Just A Car Guy: 7/27/25

Saturday, August 02, 2025

Sturgis is expected to have 450,000 people attend this year, the 85th rally. But the town isn't relying on the visitors to make money hand over fist.... check out the vendor license fees

The cost of a vendor fee is based on square footage. The breakdown is: $560: 100 square feet or less; $850: 101—400 square feet; $1,000: 401—800 square feet; $1,200: 801—1,200 square feet and $1,500: 1,200+ square feet.

It costs another $385 to be able to walk around and pass out promotional items or free samples.

The license for a tattoo artist, combined with a health inspection, is $660.

Temporary vendors must have a temporary state sales tax license, even if the vendor has a permanent license. If the business is set up in a temporary location during the rally, it needs a temporary license. First-time vendors must post a $500 bond with the South Dakota Department of Revenue (DOR).

Sales tax revenue is part of the economic impact of the rally. The state DOR said state sales tax accounted for most of the revenue in 2024 which was about $790,805.

The DOR also estimated tax collections from the 2024 rally at $1.4 million. This amount includes state sales tax, tourism tax, municipal sales and municipal gross receipts tax.

https://www.keloland.com/sturgis-rally/vendor-licenses-up-for-sturgis-rally/

a beautiful book on early airplanes, on Ebay for 100 bucks

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255877704829

1 of 6 specially made "Broadmoor Skyview" 59 Cadillac limos commissioned by the Broadmoor Resort, with only 10,460 miles

The Broadmoor is an iconic Colorado Springs resort, historic and the longest running Forbes 5 star, AAA five diamond resort. It opened in 1918, and among other interesting things, commissioned Maxfield Parrish (one of my favorites https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=maxfield ) to craft a painting of the hotel.

the Broadmoor Hotel capitalized on Pike's Peak with the race to the top, and the cog railway up the 14,115 foot mountain.

Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm, most famous for designing Central Park, designed The Broadmoor’s grounds

And I just discovered that I've posted about these limos before.... but dang it, one hasn't been up for auction before https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-broadmoor-hotel-which-capitalized.html

https://www.mecum.com/lots/1151389/1959-cadillac-broadmoor-skyview-limousine/?aa_id=704013-0

https://www.broadmoor.com/historical-timeline

https://westernartandarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/converted_files/uploads/Maxfield-Parrish.jpg

Osha? Who's she? Never heard of her!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122167203344525186&set=a.122128087010525186

side note (nothing relevant to cars) about why this week was nearly double the number of posts of most weeks

well, there were a 114 posts this week, because it's the week after Comic Con for one

and because it's the best distraction from getting depressed and stressed from looking at job descriptions.

It takes no time at all to go from being happy that you're really good at something (several previous jobs resulted in great job satisfaction once I became really good at them), to depressed that the jobs that need to be filled all are paying so damn well, and don't have a damn thing in common with my decades of jobs. Or they simply require a university degree.

Then, it takes no time at all to be really happy to find cool stuff to post (tanks, planes, humor, cars at auction) and use that as a distraction from job applications.

Really frustrating that companies are so isolated from possible employees, who can't explain how or why something that isn't on the resume, makes them great for that open job. There's a lot in life experiences that doesn't get onto a 3 page resume.

Like that writer editor job I posted https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2025/07/holy-shit-theres-govt-job-for-writer.html where there's no "please explain what in your work history makes you great for this job" place to say to the HR type looking at the application vs resume - just 61 thousand articles, 19 years of writing a blog, facebook page, 12 other blogs and facebook pages on adventurers, bomber nose art, editing/proofreading chapters of a book on Stinson airplanes. So, yeah, pretty good at editing and proofreading.

catastrophic failure of a radial engine cylinder, or piston/con rod failure? This Pitts 12 landed on the Seney stretch (Yoopers know what that means) and a very nice tow truck came along to get it back to it's hanger

I was 15 minutes into that leg when I started seeing puffs of smoke coming from the cooling air outlet on the left side.

Next the cockpit started to fill with smoke, it was obviously burning oil causing the smoke and there was an airport ahead in about 10 minutes so I decided to stop there and figure it out. 30 seconds later the engine was shaking, noticeably, 10 seconds after that there was a loud bang and the prop stopped.

I took the highway option, I kept it in my lane until the cars got the hint and cleared a path then I was able to put it on the center line and roll to a stop without a scratch. Turns out it blew a jug clean off the motor and locked up solid.

https://www.facebook.com/trevor.rafferty.2025

https://www.facebook.com/trevor.rafferty.2025/posts/pfbid0cyjpcarebXp1rbDFfdjgYdFMpSMt11eESAtjRRUvkqrEPvTwzLybt7NvPxB1pqfMl

Trevor had just left Newberry, heading to the Wings Over Marquette airshow... when his engine let out ALL the smoke.

A tank story, that is often misconstrued, and used as click bait... the tank on Juno beach that got stuck in a 60 foot crater

The Churchill AVRE "One Charlie" on display at Graye-sur-Mer was part of 26 Assault Squadron, 79th Armoured Division.

The story of One Charlie can be found in his memoir "Blowing Our Bridges".

The tank tried to cross a flooded area behind the dunes.

The tank blocked the beach exit and was pushed into the water, then used to support a girder bridge for other tanks and infantry to cross the waters.

The Tommies called this "Pont AVRE".

The tank was buried after D-Day and all but forgotten until it was dug up and restored by French engineers in 1976

https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/1003/Churchill-AVRE-Tank---One-Charlie.htm

I never heard about this, in 2022, at Comic Con

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10110436410521483&set=pcb.10110436412053413

Stan Mott's 1957 Cyclops is coming to auction!

Why a top hat? Well, if you're not familiar with the wonderfully fun Stan Mott, take a moment, and enjoy: https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=stan+mott