Just A Car Guy: 12/30/18

Saturday, January 05, 2019

The Holiday Inn at West Yellowstone has a restored Executive Pullman. This car transported the entourage of Union Pacific president E.H. Harriman on his trip to Yellowstone Park in 1905.

Named for the year it was built, the Oregon Shortline 1903 was constructed for $16, 685 as an executive rail car for the Vice President of the Union Pacific. In reference to E.H. Harriman's Presidential rail car, the Arden, which was built in 1900, some who rode on OSL 1903 said, "We out bested Old E.H. on this trip". The charm of the wooden exterior and interior construction was typical of that period. It was retrofitted in 1915 and was renamed OSL 150 at the time.

In 1935, the car was given as a retirement gift to E.C. Manson. He sat it on a stone foundation next to the forest, just 3 blocks west of here. Various owners used it as a summer home, maintained it's luxurious interior, but forgot it's historical significance until its real identity was revealed when photos were discovered in the Smithsonian Institute of the completed car in front of the Pullman Factory, the other an interior shot with the original furniture.

In 1995, this museum-quality rail car was relocated, and the Holiday Inn was built around it.

at West Yellowstone there is an amazing collection of former UP buildings: A spacious stone depot https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-union-pacifics-stations-are.html and the dining hall that houses exhibits and describes the UP’s role in developing the park; a baggage building; and a water tower.

There is still a single track in front of the depot – the last one from a substantial yard that once existed. But surpisingly, the last passenger car on this track is an exhibit car from the Montana Centennial train, a former B and O baggage car that had first been made into a display car in 1963 for the West Virginia centennial exhibit train.

But inside The Branch Restaurant and Bar at the Holiday Inn, just down the street from the depot is Oregon Short Line No. 1903 (numbered for the year of its construction) displayed in the lobby of the hotel restaurant. It has been beautifully restored, and you can walk through it.

Trivia, Edgar Rice Burroughs was a railroad depot policeman for the OSL http://www.erbzine.com/mag36/3653.html

and that Union Pacific Vice President? E. H. Harriman? Half patented the McKeen railroad car window

The windows had a water catch built into the frame, so as it rained, hailed, snowed, etc., the water would pour into the bottom of the frame of the window and drip out thought a hole in the outside of the frame. They were advertised as “Water-Proof, Dust-Proof, and Wind-Proof.” and they were also advertised as a better window than square windows, not only does it not warp over time, like a square window could, but the round window also lifts up, so all of the glass is out of sight, above your head.

https://mckeencar.com/gallery/history-of-the-mckeen-motor-car/

and in the winter, the shuttle busses have cat tracks

http://www.trailergypsies.com/Montana/West%20Yellowstone%202.htm
http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/staff/archive/2015/08/20/a-trip-out-west-part-3-union-pacific-s-yellowstone-connection.aspx
https://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/museum/oregon-shortline-1903-train-car.html

why not live in Florida? I will fricken show you why! PPPS! That's why! Poisonous Peakaboo Playing Snakes!

Frederic Sackrider Remington, the grand master of classic American western art, The Old Stage-Coach of the Plains, 1901

https://www.reddit.com/r/WesternArt/

a butterscotch A12 Super Bee, 71k miles, replacement engine block already repainted and repaired for driveability, already been flipped once or twice

no power brakes, no power steering, too much fresh paint, lots of quick cheap easy work has been done, but they ignored simple work like taking apart and cleaning the front end

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233061048009
https://barnfinds.com/stored-in-73-1969-dodge-super-bee/

Coffee and donuts video for Sunday: Bill is retiring from a life on the road for CBS Sunday Morning, I wonder if they're now looking to hire... me?

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/09/news-of-the-week-pluto-is-a-planet-and-mary-poppins-is-back-but-white-chocolate-still-isnt-chocolate/

I didn't know the Mobilgas Economy Run had a calendar!

A Kiss For Luck! Jack Davis art that makes a scoreboard a wonderful thing that could occur before getting the plane off the ground

(1926-2016)

After high school, he joined the Navy for 3 years, serving in Guam, where he drew a comic called Boondocker for The Navy Times.

He returned to his home state and enrolled in the University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art under the G.I Bill, where he drew for the student newspaper. Before long, his teachers were encouraging him to go to New York to pursue his art career. He moved north and enrolled in classes at the Art Students League.

