Thursday, May 07, 2026
the house has two things in common with the car, both are 1956, and both are enamel on steel panels.
After WWII, we needed houses fast. The answer was steel.
The Lustron was a prefabricated house made of enameled steel panels.
It was delivered on a truck. You could clean the walls with a garden hose. You hung pictures with magnets.
They were rust-proof and termite-proof.
The Lustron was a prefabricated house made of enameled steel panels.
It was delivered on a truck. You could clean the walls with a garden hose. You hung pictures with magnets.
They were rust-proof and termite-proof.
cave paintings
DeLorean factory workers sometimes made drawings on the insides of DeLorean body panels that today are affectionately referred to by DeLorean owners and enthusiasts as “cave paintings”.
I was talking about transmissions with a dune buggy owner - he said this about 6 thousand dollar dune buggy transmissions...
1st gear is glass,
2nd is aluminum,
3rd is steel,
4th is hardened steel
a semi hauling tar was straddling the railroad tracks in Riley Colorado, when the passenger train came through and cut it in half, putting 6 thousand gallons of tar somewhere it wasn't wanted, needed, or useful.
https://www.facebook.com/david.riley.136014/posts/pfbid0355mLGNi5YaxdiV98sCKwQ7TXYDpi8Ri9LbUWB2LpT8RTC7YrgFE28Lwn3VRA6Z4xl
John Eads Cushman shop built a lightweight racer using a Cushman (named Black Jack) with a bored out cast iron engine using a piston from a Studebaker six and an overdrive unit giving it two gears. took it to the drag strip and it went 89 mile per hour in the 1/4 mile, a record for a scooter.
John Eads of Kokomo Indiana lived a 102 years despite crewing a bomber as a gunner on 50 missions in WW2
He was born in 1923, in Kokomo, and Married Thelma in 1952
John enlisted in the Army Air Corp on December 5, 1942, at the age of 19 with plans to be a mechanic. But after his enlistment, he was sent to a gunnery school and was assigned as a waist gunner with the 97th Bomber Group, 342nd Squadron of the 15th Air Force in Italy.
He was honorably discharged on March 26, 1945, earning the rank of TSgt.
He was an Army specialty Airplane Mechanic Gunner and during battles, engagements, skirmishes and expeditions, flew in 50 heavy bombardment missions over enemy occupied territory from 1943-1944.
After WW2 he bought a Cushman dealership and also sold Whizzers, it was open until 1958 and worked for Martin Wrecker Service in their office and was very involved at Bunker Hill Dragstrip
After WW2 he bought a Cushman dealership and also sold Whizzers, it was open until 1958 and worked for Martin Wrecker Service in their office and was very involved at Bunker Hill Dragstrip
His Cushman used an old lawn mower handle for steering, a hand ground cam, and a hot water bottle filled with alcohol that he used as a seat for a fuel pump and supply. It weight 136 pounds.
He was a member of Greentown Road Kings Car Club, Kokomo VFW and the Cushman Club
He set the track record in 1958 at 89.4 mph 14.46 seconds in the quarter mile at Bunkerhill Drag Strip.
in this video he went down the strip on an exhibition pass at age 90, in 2013
Yes, I've got 65,000 posts and have forgotten most of them, and if this one is something you've never read before, you oughta consider looking through the last 19.5 years of archives.
Ever heard of the concept car, the 1969 Fairlane Machette? A prototype
A modified version of the 1968 Fairlane Torino GT Fastback, the show car was created at the Ford Design Center in Dearborn, Mich.
It has a special two-tone "pearlescent" white and silver finish.
The unusual grille features twin horizontal black air scoops. Headlamps are concealed behind electrically operated doors.
Roof pillars have been widened to provide additional privacy for rear seat passengers.
Machete's taillights are flush with the lower portion of the deck panel, and concealed by white coated lenses. With light off, the taillamps are hidden, blending smoothly into the white rear panel.
https://www.story-cars.com/1968-ford-torino-machete-concept
Wednesday, May 06, 2026
The Howard DGA-6 was a pioneer racing plane, and the only airplane ever designed for the specific purpose of winning the Bendix Trophy.
The plane was designed and developed by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, who later became an engineer for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation.
OUTSTANDING WW2 history! Truk Lagoon, April 30th to May 1st, 1944, in the Caroline Islands
Carrier strikes in the area had left several U.S. aviators downed inside the lagoon, a place still firmly within enemy territory. In response, a Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane from the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) had been dispatched on a rescue mission and had recovered a downed pilot, but while loading him aboard the plane, the Kingfisher was swamped and capsized.
Another Kingfisher from the battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55) piloted by Lt. j.g. John A. Burns with Radioman Aubrey J. Gill, saw their capsized compatriot and landed to pick up the three aviators. The Kingfisher could have just taken off with one downed pilot on board, but with three, it was too overloaded. Burns made the decision to taxi out of the lagoon and rendezvous with the lifeguard submarine USS Tang (SS-306) who took the three men aboard.
But Burns wasn't done yet.
After delivering his first three rescues, Burns took off for the lagoon again. Over the next few hours, he located seven more downed airmen scattered across the choppy waters. As he kept picking up survivors with no hope to take off again, Burns packed men into the fuselage, onto the wings, and even towed one of the downed aircraft's rafts to carry all the survivors.
He taxied for five hours through heavy seas, finally returning to the submarine. By the time they rendezvoused with the Tang, the Kingfisher was nearly out of fuel, listing badly from a leaking pontoon, and battered by the waves. The survivors as well as Burns and Gill all were transferred by raft to the sub.
Once the survivors were safely aboard the Tang, the damaged Kingfisher was sunk by gunfire. For his extraordinary persistence and resourcefulness, Burns was awarded the Navy Cross.
Tuesday, May 05, 2026
Ken Miles, Cooper Porsche, Palm Springs, 1957
I posted about the car 15 years ago... how weird to say "oh, just happened to have learned about this 15 years ago, and did a decent job putting the info on this blog"
15 years... that's a LOT of years
Monday, May 04, 2026
British Airways is recruiting “taxi crew” pilots at Chicago O'Hare @ $100,000 per year to move aircraft on the ground, as part of the airline’s efficiency drive to reduce delays and improve turnaround times at one of its busiest North American hubs.
By introducing dedicated taxi pilots, British Airways is attempting to streamline aircraft movements between gates and runways.
The move reflects a wider industry push toward operational specialization and improved on-time performance.
They will not be involved in takeoff or landing phases, which remain the responsibility of flight crews, potentially luring back retired pilots who are willing to live in Chicago
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