Sunday, February 09, 2025

Professional Stunt Granny! Yep, Weathertech made a fun commercial for Superbowl 2025, and it kicks off with an 8 track!

In the new Jurassic Park movie, the main characters travel to the island where the dino were recreated... and find a jeep that will run? On exactly what battery and gas? The movie takes place 30 years after the events in the 1st movie

 

Looks like it's going to be a great movie, ScarJo is just a terrific action actress, damn, I wish Renner was in it as her partner in the mission! 

clever commercial

starting off my coverage of Super Bowl 2025 commercials

the worst rail disaster in New Jersey history, the wreck of the Broker, (commuter train between Bay Head and Jersey City) in 1951, would have been simply and easily prevented. But one guy ignored all warning signs of problems to come

Saturday, February 08, 2025

Charlton Heston on a Vespa and Stephen Boyd on a bicycle, in the chariot race from Ben Hur. Photo by Pierluigi Praturlon, Rome, 1958



there were a handful of photos of Heston on the Vespa, must have been a photo shoot for Vespa, that took about a half hour at least


The engine and clutch of a surplus P-51with a Packard-built Merlin, had been manufactured under license in the U.S.A. in 1944, yet Rolls still stood behind them with an unlimited warranty in 1963




In 1963, Bill Lear (of Learjet fame) was living in Geneva, Switzerland and flying a surplus P-51, N-251L . 

After numerous problems with the starter clutch on his Packard-built Merlin, he contacted Rolls-Royce. They instructed Lear to send them the clutch, which was quickly repaired and returned. Lear wrote: “I called my benefactor to thank him and to ask him when to expect an invoice. His reply was: ‘My dear Mr. Lear, Rolls-Royce-designed products do not fail. They may require occasional adjustment, but this is covered by our unlimited warranty. So there is no charge, sir.’



I have heard a similar story about Rolls Royce, it involved a driveshaft on a RR automobile. RR was contacted about spares to fix it, they sent a shipping voucher for the part to be sent to them. the part was promptly repaired and returned but no bill. The car owner re-contacted RR wishing to pay for services rendered and was informed there was no charge because "Rolls Royce products don't break".



Bill Lear mentioned that at the tender age of 18 he was the youngest P-38 pilot. 

It turns out that Lear, just four days before his 18th birthday, with a check in hand from his famous father, he bought a P-38 and flew it out the same day from Kingman, Ariz. Not a war weary bird or an ex-trainer, but a brand new P-38L-F5G with only 18 hours, 20 minutes total time on its airframe and engines.

He was someone who actually bought a World War II fighter for $1,250.


Bill sold the P51 the same year, after getting the repair, and the American buyer hired a French pilot to ferry the aircraft back to the U.S.. 

This pilot had never flown a P-51 before. His first landing was at Kevlavik, Iceland after a non-stop flight from Paris Toussus-le-Noble airport. The pilot flared too high and while at low airspeed. 

The aircraft rotated leftward, the wing struck the runway and the aircraft began to cartwheel down the runway. The engine broke off as did both wings and the aft fuselage leaving the cockpit section intact and on its side.

 The pilot was alive but his head got pretty busted up. He later died of these injuries. He had worn no crash helmet and the shoulder-harness was found tied in a knot and dropped behind his seat. This was a survivable accident

Bugatti ambulance? Huh, never heard of that before

 



astonishingly beautiful way to display the 120th anniversary of Peugeot


the Citroen halftrack display at Retromobile shining a spotlight on Adolphe Kégresse, who invented the halftrack








My post about the Citroen half tracks on African expeditions, China and Canadian expeditions: 

After the cruise through Africa in 1926, 

Follow up to the news from 3 days ago... when Ford cancelled their contract with Cooper transportation, NOW GM is cancelling their contract too! What the hell is going on that made both of these mega corporations kick that company onto the unemployment line?

 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2025/02/imagine-hearing-sound-of-brakes-slammed.html for the Ford / Cooper transport news

Late Friday, GM released a statement that said the relationship had deteriorated to the point that no cars were being loaded and that the auto carrier was taking other steps.

“We can confirm that Jack Cooper Transport management has informed us of their plans to unilaterally stop services to GM, effective immediately,” a statement provided to FreightWaves by GM said. “In light of this material breach of their agreement and the ongoing and timely needs of GM’s business, we have no choice but to implement contingency plans with other providers. We do not anticipate any further disruptions to the delivery of our vehicles.”

But a statement from Jack Cooper laid the blame at the feet of GM.

On Friday, “General Motors informed Jack Cooper that it would pull all business with Jack Cooper, rejecting all proposals that were then on the table to continue working together,” the statement read.

But to emphasize that the relationship is not permanently ended, the statement also said the auto hauler “remains ready, willing and able to negotiate with General Motors regarding a continued business relationship.”


This 1978 Ford Granada is up for auction at Bring a Trailer with just 47 miles on the clock, an an eight-track player, and an 88 hp 4.1L inline-six, currently bid to 10k. Why? Who wants to drive it? Smog it? Who thinks there will be a return on investment?


