Thursday, March 30, 2023

well, I guess if it works, and it's cheaper to make your own than buy from a dealership, then it's not crazy

5’2” 95 pound Vivian bale rode a 1929 Harley 5000 miles around the USA, then never purchased another motorcycle for the rest of her life (71 more years)




She wrote to Hap Jameson, editor of the Enthusiast magazine, telling him that she’d like to make a solo trip north on her bike to visit the factory in Milwaukee. Although Harley-Davidson wouldn’t officially sponsor the ride, they penned Vivian “The Enthusiast Girl”, and provided her with sweaters that proclaimed this moniker.

Bales’ famous ride took place in the summer of 1929 and was featured in many national publications, as well as the Enthusiast™ magazine. In each of the towns she passed through, Bales would meet local dignitaries and Harley-Davidson dealers, most of whom would volunteer to support her on her ride. She even met President Hoover!

In all, she traveled for 78 days and covered nearly 5,000 miles.

Following her famous ride, Bales continued motorcycling, and performed stunt riding at motorcycle races in Tallahassee, Florida. Although she never purchased another motorcycle, Bales stated that her Harley-Davidson experience remained one of the most significant of her life.


in her newsletter article for the Harley Enthusiast, she wrote about the journey, but this bit surprised me;
" I learned something about goggles on this trip, and that is dont trust any but shatterproof glass. A bug broke one of my goggles lens, a fragment of glass getting in my right eye. A Lansing doctor extracted it, but he wouldn’ take a cent "

the March banners



























Amoco pedal cars given away as promotion 1930's

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10228868407004931&set=gm.958223715355465&idorvanity=319578812553295

Something I haven't seen before from Boyce MotoMeter products, the Moto-Lite



looks like a shifter boot mounted in the driver side air box... so far, I've only found that is a relief area to allow the brake master cylinder on a 69 and 70 Hemi Coronet to not hit the air box (thank you Brett!)

I've got a 69 R/T, and it's got some weird funky drivers side replacement air box, so now every time I look at another N96 equipped 69 Coronet, I am wondering if I'm going to see the usual, or something weird

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=886293322429993&set=pcb.886293349096657



these screen grabs are from an episode of a tv show that restores Mopars https://youtu.be/vK5ozijAKLA

fascinating different point of view on why chauffers were not given the comfort of an enclosed cab


Remember, it started with wagons. 

Drivers mucked the stalls and did other messy and smelly things. Trapping them in an enclosed space would be a bad idea

At the turn of the century when cars were invented, there was little indoor plumbing, so taking a hot bath didn't happen often, and even wealthy people barely bathed. They got clean undergarments more often, but relied on powders and perfumes for odor control. 

So, the theory is, that enclosed car cabins were olfactory protection from the smells of the driver, and the environment where horses were still using the road, and it stank like a barn stall that hadn't been mucked (and remember, there were flies everywhere landing on that manure, then landing on people)

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02gt5vzVvfi776qe1mXKPKmNgA48TePzHUB4KwHVKGzHR17qgfEydKr2u9oqkMEK4rl&id=100082346838482

Somewhere in Virginia, Rachel's Dad loved cars, and when he died, his cars were left without anyone that gave a damn. They've been sitting, waiting, ever since then, while the brush and trees grew.




this would freak me out, so very much

 

disturbing news, Ford Motor Company is recalling select 2023 Ford Edge crossovers over insufficient child seat tether wire welds... would you believe that the kids seat welds weren't EXTRA important to the engineering teams design specs?

 https://fordauthority.com/2023/03/2023-ford-edge-recalled-over-insufficient-welds/

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

impressive


https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2023/03/its-hungry-and-youre-food.html

HA!



It's a '78 to 83 Challenger

hard to believe this body style was ever used as a dragster


 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2373167432857252&set=gm.2122559914611306&idorvanity=344270305773618

it's been about 50 years since cars like this were weekend racers, I'm surprised they have been neglected so damn long, until recently, they could have been restored at a reasonable price, but those days are over

 



Have you heard of the "Chevy Shake"? Not a cold drink, not a model of Chevy, it is the cause of a class action lawsuit about a unacceptable shimmy caused by driveshafts and GM’s 8L90 and 8L45 transmissions.

Models with the Chevy Shake problem

2015-2019 Chevrolet Silverado
2017-2019 Chevrolet Colorado 2015-2019 Chevrolet Corvette
2016-2019 Chevrolet Camaro
2015-2019 Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV
2016-2019 Cadillac ATS, ATS-V, CTS, CT6, and CTS-V
2015-2019 GMC Sierra, Yukon, Yukon XL, and Yukon Denali XL
2017-2019 GMC Canyon

2019-2022 Chevy Camaro, Colorado, and Silverado
2019-2022 GMC Canyon and Sierra

Plaintiffs sued GM in 2019. They said they drive GM models and that they shake all of a sudden -- they say at times, they shake uncontrollably.

They officially asked the court to make the suit a class action early last year. Now, more than a year later, the judge has said yes.

Now, a judge has agreed to make a lawsuit filed in the case a class action, which means all drivers who bought certain vehicles will be included -- not just the people who sued. 


According to Battle v. General Motors, the Hydra-Matic 8L45 and 8L90 transmissions have a “shift defect” that General Motors has not fixed. 

To date, General Motors hasn’t provided an adequate fix. General Motors knew about the defect since at least 2013. When GM tested a vehicle with one of these 8-speed transmissions, the downshift was described as a “neck snapper.” 

Since 2015, General Motors issued at least 13 versions of a technical service bulletin

Drivers with aluminum driveshafts have had to pay for custom steel driveshafts out of pocket. Some drivers got their transmissions flushed to deal with metal shavings caused by the defect. According to one lawsuit, drivers may require replacements of the torque converter, valve body or entire transmission.

When drivers dealing with the Chevy Shake do get replacements, they receive equally defective replacement parts.

In short, General Motors left the consumers to solve the problem with the faulty driveshaft, and allegedly doesn’t plan to fix the 8-speed transmission until at least 2023.

Mark, a 23 year old, was just given a 1970 by his grand dad who ordered it new in 1969, 383 stick shift, no power anything

while it's cool that he4 inherited his grand dad's mopar, and that only the two of them will have owned it, there is about 40k of repairs to make is reliable and respectable, and rust free. 

That front bumper has been twisted, the usual rust is around the dutch panel, the interior is garbage, all of it, but it's a nice long term - in no hurry - kind of keepsake that if repaired, will last another 100k miles before anything needs to be fixed again. 

And, if he wants to track it, he's not messing up a hemi car, or a winged car, a bare bones Road Runner is a nice chassis to build on if you're going to restore, or race. 

I hope his grand dad is bequeathing a small fortune, or a house and garage too, because you can't afford a mortgage or rent while getting started in a career, and still buy car parts




It's strange that I don't run across stories like this, of grand kids getting to inherit a cool muscle car.