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No Fenders scribe Tomaso behind the wheel of a 1923
Buick Touring Car at LeMay America's Car Museum upon latest visit. (The Tomaso
Collection)
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Otay, once again that 'Ol Johnny Cash "I've Been Everywhere Man!" song is playin' in my head, having
just been on another chaotic Roadtrip -
while another year's Spectale du Jour, thy Indianapolis 500 has done gone by,
and I hate to admit it, but; I've totally lost my enthusiasm over the Indy 500
during this year's event, thanks largely to the disgustingly OVER-COMMERCIALIZATION instituted
by Hulman & Co in partnership with ABC; oh wait a 'My-nute, that's right, I
forgot 'bout A-L-L of that "Extensive live Wall-to-Wall qualifying
coverage; BARF!
As why does the
words Temporal Scan Lobotomy 500 enter thy mind after listening to the race
upon 1070 The Fan, since I couldn't figure out where the FLIPPIN' "live
timing & scoring" link was upon the Tokyo Fly-by-Night Indycar.com
website; but I digress!
Originally wasn't planning upon watching any
of ABC's "Extended Coverage" of I500 qualifying, but after having
been in a van with thy "FURR-Rocious lap Hoonds" Molly 'N Pixie for
2-days, having listened to non-stop freight trains oozing coal dust alongside
the Columbia River while Big 'Ol Herkin' Jetliners rumbled overhead, not to
mention the helicopters, small engine
Aeroplanes and whatever else was plying its way upon the mighty Columbia, I
pronounced to Tacoma Bureau Chief Mary Ellen that I'd like to check out
Saturday's riveting "New & Improved" Qualie' show live from
Mother Speedway upon our return.
Yet Alex from Oh 'KanaDuh, nope, NOT Alex
Lifeson but I digress further... Announced that he wished to go to the dock instead, as I witnessed
'bout three or four qualifying runs, most noticeably being disappointed over
Justin 'B-I-G UNIT Wilson's inability to crack the Top-9 with a P14 run to that
point during Saturday's riveting Qualie' coverage - before we left for the
pleasant sunny climes "O Tacoma's Dash Point waterfront, specifically the
dock that had originally been first erected in 1907.
DASH POINT
Imagine a time when there weren't' any automobiles, which in many parts of the
Pacific Northwest was exactly the case in the early 1900's, when instead a
various collection of Steam Ships known as the Mosquito Fleet ferried people about
the various isolated areas of Washington plus Vancouver, BC, Victoria and all
points in-between.
Thus, as noted, the very first dock enabling
passengers and supplies to disembark at Dash Point in Tacoma, Washington was
constructed in 1907, although it's all wood construction deteriorated quickly
from the Northwest's environments harshness, needing to be reconstructed
shortly afterwards, with the following metal dock enduring for some 78yrs
before its replacement, as I think Mary Ellen read to me that they're currently
upon Dock Number Four?
As mentioned, the Puget Sound's Mosquito
Fleet, which began plying the Warshintonian' waters in the early 1850's, with
service thru World War II consisted of competing enterprises in all sorts of
nautical motivation where the fastest ship usually won the route's passenger
traffic, typically supplemented by mail delivery stipends and freight delivery.
As Mary Ellen read to me that it was the completely
unknown and unheralded Chippawannah,
since although I found reference to the famed Chippewa, which apparently even a
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) film was made titled Chippewa 1899, it was this far
lesser known Chippawannah that routinely
stopped at Dash Point before Marine View Drive's road was completed in 1921,
enabling the advent of the automobile to reach this previously isolated area of
Tacoma. As it was the automobile that ultimately put an end to the Mosquito
Fleet's business...
MADE-FOR-TV
INFOMERCIAL!
Having skipped the majority of Saturday's
Qualie' show in order to enjoy a dry, sunny day outside; having noted that it
really didn't matter until Sunday when the Fast-Nine Shootout occurred for the
Pole position, Mary Ellen turned thee Telie' on for Mwah just prior to 10AM
Pacific (Sunday morning) in order to watch the B-I-G show. Yet unbeknownst to
Mwah was the fact that the first hour-pluses? Airing would be nothing more than filler as Mary Ellen
kept asking, when's the qualifying gonna
start?
Hence after 42mins of BLATHER! We elected to go outside with thy young Alex
announcing once again how he wished to go to the dock to which I totally concurred
with, as hey! Any day on a beach is far better than sitting inside waiting 'N
waiting for qualifying to begin; Crikeys Mates!
As I won't even repeat what Mary Ellen said
during that "Human interest Feel good" Sam Schmidt segment, albeit
noting how unsafe the thought of Paraplegic's using just their head to control
motor vehicles is...
Hence, not having watched any of the Top-9
Shootout, I fail to understand how the
program got a 1.2-rating, which is higher than ANY race this year prior
to the Indy 500.
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VW Karmann Ghia. (Image source: photobucket.com)
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AMERICA'S CAR
MUSEUM
SWEET! The Boy Done Good!
