in the USA, "Pop Goes the Weasel" announced the ice cream van's entry into your neighborhood... in Sri Lanka, Beethoven's Bagatelle No. 25 In A Minor (Für Elise) announced the Tuk Tuk bakery van. Both are only memories now

every morning in Sri Lanka, Beethoven’s classic was heard floating over paddy fields in the countryside, or competing with the sound of the traffic in the cities. 

The music from three-wheeled tuk-tuks, "choon paan" Sri Lanka’s musical, mobile bakeries, fitted with glass cabinets and a rooftop speaker system.

The higher cost of imported flour, inflation, and the government quota of four liters of fuel per week has killed the small business operator of the mobile bakery. 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sri-lankas-musical-mobile-bakeries

Music and popular songs come and go, but one sound has been consistent since 1929 – the music and sound of the ice cream truck.

In 1960, Mister Softee, the largest mobile cream franchisor with over 600 trucks, introduced the Mister Softee Theme

Top Ten Ice Cream Truck Themes

10. Turkey in the Straw – Originally based on an Irish folk song called The Old Rose Tree, it was adapted into minstrel music shows in the 1820s, even though the 1910’s. 

9. Camptown Races (1850) and Oh! Suzanna (1848) were written by America’s first professional songwriter, Stephen Foster. 

8. Dixie (1861) Dixie was about Antebellum (the wealthy southern lifestyle) prior to the civil war

7. Jimmy Crack Corn (1840s) was a song about a slave’s lament after his master’s death. 

6. La Cucaracha (1800s Mexican folk song) probably the most popular song about a cockroach who cannot walk

5. Pop Goes The Weasel (1852) began as a social dance in England. The ambiguous phrase has been used in many pop culture mediums – books, film and television. In the 1930s, it became the tune for Jack-in-the-Box windup toys. 

4. I’m a Little Teapot (1939) Probably the last Nursery Rhyme to be a radio hit.

3. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star – the lyrics were written by Jane Taylor in 1806 (England), and the melody came from Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, (1761, France).

2. It’s a Small World, written by brothers Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman in 1962, and inspired by the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is probably the only popular ice cream truck music that needs a royalty payment. Why? Because it may be the second most well-known song in the Western World, behind Happy Birthday. 

1. The Entertainer (1902) written by Scott Joplin, is one of the most famous instrumentals of the recorded sound era. It was the biggest ragtime hit, and brings the perfect ‘nostalgia’ feeling for both children and adults when it comes to ice cream.

https://popculturemadness.com/PCM/the-sounds-of-the-american-summer-ice-cream-trucks/

Roar! 1943 Studebaker Weasel

Via: http://www.autogallery.org.ru/k/s/43studWeasel1_MVS.jpg for one that made it through the war and came though ok, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/08/1944-studebaker-weasel.html

I regretfully report that a USD student has died, killed by a marked cop car, 130 am, on Linda Vista Road between Goshen and Brunner streets.

In 2016, the city developed a Comprehensive Active Transportation Strategy for Linda Vista that recommended installing a high-visibility ladder-style crosswalk and a pedestrian-activated high-intensity signal beacon near a staircase that serves as a shortcut to and from the University of San Diego campus

The estimated cost of the improvements was $111,000.

In order to save money, the improvement to increase pedestrian safety next to a major university was ignored. 

The damn city should be sued for ignoring it's duty, and responsibility to safety, after it conducted an investigation of how to prevent pedestrian deaths, and was informed that a crosswalk overpass walking bridge would get students off the road

Hell, the university is also liable IMHO for not insisting that the city build the walking bridge

And HOW does a cop in a cop car STRIKE and kill a person? Probably using a cell phone or the unit laptop... which the state decided wasn't "unsafe" for cops, just illegally unsafe for all the rest of us. 

So, yeah, the city of San Diego, the SDPD, and USD, I'd say they all ought to line up across the court room from the plaintiff, and try to weasel out of the jury's focus. 

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/safety-improvements-proposed-years-ago-site-fatal-usd-student-crash/4038453/

related news item, 

a city council committee meeting Wednesday, which highlighted the $116 million cost of settlements and judgements involving SDPD since fiscal year 2017.

In fiscal year 2026 alone, SDPD settlements and judgements reached a record $42 million.

a $10 million settlement for the life of Arabella McCormack, 11, who died of severe abuse in August 2022.
“An SDPD officer was alleged to have visited the home, and contributed to the abuse by directly supplying wooden paddles, not paddle, paddles to the family,”

$30 million went to the family of Konoa Wilson, the 16-year-old shot and killed by a San Diego police officer last year while running from gunfire.

A cop shot Konoa in the back. 

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-diego-police-lawsuit-payouts-top-116-million-over-10-years/4038308/

SDPD Annual Budget is 32% of San Diego's total General Fund expenditures.

San Diego's police misconduct settlement payouts are roughly 1/16th the SDPD budget

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) operates on an annual General Fund budget of $703.5 million,

police-related settlements and judgments have average about $42.5 million annually 

ACLU data indicates that SDPD payouts are roughly 15 million higher than the settlements paid by all other city departments combined.