After moving to New York in 1949 and studying at the Art Students League at night, he made his first entry into the art field as an inker for a comic strip, “The Saint.”

He got his start in 1950 selling drawings to EC Comics, which published horror fiction titles like “Tales From the Crypt.” Two years later, amid an outcry over the potentially harmful effects of violent comics on children, the company started what became Mad magazine, edited by Harvey Kurtzman. Mr. Davis was a member of the “Usual Gang of Idiots,” the nickname for the crew that put out the magazine.

He was soon heavily involved in comic art of every description, and became one of its top practitioners for Mad Magazine, Trump, Playboy, and many other publications.

Jack has illustrated more than 100 books. He is an award-winning advertising artist with countless print ads to his credit. He’s a much imitated comic book artist and a prolific magazine illustrator for Esquire, Playboy, LIFE, and many others. He worked for MAD - off and on - for 46 years. He’s a world-renowned caricaturist. He has illustrated many magazine covers including 23 for TV Guide and for 25 for TIME magazine. He has done more than 65 record album covers and more than 40 movie posters in addition to animation, games, calendars, greeting cards and t-shirt designs.

Mr. Davis was a prolific artist, drawing posters for movies like “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” and “The Long Goodbye,” as well as record album covers.

The National Cartoonists Society honored him with a lifetime achievement award in 1996, and he was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2005.

Jack retired in 2014 at the age of 90.

For a better article on his work that goes into great detail https://www.wgauradio.com/news/local/famed-bulldog-artist-davis-dies/hR6RNzNfY0DexaG1RCZRoM/?fbclid=IwAR1oyRt9F6W1wHcSbyJEyqmX3aiTP85yM-rEOSmCcFnJ3PaeZXJupgeC_gs

For example, he created the cartoon bee which (in decal form) appears on the flanks of all the buses in the Bee-Line running from Westchester to New York City. A Westchester resident at the time, Davis lived directly adjacent to one of the Bee Line's bus routes, and he mentioned in an interview how gratifying it was to see his own artwork drive past his window several times every day.

https://www.illustratedgallery.com/artimages/qrender.php/800-jackdaviskissforluck.jpg?width=800&image=/artimages/uploads/jackdaviskissforluck.jpg

JC Leyendecker paintings for Amoco

A charming "Old Timer" sits behind the wheel of an automobile in this original composition by the famed American illustrator J.C. Leyendecker. With his deliberate brushstrokes and distinctive cross-hatching technique, Leyendecker brilliantly captures America's lasting love affair with fast cars and the open highway in this ode to the "romance of the road." Painted in 1942, the piece was specially commissioned for an advertising campaign by the American gasoline company Amoco. Leyendecker's final printed illustration was accompanied by the slogan "Still going strong!", a nod to both his endearing subject as well as the then-51-year-old history of the company.

Remembered today for his numerous magazine covers, Leyendecker is also credited for evolving a modern form of marketing that he helped elevate to an art. Filled with cultural significance, this delightful example communicates the rich history of the energy and automobile industries in the United States.

Born in Germany in 1874, Leyendecker emerged as a major talent near the turn of the twentieth century, becoming the most well-liked and sought-after American illustrator of his day. In 1898, Leyendecker produced the first of 48 covers for Collier’s magazine. The next year, he painted his first cover for Saturday Evening Post magazine, which was the beginning of a 44-year association with that esteemed publication. Over the course of his career, he would also paint covers for Life magazine, illustrations for a library of books, and transform advertising for such companies as B. Kuppenheimer & Co. and Interwoven Socks. His remarkable and extensive oeuvre ensured his influence over an entire generation of young artists, most notably Norman Rockwell, who was vocal about the impact of Leyendecker on his work. His unique hatching technique makes his distinctive style instantly recognizable, and he remains one of the most beloved American illustrators of the early 20th century.

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/original-leyendecker-amoco-new-year-s-poster-baby-98-c-4894e1d941

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/original-leyendecker-amoco-world-war-ii-poster-ba-251-c-0fe4981bff
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/jc-leyendecker-old-timer

only safe test pilots become old test pilots

It took a moment to look around and verify that this is a JC Leyendecker

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/joseph-c-leyendecker-1874-1951-speed-the-vict-138-c-468ec63ce3

a pure barry bloke who, being a bit bored of minis, was thinking "what would i find really fun to drive, just plain good old fashioned fun, hmm, an old open wheel type 1940's race car on the rd would be fun, big rope steering wheel and so on."

