1949 Diamond T pickup, Cliff was able to persuade all of his family that he would give granddad's Diamond T truck a great home

I'm astonished... I have never heard of a Diamond T pickup til now... it's great to still discover new vehicles I've never heard of

Cool crank front windows, only one gauge replaced, and they all work. I've never seen Diamond T gauges before, the Diamond T semi's I've come across all had Stewart Warner gauges I think

Cliff's granddad owned a lumber mill, and had these running boards helped out, plus the wood on the bed of the truck

Nice black stripe across the doors, makes the truck look great

The spare matches the tires on the truck, and they may be originals, or they may be a 1960's replacement set... pure speculation... but notice the spare still has the inventory paint mark on the top

These hub caps, I've never seen them before... and they are so rare, that when traveling cross country a cousin of Cliffs spotted one on a wall decorating a roadside restaurant, and called the granddad who told him to buy it at all costs!

If anyone knows where Cliff can find a fule tank for this truck, please send me an email jbohjkl@yahoo.com and I'll pass the info along to Cliff

1923 Hudson Super Six roadster that frequently races in the Great American Race

Would anyone research buying a GTO as much as Don Montgomery? Probably not, and his GTO has been found, restored, reunited with all the paperwork

Don sold this car but didn't pass along the collection of paperwork registration cards, build sheet, window sticker, etc etc... he kept them, and when he found the car restored, and displayed at the Vista Rod Run, the new owner talked to him, and he mailed it all. It's a lot!

Here is some of the research Don did, he had found the cost of all the options and then went to all the GM dealerships to see who would sell him one at the best price, he got it for 600 less than the sticker

If you don't know who Don was, here is a biography:

http://www.hotrod.com/thehistoryof/hrdp_9901_don_rockerhead_montgomery/index.html

Found the hood ornament challenge piece again, here's my 3rd try at matching Tere's awesome 2 shots

Here're Tere's perfect 2 hood ornament photos: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/04/im-still-trying-to-get-photo-of-this.html

Prius humor

from http://roundabout2.blogspot.com

The San Diego Firehouse Museum

They pull the trucks out for events that rent the location for a party, and put them back in with tow trucks... but notice this old engine has WOOD rims, and enormous tires. But those wood rims are still solid. Any guess at how old they must be? 80 years old is my guess

For the comparison between this horse drawn model and the front wheel drive model that replaced the horses: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/1913-christie-front-drive-steam-pumper.html and

Notice on the wall is a catch hoop.

Above and below are the same building, but the times are before and after telephone poles. Maybe before and after city electric was run?

Odd looking fire engines, the one to the left in the above image is the 1913 Christie Front Drive Steam Pumper, for a couple of galleries of what they look like when restored, and in color: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/1913-christie-front-drive-steam-pumper.html

and http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/1913-christie-front-drive-steam-pumper.html

I've posted about the passing of the horse drawn fire apparatus before, it's a significant milestone in the change of civilization to motorized vehicles and there are only two photos I've ever seen that herald this change of era's. This one, and the other I posted a couple years ago

A fire bucket, for the bucket brigade... I think the below painting is cool, very civil war era

A bit of Americana history here, these plaques were the soprt of thing that would be mounted on homes and businesses in big cities in the East, like Boston, Philidelphia, etc etc. They signified the fire insurance company that had been paid to reimburse the fire department if they had to extinguish a blaze. If the building on fire didn't have a plaque, maybe the fire department wasn't going to get piad fopr the work, I don't know, just speculation. Anyway, these two plaques are from dozens that have been collected and are displayed at the firehouse museum, they were labeled 1850, Cincinnatti

Among the many collections on display at the museum are patches, pins, hats, helmets, parade attire from the 1800's, black and white photos of the late 1800's and early 1900's, badges, fire plugs, fire hose nozzels, and news clippings... plus the McCurdy models in the next post