Refreshments before the parade  provided compliments Master Auto Tech. 

Bellingham locals get together and join the Ski to Sea fun.

ya just gotta smile

Everybody loves a parade.

The idea behind the “Smart car” was to create a vehicle easy to park and short enough to allow “nose-in” parking. Its length of 98.4 in would equal the width of a regular parking slot, allowing two or three Smarts to park in the space as one normal car.

The project, started by Swiss watch manufacturer Swatch was nicknamed the “Swatchmobile”. The name Smart is an acronym for Swatch Mercedes ART. Intended to use innovative features (such as a hybrid engine) and be affordable for young people.

Origionaly known as the Swatch

Check out this 3-D AMG V-8

Mercedes-AMG has taken a completely new departure: the new AMG 6.3-litre V8 engine is the first in the world to combine the high-revving concept with a large displacement. Developed entirely by AMG, this high-performance engine has a displacement of 6.3 litres and generates an output of 375 kW/510 hp at 6800 rpm, plus a maximum torque of 630 Newton metres, which makes the new power pack by AMG the world’s most powerful naturally aspirated eight-cylinder production engine. Thanks to its large displacement, the V8 by AMG develops around 20 percent more torque than comparable naturally aspirated engines in this performance class.

Made completely from high-strength aluminium, this naturally aspirated V8 engine has a wealth of exciting features derived from motorsport, and impressively documents the successful motor racing history of AMG. Together with a variable intake manifold featuring two integral throttle flaps, the vertical arrangement of the intake and exhaust ducts ensures perfect cylinder charging. Bucket tappets in the cylinder heads allow a stiff valve train and therefore high engine speeds. Variable camshaft adjustment, a particularly rigid closed-deck crankcase and cylinder walls with a new, revolutionary LDS coating are further attributes of this ultra-modern V8 engine made by Mercedes-AMG.

This eight-cylinder unit was developed to series production maturity entirely by the efforts of the engineers and technicians in Affalterbach. The new AMG 6.3-litre V8 engine will shortly be presented in a new high-performance AMG car, and is destined to provide both emotional and physical driving pleasure in other AMG cars in the future.

The high expectations of AMG customers and the impressive history of AMG eight-cylinder engines were both an incentive and an obligation for the engineers and product planners at Mercedes-AMG GmbH to come up with a superlative new V8 power unit. A mere glance at the key technical data shows that this has been achieved: from a displacement of 6208 cubic centimetres, the AMG V8 aluminium engine develops a peak output 375 kW/510 hp at 6800 rpm and a maximum torque of 630 Newton metres which is available from 5200 rpm. The maximum engine speed is 7200 rpm.

Keys figures at a glance:

world car fans .com