 

The original owner purchased it new in Sandusky, Ohio, and proceeded to stash it away in storage, where it remained all this time – at least, until the seller acquired it last year.

Friday, February 07, 2025

Dodge CEO Matt McAlear says the nostalgic Hornet GLH Concept from two-and-a-half years ago will soon become a reality

The Hornet GLH will be a tribute/callback to the Dodge Omni GLH, designed by none other than Carroll Shelby during his Chrysler years. 

The Omni GLH offered about 146 hp from a 2.2-liter turbo-four in a vehicle that weighed less than 2,200 pounds. It was a rare ’80s surprise of accessible performance, which is precisely the legacy Dodge appears to want for its entry-level Hornet today. 

However, the prices for the Hornet GLH are comparatively twice what an Omni GLH cost back in the 90s, relatively, so, unlike the inspiration, these will be over priced and underperforming ... unless they have Hellcat engines.

the Hornet GT starts at 33k for 268 hp / 295 ft-lb from a turbo 2.0-liter inline-four. But not enough power for a roughly 3,700-pound SUV, (a 1968-69 musclecar had closer to 350-400Hp, and weighed 3500 lbs) and the Hornet R/T is between 43k and 49k for the range-topping R/T Plus model.

Death Way, just outside La Paz, Bolivia

 https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/dtbs8j/called_death_way_one_of_the_most_dangerous_roads

the Long Island Motor Parkway (also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway). 1908


Celebrated as the first road in the United States designed exclusively for automobiles. Stretching from Queens to Ronkonkoma, it featured innovative overpasses and bridges, making it a pioneer in modern roadway design.

Initially a private toll road costing $2 to use, it was largely frequented by wealthy car enthusiasts eager to race their vehicles. The parkway was eventually closed in 1938 and absorbed by the state, though parts of it remain today, repurposed as a scenic bike path in Queens.

scoria bricks, a material they made roads with, in York England, that I've never heard of until now! They weren't a success because they were found to wear unevenly and become slippery in wet conditions


In the mid-19th century, Teesside ironmasters faced the challenge of disposing of molten slag waste from blast furnaces, and used an ingenious method invented by Joseph Woodward in 1869 to transform this waste into durable, silvery-blue bricks.

Producing one ton of iron produced one ton of slag. As the furnaces of Cleveland, Hartlepool and Consett were producing 2.5 million tons of pig iron a year towards the end of the 19th Century, there was an awful lot of slag turning up everywhere..

At first, it was tipped onto the boggy marshlands around Middlesbrough to raise them up. When these were filled, the ironmasters then ended up paying the Tees Conservancy Commissioners 4d a ton in old money to take the slag away. The Conservancy Commission used it to good purpose, with over 20 miles of riverside walls and the North and South Gares built up on slag, a base still there to this very day.

But not only was this product a waste – it was a waste of money as well . The ironmasters did not want to pay to have their rubbish removed. They wanted to profit from it, to really show that where’s muck, there’s money.

 At its peak the company was taking 30% of the slag from the South-Tees works.

  These bricks became popular for paving roads and alleyways due to their strength and resistance to water and frost.

The bricks were also exported around the world and can be found in Canada, West Indies, Netherlands, Belgium, United States, India and South America



Millions of tons of pig iron were being produced in Cleveland in the North East of England at the time, generating much slag waste, a real problem for the ironmasters, as it was expensive to remove.

Scoria bricks were a kind of basalt, an igneous rock, very hard to break, very durable, completely waterproof, frost-proof and indeed chemical-proof, Eventually however the motor car destroyed the business, when it replaced metal-rimmed carriages, as people wanted a smoother ride, and tarmac started to follow in the 1930s. Steel and iron making ran down and by 1966 the Company went bankrupt

 York has around 16 miles of back lanes, a third of which use scoria bricks.

In 1912, 62,881 tons of scoria bricks were exported from wharves along the Tees. Thirty-seven per cent of these went to Canada, and 36 per cent to the West Indies. Smaller quantities went to Holland (Rotterdam was an early customer), Belgium, the US, South America and Africa. There are lots of them in fact in Dublin and other Irish towns. As the average scoria brick weighs 13lbs, this means that in 1912 alone, nearly 11 million bricks were exported.

https://northeastbylines.co.uk/region/north-east/scoria-bricks-history-at-our-feet/

Thursday, February 06, 2025

I'll be damned, I outlasted the Old Motor.com!

 

I'm not surprised. The original (oldest posts) direction was showing vehicles that a car restorer, David Greenlees, was working on. But he obviously was not someone that had the time to actually work on a daily or weekly website, and quickly opened it to anyone that wanted to submit photos or articles to, and it soon was nothing from David, just freelancers that needed the site for high traffic. 


