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FRED AND PENNY CRUGER WELCOME YOU TO NORTHWEST WA
(A lot of pictures, but worth the wait if you're into old cars!)
Penny and Fred Cruger abbott1912@aol.com
Great Northwest (40 miles NE of Seattle)
Although it may not appear so, we live on the side of a hill, bounded
at the bottom by a great fishing lake. We mow the upper half, and three
miniature donkeys mow the lower portion. We do have a large garage
with an upstairs shop, because we love to restore old things (cars, furniture,
almost anything old and mechanical) and put them back into use.
Someone in a helicopter flew over one day, then showed up at
our door offering this picture! If we had known in advance, we'd have
made sure to have all the dogs, donkeys, and other assorted family members
outside for a family portrait. Well, next time . . .
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS:
- Animals of all kinds (we've got birds, fish, dogs, donkeys, horses, and an incredible assortment of wildlife)
- Ceramic doll-making (Penny)
- Antique Auto Restoration (Fred)
- Antique Auto Touring (Both)
Of course, our own projects aren't quite enough to keep us busy, so we take in others. Our local historical society owned an unrestored 1904 Curved Dash Oldsmobile that had been sitting in their shed for years. Since the car had been in our town since 1926, we felt badly that it was falling into total disrepair, so we offered to restore it to some of its former glory. It doesn't look great, but it certainly looks much better than it did. Thanks to transmission gears, advice, and part drawings from Jim Walkinshaw, tremendous elbow grease from Penny, help from our neighbor Clare Petersen, and a lot of two-part epoxy products, we presented it to the historical society at our town's 18th Annual Show 'n' Shine car show on August 1, 1998.
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Penny and Fred are also active in the Skagit-Snohomish Region of the Horseless Carriage Club of America. Included here are some pictures from the annual pre-16 tour two years ago. Pictures from more recent tours can be found on our club web site. It started on Sunday, Sept 12th, with registration, a short tune-up tour, and a barbeque. Over 50 pre-1916 automobiles took part in the tour, with over 130 individual tour participants.
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| The view from Washington Park, where we held our "tune up" tour on Sunday, was spectacular. | The road through the park offered views to the North, West, and South, highlighting the San Juans. | The park road wandered through Pacific NW coastal forests. It was narrow, paved, & one-way. |
On Monday, we toured Lopez Island, visiting the historical museum and a local car collection. On Tuesday, we toured Whidbey Island, visiting the town of Coupeville and its historical museum, Fort Casey and its embattlements and lighthouse, and the impressive bridge over Deception Pass. On Wednesday, we did a complete circuit of San Juan Island, visiting Roche Harbor and Friday Harbor. Finally, on Thursday, we visited a local smoked salmon factory, a stuffed animal factory, while the town of LaConner provided excellent shopping and lunch.
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| The town of Coupeville went all-out for our visit, reserving all the downtown parking for the pre-1916 automobiles. The period buildings made an excellent backdrop for our tour, and the well-costumed tour participants provided a great show for the town residents. The weather was great and lunch was superb. | ||
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| Evelyn Little and Norm Knight came again in their chain-driven 1910 Buick Model 14. | The one-of-a-kind Buick roadster belonging to Nancy and Bill Ullrich was sporty and powerful. | Sandra and Bruce Massman brought a 1908 Lozier that was breathtaking in its appearance and value! |
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| Candy and Howard Musolf crossing the bridge on Deception Pass in their 1916 (built in 1915) Pack- ard limousine. | Merle Simonsma in his 1911 Maxwell equipped as a Police Chief's car, with bells, siren, and lights. His son Tim came as the Fire Chief. | Roly Weinhandl and Cliff Rutledge walked along the narrow walkway across the Deciption Pass Bridge, just to get a better view. Dramatic! |
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| Four rows of brass cars made an impressive sight outside the Whidbey Naval Air Station CPO Club, where we stopped for coffee on Tuesday morning. | The Washington State Ferry system did their best to keep us together when ferrying to each island. Four long rows of brass cars looked great! | Roche Harbor on San Juan Island provided relaxation and lunch for many participants. The hotel gardens and marina were stunning. |
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| Eva Morrison and Con Fletcher brought two cars, one of which was a 1908 Stanley Steamer, seen here if front of the Fort Casey lighthouse. | The colorful 1909 Chalmers-Detroit of Jeanette and Rich Morgan looked great in town and on the road. | JoAnn Conant and Stu Laidlaw brought a two-cyliner 1910 Schacht, seen here in front of the Bunnies-by-the-Bay factory (make stuffed animals) |
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| Merrily and Pat Farrell steamed through the tour in their 1914 Stanley roadster. | Helen and Dick Rash brought their 1910 Firestone Columbus, a decendent of early Vanderbilt racers. | The beautiful blue Model T Ford belonging to Jeanne and Edwin Brown rests in the shade. |
Although the focus of the club is on the maintenance and driving of pre-1916 vehicles, and we discourage "competition", we did offer special recognition and trophies to some deserving automobiles during the tour-ending banquet:
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| President Howard Musolf chose the car he most felt would look better in his garage than in the garage of its current owner. It was a one-cylinder 1907 Cadillac owned by Brad Austin. | Since Penny and Candy Musolf co-chaired the tour, they felt they, too, were entitled to recognize a special car. It was a 1911 Maxwell owned by Tim Simonsma and decorated as a Fire Chief's care with bell, siren, and lights. |
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| The long-distance trophy went to Carolyn and Mike Martin, who flew from their current home in Taiwan to Colorado to pick up their 1914 Cadillac, trailered to Washington, then returned to Taiwan the following week. | The not-very-coveted "hard luck" trophy went to the Pierce-Arrow of Penny and George VanBeek, in recognition of the pinion gear it ate in the middle of a long grade on the second morning of the tour. |
We also presented some framed pictures to other cars that deserved special recognition:
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| The oldest car on tour was a 1901 Winton brought by Eva Morrison and Con Fletcher from Colorado. | The 1913 American Underslung owned by Frank Hurley won special recognition for the 41" tires it sported! |
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| BIll and Betty Lawrence recently celebrated their 56th anniversary, earning them the "most married" award and a picture of their 1912 Pierce-Arrow. | When the fan of Marcia and Mike Yeakel's 1906 Winton hit the radiator and caused a leak, they went home to get their 1907 two-cylinder Buick. But the Buick developed a severe vibration, earning them the "double trouble" award. |
Next year's tour (2000) will probably be headquartered on the Olympic Peninsula. Once again, we will limit participation to about 55 cars, so plan to make your reservations early! We hope to see our 1999 touring friends again!
We hope you've enjoyed the recent changes to our web page and
will visit again. Thanks for taking the time and trouble to visit,
and please feel free to send us e-mail!
This Mastiff WebRing site is owned by
Fred Cruger
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