Wednesday, September 20, 2017
just how stupid do you have to be to decide it'll be ok to drive out onto the boardwalk? A truck driver following GPS directions made a wrong turn this morning and wound up driving over two miles on a boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
the truck damaged about 100 feet of boardwalk railings.
It took four hours to remove the truck from the boardwalk. The Ventnor City Public Works Department was forced to remove 100 feet of railings in order to give the truck enough room to turn around. The cab of the truck was also detached from the trailer. A tow truck was brought in to remove the trailer.
https://cdllife.com/2017/truck-driver-follows-gps-drives-2-miles-atlantic-city-boardwalk/
Fordson Armoured Car of No. 2 Armoured Car Company RAF waits outside Baghdad, while negotiations for an armistice take place between British officials and the rebel government during the Iraqi Revolt
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Fordson_Armoured_Car_of_No._2_Armoured_Car_Company_RAF_waits_outside_Baghdad,_while_negotiations_for_an_armistice_take_place_between_British_officials_and_the_rebel_government_during_the_Iraqi_Revolt,_May_194_CM923.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39411748@N06/6040886193/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39411748@N06/6111816416/
Royal Air Force armoured cars - Palestine circa 1936
https://www.flickr.com/photos/39411748@N06/6119902465/
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
On January 27 1929 a convoy consisting of five Bugatti started their journey through the Sahara
The cars are built as pick-ups and with 800 kilograms of goods on them they are hopelessly overloaded. Amongst other things, each car carries 260 litres of benzin, 20 litres of oil and 20 litres of water. About half of the load is the personal luggage of the travelers and most of the participants have even planned to carry out hunting excursions on the southern edge of the Sahara – and they do not want to do that without a certain level of personal comfort. One of the participants, Lieutenant Loiseau, warns about the too heavy load even before they start the journey: He intends to do a record-trip from Paris to Cite d'Ivoire and back…
Some of the participants of this journey do not believe that they can leave some of their luggage back they buy a truck to join them instead!
http://www.desert-vehicles.org/index.php?article_id=243
Ford T of the 1st Australian Light Car Patrol (1917)
similar example, better photos and easier to see the gun mount
British Army Ford Model T vehicle - British soldiers ( Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment, later The Green Howards) with Lewis machine gun posted at Jaffa Gate,Palestine 1920
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/506218/582708.html?1447784340
http://www.desert-vehicles.org/index.php?article_id=224
Sam Pierce, sponsor for Burt Munro's Indian Special, and Indian Motorcycle specialist in San Gabriel
Pierce Indian was on the corner of Fairview and San Gabriel avenues, next to that was Pierce's home, where Munro lived from at least 1965-67.Way back in their youth, Sam Pierce and Rollie Free worked for the same Indian dealership agent in Kansas City
Pierce combed the U.S. for parts. He bought out the stocks of numerous dealers who once sold and serviced the great red machines.
and during a 2 year round the world ride, an adventurer named Carlos Caggiani happened through Los Angeles,
and Sam gave him a free refurbish to see him safely and reliably the rest of the way.
From 1964 to 1966, Carlos Caggiani travelled to 26 countries on a 1947 Indian Chief motorcycle with hardly a penny to his name. At 24 years of age, he embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. He spent time with everyone from poor natives in the Andes mountains, to rich families in the United States. He crossed rivers without bridges, suffered famine, intense heat and cold, guided his motorcycle through rain and snow storms, rode on dirt and cobblestone roads, was chased by the FBI, was shot at in Bolivia during a revolutionary war, and had a serious accident due to a mechanical failure in Panama that left him hospitalized for 17 days. Now there is a book about it
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145378537X?ie=UTF8&tag=huellyhoriz-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=145378537X
He owned several British motorcycle dealerships, selling Triumph, Ariel, Norton and Sunbeam motorcycles. He also had an Indian dealership for a short time, but despite his love of the brand, he sold it to his friend Ed Kretz (winner of the first Daytona 200 in 1937).
