Saturday, March 28, 2009

Hemi Valiant, straight 6, 235 cu in, Australian... and in San Diego after years of keeping an eye open for one for sale
















The bottom license plate is "Valiant" backwards to reflect the right hand drive.

DeSoto being prepped for the summer cruising


just seen around town yesterday


Cool custom design elements


Friday, March 27, 2009

1922 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost of Japan's former emperor, Hirohito


Discovered after many years in obscurity, even the experts did not know the whereabout of Emperor's Hirohito's first Rolls Royce Silver Ghost.Until now.The chance glimpse of the hand-written words 'Prince Regent' on one of 13 pages of original Rolls Royce build sheets, was the starting point in the remarkable discovery of this historically significant 'Lost Rolls'.

The flamboyant 'Maharajah-style' coachwork it sports today provided no clue to the real identity of this car, but accounts of the time and photographs found in the archive of the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club, put the identity beyond doubt. This was Hirohito's first Rolls Royce.Chassis Number 58 YG started life as a 1922 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, with a touring body by Hooper. The build sheets record the presence of a high ratio back axle for touring coachwork. It was believed to have been ordered by Emperor Hirohito, then the young Prince Regent, while on his first overseas state tour, which culminated with a stay in England with the Royal Family, in 1921. Delivered in the following year, a contemporary advert in Japanese for Rolls Royce Agent Sales & Frazer proudly announced that they had delivered a Silver Ghost Tourer to the Imperial Household for the (return) visit of the Prince of Wales in 1922.

The condition of the car is remarkable, suggesting little use, perhaps only for state occasions. It still retains its original exhaust, for example, with the 'straight- through' exhaust valve still working. After-market 19in Alpine Eagles Brakes have been fitted, but otherwise, mechanically, the car is as described in the build sheets.

1966 Jaguar XJ13


XJ13 was developed by Jaguar during the 1960's with the final prototype being finished in 1967, and carried Jaguar's first V12. The engine was remarkable in that it had twin overhead cams and mechanical fuel injection. Unfortunately, it was developed too late to be competitive and by late 1966 Jaguar was taken over by the British Motor Corporation (BMC).
According to http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z7339/Jaguar-XJ13.aspx the rules changed on the displacement of concept cars put the engine size down to 3 liters again.
The project was shelved and the XJ13 was put into storage. The next time the car was seen was in 1971 when it was taken to the MIRA circuit to make a promotional film for the official release of the V12 engine.
Unfortunately, a tyre blew on the steep banking of the MIRA track and on its first public appearance, the XJ13 was virtually destroyed.
Although the damage was extensive, Jaguar decided to have the car completely rebuilt. In the following years, the company's Heritage department showed the unique machine at various events both stationary and driving. At some point the healthier of the two engines was over-revved and destroyed. The second engine used a welded piston and could only be driven slowly. It was later rebuilt and is now on display in the Jaguar Museum in England.
Primarily developed to compete against the Ford GT 40's (which had won its first Le Mans in 1966 and went onto win the 1967 and 1969 races.) it had a top speed of 200 mph with more than 500 horsepower from a 5.0 liter V12, and high speed stability without wings.

Congratulations to http://stipistop.com , They beat my ratings!

To celebrate, Mishi is selling the Piaggio Ape... and buying me a ticket to visit Budapest so I can applaud him in person. (just kidding !)

He is selling his freshly renovated, 1969 Piaggio Ape 175cc original delivery box version, so if you want to be happier, drive a more enjoyable vehicle...

If you know anybody, who might be interested in buying one of the best ever marketing or promo vehicles ever, I’d be very grateful, if you’d put me in contact with him. Or (to be politically fair: with HER)I’d take care of shipping, and stuff.
Here is the link:
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C72861

Thanks, and best regards from Budapest.

Lars-Erik Fisk, artist with a vision of what things would be like if they were round, one of my favorite posts revisited and upgraded



the barn ball

so far all mentions of this VW Bus Ball are just copying the photos from http://oblique.csail.mit.edu/Album/Shellenbarger/Shellenbarger_Summer_2001/Volkswagen2.jpg.html but without giving credit to the photographer, nice guy named Thouis, who told me I can use his photos, and only requested that I "Mark them as creative commons licensed, and please attribute Lars-Erik Fisk as the sculptor"

Biker friends... be careful, learn from this poor sod and stay inside your own lane... the angry yellow line shouldn't be crossed





http://www.thebikergene.com/ via the superb findings of Mishi at http://stipistop.com/

Thursday, March 26, 2009

The last known 1942-47 Ford Skyview known to exist of the 44 produced Glass-Top bus of Brewster transport in Banff, Alberta Canada

