Saturday, April 22, 2017

the police chiefs cars, 1928


https://calisphere.org/item/68b01c404245c8ef19a37e91156ff727/

interesting that they arranged the cars with wood spoke, then solid rim, then wood spoke and solid again. 

1906 and then 1907 fire dept vehicles for comparison, and the jump from horse to motor vehicle


the two from the above are in the next photo,


but I don't see the above vehicle in the below group. It has what appear to be clinchers or chains on the back tires. That's odd, but the roads were dirt back then though...



https://calisphere.org/collections/26397/?q=&rq=&rq=&rq=&rq=&rq=&rq=&rq=&sort=a&start=3816

1933 earthquake damage in Los Angeles, and an ambulance

1922 Long Beach Fire Dept on White ladder truck

Santa Monica fire engine, very ornately painted

Christmas on Hollywood boulevard in the late 40s, and a drive through Bunker Hill in the 40s







Street sweepers in LA, 1957

Rare to see a Jeep with the doors off heading down the freeway

This is at Graceland, as the WillysJjeep Surrey that security patrolled with. How did anyone not decide to change it to any color other than pink?

Friday, April 21, 2017

Compliments to the inventor of Hillbilly Surf theme car, at the Dollywood car show 2014

Dagmar bumpers


When they first came out, they were all chrome, but they inflicted so much damage to cars that were rear-ended by them.


So on later models, GM put black rubber tips on them to minimize damage, but the rubber tips gave them a look like they had pasties on them

http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5483276&postcount=5230


Born Virginia Ruth Egnor in Logan, W. Va., in 1921, Dagmar was one of seven children whose father worked as a coal miner and construction worker. Growing up in Huntington, W. Va., she attended business school for a year after high school and worked in a local drugstore. Married at 20, she moved to New York City during World War II to be with her Navy commander husband. When he was shipped overseas, she remained in New York and began a career modeling sweaters.

With no previous show business experience, she was hired by the comedy team of Olsen and Johnson as a principal in their Broadway show "Laughing Room Only," in the mid-1940s.

She was such a hit that her salary soared from $75 a week to $1,250. She earned $25,000 for two weeks at the Roxy with Berle and appeared at the Paramount Theater with Frank Sinatra. Edward R. Murrow did a "Person to Person" interview with her in her lavish penthouse on Central Park South, and she even appeared on the cover of Life magazine, and famous photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt took a lot of photos of her.

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/oct/11/local/me-55911

crashing into a burial site and memorial for aviators... that's ironic. It's happened at this Burbank memorial more than once. 1940, and 1969


"Built in 1924 as the entrance to Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery, the 75-foot Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation is a Spanish/Mission Revival style monument and burial site for 13 pioneers of aviation.

It was dedicated in 1953 as a final resting place for pilots, mechanics and other pioneers of flight."

Here, "Spectators gather around the wreckage of a Navajo-Piper aircraft scattered at the base of the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation in Burbank. The twin-engine plane crashed shortly after taking off from the Hollywood-Burbank Airport. Photograph dated July 21, 1969."

http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5482841&postcount=5220



the shuttles Columbia and Challenger are represented by this model shuttle.

The cremated remains of the co-founder of Lockheed are in it, as are the 2nd female licensed pilot, and plaques commemorating important aviation events.

http://wesclark.com/burbank/portal/page1.htm

1954 Nash Healy LeMans rescued from neglect, even in this condition it's worth around 35 thou

Jefferson Starship was sponsoring the Worlds Fastest Hippie, Mike Mitchell dragster, and the hauler was painted with the various album covers from Starship.

Mike Fischer was the driver for Jefferson Starship's concert equipment, and when Mitchell got them to sponsor him, Fischer was then driving that vehicle as the race car transporter.