As I was happily surprised when Alex asked if we could go to the car museum? Which naturally I'm always a sucker
for and Yuhs don't need to ask me twice...
Thus, before making another eclectic
"Three Hour Cruise;" Err Bus trip homewards to my frumpy 'lil abode,
I was delightfully surrounded in the soothing confines of the LeMay America's
Car Museum (ACM) of which funnily enough? The nice lady at the admissions
counter said I recognize you; WTF? to which Mary Ellen said later, how many
94-year old's in a wheelchair escorted by a blind person come to the museum?
Nice, as the very first thingy we ran into on
the top-floor was a very eclectic smattering of VW's on display behind the main
entrance hall, including a white Beatle racecar w/#53 on it, while there was an
example of one of the longest running racing series with its ubiquitous powerplant
bolted into the backside of the requisite single seater racing car, a la a
vintage Formula Vee, as it was VW's successful way to promote its brand with
its air cooled four cylinder 'lumps.
A fine example of a Karmann Super Beatle
convertible was parked nearby, albeit a 1979 model me thinks? Thus not sure if
there was any association with Karmann on Super Beatle's or not?
An iconic Karmann Ghia coupe sat
alongside the Super Beatle, as I was unaware that said vehicle was the result
of Volkswagen executives wishes for a "Halo car," with Karmann being
a German manufacturer while Ghia was the very same Italian styling studio
that's created various Supercars over the decades.
My "Posse" were most intrigued by
the VW double camper van, which I think had a canvas roof adorning its rear
section? While a ubiquitous Thing was also on display.
Winding our way down the building's side
ramps, we stumbled upon a very strange white "luxury" car, as I
became more intrigued over its mystery origins, i.e.; believed it was called an
Abbadah? Which I tried burning into thy memory banks for the day's long haul
home - having once again gone unprepared without any pen 'N paper for note taking.
Yet upon scouring of Zed Internetz, I'm
pretty sure it was actually an 'Uber rare Abadal, which were the inspirations
of Francisco Abadal, a Spanish racing driver who branched out into automobile
production along with becoming a GM Agent afterwards, since as typical, there
seems to be no information upon the man himself, as I ponder what he raced,
etc.
Then we ran into the first of two or three?
Vintage racing cars, with the first peaking my curiosity due to the name of its
body's inspiration, a name I knew from my previous Brickyard Loti studies,
specifically that being the Kuzma-Lotus Ford of Parnelli Jones in 1965. As it
was a Sid Car Super-modified 1949 Sprint Car with Eddie Kuzma body.
Then next up was a very clean Lotus Type-35
F2 racecar with the #35 clearly visible to Mwah in its number "Meatball's."
As I reveled to myself how refreshing it was to see just the clean unencumbered
lines of bodywork devoid of today's obligatory
sponsorship 'Deckle's, (decals) which have become so pervasive in our
modern society!
Somewhere between floors two-three Mary Ellen
pronounced to Mwah that one of her favourite's was the relatively unknown
Hupmobile, of which I believe she spotted two variants of. Then Alex cried out
there was a Delorean dead ahead! As the museum actually had two Delorean's
minus the obligatory warp-flux capacitor do-daddies made famous in Back to the
Future, as I think Mary Ellen even said one example was black and gold...
Having quickly passed by the George Barris Flintstone's
mobile we'd made our way down to the museum's bottom floor and its Alternative
Technology section - where our friend's 1903 Baker Electric was still on
display, as we gradually began our long ascent upwards, passing by first a
new-to-me Baldwin steam-mobile, before walking past the often seen Stanley
Steamer before encountering a new trio of "automobiles."
The first two were pretty futuristic looking,
both being powered by nature racers, as the local nearly
"North-of-the-Border" Bellingham, WA's Western Washington
University's (WWU) solar powered car sat alongside Michigan University's
Austin, Texas to Calgary, Alberta solar challenge winning racecar entry.
Next up was a not-so-stock looking Jetta
turbo hybrid LSR vehicle. As I say not-so-stock looking since it seemed to have
been stretched along with being faired for terminal velocity, as I was unaware
that VW had set a production class Land Speed Record with its Jetta, having
broken the once unobtainable mythical 300kph barrier, which said Jetta did so
in 2012.
Climbing further up the building's side ramps
we worked our way thru the British section, while some where's in the museum
Mary Ellen asked me if I knew anything about Crossley's? To which I really
don't, other than I thought perhaps it was British and a competitor to MG?
Then "My Posse" spotted another
oddity, which I believe was a "One-off" Olympic Trucks(?) vehicle,
symbiotically making full circle as the lone remaining model originally
produced in Tacoma, Washington was rightly residing in the LeMay ACM in Yuhs
guessed I-T!
And then all too quickly we were back atop
the museum, where the A1 GP Team USA car still sat bolted horizontally to the
wall - and sadly, it was time to leave, as Y'all can check out the museum's
website at;
(Buick Touring Car photo Courtesy of Lemay
America's Car Museum)