Before and after

Above: the try at recreating the below 1946 photo of the whole fleet
For more of the story of it's being found, restored, and tv time: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2563951
Back in 1942, Western Truck and Auto out of Winnipeg Manitoba Canada built a couple of Glass-Top busses for Brewster transport in Banff, they were well recieved and in 1946, 42 more were built.
These busses were used for a few years before they were "retired" from service and sold to the government, after the government was done with them they were all destroyed (as was the customary thing to do back then) But somehow this bus (#27) was not destined to that fate

15 reasons why cars are less trouble than women

1. Go means go, stop means stop, left means left, right means right. Nothing is implied.
2. It’s perfectly fine to have more than one.
3. The tyre bill is considerably less than a woman’s shoe bill.
4. Aside from the fuel tank, its weight does not change.
5. If you don’t like it anymore, you can sell it and get another. (Without going through hell)
6. If you take good care of it, it’ll look the same as the day you got it.
7. Too change it, you don’t have to talk to it, you just MODIFY it.
8. Even a LARGE heavy one like the Pontiac G8 GT, can look sexy. You can have fun inside it and no one will think you’re weird.
9. You can redress it with a new body kit for less than the cost of a wedding dress.
10. You can give it accessories whenever you feel like it, irrespective of birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
11. It never asks questions about it’s rear.
12. The airbags are not just for decoration, they save your life.
13. Regardless of the time of day, season, day of the month, it is ready to give you a ride when you want it.
14. Every year, it only asks for new oil, not jewellery.
15. Ever now and then, you’ll be able to drive a friend’s one, without any guilt.
Via: http://attuworld.com/

Want your car in a photo shoot on the Bonneville Salt Flats? Filiz is looking to pay for a cool custom to be at his photo shoot!

We are looking for a cool custom built prop car and driver to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats and drive around in the background for a photo shoot. Shoot date is: April 13th 2009.

It is a low budget photo shoot, but will pay $500 plus mileage. Please send us a photo of the car and the best contact info.
filiz@erikalmas.com
or see http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/wan/1069252474.html

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

“Motorcycle racing makes heroin look like a vague craving for salt”

My heroine, and Pirate Monkey Cult founder and grand poohbah for life: Zina.

Herb Gordon's 1965 2+2 Mustang


Herb's dad placed an order for this 2+2, optioning it with the solid-lifter 289 High Performance and the accompanying mandatory (at extra cost) four-speed manual gearbox. He finished off the drivetrain with a 3.50:1 ratio in the 9-inch axle that was exclusive to the Hi-Po.

Then he never titled it, only drove it 2,847 miles, then parked it...
in a shed.

He never titled it because he was a used car dealer and just put dealer plates on it.

Herb's dad Bob also did careful shopping in the dealer-option Cobra Kit catalog. In the looks department, Bob opted for the Cobra Engine Dress-Up Kit, comprising finned-aluminum valve covers, a chrome radiator cap, dipstick, master-cylinder cap, oil filler cap, and air-cleaner assembly.

But this shiny breather was soon rendered useless by Bob's second, and more important, addition: the Cobra II 4-V Induction Kit that provided a cast-aluminum intake manifold mounting a pair of 500-cfm carbs topped by individual chromed air cleaners. The $245 carb kit also included a pair of Cobra medallions (as found on the nose of Shelby's AC Cobras), which Bob soon mounted beneath the 289 Hi-Po badges on the front fenders.

As a car dealer, Bob Gordon couldn't afford to lose his driver's license. So he parked his nearly new fastback with only 2,847 miles showing on the odometer and never drove it again. Also, because of his dealer status, he never bothered to have it titled.

Side bar: this Mustang is so low mileage that it's a restoration resource
This is the rare and just being reproduced “Arvinode” exhaust system.
Mustangs built from October, 1964 through March, 1965 with High-Performance 289 "K"-code engines were equipped with a unique dual exhaust system. Originally produced by Arvin, the system did not utilize conventional mufflers; instead, the exhaust note was “tuned” by combining the effects of resonance tubes in the front “mufflers” with conventional resonators integrated into the tailpipes. The sound was unique; low, aggressive and loud. And it increased peak torque and horsepower.
http://www.waldronexhaust.com/arvinodedualexhaust.htm
If you are wondering like I was, what is the "2+2" about: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/03/ever-wonder-what-mustang-or-pontiac.html

