Saturday, August 12, 2023

the unusual and enormous carriage from the forgotten 2006 movie The Fall, which had some of the most incredible location shots and cinematography of any movie not using CGI

 

about 100 slaves pull the wagon, which also has a slave in each wheel doing the hamster wheel thing








If you loved Baron Munchausen, Pan's Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, or The Princess Bride, you owe it yourself to see this movie. The astonishing locations in India are legendary
In 2000, its director, Tarsem Singh, gave us the serial killer film The Cell, which had a similar incredible visual style and dichotomy of regular and incredible scenery






https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460791/?ref_=ttmi_tt

most of us have been caught speeding , but who has ever done so behind the wheel of a car of their own design, let alone a Ferrari? Only designer Kiyoyuki "Ken" Okuyama, in his Enzo

As reported by the Japan Times, industrial designer Kiyoyuki "Ken" Okuyama was caught speeding in the mountains of Yamagata Prefecture on the morning of October 1, 2022.

Okuyama was behind the wheel of his Ferrari Enzo, a car he just happened to play a significant role in designing. The Enzo was clocked by police at 79 mph, 54 mph over the posted speed limit of 25 mph

The 63-year-old received a four-month prison sentence from the Yamagata District Court, suspended for two years. "I will make sure this will never happen again and will contribute to society. I am very sorry," said Okuyama, expressing contrition after the judgment. His defense had been that he was attempting to cool the Enzo's engine by traveling at higher speed, with his sentence suspended thanks to his open admission of fault.

Notably, after picking up the role of design director at Pininfarina in 1995, Okuyama would go on to be the first non-Italian charged with the design of a Ferrari when he worked on the Enzo. Other credits of his include the original Porsche Boxster, the 996-generation 911, and the E8-Series Shinkansen bullet train.

it seems that the front spoiler on a 67, 68, or 69 Camaro looks good on a 68-69 Charger, and is 1/3 the price of Randy's



the spoiler from Summit, Jegs, Amazon etc is from Auto Metal Direct is about 60 bucks, and from what I read on the forums, bolts on (drill your own holes, use self tapping screws) and Randy sells a similar spoiler for 360. Might be hand crafted, blessed by the pope, craved from unicorn horns, or sculpted by vestal virgins. I don't know or care. It simply doesn't matter to me who charges more than the amount I'm going to pay for something, they can try and get that money from richer people who don't care what the thing costs. 


the Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa won its class at Le Mans in 1965, and you can buy a new built one, with a 400Hp 327, for about 2.1 million, if no one outbids you


Giotto Bizzarrini died earlier this year, but his company had been revived in 2020 under new owners. Those owners have announced plans for a super car called the Giotto and have been building this “revival” of the 5300 GT Corsa for the last two years in Europe.

Now the new Bizzarrini company has embarked on a tour of the US, showcasing the 5300 GT Corsa “recreation,” which consists of a single-piece composite body over a steel frame. Inside is a roll cage and fuel cell that meet FIA regulations for racing and, indeed, one of these just competed successfully at the historic race at Spa.

The car is powered by “a period-specific 5300 cubic-centimeter V8.” That engine was in the Le Mans race car in 1965—also known as a 327 small-block Chevy. The 327 cubic inches works out to 5.35857 liters, which could be rounded up to 5.4 or down to 5.3, depending on who was doing the math. The engine makes a claimed 400 hp.

Mike just blew my mind again, he dopes that, he's a good friend, this time about seat belts. Two things I've just learned about them, after using them for 40 years... they are very useful in pushing a car, and you can use them to see if a car has been flooded - before buying a used car


pull the seatbelt out to full extension, pull that outside the car, then close the door, and loop the belt over your outside shoulder


then use your right hand to steer. (have an object you can use to chock the wheel as you'll need the car to be in neutral, and can simply reach down and block the front tire from rolling bac with your chock, OR the rear wheel from rolling forward)


This guy Cong is GOOD! Has a lot of helpful info (like https://www.tiktok.com/@conggeshuoche/video/7259710425422433579)


This is brilliant

Did you know a Loofah is a fruit made on a vine (like grapes, cucumber, watermelon etc)? And that the Navy used them for engine oil filters in WW2?


The modern era in the history of its cultivation began in Japan where, between 1890 and 1895, the sponge gourd was first grown commercially.
 The initial justification for the culture of sponge gourds on a commercial scale is based on the particular fitness of their skeletal network for many practical uses, and the special emphasis on their increased production is due to their successful employment as filters in marine steam engines and also in diesel engines. 
This special use had made them important to the United States Navy. 
Since the time Japan started growing and exporting sponge gourds, almost the entire commercial supply of the United States has come from Japan. 

