News Tribune business columnist Dan Voelpel tells a nice little tale in his column today.

It sounded like an urban legend. A myth fueled by muddled mis-understandings of foreign sailors speaking Spanish and Russian. The story goes like this:

During Tall Ships Tacoma 2005, a group of young sailors on shore leave from the Mexican sailing ship Cuauhtemoc or, perhaps, the Russian Pallada bumped into someone with a fancy car. Some versions of the story describe the car as a Jaguar. Some described it as a Mercedes. Others, a vintage roadster.

To read on, check out Dan's column.