The Schlumph collection, also known as the Malmerspach collection




Over the years nearly 400 items (vehicles, chassis and engines) were acquired, A team of up to 40 carpenters, saddlers, and master mechanics were assembled to carry out the restoration work.
They were under a confidentiality agreement to keep their work and the scale of the collection a secret - a singlemindedness often referred to as "The Schlumpf Obsession." Many, including irate members of Bugatti clubs around the world, knew of the collection; although the eventual scale of the enterprise became a surprise to almost everybody.
In 1976 the Schlumpf brothers had begun to sell their factories. In October the Malmerspach plant laid off employees, and a strike broke out, with 400 police holding back the workers from ram sacking the Mulhouse plant.
After a stand-off, on March 7, 1977, textile union activists staged a sit-in strike at the Schlumpf offices, and broke into the Mulhouse "factory" to find the astounding collection of cars. An unrestored Austin 7 was burned and the workers' union representative remarked "There are 600 more where this one came from."
The Schlumpfs fled to their native Switzerland, and spent the rest of their days as permanent residents of the Drei Koenige Hotel. But with wages outstanding, the factory was occupied for the next two years by the textile union and renamed "Workers’ Factory." To recoup some of their lost wages, the union opened the museum to the public, with some 800,000 people viewing the collection in two years.
As the scale of the brothers Schlumpf debt rose, various creditors including the unions eyed the valuable car collection as a way to recover their losses. To save the destruction, break-up or export of the collection, in 1978 the contents were classified as a French historic monument by the Council of State. In 1979, a bankruptcy liquidator ordered the building closed.
In 1981 the collection, buildings and residual land were sold to the National Automobile Museum, now the largest automobile museum in the world . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_National_de_l
62 cars of this collection from the Schlumpf collection were bought in 2008, and 12 will now be in the Peter Mullin Collection in Oxnard, in the former Otis Chandler museum, Otis Chandler’s collection is closed but to reopen soon as the “The Vintage Museum of Transportation”
The American Bugatti club is going to stop by the Mullin museum during their 50th Anniversary Celebration of the club and the US International 2010 Bugatti Rally.
Peter Mullin is a founding member of the Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation and served as Foundation Co-Chairman from 1994 to 2004.
If you have a passion for Bugattis: http://www.velocetoday.com/archives/775

Jethro Tull lyrics

He once owned a Harley Davidson and a Triumph Bonneville.
Counted his friends in burned-out spark plugs
and prays that he always will.
But he's the last of the blue blood greaser boys...



So the old Rocker gets out his bike
to make a ton before he takes his leave.
Up on the A1 by Scotch Corner
just like it used to be.
And as he flies --- tears in his eyes ---
his wind-whipped words echo the final take
and he hits the trunk road doing around 120
with no room left to brake.
And he was too old to Rock'n'Roll but he was too young to die.


( a ton = 100mph )
http://remus.rutgers.edu/JethroTull/Albums/TooOldToRocknRollTooYoungToDie-lyrics.html via Octane magazine article on triumph Bonnevilles

Compare prices before buying from a dealership... they mostly stay in business from repairs, and selling parts

I went to the Pontiac dealership and got a price quote for the brake shoes for the drum brakes on the rear of my 2000 Grand Am
Part number 19152644, shoe kit, $114.48, $123.35 after taxes

So I go to Autozone.
Part number #199277 720 , $21.99. $23.69 out the door.

It may be that the dealership brake shoes are better quality, longer lasting, and impressive materials... but when I can get 4 sets for less than one from the dealership, and those 4 sets will last twice as long as the longest lasting set the dealership will have... the choice comes down to dollars.

What really makes it all clear? http://www.oehq.com/acdelco-parts_19152644_ACD_AC%20Delco%20SHOE%20KIT%20R.htm
the same parts from an online outlet for $67.65, about half the dealerships charge. What rip off artists!

A few photos from Coops Holiday Excursion, he takes a lot of photos, look over his galleries, you are sure to find stuff you like


Coop scanned his Ed "Big Daddy" Roth collection

Check out some after the link, for the full set you'll have to sign up in Flickr

Dropped from the sky with a motorbike...

In a French D-day museum.... British paratroopers were dropped from the sky with a motorbike in a tube
Via: http://trawler-rider.blogspot.com/2008/08/paratroopers-ride.html

A stray spark or something, took out a garage of 3 classics


The blaze seriously damaged a 1923 Alvis, a 1930's Sunbeam and this Daimler with Suicide doors. Via: http://trawler-rider.blogspot.com/2008/10/daimler-and-destroy.html

Weekly dose of trains






Via Pixdaus

Cool motorcycle, custom, and roadster photography


Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Ducati museum and individual bikes photography


That rig is connected to electricity... and there is something to be learned there...

Via: http://ottonero.blogspot.com/2008/02/la-bella-e-il-mostro.html

The artist William Forchino, incredible detail!


Team Joe Bar, French motorcycle comic strip







The notorious adventures of a mad and passionate motorcycle rider and his friends, and the bar they hang out in.

If you knew all this would happen, would you still go for a ride? A short PSM called "Think"



From http://ottonero.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

Full service, that was a long time ago


Via: http://churchofchoppers.blogspot.com/

A tool for everthing, and a place for every tool


http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/

You know what he's yelling, right now.

Via Pixdaus

Love photos of gassers? Floppers? Funny Cars?


Lace paint and....



Tony Nancy hemi's... what's not to love? This 68 Barracuda held the record at a couple SoCal racetracks.


