Sunday saw new friend Mike and I driving 2 hours north to see the Barrett Jackson car auction. Well, not the auction itself, but a pre-auction viewing of the cars. Neither of us had been to this event before, so we really didn’t know what to expect. Except lots of interesting cars.

On the way, Mike asked me if I’d ever noticed all the jets parked on the west side of the freeway. I’ve spent some time in Pima, the military plane “boneyard,” but this was far from that site. I said that too often when driving, we have a destination and a time table, and so don’t stop to investigate interesting things like this. He said he has the same problem, and since we had the day to ourselves, we headed off the freeway and out into the desert.

It is definitely a Jet Graveyard. Unlike Pima, this is haunted by deceased commercial aircraft. Tons of them. Most have the windows covered with plastic, and engine openings similarly sealed. We saw lots of fences, entrances with dire warnings against trespass, and thousands of aircraft carcasses. Rather sad to see so many planes just waiting forever… for what?

We arrived at Barrett Jackson, and had to park miles away. The good news it that the nice B-J folks arranged a very efficient system of busses, and we were whisked to the entrance of “The World’s Greatest Collector Car Auctions” in no time.

The first building we entered was absolutely huge. It was like a car show, with all sorts of manufacturers exhibiting their new cars. Then there was an area of auto memorabilia, with everything from old gas pumps, to neon signs advertising car services, to every conceivable type of car related signs. We had now covered at least the length of a football field, and hadn’t seen any of the auction cars.

Then we entered the next section of this huge tent building. Hundreds upon hundreds of cars! The picture below shows maybe a third of the car section. Every exotic you can think of was represented. As were anything else you wouldn’t have thought of… Bentleys to VW’s, Aston Martins to Mustangs, Rolls-Royce to Ramblers… you get the idea.

I’ll admit I was expecting more Classics… Like Rolls-Royce, Packards, Duesenbergs, etc. There were a few, but they were mixed in with an infinite variety of other cars.

Below is a 1936 Bugatti Type 57 Stelvio. It claims to have the original engine, and is frame number 50.

Nearby was this flamboyant 1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith All-Weather Tourer. It has a unique cane pattern painted on much of the sides. I’m not sure who this guy is, taking a close-up of the “Spirit of Ecstasy” hood ornament that has graced so many Rolls-Royce over the decades, but I enjoyed taking a portrait of them together.

Here is a gorgeous 1938 Packard 12 Torpedo-Cabriolet. It had an extensive provenance, including how George Hormel II, heir to the meat-packing company, had this car bodied using the rear body section of a 1930 Renault Reinstella Torpedo Scaphandrier. Does any of that make sense to you? Me neither. But it is a beautiful car.

I promised myself that I would take almost no photos here. I forgot myself a bit at first, and so got pictures of the few classics above. Then I said I would only take pictures of truly unique or meaningful cars.

Which brings me to this beautiful Austin Healey 3000. My Dad had one of these, and it was the first car I ever started. I was a little kid, the car was parked in our driveway, and Dad showed me how to start it… “Push the gas pedal to the floor, then turn the key.” He hadn’t told me to release the gas pedal, so when it fired up, it revved up very fast and very loud and scared the daylights out of me! I was sure we were going to fly right through the closed garage door. Of course, the car being in neutral with the handbrake set prevented that flight, but it was defiantly memorable. Another thing I remember about that car… Dad kept a black tonneau cover over the cockpit when not in use, and he could unzip only the driver’s side and drive like that if he wanted. I asked to ride under the tonneau, and felt very special in that magical little space!

One more funny story about that car. My uncle, Hollis, lived in Sacramento while we lived in Southern California. Hollis and my Dad, Mac, both liked cars, and may have had a tiny bit of rivalry between them. When Dad got this new Austin Healey, he phoned my uncle’s office to brag. The receptionist (who happened to be Dad’s niece) said Hollis was with a patient – could she give him a message? So Dad told her about the new sports car. She went in and told Hollis dad had bought a new sports car, but she couldn’t remember the name. British, two words, started with “A.” Hollis jumped to an amazing conclusion – “Mac bought an Aston Martin?!” (That would have been an order of magnitude more expensive) He was unduly impressed till reality was confirmed later that day.

Ok, here is a van I’m including just because it was so crazy… not like we didn’t see a lot of vans like this when I was younger, but that it was included with so many awesome cars.

This mid 50’s Ford had something unusual… a matching camping trailer, with matching tail end, and a roof consisting of an upside down boat! Perhaps once the boat was removed, there was a tent type covering that gave you a bit more headroom.

I think I saw that there were about 2,000 cars to be auctioned, and there were a few hundred new models… we walked our feet off and had a great time!

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Australia!

Two days later, Cherryl and I boarded a plane in the evening, headed for Sydney! After about a week in the air we landed in Sydney on Thursday morning. We have been planning and then reluctantly rescheduling a trip “Down Under” for at least 15 years! It is so great to finally make it!

We are staying in a nice little hotel a bit south of the main downtown area. I was startled to see that the reception desk is built of about a third of a Mercedes SUV. You talk to the clerk either through the open window or the back door. Very funky. Maybe they thought I wouldn’t have enough cars for this blog…

Near the hotel are lots of impressive buildings, including one under construction just out the back.

The closest intersection has the train station, and more interesting architecture. The building below on the left is curiously bent, and has a huge hole through the middle.

Now the pictures to prove we’re in Sydney… The iconic Sydney Opera House…

And the almost as famous Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The Opera House is truly unique, and is home to many different concert venues. I hope to have more info on it later.

Of course no visit to Sydney would be complete without a visit to the Nelson Hotel. (Or maybe it’s included because some of my dear kids are Nelsons.)

Hyde Park is surprisingly near downtown. Actually, there are parks all over, and all seem very pretty!

Centennial Park is another of the many beautiful parks in the city:

We ranged all over, while resisting jet-lag, to find birds that were new to us. The city parks have many species we’ve never seen before. Below are a few…

Two black and white birds could easily be confused with each other…

Maned Duck.

The most colorful of our new birds to date is this gorgeous Rainbow Lorikeet.

I will admit it took about four days to get over the jet lag and be accustomed to living a day in the future! I’ve always posted this blog on Fridays, around 5 pm. (Give or take a few hours…) But now even when I continue that habit, they will show up mid-day Thursday for folks in the U.S.of A. So you should be seeing blogs from the future for several weeks now. ‘Bye now from the future!