Japan's biggest customer for loofah sponges up to World War II was Germany which bought more sponges than all other countries. 

After Pearl Harbor this supply was suddenly cut off. The same catastrophe which stopped their importation enormously increased the need for them, constituting at the same time the greatest single stimulus to their wider distribution and cultivation. 
Official recognition of the great importance of the sponge gourds was given on April 8, 1942, when the War Production Board, in order to conserve the country's stockpile, issued an order forbidding delivery, sale or use of loofah sponges except on the highest priority. Not only was the worth of sponge gourds thus officially established, but under a program of encouragement, the U. S. Government by this one official act gave considerable impetus to its spread to fresh regions where new sources of supply might eventually be established. 
Attempts to grow loofahs on a commercial scale in the States of California, Alabama and Florida were not successful, but the tropical countries to the south (Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, E1 Salvador, Guatemala) in a year's time were cultivating and exporting sponge gourds to the United States.

Before World II 60% of the imported loofah sponges were employed as filters, which indicated their usefulness to the U. S. Navy, and 40% of them were applied to civilian uses. However, it can be said that, besides filters for the Navy and for steam engines in general, the military uses of sponge gourds range all the way from surgical operations to cleaning windshields of jeeps.

The special use of loofah sponges in steam vessels consists in tile fact that water condensed after expansion in the engine is passed through several layers of closely packed loofah sponges to rid it of oil and dirt before it enters the boiler to be used a second time. Substitutes were tried when the supply of vegetable sponges was suddenly cut off, but all of them proved unsuitable. 

Loofah sponges have a similar use in internal combustion engines, such as diesels, except that the filtering function here is to remove carbon and metal dust from the oil.  

Because of their peculiar structure, loofahs make fair shock absorbers. This useful aspect, as well as their capacity for absorbing sound, has been exploited in steel helmets and armored vehicles of the U. S. Army. 

instead of tackling big business, who can afford to adapt, New York elected officials are hassling food venders, cart pushers and ice cream truck operators (estimated at only 200 trucks in the city) instead of requiring all city, county, and state vehicles (including their own) to be electric (thousands of police, garbage, meter maids, etc etc vehicles)


Far-left Brooklyn Councilman Lincoln Restler introduced the proposal that would force ice cream trucks, and then roll out into construction site food vendor trucks next, to adopt eco-friendly power sources, solar-powered or electric-powered machines, the vendors would be required to ditch their fuel-powered generators for more climate-friendly alternatives over the course of the next three years. 

Back in June, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) drafted new rules that would require pizzerias with coal and wooden-fire ovens installed prior to 2016 to cut carbon emissions by 75%, according to the New York Post.


“In the dog days of August, it’s hard to imagine more of a killjoy than putting one’s climate bullseye on our iconic ice cream man, but behold, I give you Councilman Lincoln Restler,” quipped Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island).

 Restler, a notorious hater of cars, confirmed that it’s in response to complaints he’s received about diesel-spewing ice cream trucks stinking up Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and other neighborhoods.


 Leon Frierson has been working his Mr. Softee truck since 1968, says he's ready to retire with this change to business costs

 
“The proliferation of ice cream vendors creates noise, pollution and major traffic issues in our neighborhood with no concern for the impact on the residents of DUMBO,” the committee said in a statement. “We hope the passage of this bill, along with stricter enforcement of existing traffic and vendor laws will help mitigate this ongoing issue.

Corporal Tony Starcer was one of 4 nose artists, and a B 17 mechanic in the 91st

 He did the art on the Shoo Shoo Baby, Little Miss Mischief, and the Memphis Belle

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/09/little-miss-mischief-survived-lot-of.html

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/aircraft-in-movie-memphis-belle-hell-of.html

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2021/07/there-has-been-strong-bond-between-usa.html

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2021/07/compliments-to-tony-starcer-who-painted.html

progress update on Boeing B-17E 41-2595, which once bore the nicknames Desert Rat and Tangerine.

 summed up, not going to be ready to fly for 10-20 years, if they can afford to get the engines overhauled, etc etc 

the aircraft did not serve as a bomber during her combat life (in the China Burma India theatre), but rather as a converted cargo plane prototype for the breed known as the XC-108A. 

Despite this unique aspect to the airframe, Kellner is restoring the aircraft back to its original B-17E configuration, to the way the airframe would have looked when it rolled off Boeing’s production line in Seattle, Washington during April 1942. Desert Rat, as Kellner and his team have re-dubbed her, will be the oldest Flying Fortress in the skies when she finally flies

https://warbirdsnews.com/warbird-restorations/b-17-update.html 

on the road to Summer Jam, 1973, Watkins Glen

 looks like that Mustang is missing a back panel, under the bumper, or is it simply jacked sky high? Bald tires?