Jalopnik: Seattle

Why Own A Cheap Little Econobox? Low Profit Mont Has Detroit Muscle For Ya!

Murilee Martin — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Detroit Auto Works of Seattle is still around, though these days they don't seem to focus so much on classic Detroit musclecars as they did back in the 80s… and where's Low Profit Mont nowadays? Imagine an era, just a couple decades past, when 60s Camaros and Chargers still served as transportation!

PCH, 500 Bucks Worth Of Rust Edition: Skoda Felicia or Burma Jeep?

Murilee Martin — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:20:00 EDT

We were shocked, shocked to learn that the Peugeot 404 Baja racer annihilated the Oval Window Baja Bug in last Friday's Choose Your Eternity poll. It's a new week, however, and we've got new challenges ahead. Let's head on up to Seattle, where the constant rain creates sort of a year-round meat-market singles bar for lonely iron atoms looking to hook up with promiscuous oxygen atoms... and nobody goes home alone! When you've got a vehicle that's been sitting outside in coastal Washington for decade after decade, you figure you ought to be able to get it for a very reasonable price- and you figured right! Zeet has earned a PCH Tipster T-shirt by finding us a couple of tantalizingly cool machines sitting in the sodden Pacific Northwest weeds, so let's drive right in to a colder, damper Project Car Hell!

They made some wonderful cars in Czechoslovakia back in the day, but that darned ol' Iron Curtain kept all but a tiny handful of them from making their way to North America. Still, Skoda took an ill-advised shot at importing Felicias back in the early 60s, which means that you might be able to find an affordable one over here. As a matter of fact, you can get this convertible (go here if the ad disappears) for 500 bucks or best offer. How can you resist? The seller sums up the car quite aptly with this no-punctuation-needed statement: "basket case little rust mostly there what you see is what you get." See, it's mostly there! Just make a few calls to Prague and you'll have the missing stuff faster than a man can turn into a giant cockroach! And don't worry about the running condition of the Skoda engine, because it's already been proven that you can put an Audi V8 in the back! Yeah, there's rust... but how bad can it be?

You see quite a few garden-variety WW2 Jeeps just driving around these days, but what if you want one of the super-rare Ford GTB 1-1/2-ton trucks, popularly known as the Burma Jeep? Normally you'd have to pay boo-koo bucks for such a veteran, but we've got a line on this genuine Burma Jeep (go here if the ad disappears) for only $500. We'll readily admit that this truck has something of an oxidation problem, but we know you'll be as relentless as George S. Patton himself when it comes time to replace and/or fabricate the components that are too far gone to fix. Hey, there must be something on this vehicle that won't disintegrate into a cloud of red dust when you stare hard at it! The seller doesn't offer any description (other than "RARE!"), but it looks like an engine is visible behind the grille and you even get the axles. No sweat!

Duct Tape Saves The Day For Vintage Racer's Datsun 510

Murilee Martin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:00:00 EDT

A '68 Datsun 510 race car is a pretty good handling machine, but when you race in the sleet, rain, and snow of a Pacific Northwest springtime (as VintageRacer does) sometimes your car ends up taking an unscheduled detour off the track. Make the jump for VintageRacer's story.

Well, hopefully you'll have a better day at the 24hrs than we did (though we did finish up by running fastest lap in our group Sunday afternoon).

Saturday was a mix of rain, sleet, snow, wrong tire choice, and too much throttle in the wrong place....

A liberal application of dead blow hammer and duct tape later.....from a distance - you can't even tell... (but I've got a couple of weeks of sheetmetal and paint ahead. Fortunately no suspension damage) Gotta have it looking real good for the Under 2 litre Trans Am revival for next month.

What Would A Diamond T Roadster Have Looked Like?

Murilee Martin — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Diamond T stopped making cars while Taft was still president, becoming a noted truck manufacturer. But what if they had made a spiffy roadster in the 1930s? VintageRacer had his camera at the ready when the time came to answer that question; make the jump to read his description.

I've seen this beast several times (on sunny days), but never when I had my camera with me. So, of course, the day I've got it with me, it's later in the day and the sky's threatening rain and snow.

