“The Submerged Cathedral (La cathédrale engloutie)” was written for piano by Claude Debussy in 1910. It is based on an ancient myth of a cathedral that is submerged off the coast of an island. In the morning it rises up from the water, accompanied by the sounds of chanting priests, […]
Until this weekend, I was unaware that Maserati had built a commercial-grade spin dryer in 1956. That was until SCMer Chris Bright poured me like tube of freshening agent into his replica Maserati 350S and took me on a Friday afternoon blast through downtown Portland and the surrounding hills. During […]
Social media has its plusses and minuses, but a definitive positive is the ability to find out about events you would never hear of otherwise. Late Friday night I was forwarded a notice of the “Discovery Vintage Car Show – Vintage Wheels and Timeless Appeal.” It was being held at […]
Through happenstance, SCMer Chris Bright and I ended up living a floor apart in the same condo. As you wind down through our building’s four levels of underground parking, you see some unusual cars. The most mysterious is covered, but a discerning eye can spot the sensuous lines of a […]
This whole thing started like many of my adventures, behind the wheel of an Alfa. As my stroke-weakened left leg responds to physical therapy, I have begun to be able to drive a manual-shift car again, though in a limited fashion. I took our 1965 Giulia Spider Veloce around the […]
The 2025 NW Passage — Spring, an annual tour put on by the Porsche Club of America Oregon Region, is fast approaching. From June 11-16, some 40 sports cars, mostly late-model Porsches, will set off on a 1,500-mile romp through the Pacific Northwest. Stops include Leavenworth, WA, Sandpoint, ID, and […]
I’ve been attending the Portland Swap Meet for more than 30 years. It is billed as the largest auto swap meet on the West Coast. In the early, pre-internet days, walking though the swap meet gates was like dropping into an Alice in Wonderland hole with no idea what magical […]
Long-time readers will remember that I suffered a stroke in January 2019. Ever since, my left leg has been too weak to depress a clutch, and I have not been able to drive a manual-shift car. I have been working at physical therapy every day, and it has begun to […]
My son Bradley and I had spent two good-weather days driving a pair of our classics that were cumulatively more than a century old. On an atypically sunny Thursday and Friday, we put 100 miles each on the 1971 Jaguar E-type V12 and 1975 Porsche 911S. On Saturday, we were […]
We live in changing times. Which makes the passing of classic cars from one generation to the next a complicated issue. One of my children wants my Lotus Elise; the other, the narrow-body Porsche 911S. As a 1975 model, the 911 is already a classic, while the 19-year-old Elise is […]