His last enterprise was American Indian, where he assembled his own “Super Scouts” from NOS parts, adding a bit of his own flair with special body work and performance upgrades. He sold American Indian in 1971.
Dan Reese, a former employee of Sammy’s who now runs Indian Motorcycles of West Point, Calif
In his last years Sammy was the curator of Steve McQueen’s extensive motorcycle collection. He died March 27, 1982, shortly after McQueen died from cancer.
http://barnfinds.com/worlds-fastest-indian/
https://www.indian-motorcycles.com/tag/sam-pierce/
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/article/ZZ/20060825/NEWS/608259861
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/04/07/as-burt-munros-worlds-fastest-indian-record-turns-50-it-remains-unbroken/
http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=8502.0
Sammy Pierce was perhaps the greatest enthusiast of Indian motorcycles. After the Springfield, Mass., factory closed in 1953, “Mr. Indian” kept the flame alive. And thanks to his devotion to the brand during the Fifties and Sixties, he inspired well-known restorers like Bob Stark and Micah McCloskey to keep the flame burning. And along the way, he designed his own motorcycle – the P-61 American Rocket.
The engine assembly was bolted to a skid plate, which was bolted to the frame. The engine could be removed by simply pulling out the skid plate’s cross bolts. Pierce claimed the Rocket’s rubber mounted engine (using modified car engine mounts) was the first practical vibration isolator for a motorcycle ever built. The forks were from an Ariel, and the foot shift assembly was improvised by Pierce using Indian parts. The brakes were Indian, reinforced by Pierce, and the horn was from an Olds 88.
new info about Burt Munro and his land speed racing
Hollywood's discrepancies in the "The World's Fastest Indian" include Munro setting the record during his first run on the salt, when in fact it was during his fifth year of racing.
Burt was 68 when in 1967 he rode his 1920 Indian Scout based streamliner to a world record of 183.586 mph.
Burt ran his bike at Bonneville until 1973, and his end of racing was due mostly to a massive change of the rules in regards to motorcycle streamliners which took place after the 1972 competition year. Roll bar/cage and fire protection rules
Burt was there in 1973 with his motorcycle but he was not allowed to run the streamliner shell, he had to run open frame. Burt was specifically asked to be the first competitor down the track that year, which was the anniversary of the 25th running of the Bonneville National Speed Trials.
He was photographed and filmed a lot for that run….He put on a “brave face” and was all smiles but those who knew him recognized that it “cut his heart out” to no longer be able to run his beloved streamliner. I believe that, open framed, he went about 147 mph…..and I do not recall if he ran any subsequent runs.
Burt's record is impossible to break, technically. The record was set in 67 at 183.586 mph. in the SF(Streamline fuel) class 1000cc.
We all know that Burt's motor was a Indian flathead motor converted to an overhead valve, that was pushrod operated. So technically, his motor was a pushrod motor. And his record can't be broken.
You can take his record out of the book if you run SF 1000cc and averaged more than 183.586 in two runs, but you would be running in a non pushrod class. So technically, you wouldn't outrun Burt.
If you built a streamlined pushrod fuel bike and went faster than 183.586 for two runs, you still wouldn't beat Burt's record because your record would go in the book in the Pushrod class.
Now, Burt's bike was an A bike with a streamline shell, not legal today by any stretch of the imagination, according to the streamline rules. Not even APS. In 1990 SCTA started a Pushrod class and left Burt's record in the non pushrod class, because that is where it was set in 67. The classes set in 1990 were pushrod engine gas (PAG) and pushrod engine fuel (PAF).
Bert's full name was Herbert.... thus the spelling with an "E"..... NOT a "U" that you see sometimes... but was Burt himself who substituted the U for the E , he preferred it that way.
