St. Thomas Dragway on July 1st, 1963, of Jack "Skinny" Fuche in the 427 powered B/FX Ford F-100XL,

The truck was the brainchild of a couple of Ford Truck Division executives and Fuche along with Dearborn Steel Tube owner Andy Hotton. 

St. Thomas was one of the ten drag strips the truck made an appearance at prior to the NHRA Nationals at Indy. 

After the 1963 Nationals, the truck was sold to Jack Whitby, owner of Friendly Ford in Wilmington Delaware.

the below 427 F-100 was the one originally built by Bob Ford for a customer of theirs. Dave Lyall campaigned that truck briefly in 1964 in B/FX.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122177236832640485&set=pcb.122177236850640485

C and D type Jags are my favorites

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=28250534594624831&set=p.28250534594624831&type=3

Bill Krause's D Type, pinstriping by Von Dutch, debuted at Bakersfield in 1956

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=4581437972101036&set=gm.1635727934675086&idorvanity=1047215466859672

A hospital has taken delivery of a state-of-the-art surgical robot, the da Vinci Five robot, thanks to a donation from Gordon Murray, who created the McLaren F1 supercar in 1992

"This machinery fascinated the engineer in me," he said. "It's not anywhere near as intrusive as the operation used to be, and the recovery times are much quicker."

Having been operated on by the da Vinci Xi, he said the five model he was donating had "150 improvements".

"There's no better way of saying thank you to the team than donating one of these," he added.

"Initially I thought I'd leave a donation in my will and then I thought 'it can start saving people now'."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvlyd49j8766o

interesting custom 55 Chev made into a camper

https://www.facebook.com/groups/132380976935515/permalink/3473631402810439

Daytona Beach a couple decades ago

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=28737682855823206&set=g.752780219227785

426 hemi Satellite has an original police impound sticker from the late 70s. It’s got 9k original miles.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/996045710517424/permalink/28341165245578768

As cities push back against Flock's license plate readers, the $8.4 billion surveillance company is betting big on police drones, raising fresh questions about privacy and oversight.

The company’s line of drones has become a key part of its current revenue and sales pitch. Flock founder and CEO Garrett Langley told the All-In Podcast in September that drone tech is the company’s “fastest-growing business unit right now.”

Founded in 2017, Flock is valued at $8.4 billion. Langley said drone tech is set to account for nearly half of its future revenue.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91621503/flock-is-facing-a-surveillance-backlash-meanwhile-its-drone-business-is-booming

the Small Business Administration's rejected BMW of Springfield’s application for loan forgiveness (a New Jersey dealership) for part of a $2 million Paycheck Protection Program loan

nearly all the $800 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans issued by the federal government have been forgiven. 

Now, some borrowers whose requests for forgiveness were denied are taking their cases to court.

A New Jersey dealership can’t compel the Small Business Administration to forgive part of a $2 million Paycheck Protection Program loan, a federal appeals court has ruled.

The SBA justifiably rejected BMW of Springfield’s application for loan forgiveness, saying BMW of Springfield was ineligible for the money in the first place, the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held.

The dispute arose from a federal low-interest loan program enacted in 2020’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES Act, to help small businesses meet their payroll and survive during the pandemic era.

In implementing the Paycheck Protection Program, the SBA capped the collective amount that entities with shared majority ownership could borrow at $20 million for first-draw, or first-round, loans and $4 million for second-draw loans.

https://www.autonews.com/retail/an-bmw-dealer-loses-loan-forgiveness-1013
https://x.com/Automotive_News/status/2110023894811766927
https://www.munsch.com/Newsroom/Blogs/158702/When-PPP-Loans-Arent-Forgiven-Some-Borrowers-Are-Heading-to-Court

In the New Jersey case, the operator of a BMW dealer in Springfield sued the SBA Tuesday seeking forgiveness of $936,963. The SBA said the company, known as Celebrity of Springfield, is part of a larger corporate group that received a loan of $5.06 million, which is far more than the $4 million corporate maximum. Therefore, Celebrity’s $2 million loan is ineligible for forgiveness, the SBA said in its final loan review decision.

https://www.munsch.com/Newsroom/Blogs/158702/When-PPP-Loans-Arent-Forgiven-Some-Borrowers-Are-Heading-to-Court

The 2 CV Fourgonnette is Citroen's attempt at reviving the panel van from the 1950s.

Citroen kept the 2CV Fourgonette production going for 26 years, from 1951 to 1977, with some final units rolling off the assembly line in 1979, before the Acadiane small commercial panel van completely took over. The company manufactured 1,246,355 units of the classic van over its lifespan.

The French automaker brought the 2 CV concept car to Paris and, with it, the 2 CV Fourgonnette, a revival of the historic 1951 legendary van. However, the concept van going into production is very unlikely. The world doesn’t need a miniature van that doesn’t have the space or the practicality of a pickup truck. 

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/citroen-2-cv-fourgonnette-would-get-thumbs-up-everywhere-no-greenlight-for-production-yet-276879.html#

The Citroën 2CV is back as a low-priced, electric hatchback.