It evidently is owned by the guy who owns the repair shop, and the story I got from a couple of the guy's who work there is as follows:10-12 years ago, the owner (who's a big Diamond T fan) started wondering what a Diamond T roadster would look like - if they had built one. The story was that they really had, but no pictures could be found. There evidently was an outfit called either Close Enough Engineering or Close Enough Cars here in Seattle, and they started with the nose of a 1947 truck, used the front fenders to fabricate the rears, used the gauges, dash, I believe he used the frame, and the wheels and axles. A Chevy V-8, handbuilt metal body (wood for the rear), real Brooklands windscreens, and a holster for his pistol mounted on the firewall in the cab. It could use a little TLC under the hood, and the wood needs to be varnished again, but it's driven pretty regularly during the summer.

Seattle Studebaker Champ Isn't Grungy At All

Murilee Martin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EDT

After sending us some great action shots from Daytona, VintageRacer headed home to the Pacific Northwest, where he spotted this extremely rare Studebaker Champ pickup. He had to wait for a non-rainy day to shoot it (no small feat in Seattle), but it was worth the wait. Make the jump for more photos and VintageRacer's description.

So... the weather cooperated yesterday and got some shots for you. Couldn't get in to see the engine, but I believe it's a straight 6. It stays parked on the street in a Seattle neighborhood, gets driven every few days. It appears to be the original color - it's a little faded. Very little rust as well. The smoothside bed is interesting - I believe it's the original instead of a stepside.

Car Salesman Who Stole From Mentally Ill Customer Going To Jail, Probably To Be Named Salesman Of The Year

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:30:00 EST

As if it's hard enough to get a good deal when buying a new truck, imagine if you're mentally ill. Then imagine that you let on that you're not well and have tons of money in cash at home. What happens next is the sales team at Douchebag Brothers Autos first goes to your house and steals about $70,000, then takes $30,000 for the truck and then, when you're committed to a mental hospital, takes the truck and puts it in their name. At least, that's what Paul Rimbley is convicted of doing.

Though he claims he was just helping the guy out, the jury didn't buy the story and sentenced the guy to nine months in jail. A fairly light sentence considering. Rimbley claimed he had "a great reputation in the car business" and was "the kind of guy who would help anybody." Sadly, we believe that first part may be true. [Seat Post-Intelligencer]

Former NFL Placekicker Saves Woman From Car, Woman Still Prefers QB

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:15:00 EST

Norm Johnson, a former placekicker for the Seattle Seahawks, is a hero for something other than nailing the game winning field goal as the clock expires. The kicker-turned-real estate agent was driving his son to school when he noticed the Pontiac Grand Am lying upside-down in a ditch full of freezing water and the woman trapped and screaming in the backseat. It was fortunate for the woman he arrived because, like all great kickers (and many good real estate agents), he's got ice water running through his veins.

Johnson cracked the back window open and pulled the hysterical woman out. Thanks to Johnson's quick work, the woman escaped without serious injury and his son will have just one more thing to hold over the heads of his friends whose fathers haven't accomplished anything in their lives. [IHT]

Ex-Police Call for De-Policified Surplus Ex-Police Cars

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:15:00 EST

Because it's sometimes unnerving to get pulled over by a real unmarked patrol car, some police and safety advocates are calling for fleet services to do a better job of making ex-patrol cars more civilian-ized. While there are good reasons for wanting a used cop car (you might be on a "Mission from God"), there are also a couple of less-than-noble motives. Former King County Sheriff Pat Jones has been pushing the state lege to make the change, but so far the law hasn't passed.

The renewed interest in the bill comes after two different men were arrested in separate incidents for impersonating police officers in Washington last week. As with most things government-related, the balance is between cost (labor to remove everything) and benefit (people not able to impersonate cops). [Seattle PI]

Cops Keeping $277K Seized From Traffic Stop, To Buy Darkest Glasses Ever

Matt Hardigree — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:00:00 EST

If you're driving around with hundreds of thousands of dollars in a briefcase you might want to come up with an excuse before you get on the freeway. A 35-year-old British Columbia man was stopped by Washington State Troopers in Seattle and was unable to explain where the money came from. We're going to go out on a limb and say it has to do with the non-British Columbia. Since no one claimed the money, 90% of it goes to a drug enforcement fund and the rest goes to the state's general fund. See, the War on Drugs is working! [News Tribune