The motorcycle in USA is Burt's original 1920 Indian Scout which he bought new and modified…but the engine from that bike was brought home to NZ by Burt. He built an engine from his spares…modified but not to the specs of the original engine…to take back to the States to sell with the bike in 1975. http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/burts-trailer-simple-and-effective.html
The original record setting engine #50R627 is in another Indian Scout frame Burt bought many moons back,which he modified highly for speed runs,here in Invercargill NZ. So…there is really Two Burt Munro Specials.
"For a while the Pierces displayed the World’s Fastest Indian in their showroom, then relegated it to the warehouse, and ultimately to the elements outside, where the decades of Munro’s loving modifications slowly deteriorated into the ground. Enthusiast Gordy Clark purchased the Indian from the Pierces, but just put it into storage.
Remember, at this time Munro’s motorcycle was just a beat-up old racer, not very interesting to even the most serious motorcycle collectors. This was before the modern antique bike craze really took off. It was a curiosity, nothing more. Enter Dean Hensley. Dean, Tom Hensley’s older brother, was a rising motorcycle racing star.
“He had known about the Indian for years,” Tom said, referring to the historic bike that had been stored in a neglected state among Gordy Clark’s 300-bike collection. Dean purchased the bike in 1986, soon after selling the antique mirror company. He had gone to an auction, maybe it was at Hershey, and saw that old streamliners were beginning to sell for substantial money,” Tom said. “That’s when he decided to try and buy the old Burt Munro bike.” After the purchase, Munro’s Indian sat around for a few years as Dean gathered enough information and parts to begin restoration. Since the bike sat outside for years, four frame tubes filled with water and rusted out.”
The left side of the body hung on my garage wall for 20 years,” said brother Tom. “The fiberglass had settled, so getting it fitting back together was like fixing Marty Feldman’s eyes. We had to mount it to a board, let it sit in the sun, and every day turn the set screws one-quarter turn to get the body to move back into place.” Dean brought his now-restored Indian streamliner to a Davenport, Iowa, swap meet and decided to start the bike after it hadn’t run in 20 years. They had built an Indy-type starter that mounted on the countershaft, and Dean could operate it with hand controls.
In the spring of 2011, Tom received a phone call from the organizers of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. They said if he could prepare the streamliner to running condition, he could enter it in the prestigious show. “We were already in the process of getting the bike running with new rods and pistons when Pebble Beach called,” he said. “They said it had to be in running condition in order to come to the show, so we built brand-new cylinders from scratch and had the bodywork fitted exactly the way Munro had it mounted when he ran for the record in 1967.”
http://barnfinds.com/worlds-fastest-indian/
https://www.indian-motorcycles.com/tag/sam-pierce/
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/article/ZZ/20060825/NEWS/608259861
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/04/07/as-burt-munros-worlds-fastest-indian-record-turns-50-it-remains-unbroken/
http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=8502.0
In 1911, Philip Strauss invented the first successful pneumatic tire, which was a combination tire and air filled inner tube.
He applied an invention of his father Alexander Strauss and produced “a combination fabric reinforced hardened rubber tire and rubber inner tube”.
Note: On December 2, 1890, Alexander Strauss and Joseph F Bromley were granted US patent 441,820; “Tire for Vehicles and Wheels”.
The word tire is believed to be derived from the word "attire", referring to the dressing of the wheel by the wheelwright.
The 1st solid rubber tire was produced in 1846 by Thomas Hancock
The early pneumatic tires were mainly covered with leather, some held together by rivets or laced.
In 1898 Frank Seiberling founded the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, naming the company in honour of Charles Goodyear (1800-60) who in 1839, by adding sulphur to melted latex, invented the vulcanised hard wearing rubber that the first rubber tires were to be made from. It wasn’t until 1844 that Goodyear applied for and was granted US patent #3,633 for vulcanized rubber.
http://www.carhistory4u.com/the-early-history/car-tires
http://theinventors.org/library/inventors/bltires.htm
https://swarfs.tumblr.com/
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