The semi truck was painted with the various album covers from Starship, and during retirement Mitchell spent time on the road crew for Starship.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/worlds-fastest-hippie-mike-mitchell.31749/
http://www.70sfunnycars.com/FunnyCars15.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_(Jefferson_Starship_album)

ordered by a very determined young man, he had it only months before getting drafted for Nam, and left for the jungle after putting 15,000 on the Z/28. It only has 15692 now


See, he put racing parts on it at 15442 miles, and it's not streetable anymore. He's driven in 140 miles since 1978.

After the Z/28 was converted to a Service Component car, it was no longer suitable for everyday street driving. The competition metallic brakes have to be warmed up before they will really stop the car. The full-race Second Design cam and valvetrain are lumpy. The cross-ram dual quad intake from Smokey Yunicks parts auction is really strictly for racing. The twin 600 carbs have no chokes, so it’s a bear to start the car.

But he still has the car he ordered in Dec 1968

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/smokey-yunick-parts-hood-15000-mile-unrestored-1969-chevrolet-camaro-z28/

He missed it by that much

the season one Dr Who in front of the Tardis


Looks like Christopher Eccleston to me, and of course, the Tardis was disguised as a City of Manchester police box to go unnoticed by most people.

http://www.vintag.es/2017/04/80-historical-photos-of-greater.html  thanks Steve!

Houston International had a lot of complaints about the wait time on the baggage... so they did one simple thing, and eliminated all complaints

Some years ago, executives at a Houston airport faced a troubling customer-relations issue. Passengers were lodging an inordinate number of complaints about the long waits at baggage claim. In response, the executives increased the number of baggage handlers working that shift. The plan worked: the average wait fell to eight minutes, well within industry benchmarks. But the complaints persisted.

Puzzled, the airport executives undertook a more careful, on-site analysis. They found that it took passengers a minute to walk from their arrival gates to baggage claim and seven more minutes to get their bags. Roughly 88 percent of their time, in other words, was spent standing around waiting for their bags.

So the airport decided on a new approach: instead of reducing wait times, it moved the arrival gates away from the main terminal and routed bags to the outermost carousel. Passengers now had to walk six times longer to get their bags. Complaints dropped to near zero.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/why-waiting-in-line-is-torture.html

the first time, on the first day, can get a bit difficult to make it through the learning curve. Yoav bought a Ferrari, and learned how hard it is to start... but he wrote a cool article about it

Ryan rode his Trek 8000 bike all over the North American continent... and it died a warriors death (and this is your coffee and donut movie to relax away the week you just had)



And made that cool video about it. It was discovered by the makers of Trek bikes, and they featured him in the new Trek catalog (how I learned about it)



and it was the best day EVER! 

Thursday, April 20, 2017

What is the oldest race track? Roman Coliseums had the first purpose built race tracks for wheeled vehicles, but currently in use horse racing tracks go back 403 years.

The first closed-circuit automobile race was held on July 25, 1899 at the Branford Park horse track in New Haven, Connecticut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_auto_racing

Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, is the oldest racing venue, and one of the most prestigious, in the United States. It was built in the late 1800s at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Iowa. It was built for a horse-racing track, just like the Milwaukee Mile. Although sanctioned races were not held until 1914, one automobile race was held in 1901.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_auto_racing

The Milwaukee Mile is the second-oldest motor racing track in the world still in existence, with racing being held there since 1903.
It was not purposely built for motor racing, however. It started as a one-mile (1.6 km) horse-racing track in the 19th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_auto_racing
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/308932-americas-oldest-racetrack-may-die-this-year

From 1903 to 1914, a one-mile dirt oval track was run on Brunots Island, just south of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River. Louis Chevrolet won the AAA Champion car in 1905.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_auto_racing

Aspendale Racecourse opened on 14 April 1891 for racing horses
The Automobile Club of Victoria used the horse racing track 'Aspendale Park', Victoria on 12 March, 1904 for a steam car race.
In 1905 the infield was remade to be a better race track for racing cars, steam rollers were used, and the local newspaper  The Moorabbin News, reported on it 28 October 1905. and the club printed invited stating "the special motor racing track"  at Aspendale Park on Monday, January 29th 1906
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspendale_Racecourse