1953 Pontiac T46E1 Otter Amphibious Carrier.

Designed by the Pontiac Motor Division in the early 1950’s as the T46, this vehicle began life as the intended replacement for the Studebaker M29 Weasel.

The Otter was in service with the United States Marine Corps (USMC) who deployed the vehicle in Vietnam with the first 33 vehicles arriving in Danang in 1965.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/news/vietnam-3.html  

Jamiaca: Ice cream truck equivalent - the motorcycle sidecar that plays christmas carols

If you've lived in an American city in the last 30 years, you have probably come to know the ice cream trucks as annoying loudspeakers on wheels the have "Pop Goes the Weasel"

But in Jamaica it is a scratchbuilt sidecar (above of course) that plays a dozen christmas carols. It's a welcome change

things I just learned about car makers during WW2, and what they made instead of their normal vehicles

Military trucks and ambulances were built by Dodge, Chrysler, the PT Boat and aircraft engines produced exclusively by Packard, including the V-1650 engine which powered the amazing P-51 Mustang fighter. Studebaker built the US6 truck, the M29 Weasel cargo and other crew carriers, the Journal Standard reports.

Many of the tank retrieval trailers and tank recovery vehicles came from the well known taxi cab factory, Checker.  XM105E3 1-1/2-ton trailer

photo from http://www.militarytrader.com/military-vehicles-news/highlights-from-the-2012-iola-vintage-military-show

Hudson joined the efforts with its aircraft guns, engines, parts and the “Hudson Invader” engine, known having been used to power landing watercraft on D-Day at Normandy, June 6, 1944.

Many of the military appliances and other specific supplies were assembled by Nash-Kelvinator, while Henry Kaiser became a legend thanks to his California shipyard, where he built the “Liberty” and “Victory” cargo ships in very little time.

From http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/car-manufacturers-world-war-ii-military-might.html

one of the original Trans-Antarctic Expedition Sno Cat® machines is still running! Even better, it's still owned and operated by the family business!

Sno Cat® is a Family owned and operated company and has been that way for almost 75 years in this very unique industry, now operated by the 4th generation of Tuckers.

The Trans Antarctic Crossing is really what put Tucker Sno-Cat® on the map.

There were four machines that were built for this expedition and they each earned a name over the trip. There were letters on the doors of each machine except for one.
A was Able,
B was Rock and Roll (This one was Sir Vivian Fuchs machine)
C was Haywire
and the last machine was not lettered and its name was County of Kent.

With four custom-made Sno-Cats®, Fuchs was able to cross the continent in 100 days, all the while conducting seismic readings and measuring ice cap thickness. The Sno-Cats® proved invincible in the harshest conditions on earth, providing consistency, safety and the kind of endurance no other land vehicle could accomplish at the time.

 Three of the four machines are still around
Able is in Christchurch New Zealand

http://trekinti.me/2014/01/15/christchurch-canterbury-museum-and-art-center/

Haywire is in London
 and the only one left in original condition Rock and Roll is here at the factory!

 Recently Jeff and his brother took the project on of getting Rock and Roll preserved and back on the snow and by April had it accomplished! All of the guys at the shop were involved in part of the project of getting Rock Roll on the snow, especially Clyde Moody, who always did a little extra and always looked into the fine details.

Jeff and his daughters got to be the first Tuckers to drive it in over 50 years! They also met Sir Vivian Fuchs son Peter Fuchs who flew over from London to an event called the Cats Meow, he was able to drive his dads machine and did a great presentation.

There is a good article about the machines at http://gearpatrol.com/2013/12/03/icon-tucker-sno-cat/  and a lot more info about the expedition at http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2014/11/old-school-ice-truckers.cfm

George Lowe on how to get out of a tricky situation in a crevasse field

We drove on, but suddenly the lead vehicle stopped without a signal. In a moment I knew something odd was happening. As I climbed out of my cab, David Pratt was already running ahead toward [Sno-cat] Rock 'n Roll and I ran after him. "Here's trouble – big trouble," he groaned as soon as we reached the spot.

Rock 'n Roll had burst through the lid of a deep crevasse, 15ft wide. The front of the Cat was leaning forwards and downwards; it would have plunged right in if the pontoons had not buried themselves in the far wall and the roped sledges behind held back the rear. Below the dangling Cat gaped a black hole, with loose snow trickling away to fall soundlessly into the cavernous depths. Bunny, magnificently calm, leant out of the cab, peered into the death-trap and said: "I don't think this is a particularly good side to get out." He and David [Stratton] then climbed out and sprang across the gap to safety. At first sight the recovery looked impossible. David Pratt minutely examined and tested the ground disbelievingly. Before long a tide of ideas began to flow and a workable plan emerged. I ran to my Weasel, unstrapped the skis and tripod, snatched three cameras and skied back to film and photograph the scene.