 

For the most recent pages, there was no original content of any kind, just the " Four Fun Kodachrome Car Image Series" that had been posted 500 times. Yeah, that's slightly interesting but won't keep any audience returning to see what the lastest 4 Kodachromes were, and that is all he posted for the last 2 years (2022 - 2024) and they were simply lifted from https://www.facebook.com/AmericarTheBeautiful

one of those cars that i wish I could find more photos of

 

https://www.forcbodiesonly.com/mopar-forum/threads/some-more-classic-pictures.40139/page-198

Tim Flock, 1955 Chrysler


I wish I had a Morgan

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227973000690565&set=a.3254194073921

have you heard of the Faxon Engineering Illustrations books? Mopar assembly illustrations of the body parts and wiring


https://forum.e-bodies.org/cuda-and-challenger-general-discussion-roseville-moparts/2/70-71-assembly-manual/15800/#google_vignette

Carcross Desert, (just sand dunes) is about one square mile, and is the closest thing Canada has to a desert




The sand dunes were left by a glacial lake thousands of years ago, and the strong winds from nearby Bennett Lake continue to supply the area with sand today. The dunes are enjoyed by both locals and visitors, who hike up them, sandboard down them, and explore them on ATVs and with off-road scenic tours.

Sport lovers descend on the sands every weekend, creating a multi-purpose adventure playground. In summer, exposed dunes are used by quad bikers, hikers and sand-boarders, and as soon as enough snow falls, the desert is reclaimed by ski-tourers, tobogganers, snowshoers and snowboarders.

Potential dune erosion from those activities prompted the government to seek out environmental protection for the "desert" back in 1992, but that measure failed due to pushback from community members.

Human activity is good for the Carcross Desert, as dune fields in the territory need such disturbances to help fight off encroaching boreal forest. Natural disturbances come in the form of strong winds or fires, but nowadays, human recreation is also a large contributor. A concrete example is when ski trails were put into the Carcross Desert, as that broke lichen crusts and reactivated the dunes, says Bruce Bennett, who acts as conservation data centre coordinator with the Yukon government.


Fed Ex, UPS and large commercial airlines ship horses and other animals as cargo, but the Tex Sutton company and the Kalitta Charters Co use a dedicated aircraft to do so.





Ferrying Kentucky Derby winners and other prized horses began by air in 1969, now moves horses for the Olympics, Belmont Stakes, dressage championships, etc

Rodeo horses never fly because the professional circuit schedules its events so that horses can be transported economically by vans the relatively short distance to the next stop on the tour. And, perhaps surprisingly, horses used in polo – a sport supported almost exclusively by the mega-wealthy – rarely fly.

Horses are loaded into specially built stalls that can be arranged two or three across inside the airplane. While the owners of some “celebrity” horses may charter the entire plane, Air Horse One can carry 18 to 20 horses per flight.

To accommodate their special cargo, the pilots of Air Horse One make wide turns and extra-gentle ascents and descents to try to keep the horses from getting spooked or losing their balance.

"Air Horse One," is operated by Kalitta Charters II. 

Doug Kalitta, owner of the charter company, is the nephew of Connie Kalitta, who is equally famous in the air cargo world for his pioneering use of aircraft – from little Cessnas to giant Boeing 747s in specialized chartered air cargo operations.

the Lincoln Blackwood, is the worst selling model in Lincoln's history, only 3.383 units sold of the luxury Ford truck




this Repo Guy wasn't stopped by the Mercedes getting parked behind another car, up against a garage... he went sideways at it, and pulled it out really smoothly


 

See the video at https://www.instagram.com/1_eben/reel/DEV4z_5uOAi/

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

I spotted another one of those interesting plates, the ones chosen in hopes that they will result in fewer tickets, by being easy to confuse by having a lot of similar looking letters or numbers


and look how similar it is to this other one I spotted last year! 



Here's two others I came across in the last couple of years that seem to be made in order to get the cops to make a mistake in the paperwork, so the car owner can get the ticket thrown out in a technicality

check out this sweet Mustang... cool interesting take on the classic Mustang rim

 

coincidence? I don't think so. I had a job at 666 Upas St today, and the license plate of the car I parked behind?

 

Wow, some collector just liquidated a collection of about 100 Honda 3 wheelers, and one of the units, an 86 ATC250r, is STILL in the box, and instantly got a 200 thousand dollar offer!


imagine hearing the sound of brakes slammed on tires that locked up and squeal to a stop, like tv shows or Hollywood movies. Why? That's what I imagine happened when Ford cancelled a contract they'd had with a vehicle transport company for the last 40 years, and 2000 employees of that company are likely to get laid off. From Teamsters Union jobs.

Senators Roger Marshall of Kansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri – wrote a letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley demanding an explanation for the automaker’s decision to terminate its contract with Jack Cooper, which wound up closing one of its plants and laying off 89 workers as a result of that move – with more fallout expected to occur at other locations, too.

“We expect Ford to address this matter with the seriousness it warrants and provide a detailed explanation for its actions, not only to the affected workers but also to their families and communities who are now burdened with uncertainty and hardship,” the letter reads.

 “This abrupt decision threatens the livelihoods of nearly 2,000 dedicated union workers and their families, casting a dark shadow over Ford’s claimed commitment to ‘serving all of our stakeholder groups.’