The first regular auto racing venue was Nice, France, run in late March 1897, as a "Speed Week" most types of racing events were invented here, including the first hill climb (Nice – La Turbie) and a sprint that was, in spirit, the first drag race..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_auto_racing


New York State Fairgrounds Racetrack Syracuse New York 1903
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_auto_racing_tracks_in_the_United_States


California State Fairgrounds Race Track Sacramento California 1907  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_auto_racing_tracks_in_the_United_States


Brooklands first opened back in June 16th, 1907 in the UK, two years before the Indianapolis Motor Speedway http://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2015/02/19/worlds-oldest-racetrack-brooklands-receives-funding-boost-in-restoration-bid/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_racing


Brooklands, in Surrey, was the first purpose-built motor racing venue, opening in June 16th 1907.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_racing

The first board track for motor racing was the circular Los Angeles Motordrome, built in 1910
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_track_racing

The started racing at Le Mans in 1923

Chariot races were happening in Rome in 753 BC. Circus Maximus. It was added to the Olympics in 680 BC


Doncaster in England opened a track in 1614.
The earliest important race in Doncaster's history was the Doncaster Gold Cup, first run over Cantley Common in 1766. The Doncaster Cup is the oldest continuing regulated horse race in the world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doncaster_Racecourse


India's first racecourse was set up in Madras in 1777
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_racing

Champs de Mars in Mauritius opened in 1812. It's a horse racing track http://www.cnn.com/videos/travel/2017/04/18/mauritius-horse-racing.cnn


Freehold Raceway  New Jersey, 1839 Despite steadily approaching its third century, the oldest harness racing track in the USA  http://www.sportsmedia101.com/olympics/2015/01/30/the-oldest-horse-racing-tracks-in-the-usa/

Saratoga Race Course is home to several of the most important races in North America. Since 1864, the track has been the site of the Travers Stakes, the oldest major thoroughbred horse race in the United States.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saratoga_Race_Course

The longest automobile race in history, with Paris as the finish line, was the 1908 New York to Paris Race. 22,000 miles

how to properly tell off a moron, for ruining a 100 year old race track (Milwaukee Mile) (get started with the 2nd big paragraph)

Chinese knock off copies of European cars

Legislation to exempt antique motor vehicles from state and local taxes has been introduced in Louisiana

Legislation to exempt antique motor vehicles from state and local taxes has been introduced. The bill will be considered by the Louisiana House Ways and Means Committee. The bill defines an “antique motor vehicle” as a motor vehicle which was manufactured at least 25 years ago, is maintained by a private collector and is not used for commercial purposes.

 If enacted into law, the measure would become effective on July 1, 2017.

https://www.sema.org/sema-enews/2017/16/louisiana-introduces-bill-to-exempt-antique-motor-vehicles-from-state-and-local

Ethel and Hugh Locke King leading the opening parade in their Itala, 17th June 1907.


Dame Ethel Locke King, DBE (1864–1956) was a British motor-racing promoter and hospital patron.

Her wealthy husband, Hugh Fortescue Locke King, created and solely financed Brooklands House, Weybridge, Surrey.

(Possibly the first permanent race track in the world. Depends on what you define race track, and permanent. A topic for another post)

She took over the supervisory role of the tracks development after the stress of building it made her husband too ill to continue in the role. On 16 June 1907, she led the inaugural procession of cars on to the track in her open Itala minutes after the track had been opened by her husband.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155308281749306&set=gm.10155214397394556&type=3&permPage=1

Mike Mitchell, World's Fastest Hippie had IMPEACH NIXON on his dragster Barracuda rear spoiler





 Impeach Nixon painted on the spoiler with the X in Nixon as a swastika,

Wally Parks saw it and made Mike put duct tape over it.

2 years later, after Nixon  resigned, Wally told Mitchell he was sorry and that Mike was correct.

http://www.70sfunnycars.com/FunnyCars15.html
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/worlds-fastest-hippie-mike-mitchell.31749/