Had an enjoyable time at the vintage races at Pacific Races on Saturday. I didn’t unsheath my camera all that often but was thrilled with the three vintage Alfas, including the machine Nuvolari drove to victory in the 1935 German Grand Prix, widely considered the greatest drive of all time.

Nuvolari’s GP-Winning Alfa

Maserati 300S

Another P3 Alfa with fabulous patina.

Innes Ireland’s BRP Mk. 2

Racers…well, duh.

Lotus 23

Another Lotus 23.

Porsche 906.

Alfa Romeo TZ and Guilleta.

Cooper Type 57 and Lotus 26R.

Ford GT.

Another Alfa, probably a 2300.

Bentley 6.5 litre in the paddock.

Great period Innocenti Mini with a Mini Marcos peeking out from behind.

Alfa Junior Zagato. (The Alfa club had this large tent set up, or they commandeered it, either way lots of joking about the necessity given what happens when you mix Alfas and water…)

Dino 246 and what I think is a Ferrari 575 of some sort.

I came out of the shop tonight and found that spring has brought out the native songbirds, always nice to see an indigenous species doing well. (That’s one of Jim’s Toyota Seras being eyed by said fauna.)

So could I make some pocket money by resurrecting a free Rover Sterling 827 sedan in decent condition but needing tires and a water pump? I’m guessing not. I’ve never particularly been fond of them but from all accounts they’re decent cars. A friend spotted one and asked about it, the owner saying “take it away if you want it.”

The parts themselves aren’t too pricey but looks like the Acura engine uses the cam belt to run the water pump, so there is undoubtedly some fun there. (Looks to be about an eight to ten hour job reading through the procedure, and since it involves removing the timing belt, you might as well do that, too.) The tires are the death knell, really.

I’d be a bit shocked if you could even get $1000 for a decent condition Sterling. So I think I’ll just skip this one unless someone offers me a compelling reason to do otherwise.

Time for another meeting, being the first Saturday of the month. Glorious weather brought out a bunch of cars–”European” in the “club” name is a suggestion only!


You know, I’m not much of a rod fan, but I’ll make an exception for something like this. Excellent taste and an interesting spec (buick engined), this puts 99% of other rods to shame and should make all “rat rod” owners take up beer can collecting or something. Old school in the most genuine and most complimentary sense.

Ferraris

From the back, Jaguar XJ-S, Lotus Elise Club Sport, Jensen Healey, Catherham 7, Porsche 912 (I think, might be a 911)

Lotus Elan +2, Volvo 122, Porsche

Porsche, Lotus Esprit, Triumph TR3, Lotus Elan

Lotus Elan

Lancia (Flaminia?)

Two BSAs – A Gold Star and M33 (I think), plus Norton 850 Commando

Healey 100, Lotus Elise, MGB

MG Magnette, BMW 2002, Special

Ferrari

And if you get there really late you park back here…Porsche, MGA, MGB

Here’s a short film showing the MG works in 1931, with the proverbial happy couple picking up their new Magna. The spray booth…oy. Word has it paint shop guys never lasted very long, you may get a hint as to why by watching this.

There is no sound, just title cards. The embed code they give doesn’t seem to actually embed the player here (not sure if it is supposed to or if this is just a “quirk”), but clicking on the image above will take you to British Pathe’s page featuring the video.

I went to Bellingham to investigate an MG for sale for a friend today. I discovered the MGB in question was only 8 cars later than my ’63–built on the same day, maybe 60 yards apart on the line. To add to the twilight-zone feeling, the gentleman also had a ’67 GT parts car–painted Grampian Grey (a fairly rare color, for what it’s worth). That car was only a couple of hundred numbers earlier than my Grampian Grey ’67 GT.

