It's the dog days of August, so it's car-show season. (Ever wonder why there aren't any cars named for dogs? Just buses, like Greyhound. Why no Buick Beagle?)

Wandering among gleaming, classic cars, checking your look in the reflection off a fender, counting the fuzzy dice hanging from rearview mirrors — this is the stuff of which summer is made. It brings back memories of fond Fords, or that dilly of a Dodge you drove to the lake every August day when you were 17.

There are several car shows around the Sound this weekend, and spectators don't pay a cent for the pleasure. On Saturday, two shows benefit good causes: the Taste of Main Car Show in Bellevue (www.childrensresponsecenter.org) and the VOA Benefit Car & Motorcycle Show in Lake Stevens (www.voaww.org/carshow).

Sunday, the Northwest Classic Chevy Club Car Show specializes in classic Chevrolets from 1955 through 1957, along the lines of the 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air pictured here. Head for the XXX Root Beer Drive-In in Issaquah (www.nwccc.net).

If your life's in the slow lane, make room for some vroom.

Brian J. Cantwell, Seattle Times Travel staff