Much like Volkswagen's Beetle in Germany and Fiat's 500 in Italy, the model scored points for affordability. This is exactly what Citroen is counting on right now. The concept car previews a future production model which is expected to hit the market sometime in 20028, with a starting price of 15,000 euros, to prove that electric mobility can be accessible.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/stellantis-bets-small-affordable-evs-european-comeback-2026-10-11

the Flying Coffin 1968-72 Jan Balder, 2002tii Schnitzer

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527146584145263/permalink/3257875511072343

off brand, but, just an fyi about something very rare and cool... a gun case maker passed away, (4 decades in business) and his ENTIRE shop is being sold as ONE unit... (sharing this because of the shop tools and Gerstners)

for a look at a couple gun cases he made:

https://www.facebook.com/hueycases

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1719371070190359&set=pcb.1719371363523663

something I hadn't thought about when hearing about drive ins... the real estate under them is worth a fortune... the Santee Drive-In just sold for $22.75 million (approx. $1.69 million per acre)

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10229421043705594&set=pcb.10229421134187856

oddly enough, this John Deere garden tractor belongs to the guitarist from Cheap Trick, Rick Nielson... and it's going to auction. So is his 55 T Bird and 58 Ranchero

The tractor features a custom Cheap Trick theme livery with a checker pattern and custom graphics throughout. Includes a vintage snowplough with Cheap Trick graphics.

The drivetrain of this tractor has been modified to achieve a higher top speed, believed to be over ten miles per hour. 

This tractor was previously on exhibition in Rockford, Illinois during “Rick's Picks: A Lifelong Affair With Guitars & Music” at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in 2012 - 2013.

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/items/2297474/rick-nielsen-custom-cheap-trick-checker-john-deere-tractor-with-snowplough

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/auctions/the-rick-nielsen-collection

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/items/2297716/rick-nielsen-1955-ford-thunderbird

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/items/2297604/rick-nielsen-1958-ford-ranchero

saved for posterity

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=28983545004580250&set=g.752780219227785

death by, ... elephantiasis?

 https://www.usmodernist.org/ID/ID-1954-02.pdf  page 49-51

comparison, the 36 Cord and the 40 or 41 Lincoln Continental

page 48 https://www.usmodernist.org/ID/ID-1954-02.pdf

 

brass casting... in Grand Rapids?

https://www.usmodernist.org/ID/ID-1954-02.pdf

somebody PLEASE tell the darn truckers to quit chasing Santa's reindeer! WTH?!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/legal-loophole-undermining-species-at-risk-act-9.7368066

photo by Rock Arsenault  https://www.flickr.com/photos/arsenault/with/55481466829

Firestone sold a lot more than tires (I've already posted radios and tool sets they licensed)

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10245033370318628&set=gm.10164421401484435&idorvanity=49655829434

so much good stuff comes out of nowhere when the estate sales happen, and suddenly for the 1st time in decades, it's publicly for sale and you can finally get that rare thing you've always wanted but could never find affordably

Located in northern Wisconsin.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/49655829434/permalink/10164430872444435

Automated surveillance cameras now blanket most of Pittsburgh, generating a record number of tickets and tens of millions of dollars for the city.

Artificial intelligence-directed license plate readers are mounted on enforcement cars, surveillance cameras peer down from overhead and there are red-light cameras at intersections.

Pittsburgh Parking Authority Executive Director Dave Onorato has made the authority a nationwide leader in the deployment of AI to enforce parking laws, having spent millions of dollars on state-of-the-art surveillance technologies.

And it's paid off, at least monetarily. The authority is now issuing about 30,000 tickets a month, and in the last three years, revenues have risen from $48 million to $53 million.

https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/automated-surveillance-cameras-pittsburgh

An Army AH-64 Apache helicopter arrived late to an Ozark, Alabama, car show Saturday, hovering over the show’s display cars, pummeling vehicles and spectators with trash and dirt kicked up by rotor wash as it landed.

Officials at Fort Rucker, where the AH-64 is based, issued a statement confirming that they were aware of damage caused by the helicopter and encouraging car owners to contact base authorities for a claim regarding their vehicles.

Tyler Williams, founder of Wiregrass Carshows, which organized the car show as part of the town’s Claybank Jamboree festival, told Task & Purpose that the Apache was scheduled to arrive before the events opened, but weather delayed the helicopter and most of the car owners had taken up spots in the show’s parking area when it pulled overhead.

“This time, the helicopter landed around the time our registration was wrapping up, and landed in a location closer to our parking area than it was supposed to be at,” said Williams, who added that the Army had provided helicopters as static displays at other shows. “In every other event, the helicopters have landed either before the car show or not at all.”

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-apache-car-rotor-wash/

https://www.thedrive.com/news/alabama-car-show-accidentally-sandblasted-by-apache-helicopter-rotor-w

how can people be so damn stupid? Do they practice?

North Stockton put a circle of parking barriers in the middle of an intersection,  like the thinking was: A circle breaking up the big open area of pavement would stop people from smoking tires and spinning around there.

Unfortunately they inadvertently built a mini drift course (or, at least, a perfect skidpad).

The CBS station set up a camera at the intersection to test its effectiveness, and a lone drift-missle E36 BMW was spotted hanging a pretty nice sustained slide around the barrier just days after it went up.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/one-clapped-bmw-e36-had-the-funniest-response-to-citys-new-sideshow-deterrent-barrier

Loadmasters assigned to the 709th Airlift Squadron prepare to offload the fuselage of an F-117A Nighthawk from a C-5M Super Galaxy at Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va., Oct. 6, 2026.

https://theaviationist.com/2026/10/09/f-117-the-overachiever/

B-29 plane at the bottom of Lake Mead more accessible due to low water

The Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA) says that in 1948, a B-29 Superfortress plane crashed into the lake. 

While the plane's altimeter read that the plane was 400 feet above the water, it was incorrect. At 230 miles per hour, the B-29 struck Lake Mead, quickly sinking. Fortunately, all crew members were able to safely evacuate and were rescued.

In the nearly 80 years since the crash occurred, the plane has remained at the bottom of Lake Mead. Its location was unknown until the early 2000s, when processing map data showed "a plane-shaped mass" under the water.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/photos-b-29-plane-bottom-225708025.html