World of Speed Museum

Wilsonville,Oregon about 20 mins drive on the freeway south of the Portland CBD is definitely not on the tourist trail but a motor sport museum,the World of Speed, opened there earlier this year.See World of Speed
It's in a former large Chrysler dealership on an industrial estate and showcases the personal collection of a local couple-the Banys- augmented by some very interesting cars on loan including a number of Mickey Thompson's world speed record Challengers. The emphasis is on hot rods,NASCARS,world speed record cars and local motor racing.
I heard about the museum quite by chance whilst staying in Portland earlier this year and I soon found time to drive down there. I must have been their first Australian visitor.
The facility is great and the staff are very helpful.I had a personal tour with one of the knowledgeable volunteeer guides,Peter Linsky,who happens by coincidence to be a writer for the American Porsche magazine,Excellence.
I have mixed feelings about car museums and particularly motor sport museums as I prefer my cars running and live but I did enjoy this one.
My soft spot for hot rods and dragsters comes from me reading Hot Rod magazine from the US in the early 1960s. I particularly remember an article on a bugeye Austin Healey Sprite into which a hot rodder had shoehorned a 7 litre Cadillac V8. I had not seen Hot Rod for years but came across a mouldering pile of 1960s copies for sale in a secondhand shop in Oregon on this trip. I took a look at one and I quickly realised how much magazines and magazine design have advanced over the years. Did I really once enjoy reading that tiny type and looking at those small fuzzy photos?
Just a few photos to give an impression of the museum.

On Portland tats

Some offer the tattoo artist a broad canvas

More from my recent travels in the Pacific Northwest of the US.
In Portland,Oregon there is one tattoo parlour for every 10,000 people.This means there are a lot of people with tattoos in Portland.Why Portland? The local explanation is that it comes from Portland's maritime past.I am not at all convinced as it seems to be a more recent fashion.Let's hope there are no regrets later in life otherwise Portland is going to be the regretful capital of the world.Leica X1 photos.June 2015

A tat for a summer's day

Sweet on the street

In maybe 30 years time,perhaps even sooner,most of the internal combustion engine powered cars will be gone.Electric cars will rule the roost.Perhaps they will all be Google driverless cars forever suggesting shops we should visit and places where we can eat as they drive us along and automatically telling Google Circles where we are travelling so that all our "friends" can "share" our drive.Banish the thought.

What a sad place the world will be.No more engines to tune,to tinker with,to maintain,to repair,to listen to,to discuss,to curse and of course to love.All gone.Replaced by soulless electric motors,electronic control units and battery packs.Let's love those IC engines whilst we can.

Two sweet sights on the street.Opposite ends of the automotive spectrum.Top-a quite beautiful Alfa convertible parked casually on a street corner outside a cafe in Paris a few weeks ago.What a beautiful car and so suitable for cruising around Paris-the right companion would just set it off.....magnifique.
Bottom -an old Volvo wagon on a street in Portland Oregon a few weeks ago.The owner has had it resprayed in a very attractive gunmetal colour,lowered the ride height,fitted bigger wheels and tyres and blacked out the chrome.Complete with bike carrier it is a very cool wagon which costs a lot less and carries a lot more than a contemporary SUV.A silk purse from a sow's ear although that's a little unfair as these old Volvos have a lot going for them -they were just underappreciated by non Volvo owners in their day.I am told these Volvo wagon revivals are becoming very fashionable in Europe.Every dog has its day...
Alfa photo by David Young.Volvo photo by the Rolling Road

Early morning -Far from the Madding Crowd

I have just seen the recently released movie-Far from the Madding Crowd.The director certainly likes "golden hour" light as almost all the exterior scenes are bathed in golden light.The cast and crew must have had a lot of very early mornings.
The movie has been widely acclaimed by the critics but whilst there is no doubt that the acting and the cinematography are excellent it left me underwhelmed.It is just too bucolic.Even the beggars look like their clothes have just been bought and roughed up a little.The lead man always looks as if he has come straight from the hairdresser.And as for the countryside it looks,well,bucolic. An idyllic picture of Victorian rural England when the reality was very different.
But maybe I have missed the point and the producers did in fact intend to show a romanticised world and not real life.
Whichever it is I hope Australia's Prime Minister does not see it - he is already intent on dragging Australia back to the 1960s- as he may well be tempted to go further and take us back to the 1870s. Indeed the scene where the hero loses everything when his flock of sheep go over a cliff and he is reduced to abject poverty without any welfare or social security would really resonate with the Government.I can just picture the Treasurer and Finance Minister chortling at his misery and lighting up a couple of Havanas at that point.
Here's my take on early morning light in Portland,Oregon June 2015.No happy peasants pitching hay or rosy cheeked wenches smiling at the yokels in the fields there- -but so many beautiful mornings-I'm fortunate to be a morning person.Leica X1 photos.

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