During the weeks to come we were to experience a score of such crevasse incidents. Anything from five to 20 hours of preparation were needed before we could begin shifting the trapped vehicle; but then it was hauled to safety in as many seconds. All the vehicles were used and the drivers fixed their eyes on a controller who conducted them with the utmost precision in a movement of pull and counter-pull. First, steel wire ropes were tied to the front and rear end of the stranded Sno-cat, then three vehicles had somehow to get around and across the crevasse to pull the victim forwards. If we merely pulled on one side, however, the back of the vehicle would fall into a yet more perilous position – so to avoid this a counter rope was anchored at the rear, generally with two Weasels to hold it, putting as much tension as possible on the trapped machine. Sometimes we pulled them out from the front, sometimes backwards, according to how they lay in the crevasse.

http://www.sno-cat.com/  https://www.facebook.com/originalsnocat?fref=nf



and this is a 1959 Kitten

http://www.snotrans.com/equipment2.html

Gary told me his history with AAA and Nationwide car insurance companies.

In my one and only serious auto accident in over 60 years of driving I found that AAA insurance had no trouble trying to weasel out of their policy obligations. 

A fellow turned left in front of me in a rain storm and I broadsided his truck. I was driving a 2001 Nissan Frontier. After I hit him he hit two other cars. He admitted at the scene full responsibility for the accident. And that was in the police accident report.

I notified AAA and they sent out a claims adjuster who offered me $1800 for my damages, after deducting $500 for my deductible. The damage to me looked much worse. They kept pestering me to take the deal. I got the police report and notified the man's insurance carrier and they sent out a claims adjuster. Nationwide was his insurance carrier.

The took one look and had the truck towed to a high quality repair facility and paid for me to have a loan car while my was repaired. The loan car didn't cost me anything and they paid $7,700 to fix my truck. I came back perfect, like nothing ever happened

rare, unique, or one of a kind...? An unmarried beautiful young woman fashion designer with an impressive inherited car collection, in So Cal

Setorii Pond, was raised by her grandparents, Robert Pond (Navy pilot turned business man) and Jo (Italian benefactor of beautiful genetics) and grew up with the cars. “ My Grandparents and I collected the cars together as a family; each car has a fun, heartfelt and unique story all its own. Some of my favorite cars are the Ferrari 250 TR, Austin Martin AR1, Tucker, and Jaguar XJ13."

Some of the more interesting (at face value, not kowing the stories behind them) cars in the collection, a 1938 Bugatti T57C, a 1931 Auburn boattail speedster, a Muntz Jet, a Fiat Jolly, a Delorean, a 1961 Ferrari 250 Testarossa, a couple Ferrari Daytonas, a 1967 GT40, the 1926 Rickenbacker Super Sport boat tail, a 1943 Studebaker Weasel (WW2 military transport) , a Tucker and a Vector W8

http://thepondcollection.com/ for the photos and listings of the cars

I had misssed in my looking through Driven.UrbanDaddy.com that they had posted about Setorri's book twice  http://driven.urbandaddy.com/2012/03/15/the-art-of-setorii/ and http://driven.urbandaddy.com/2012/02/28/the-collector-2/

For a good interview of Setorii: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/reyne-haines/setorii-pond-collection_b_1456927.html?ref=los-angeles

tear the roof off the sucker

https://ampervadasz.tumblr.com/post/619920450343043072

because damn it, we need some funk about now.  Hit play, enjoy some goofy fun, and that god damn white hat with weasel tufts, good god, the 70s were crazy

loving these home builts!

http://darkdraggon.tumblr.com/
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/diesel-weasel-mow-cart-home-built-rat-rod-mayhem/

I often come across photos that I add to posts with similar items... but this time I'll just post the new stuff and links to where they would go

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=weasel

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/photos-of-unusual-from-days-gone-by.html

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/11/inspection-cars-for-railroad-inspectors.html

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/03/few-more-from-shorpy.html

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Disney

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/10/chuck-yeager-american-hero-drove-hot.html

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2006/11/only-time-super-sport-was-ever-applied.html

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlyg_zVS-_K0S4rL9qyQoRoIzfxyRfKX0gJvZjC5q1vAQvhTWmtjU8OqG7GH0JRmEzG4hWFcLQX-TEvwV6lzliGtiPtAwaVSi4-E2pdNKSaAChyphenhyphenJQsD9tRqcU5lLTetY2qBa9r/s1600/1.jpg

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/10/one-wheel-trailer-trailcar-by-allstate.html

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/ms-linda-and-damn-big-shifter.html and http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/05/ms-hurst-linda-vaughn-and-chrysler-300.html

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/02/dealership-photos-from-20s-through-60s.html

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/11/rare-historical-automotive-jem.html

All those labels under these posts, and in the long column (about 1000) are there to help me, and you, find the stuff you are looking for. They sure help me find the things I recall having posted before, so I can add photos like these to the posts I want them in, or want to let you know where you can find similar things.

photos from http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585&page=270

1944 Studebaker Weasel

For a brochure: http://202.63.50.228/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=2114&g2_GALLERYSID=7ba8d706a5715abc56cd8f2bf2ae30cc