Fuel for the city

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Gary Siebel puts gas into his Ford Aerostar van while it's parked outside the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend Monday.

The art car is a work in progress, he said.

When asked "Why?", Siebel answered: "More buildings are going up."
Siebel has lived in Port Townsend off and on since the first Wooden Boat Festival, and is a volunteer in the boatshop at the center.

His mobile landscape follows the look of a traditional Western city, but Siebel added it was no one in particular.

He does have plans to add pieces modeled after the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center, he said, as a memorial. After that, he'd like to drive the van to New York so people could see it.

That's not possible, he added, with where the world is now.

"It's pointless to make any plans," Siebel said.

The project is still evolving, he said, just as cities do.

"Every year I go through urban renewal. Technically, it's an endless project."

"It's a changing thing, like a city. Evolutionary."

He quickly pulled an unfinished but futuristic-looking building that had been sitting in the driver's seat.

Many of the buildings are made from pieces of yellow cedar; wood that's been scrapped by the center's boatshop. The wood is a collection, itself. Some teak over here, he pointed, and there's a piece of driftwood.

The van caught the attention Monday of many passersby.

"It's a great source of entertainment. A conversation piece," Siebel said.