Sunday, March 29, 2026

i like this... everyone familiar with the Navy rating system will recognize that it's a couple ratings


 

I met Ron yesterday, and was shocked at what a good deal he got on this BMW... he paid less for it than it cost me to repair my Hyundai's radiator.


I saw this Buick on the way home the other day


Colorado troopers pulled over 2,540 drivers for ‘hanging out’ in the left lane and failing to move right while traveling at slower speeds than the flow of traffic, in 2025

The top roadways for traffic stops for “hanging out” in the left lane in 2025 are as follows:

I-70 (962 contacts)
I-25 (564 contacts)
Hwy 50 (297 contacts)
Hwy 160 (190 contacts)
E-470 (149 contacts)

Troopers are reminding drivers that in Colorado, multi-lane roads with a posted speed limit of 65 m.p.h. or greater designate the furthest left lane as the “passing lane.”

The Great Redwood Trail will connect the San Francisco Bay to the Humboldt Bay via a 300-mile multi-use trail.


The plan is to build a 300-mile trail along the route of the disused Northwestern Pacific Railroad, stretching from the San Francisco Bay in the south to the Humboldt Bay in the north. It will be designed for non-motorized uses like walking, cycling, and horseback riding.

When completed, the Great Redwood Trail will be one of the longest rail-to-trail conversion projects in the country. The planned route traverses California’s most scenic redwood forests, farmlands, mountains, rivers, and wine country, with a range of surfaces from 12-foot-wide, paved segments to narrow backcountry trails.



This is a long-term project spanning decades, with no specific opening date yet on the table.

The great-grandfather of all flight recorders from Germany. A porcelain plate with thinning discs, illustrating various possible causes of a crash. In the event of a problem, a crew member would puncture the relevant disc.

abandoned bus made over with street art


https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=700187430743004&set=a.498276272422745

I love this graffiti spoof of the Peanuts gang, in Batu Satu Brunei, by artists Guerrilla Architects (thanks to Larry Chen for showing this in his trip to Brunei!) the only commercial street art studio in Brunei


The transposition of a staple, to a new variant of style, it what makes art and artists, so appealing. That something that the original artist never conceived of doing with their characters, was imagined and brought into being by another, is cool. 

Imagine the Peanuts gang in Grease, Jurassic Park, Fast and Furious... etc. 

I find this type of art, maybe it's satire, maybe it's tribute, often done with Lilo and Stitch, but this is the first time I've seen the Peanuts gang in another universe








See the making of in this video 




Also see the commissioned mural in the Motul outlet in Brunei: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwrBfisJgni/

proof that you can get kids to work a real job, as long as there is a remote control to operate

 

Two Lane Blacktop clip of the dragstrip scene

 

If I were rich... this 66 Econoline is currently on Bring a Trailer for 13k


Saturday, March 28, 2026

the Queensboro Bridge

 https://www.reddit.com/r/MicromobilityNYC/comments/1j0s9fi/old_sidepaths_on_the_queensboro_bridge_countdown


New York had a 2,000-mile bicycle highway system by the year 1900, known as the sidepath system of the 1890s. By the 1920s, most sidepaths had been swallowed by widening roads, repurposed by railroads or overtaken by vegetation.







the State of New York under the Side Path Law / compiled by New York State Division, League of American Wheelmen ; drawn by Walter M. Meserole

Charles Raymond, a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute-trained engineer and founding member of the Lockport Wheelmen, with a radical yet pragmatic idea: instead of waiting for expensive, politically contentious road reform, what if cyclists built their own dedicated paths alongside existing roads?

in 1892, when Niagara County cyclists raised private funds to construct one of the nation’s first purpose-built bicycle facilities: a 12-mile crushed-stone sidepath from Lockport to Olcott Beach on Lake Ontario. Far from a simple dirt track, the path incorporated thoughtful engineering, with graded surfaces for smooth riding, drainage ditches and culverts to manage water runoff, and carefully tested surfacing materials that proved durable under repeated use.


Recognizing that volunteer labor and private donations alone could not sustain expansion, Raymond took an unprecedented step: he drafted legislation. In 1896, New York State passed a law authorizing Niagara County to create a Sidepath Commission to raise funds by taxing bicycles to keep building out the network.

Other counties took note, and momentum accelerated with the statewide enabling legislation in 1899, signed by Gov. Theodore Roosevelt, which created the first statewide framework for dedicated bicycle infrastructure in the United States.

The New York cities of Rochester and Niagara, as well as Minnesota’s Minneapolis and St. Paul, each built hundreds of miles of these hard-surfaced paths.

Sidepaths multiplied county by county, growing from short recreational segments into connected regional corridors. Cyclists paid small annual fees for sidepath licenses, creating a dedicated, if ultimately fragile, funding stream. Engineering standards spread rapidly, construction costs dropped through economies of scale and counties competed enthusiastically to report new mileage at annual conventions.

By 1901, New York State boasted more than 2,000 miles of sidepaths, the most extensive bicycle path network in the nation.


Riders could travel from village streets to rural highways, from industrial towns to scenic destinations and, remarkably, from Brooklyn all the way to Niagara Falls on nearly continuous bicycle infrastructure





six issues of the Sidepaths magazine: from volume 3 (1900), numbers 22, 23, and 24, and from volume 4 (1901), numbers 2, 3, and 4 are known to exist.

 These issues are collected in the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters library, under call number GV1040 .S53 1901.

