as we were all posing for a group shot. The photographer was up in the cherry picker seen in the background, and several rally cars were parked below. The rally participants were all standing on the balcony where this shot was taken from as the setup was going on below.

Can you name all the cars? Two of them are cropped off, and appear to be mirror images of one another. Therein lies a small challenge.

The flip-side of Spring: Allergies

want some car with that pollen sir?

About 4 pm today I ceased being able to breathe.

At least without effort. It seems the plant life around here has decided to try to kill me. Wave upon wave of demented avenging spore, all heading straight for my airways. It is as if every tree in the pacific northwest wants me dead.

My eyes are watering, my breathing labored. This could be it. Does Claritin come in 55 gallon drums?

this yellow car is supposed to be black

Nick redeems himself with a victory.

Victorious Navigator

Several years ago Nick begged a ride in the navigator seat, usually reserved by his older brother Chris. Chris has always been an excellent navigator for me, even in tough TSD events. Nick however, didn’t do so well. Exiting a parking lot after a rest stop, he instructed me to turn right, rather than left, and we ended up about 12 miles off course and showed up late for the awards lunch! Not to mention dead last. That experience soured him off rallying for a while.

Yesterday was the Seattle Jaguar Club’s “Spring Thing” rally, which they have apparently been staging for a long long time. Chris is off at College, and Nick vacillated a bit about taking on the task. Finally Friday night he decided to go for it after I twisted his arm a bit.

Well, we somehow managed to pull off a first place finish, all thanks to Nick. It was not a “real” TSD rally, just sort of a “gimmick” rally where you follow a route, and answer questions based on observing things. This one required a bit of social engineering as it asked some oddball questions which required interactions with strangers. Nick is such a self-confident kid that he’s up for those things. We drew the first car out from the Issaquah Krispy Kreme donut shop and managed to get the most answers right and match the pace time closest enough to pull off a win. A dozen cars participated; six E-types, two XK 120s, and four XJSs. The two really tough questions involved wandering into an ice cream shop and asking what flavor was their best. (‘Bunny tracks’) and the other involved figuring out how many wineries were located in a sprawling industrial estate in Woodinville, all while a huge Spring Release tasting event/open house was going on. The place was packed with tour busses and people, so I waited outside while Nick dove in, found an information booth and got the answers he needed.

The finish was in Redmond, at a place called the Coho Cafe. Nick & I split some steamed clams and shrimp & chips. Tasty! Later we found out we had won, narrowly missing the dreaded second place, which obligates you to organizing the following year’s event (something I think I’m up for anyway… though I’d make it a TSD!) The trophy is a plaque that has been in the club since 1972 (when I was 9 years old!) and when appended with all the names of winners is almost as big as Nick:

that's a tall trophy!