The chill did not dissuade me from getting the BSA out of its den and taking it to the first-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the “Whidbey Island European Sports Car Club,” which isn’t really a club at all, just an open gathering of like-minded folks at Gerry’s Kitchen in Freeland, Washington. We had a pretty good turnout of interesting machines, such as…

Volvo P1800, Jensen Healey, Morris Traveler, and a Nissan pickup converted to electric power…

Alfa Duetto, Austin Mini, BMW 2002, Triumph TR3, Ferrari 308…

1969 Jaguar E-Type, 1967 Jaguar E-Type, MG TC, Austin Healey 3000…

Lancia Fulvia Coupe…

Special Bodied Fiat…

…and finally another shot of the MG, which is a very appealing car with wonderful patina.

My friend Jeff and I went to look at this 1969 MGB GT last year, when it was for sale for about $2000. The seller was the daughter of the original owner, who had passed away a couple of years prior; the car was used frequently until his death, but from that point sat idle outside. The car was reasonably original, and while you can see usual MGB rot in the doglegs and lower front fenders, it was solid underneath. Wheels and tires were in good condition, and the engine bay looked pretty clean, though it wasn’t running when we saw it. There were a fair number of new looking pieces here and there.

The seller had started out very high on the price, close to $5,000, as I recall (I watched the car on craigslist for a year or more). It then went to $3,500, $2,800, $2,500… After inspecting it, I thought it would be a good project and a great start at around $1,200. I almost made an offer, but I didn’t have room for it at the time, and Jeff, who was the interested party thought (rightly) that it was probably too much work for what he personally was looking to do.

All that said, it was a very savable car and would have been a great start for someone.

Imagine how weird it was today to buy a hatch to replace the rusted one on my ’67 GT project and realize, based on the seller’s description of the car he parted out, that I was buying the hatch from that ’69–probably the largest single component of it left in the world. It was mildly depressing, as they aren’t making these cars any longer and that one deserved a better fate. My car does benefit, but at a cost which I would rather hadn’t been paid. (OK, so that is probably over-sentimental crap, but there you go.)

If there is a lesson here, it might be that if you cherish your collector car, make sure your family has the resources to either keep the car or find it a good home after Death lets the smoke out of your wires for the final time. And try not to be too delusional about what the car is worth–I got the impression that the seller of the car had been told over the years to not let the car go cheap, it was worth more than it actually was (she ended up taking $1,000 for it).

If nothing else, leave your loved ones with the names of a few friends/fellow enthusiasts who can lend a hand with assessing the value and maybe even helping to find a new home for the machines–assuming no one in your family has a fondness for rusty heaps (I think I can safely say that would be the case here at Chez Rusty!).

Thoroughly enjoyed a ride today with my friends in the Vintage Motorcycle Enthusiasts club–it was our annual “Isle of Vashon” outing. For me, this means four ferry rides, which is good, and a trek down 99 through the strip-mall wasteland that stretches from Mukilteo to West Seattle, which is (thankfully) forgettable.

I left our house here on Whidbey at 7:00AM in thick, chilly fog. Indeed, once off the ferry on the Mukilteo side, visibility couldn’t have been more than 50 yards in places. But by mid-day, the fog had lifted and we were treated to a fine day out.

In theory this is an “old bike” ride, but at least half the folks couldn’t get their old bike to start and brought a modern counterpart. That’s OK, we’ve all been there. I think the final tally of participants was more than 1000 bikes.

The Fauntleroy (west Seattle) ferry holding line. There’s another lane of bikes beyond the cars.

My friends John and Brad brought their BSAs: DBD34 Gold Star & B40 Sport Star, respectively.

My bike in line.

A few bikes on the ferry.

A small portion of the crowd lined up in “downtown” Vashon.

Gorgeous 1930s Sunbeam.

End of the day. I was the only motorcycle returning to Whidbey, so it looks like I have the entire ferry to myself…you can’t see the full load of cars behind me.

On my way to the All British show in Bellevue I stopped to gawk at the Flying Heritage museum’s fly day…they were going to fly the Hurricane and Spitfire, but the Spit was grounded, so they flew the P51 in its place. All Merlin power, in any case, and I can’t say I feel too slighted.