Car Sharing to Get More Tax-ing in Washington State

Matt Hardigree — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 11:15:00 EDT

Flexcar/Zipcar users around Washington State are going to see the price of their car sharing rise this week as a nearly 10% car rental tax is going to be applied to their services. The rental car companies were displeased with the exemption for car sharing since they consider their services comparable, and the state's tax collectors agreed. There's an interesting balance at work here. On one hand, car sharing services (like rental car companies) utilize public roads and benefit from many public entities and should therefore pay taxes. On the other hand, the company does pay taxes on its income, gas, payroll, et cetera and helps the city lower its congestion by allowing numerous people to use one car. In the end, what happens will be a matter of who is willing to fight harder for/against the exemption. [Marketplace]

Woman Run Over Saving Duck In Poorly Planned Escape

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:00:00 EDT

A Seattle man is in jail, a Petco employee is in a cast but Mr. Peepers the duck is going to be okay. The man, Kenneth Quinlan, dropped his girlfriend off at Petco and decided to kill time by lifting an iPod speaker system from an adjacent store. A guard intervened and Quinlan, who apparently needed the speakers badly, beat him up and ran out of the store to his car. Just then, his girlfriend, Mr. Peepers in hand, approached the car. The car hit the girlfriend and Mr. Peepers went flying. Seeing the endangered duck, an exceptionally committed Petco employee rescued Mr. Peepers from the path of the car but was run over. The employee is going to be fine, but Quinlan hit another car on the road and is now in police custody. Though, in his defense, he'd apparently just gotten a methadone dose at the clinic. So, no harm no fowl.– Matt Hardigree

Assault Charges Filed, Duck Unharmed [UPI]

Related:
Jalopnik Interview: Road Rage [Internal]

Seattle Supra Owner Gets "GOT MILF" License Plate Ganked By State

Ray Wert — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:49:49 EDT

Why would someone ever want to take away the Stiffler-esque vanity plate of this young lad from the Seattle area? And seriously, who would ever marry a guy who had this license plate? – Ray Wert

TrafficGauge Aims to Salve Commute Wounds

Davey G. Johnson — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:37:11 EST

If a full-boat GPS system is overkill for you, the harried commuter, TrafficGauge might just be solution. The service, which uses a basically buttonless device that only displays freeways, is just rolling out in the Bay Area after being deployed in Seattle and LA. While it displays the roads that are running wild, running free; the byways that are backed up, and conditions in between, we think the main problem with the device is the lack of major non-freeway arteries, which in places like LA and the Bay, anyway, are becoming more and more viable as the fruits of Eisenhower's dream fall victim to vehicular arteriosclerosis. [Thanks to CTE for the tip.]

TrafficGauge not fancy but it does the trick [SFGate]

How (Not) to Steal a Million Gallons of Gas

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 07:38:53 EST

Cheech and Chong taught us all about stealing gas in their 1980 sequel "Next Movie," in which they siphon gas into a trash can (full of garbage), then dump it all over the car and themselves as they try to fill the tank. Afterwards, they light a smoke and the car goes up in flames (though they're miraculously unkilled). Of course, compared to C&C's legendary "getting across the street" scene, one Washington State man's plot to steal more than a million gallons of gas from a distribution center on Harbor Island is completely unfunny. That's probably why it worked. For a while.

Fuel theft alleged at Harbor Island [The Seattle Times]

Over The Rail: Caprice Cruiser, PT Cruiser Fall 20 Feet Onto Sidewalk

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:26:45 EDT

We're a sucker for a good car crash story, as long as nobody gets seriously hurt, and this one in Seattle was quite a doozy, as doozies of this type go. A woman left her elderly father in her '80s-vintage Chevy station wagon on the second floor of a parking garage and supposedly stuck the car in park. What happened next isn't entirely clear, but it resulted in the wagon smashing into a parked, unoccupied PT Cruiser and sending both vehicles plummeting through a steel-and-concrete barricade, over the edge of the parking garage and onto the sidewalk below. Amazingly enough, the 88 year-old man survived the ordeal with only minor injuries.

Two cars plummet off parking garage to street below [KATU]