Viewfinder: A 1926 Bentley + Hair in the Wind = Living History and Freedom on the Sammamish Plateau

It takes Sammamish resident Walt Carrel at least three dozen steps to get his 1926 Bentley 6.5-liter convertible sports car zipping down the road.

That suits him just fine.

When he has his cap flipped backward, his dark glasses on and the wind in his face, he knows one thing. He is living.

"No one ever fell asleep driving these things," Carrel, 62, said. "You're much more involved with driving."

His green Le Mans-style Bentley - which he believes is one of only five remaining - is a classic with bug-eyed headlights and low-curved windshields. It also has a gross vehicle weight of 4,200 pounds.

But the workmanship and attention to detail, as well, as having his hair fly in the air make it worthwhile to take the more than 80-year-old car for a spin, even on a chilly February day.

The car has a longish body, a steel frame, an ash wooden body and aluminium fenders and hood. Its dashboard is made of wood. The clock needs to be wound by hand.

These types of cars, he said, have been used in endurance races, ones in which drivers might be behind the wheel for up to 24 hours.

At almost every turn, the retired Boeing measurement technician blends humor with his driving. "The clutch is large enough to serve a big turkey on," he said, flashing a smile.

Since 2001, he has his owned this Bentley. He has named it "Woolfe" after one of the company's financial executives who also raced.

Carrel's love of cars started when he was a youth. His father liked them, too. "I was good at tuning things up," he said. "I can understand how things work."

In high school, Carrel owned a 1954 Volkswagen convertible, which he drove fast. "I like windy roads," he said. "I grew up in southwest Washington."

His friend encouraged him to buy a Bentley - and this one has a comfortable thunder of sorts when the 200-horsepower engine is on. "It has enough oopmh so you don't have to worry," he said.

People can hear that oomph when Carrel rolls by on Sammamish and area streets. At a Plateau gas station, Sammamish resident Ronn Altaras, 57, walked over for a closer inspection.

"I've never seen anything like this," he said. "I didn't think they built them like this in 1926."

Carrel flipped up the hood - which uses leather straps to keep it down - to show him the engine. Before he left the gas station, he put on a pair of old-school gloves.

He's driven his car to the Columbia River and nearly to Canada. Recently, he used it to get his Christmas tree. Before he left his house, he brushed off twigs and needles that remained.

"It has to earn its keep," he said.

His dream is to take the car to England to drive it on the soil of the company's birthplace. For now, though, Sammamish Plateau and Seattle-area roads suit him just perfectly.

"Cars are a function of all the spirits that go into them," he said. "We don't own the Bentley. We're just the current custodians."