PETER HALEY/The News Tribune
Car culture along South Tacoma Way ranges from vintage rides to tuner pride. It’s a rich mix of the old and the new and everything in between. From the Nalley Valley to Steilacoom Boulevard, automotive passions are arranged almost chronologically. There are exceptions, but for the most part it’s vintage dream cars in the south, used and current models in the middle, and after-market racing projects in the north. Cruise with us along this venerable strip and take in some of the sights.
Vintage visions In recent years, classic-car showrooms have materialized on South Tacoma Way. For some visitors, ogling the sleeping beauties through the shops’ plate-glass windows is akin to eyeballing donuts at Krispy Kreme. Many beauties slumber in Jim Marsh’s brick-and-glass temple in the Nalley Valley. “We were excited about moving to South Tacoma Way,” said Marsh, owner of Premium Motors. A few years ago, his shop was in downtown Tacoma.
“We love the exposure and being part of the car culture here.” He sells boomer dream cars and notes that the Mustang or Camaro you couldn’t afford as a young driver in 1968 - “maybe you can now.” His shop is more than just a collection of dreams for sale, though. Marsh collects pieces of car culture, Americana at its oiliest, grittiest and perhaps best. Old gas cans and oil cans line the walls. Vintage signs - including an old Pike Place Market sign - hang all over the place.
Old toys, tools, metal and neon in the shop’s museumlike public area hide state-of-the-art workshops in back. “We’ve had Scout troops come in and take tours,” Marsh said. “It’s fun to show them some of that old stuff.” A little ways north of Premium Motors is the old Osborne-McCann Cadillac building. Celebrated local drag racer Bucky Austin keeps his restored classic dragsters stashed there and plans to open a drag-racing museum at that location to the public this fall.