The Pacific Northwest Region of the Classic Car Club of America is one of the most active purveyors of information on the greatest automobiles ever built.  Please join us for an event or come to our meetings held on the first Wednesday of every month, 6 pm in  Kirkland (please check with the club secretary for the current location).  5 pm is the start of the social hour, then on to business.  Dinner and drinks are brought in for you; the cost varies depending on the venue and the fare, but typically hovers around $10/person – a great deal!  And the people are always delightful.

Join the club by contacting any of the Board members listed.

And, as always, have fun with your older cars!

There is a lot of great information and inspiration in the article produced by our National Club on getting out and enjoying the road in our Classics. It is reproduced here for quick reference. Enjoy!

Here are the events planned for the 2024 driving season

January 21 . . . . . . . . . . Auction Week PNR-CCCA Party in Paradise Valley, AZ (Kim and Kristy Pierce, Managers)

February 17 . . . . . . . . . . . Flying Heritage and Combat Museum at Paine Field (Tom Alberts and Kenny Heng, Managers)

March 20 – 23 . . . . . . . . . . CCCA Annual Meeting in Huntington Beach, CA

April 17 . . . . . . . . . . . A Tulip Tour (Jim and Irene Tait, Managers)

June 22 . . . . . . . . . PNR-CCCA Coming Out Party at the Dochnahl’s (Brian Rohrback, Manager)

July 4 . . . . . . . . . . Yarrow Point Annual 4th of July Parade (Al and Sandi McEwan, Managers)

July 14 . . . . . . . . . . Mercer Island Cruise and Car Show (Tom Alberts, Manager)

July 21. . . . . . . . . . Forest Grove Concours, Forest Grove, OR (Jerry Greenfield, Manager)

August 5 . . . . . . . . . . Pebble Beach Motoring Classic Kick-Off (Steve Larimer and William Howard, Managers)

August 18 . . . . . . . . . . Pebble Beach Concours in Pebble Beach, CA

August 31 . . . . . . . . . . LeMay Family Collection Show, Marymount (Jake Grotte, Manager)

November 6 . . . . . . . . . . PNR-CCCA Annual Meeting (Brian Rohrback, Manager)

December 7 . . . . . . . . . . . Annual Danz Toy Drive (Ron Danz, Manager)

December 15 . . . . . . . . . . Holiday Party and Awards (Frank Daly, Manager)

We have permission to give a flavor of this article and a link to the full-meal-deal.  Paul Ingrassia wrote a piece about Monterey Car Week that should be required reading for anyone who appreciates the position cars hold in our hearts and minds.

Here is an excerpt:

MONTEREY, Calif. — The Costanoan and Esselen Native American tribes from the 18th Century have long since departed this peninsula. More recently, the modern tribes who powwow here every August have decamped too.

These latter-day tribes include the Exotici, who worship high-horsepower and high-testosterone deities with such names as Koenigsegg, Lamborghini and Ferrari. The rival Classicarini tribe — whose leaders include shaman Wayne Carini — practices ancestor worship, venerating Pre-War Preservation, Post-War Grand Touring and other primitive but beautiful gods from the past.

Other modern clans that gather here include the Germania, the Italianos, the Brits and the wondrously weird Lemoni.

This powwow is Monterey Car Week, which has grown from a modest one-day event that started in 1951 to encompass nine days of high-revving, free-wheeling automotive adulation. The hundreds of thousands of people who convene here each August are viewed by outsiders as a monolithic horde of dipstick-loving, lockstep-thinking car crazies. But for those inside the big automotive teepee, the truth is more nuanced.

Many Classicarini regard the Exotici as nouveau-riche show-offs who buy modern $2 million-plus “hypercars” to flaunt their wealth. “It’s not about the way the cars race, or about the cars,” explained 71-year-old John Grosseto Orange County, Calif., proud owner of a classic 1955 Osca MT4.  “It’s about young drivers with more money than brains. They buy the car because they can buy it, not because they really love the car.”

Check out the full piece at:   https://revsinstitute.org/news/americas-automotive-tribes-their-rites-revelries-rituals-and-rivalries/

As most of us locals know, there is a lot of activity down in the City of Destiny. The LeMay Museum construction is pretty much at a close and the final preparation for the Grand Opening Weekend (June 2, 3 and 4) is underway. When this first phase opens for business, it will be the largest car museum in the US and the third largest in the world. Be sure to head on over to the site next to the Tacoma Dome, either for the invitation-Gala on the 2nd of June or for the two days following, where invitations to a collection of cars from the Pacific Northwest will grace the showfield and the museum will be formally open.

This is a treasure that the Pacific Northwest Region of the CCCA heartily endorses!  See you in Tacoma.

Hitting the Road

I am willing to bet that the snow is now distant in everyone’s memory and the rain is showing signs of giving us respite.  It is time to hit the road.  With three events already complete, we look forward to a series of activities over the Spring, the Summer and beyond.  Join us for one of these motoring classics.

In June 2010, an intrepid group of classic car enthusiasts made a grand circle starting in Kirkland’s waterfront and moving through Sun Mountain near Winthrop, on to Kelowna, winding our way West to Whistler and ending in the ever-charming Victoria BC.