1901 issue of Good Roads remarked of side paths: "The cycle paths of Albany, Rochester, Minneapolis, Seattle and Spokane have done more to keep alive the fraternal feeling among cyclists and to boom the bicycle trade in those cities than any other issue elsewhere." 

Of course, you know how this turns out. The dawn of the motor age quickly arrived. Bicycles, as well as trolleys, were overtaken. And the side path law was repealed.

As with any fad, interest in bicycling for the general public began to decline and by 1903 there was no longer enough money for repair and maintenance from sales of side path badges.

A 1917 edition of that Albany guide book -- the one that had reported thousands of bicycles in Albany in 1900 -- said of the city's once multiple bicycle clubs: "These all now are practically out of existence."

By 1964, Secretary Stewart Udall’s Department of the Interior was promoting trails, paths, lanes and routes under that catch-all term. The next year, Udall commissioned the study that would eventually produce the Trails for America report, calling for new hiking trails and bikeways. “To avoid crossing motor vehicle traffic,” said the report, “bikeways would be located along landscaped shoulder areas on frontage roads next to freeways and expressways, along shorelines, and on abandoned railroad rights-of-way,” or “along quiet back streets and alleys.” It was a fine idea, but there wasn’t a lot of federal money available. While some bikeways were built, it wasn’t until later decades that “rail-trails” emerged out of the list of suggested bikeway locations as the more successful model.


https://www.railstotrails.org/trailblog/history-happened-here-sidepaths-and-the-persistent-dreams-of-trail-building/https://bikebattles.net/2018/01/finding-sidepaths/  includes PDFs of Sidepaths magazine

officially, 1971 was the last great year for the Hemi and 440 Six-Pack. The factory moved the few left overs out the doors anyway. A small number of Charger Rallye and Road Runner GTX cars slipped through in 1972 with 440 Six-Pack/6BBL



There weren't supposed to be any Mopars with killer engines in 1972, but sometime in the early 1980s, a Road Runner GTX 440+6 was randomly found in a junkyard, and it had the V-code in the VIN, so it was a legitimate 440 6BBL car. 

Until that point, nobody even thought such a car could exist, but it turns out that 3 were actually built, and it's likely that only tin the Brothers Collection still exists.




More common than the '72 Plymouth Road Runner GTX 440+6 is the '72 Dodge Charger Rallye Six-Pack, but only two have ever been identified, and nobody has seen either one in a decade

That car pictured above was listed on Mecum in 2013 and billed as a 1972 Charger Rallye with a 390-horsepower 440ci Six Pack V-8.

I just learned that Mercedes teamed up with Brad Pitt and George Russell to make a commercial about their new car

when I was a kid, the Sultan of Brunei was a legend for having a ridiculously enormous car collection. But no one ever got to see it. Now, Larry found a gallery of the cars, skip to the 15 minute mark. No, he didn't get in to photograph them


Pikes Peak, 2025, Larry Chen's photography


Impact Speed Fast, Bangkok. Making soccer mom cars interesting



this is cool, and rare, for manufacturing to take any pride in what they build. Typically, it's just push it, sell it, get it off the books. This? Painting, signing, and commemorating? Is cool





a Datsun dealership demo stand so new car buyers could expericence the difference between the factory optional radios... and it still works!



to restore any and all Datsun Z, see the new parts built to OEM, or better, standard - that Nissan no longer makes, at Resurrected Classics

seen on Thursdays walk



Noteworthy because ambulances rarely are sitting at the drivers home

the 21st Annual Long Beach Japanese Classic Car Show

 
Saturday, October 3rd, 

2026 Marina Green Park,
386 East Shoreline Drive, 
Long Beach,

9:00 AM 3:00 PM


this is cute... girls at the roller rink, miming that they are a car and driver... and someone brought a steering wheel






See the video at 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday announced the removal of the diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) SENSOR requirement for all diesel equipment

stating that the sudden speed losses and shutdowns caused by DEF system failures unacceptably compromise safety and productivity 

The new guidance, which removes DEF sensors, is anticipated to save farmers $4.4 billion a year in reairs and lost productivity and provide $13.79 billion a year in savings to Americans, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“Failing DEF systems are not an East Coast or West Coast or Heartland issue; it is a nationwide disaster,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in a news release. “I have heard from truck drivers, farmers, and many others complaining about DEF and pleading for a fix in all 50 states I visited during my first year as EPA administrator. Americans are justified in being fed up with failing DEF system issues.

“Today, we take another step in furthering our work by removing DEF sensors,” he continued. “Farmers and truckers should not be losing billions of dollars because of repair costs or days lost on the job.”

they just remove the def quality sensor, (that puts your truck in to limp mode if the Def filter is full.) which located in the DEF tank with the level and temperature sensor.

this... really is a DeLorean. DeLorean partnered with his brother Jack to build four go-kart tracks in Michigan, and they stocked the grids with fleets of 20 HP, 3/4-size open-wheel racers. Thank you Doug!




The business folded after just a couple years, and its assets and intellectual property were purchased by California entrepreneur Ron Cameron, who had far more success with the concept as the Malibu Grand Prix.


Doug just told me about the weekly feature on BAT, the https://bringatrailer.com/editorial/weekly-weird-and-wonderful/

this isn't a Ferrari barchetta, it's an MG. A '52 Cooper-MG T21 Barchetta (than you Doug! )