Mike Mitchell "World's Fastest Hippie"

The 2nd car to the right, in the twisty rainbow colors, is Mikes Barracuda (also seen in this post, 5th from the last photo)





















Monday, March 23, 2009

Custom brake light... very cool

Via: http://www.magnetozoo.com/2009/01/shot-glass-rear-light.html

Overkill is measured by power to weight ratio

No particular catagory, but I thought you'd like to see these



Supercharged

This is one inventive use of an early turn of the century car



Now, how'd that get in there?

creative or blatant advertising? It's some of the earliest use of viral marketing I've seen!


Cool customs




some cool photography from Motorized and Church of Choppers


Race cars




(I'd like to know what race series the above was in) has been answered on http://theamcforum.com/forum/nascar-humpster-javelin_topic10467.html

Racing in the turn of the last century


Cool motorcycles


Spirit of 76...


Looks like a Maxx

Custom air filter housing... love it!


The Jawa trainer


The instructor rode in the back and had the larger set of handlebars (for leverage) with the pupil of front with the short bars. This motorcycle actually started the Motorcycle Safety foundation training program in the United States. It was first used by Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
The Jawa is usually on display at Barber Motorsports Speedway Museum in Birmingham, AL. The dealer was a big fan of Jawa/CZ and the American Motorcyclist Association.

Jungle Pam... maybe, just maybe, go go boots have a place in drag racing?


Slingshot dragsters



Shirley Muldowney

Above: Frank Pedregon

Fontana


Above, great series from smokin the tires, to letting off, to popping the chute

A unique look, straight front axle


Funny cars of the 60's

Ok... here's the edge of my knowledge, I've never heard of a tilt forward flopper.... just tilt front ends and hoods. Obviously something is going on, you'd never want to get in any last minute adjustments under the hood while waiting in the staging lanes

Running a Mopar 440, the Corvette roadster ran for a few years. It was new, polished and pretty, and its paint caught the eyes of fans and antagonists alike. The name "Revolution" taken from the John Lennon/Beatles song

Once, it was thought to be an acceptable idea to get the tires hot with fire... it also made for a great exhibition runs: http://www.draglist.com/stories/SOD%20Mar%202001/SOD-031101.htm Yeah, that had to be a hard way to learn that it ain't a good idea



There is sunlight under all four tires.. That's why this photo is here.
For more great funny cars, dozens of them: http://www.70sfunnycars.com/FunnyCars1.html

Racing on Catalina gone wrong



turn those tires into smoke, a 1/4 mile at a time


That's gonna hurt in the morning


Way back when, before helmet laws and lawyers


Use them, don't let them grow old in storage, the tires will dry rot!





yeah, the last one really stops you in your tracks!

number 23


Fiat Lingotto factory



You'll probably recognize this view from the original "Italian Job" movie with Michael Caine in 1969

Once was a car factory, constructed by Fiat. Built from 1916 and opened in 1923, the design was unusual in that it had five floors, with raw materials going in at the ground floor, and cars built on a line that went up through the building. Finished cars emerged at rooftop level, where there was a rooftop test track.

It was the largest car factory in the world at that time. For its time, the Lingotto building was avante-garde, influential and impressive— Le Corbusier called it "one of the most impressive sights in industry", and "a guideline for town planning".

80 different models of car were produced there in its lifetime, including the famous Fiat Topolino of 1936.
The factory became outmoded in the 1970s and the decision was made to finally close it in 1982.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingotto

The variety pack... a bit of this and that


Bitchin gadgetry instead of a boring gas cap
1952 HD WR750...1 of 8 in 1952, this one is owned by Leonard Anders, who tuned 7 out of 24 bikes that won the Daytona Beach Race


A US Paratooper bike from France 1944 Via: http://trawler-rider.blogspot.com

The Hanson brothers with a set of wheels... and that is all it takes to win me over ( watch the movie Slap Shot with Paul Newman, 1977... good movie)

Elegance, and a great photo composition

I'd buy a set

Hells Angels are working on a bus... that is cool

The tools, as art. I dig it.

The con rod as art, and even the architecture design for the Museum of Modern Art

Bomb them with everything but the kitchen sink


A bit of humor to start the week

Thanks to Tere for the Maxine cartoon

Bicycle speedometers


Sunday, March 22, 2009

Stacy Brown and 9 warehouses of Antique Auto parts, in Arlington Texas

Graham, Nash, Hudson, Cadillac, Ford, Chevy, Mopar, etc etc it's all American, and all older than '72.

And they are all NOS.

6 Minute video of a local news station interview after the link: http://carrosantigos.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/antique-auto-parts/

Brought to you by the finder of marvelous stuff, Nik

Evel Knievel


Burt, respect... original photos, not stills of Anthony Hopkins


Steve McQueen, what a life, what a guy