Just A Car Guy

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 Lightweight factory racer, 1-of-212, in storge since 1970, with only 2400 miles on it (thank you George!)

The portly front bench seat was ditched in favor of a pair of basic Bostrom bucket seats. These were sourced from Ford’s police package and saved a bunch of weight. The heater, radio, clock, armrests, door pulls, dash padding, dome lights, and even the passenger sun visor were all ditched. Instead of carpeting and sound deadening, the car just got a thin rubber mat. Made with aluminum bumpers, aluminum Borg Warner transmission, bellhousing, and shifter

https://www.hotrod.com/features/1963-1-2-ford-galaxie-500-lightweight-survivor-barn-find

last of the hardware supply mail order catalog big posts.

I'll start this last installment, with the most fun thing in the 1400 page book

and then fet to the things I find interesting that I've never heard of before

and some pages of the huge variety of things inside that could be ordered

what the hell is a jelly cake?

an asparagus cooker?

there was so MUCH ammo!

and the illustrators were top notch!

and a 44, with birdshot!

even exploded views of rifles to order the individual parts

and before fishing line was made of plastic, it was silk, or Irish linen

that fish holder would be damn useful when trying to get a hook out of a mouth

before it was tarpaulin, it was a Paulin... how strange

and the variety of baseballs!

notice the brand or model in the upper left corner, it's a "Motorbike"

I had no idea those spoke fasteners are called nipples

before they became "clip boards" they were "Board Clips"

and I began this with the most fun, and this ends with the most unreal... anyone could order dynamite. IT works really good for blasting stumps, my grandpa told me, but since he couldn't buy in anymore, in the mid 80s, he had to try using his tractor. It was not successful, but the damn stump was where he wanted to plant a small field for something deer love to eat.

from the 1936 hardware catalog.... the UGLIEST linoleum, was all that was available - and its so lengendarily bad, I had to show you

This past weekend at the annual Raptor Rally, Ford debuted a video to attendees that depicted footage of the first-generation F-150 Raptor, presented by actor Jon Bernthal,

https://x.com/FordRacing/status/2112574837939929523

https://fordauthority.com/2026/10/jon-bernthals-ford-raptor-teaser-officially-debuts-to-talk-about-monster

are these people delusional, or deliberately difficult in an effort to avoid taxes?

https://patch.com/california/healdsburg/amp/35032506/sovereign-citizen-driver-says-he-is-exempt-from-ca-laws-claims-duress-when-cited

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a lawsuit challenging a Chicago ordinance allowing the city to seize a car owner's vehicles over unpaid parking tickets

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, wrote that the city's vehicle impoundment policy might violate the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, but said the issue needs more discussion in lower courts before the nation's highest court steps in.

In Chicago, the city can boot, impound, and eventually sell off any vehicle belonging to someone who has as little as two parking tickets that have gone unpaid for more than a year, even if that car is not the one involved in the parking infraction.

"Chicago's vehicle-forfeiture scheme is vast and lucrative, helping the city generate, according to one estimate, $264 million in traffic-ticket revenue," Sotomayor wrote in Monday's ruling.

Two Chicago drivers had filed a class-action lawsuit against the city, asking to have the city's vehicle seizure policy declared unconstitutional, but so far, lower courts and appeals courts have ruled against them.

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/supreme-court-chicago-parking-ticket-lawsuit-vehicle-seizures/

The small town of Bow Mar, Colorado (population ~950), located between Denver and Littleton, recently voted to construct an entrance gate to stop cut-through traffic from surrounding areas who use local streets as shortcuts.

The town's population is about 950, but a traffic study found that about 1,200 vehicles travel through the community every day.

Denver and Littleton leaders opposed the idea. Both cities asked Bow Mar to pause the proposal and work with them on a different solution. They argued that "Bow Mar undoubtedly expects its residents to have reasonable access to Denver and Littleton roads and rights-of-way. Denver and Littleton expect the same in turn."

Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn warned that installing a gate could prompt Denver to consider a similar measure on the city's side of the road, effectively blocking Bow Mar's access to its own gate.

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/bow-mar-colorado-approves-entrance-gate-traffic-dispute-denver-littleton

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/car-colorado-lake-renews-debate-proposed-traffic-gate-bow-mar

Peter Arnold, who died in 2025, loved to wheel out his Spitfire fuselage so people could admire it, but after 2 decades of being a part of that garage, it has sold at auction for 24k

The fuselage was Arnold’s seventh aviation restoration project, per the BBC. It was mostly made of replacement panels from other original Spitfires, a cockpit window assemblage and Perspex canopy, according to the lot listing.

Arnold, who was known as “Mr Spitfire,” became fascinated with Spitfires while at school and began locating and cycling to former crash sites within 50 miles of his home, which led to him locating his first Spitfire aircraft, per the release.

After finishing school, Arnold went on to work in automotive engineering for Aston Martin, which increased how far he was able to search for planes.

According to the BBC, Arnold was prepared to cycle 100 miles to photograph Spitfires being used as gate guardians — historic or replica aircraft used as displays at the entrances of military bases. He would also travel around the world to see each of the more than 260 examples of the planes.

https://people.com/man-kept-world-war-ii-fighter-plane-fuselage-in-garage-for-over-20-years-12186001

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10/21/spitfire-fuselage-kept-in-garage-for-20-years-sold-auction

Some supermarket shelves and gas station pumps were empty in the southern city of Naples on Tuesday due to a weeklong protest by truck drivers against the high cost of diesel driven up by the Iran war.

Protesters blocked the loading and unloading of fresh food and other goods at supermarket distribution warehouses near Naples on Monday, Sky TG24 reported. The truckers are adding their voices to demonstrations that have spread across Europe as the war disrupts economies

https://apnews.com/article/italy-trucker-protest-empty-shelves-pumps-f488c47abce9295b30e040c1584e31ae.

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Tom Daniel, designer of the Red Baron, 1936-2026, and solely responsible for 40% of Monogram's business

https://www.museumofamericanspeed.org/redbaron.html

In 1968, Monogram then hired stylist Tom Daniel who designed more than 80 fantastical vehicles, not always based on real cars.

When the company was bought by Mattel in 1968, custom vehicles designed by Daniel and others were seen in both small and large sizes in Hot Wheels diecast - and then in Monogram kit form.

Examples seen in both Hot Wheels and Monogram venues were the Ice-T, the Red Baron, the Paddy Wagon, the S'cool Bus, the Sand Crab, and the T'rantula (even made by Mattel subsidiary Mebetoys of Italy).

Some of the handsomest vehicles were the simpler rods, like the "Son of Ford" '32 Ford rod and the "Boss 'A' Bone", a rodded '29 Model A pickup. Models of later vehicles were also common in this series, like the sleek "Street Fighter", a Daniel-designed '60 Chevy panel truck powered by a Camaro Z/28 engine (Quicksilver was another variation of the same kit), and the 1955 Chevrolet Bad Man gasser.

By around 1970, many of these models were molded in bright reds and oranges and did not require painting.