I love a start up video, mostly for the sounds

and they are even better when someone will take a moment and edit the video so you can skip the minutes of nothing happening - you're welcome

https://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/garage/medusa-206057

Thanks Steve!

you've probably been wondering, "Hey, where the hell is my car guy fix of daily cool stuff"?

well, I fell down the rabbit hole, and went after a story, which had only been hinted at.

See, I found a nice ol piece of Americana, it was an ad for the Yellowstone Natl Park, and it was from the Union Pacific Railroad company, who had hired a guy by the name of Walter W Oehrle.

Well, they hired him, because he was talented, and they got him young, and cheap, while making a syndicated comic strip, and he needed a bit of now and then work for extra cash to get through the great depression, which he kept doing for years while to make real money. Then he went to work at Disney Productions, on the Donald Duck cartoons, and the Silly Symphonies.

Then he invented one of the top 10 most iconic and recognizable marketing mascots there ever was, and he was the artist that blew Mickey Mouse out of the top ten. Seriously. Mickey was nice if you were at the Disney park in Anaheim, but if not, well, you weren't seeing him much.

Anyway, he changed his last name to Early... so, his later work is signed Walter Early, and he got busy doing paintings for advertisements, just like Norman Rockwell, who he was in competition with for the Mobilgas account for ads in the Saturday Evening Post, and Colliers.

I think if you've been reading along for the past couple of years, you'll know I greatly admire and respect Norman Rockwell, and Disney animators and cartoonists. By jove, I think they sorta created the whole apple pie and fourth of July feeling about America that the midwest really loved in the late 30's through the mid 50s.

Anyway, so I had learned of Walter W Oehrle, now I just type WWO for short, and found that there was nothing about him online, and I don't like that at all. When I find something I respect and admire, god damn it there better be something online to share with other people that like artists and inventors, and if not, well damn it, as John Wayne would say, I'll going to do something.

So I did. And it took up more time than any post has in years. And I was up til 5 am last night just putting on finishing touches, because around 3 am was when I found that he'd gotten some work for Mobilgas (you know, car stuff!) and that was because around 1am I learned about the last name getting changed, and around 2 am I learned that he'd definitely worked at Walt Disney, and as those things turn to another and I start getting somewhere, well, I just didn't give up

Then I learned that his big claim to fame, Elsie the Cow, had been made into nose art on a B-29 - well, shit. That's just more of the kind of thing that I dig (you know, some people were not happy i took a couple weeks to just post WW2 stuff and it was mostly nose art, which then became a source to get the best of and make a facebook page for)

Lastly, I learned that he'd become a painter that LIFE magazine went to for art.... now, how much more Americana does a person get? Other than John Wayne, and Hugh Hefner, and JFK I guess.

Mobilgas horses, art by Walter Early, Norman Rockwell, and Frederick Stanley in 1940-41

after spending about 10 hours trying to track down other art this artist did, before I found out that he changed his name from Oehrle to Early, and a couple hours after, now I discover that he had some advertising paintings for Mobilgas? Dang, he really landed a good client!

Well, to put some perspective on it, Norman Rockwell was also painting ads for them, at the same time. THAT is a lot of competition, and they hired other artists too, like Howard Scott, Frederick Stanley, and McClelland Barclay

for comparison, here's a Frederick Stanley

I think if they didn't sign them, we'd have a hard time picking which artist did what painting.

Nash-Kelvinator manufactured the Lancaster Mk. X propeller blades.

https://clarencesimonsen.wordpress.com/category/b-24/

On the left is the British built experimental PT-9 boat sporting the new Walt Disney designed “Mosquito Fleet”. On the left is Chief of Naval Operations Caldwell in Washington, D.C., the officer who wrote to Walt Disney requesting the new Patrol Torpedo insignia.

https://clarencesimonsen.wordpress.com/category/b-24/

Friday, January 04, 2019

I'll be darned, I accidentally ran across a Superbird I recognize on a blog, that I posted about years ago, Jay's! Only Jay has Richard Petty signed lawnmowers!

If you weren't reading along back in 2012, then this will be news to you, https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/08/there-is-no-end-to-unusual-in-vehicle.html for the full story on Lowes Riding Lawnmowers, and the one guy that collected a couple, restored them, and then got to talk to Richard Petty for a bit, and thrilled him with the lawn mowers!