For 3 days and 2 nights, the 8 man tank crew was stuck in no-man’s-land, and they fought off German machine gun fire, snipers, grenades, heavy artillery and dynamite and all but one escaped

An enemy soldier even climbed on top and dropped a grenade inside but one of the plucky Brits threw it back before it exploded.

Inside were nine men who would become the most decorated tank crew of the war.

David Willey, curator of the Tank Museum, said: “Many amazing stories of stoicism and bravery have emerged with the First World War anniversaries, but you still cannot help but be taken aback by the tale of the tank 'Fray Bentos'.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/press-releases/huge-wreckage-uss-indianapolis-located.html

whoa, a history lesson all laid out of the time a penniless race team handed Shelby and his highly funded Toyota racing team a smack down defeat

grab the Aug 21st 2017 issue of Autoweek, and flip to pages 10-13

Hino started out making cars and trucks, which caught the attention of a guy named Dunham, who pointed out that to succeed big, they'd need to win some races, in America. This would open the US market, and then they'd get a foothold where they could sell serious numbers of vehicles

Dunham met Peter Brock, and BRE was making the Hino competitive. The 1st season Dunham raced it, the 2nd season Brock raced it, and made some podiums, enough to impress Hino. They then sourced bigger engines, and in 1966 Brock and Dunham take the 1st and 2nd places in the Mission Bell 100 in Riverside -  in front of a crowd of race fans that hadn't ever heard of the Hino.

So, they made a very nice little race car, the Samurai, and it stood a good chance of being a leader, but, Toyota was in cahoots with Fuji Speedway, and got the car disqualified so that Hino would lose face, and value, and then Toyota could buy them out and make Hino a subsidary that never reached it's potential, instead, they're a bus and truck maker.

The Hino Briska became the Toyota Hilux, and now, as Paul Harvey said, you know the rest of the story of the best truck in the world.

So, Toyota offers Brock a contract to race and design the 2000GT. But Shelby convinced Toyota to give it to him, and since he just bought a Toyota dealership, in addition to his racing success (can't take that away from him, regardless of this turn of events) he gets it, and Brock gets shut out in the last minute.

They didn't even give him a call to tell him, instead sending their 2000GTs to Shelby. This sort of insult was a very bad idea.

Brock goes to Datsun, as the chairman was the friend of the Hino racing connection, and Nissan goes ahead and backs Brock with the Datsun 2000 roadster, and a Hino transporter. The Datsun won the regional championship, and the Shelby 2000GTs didn't even qualify for the nationals... despite a half million dollar investment from Toyota

While a beautiful car, the 2000GT was off the map, and the 510 and 240Z went into SCCA and Trans Am racing history.

Adam Carolla has owned the BRE racer for a while, and just bought the Hino transporter. Finally, they are reunited.

http://www.datsun.org/fairlady/BREHino.htm
https://alchetron.com/Pete-Brock-198009-W
http://www.automobiles-japonaises.com/BRE/HinoContessa/BRE_Contessa.php

BRE became the west coast Datsun factory race team and competed in 1969 in the SCCA DP class with Datsun 2000 roadsters, in 1970 and 1971 in the CP class with the 240Zs (SCCA National Champions '70-'71) and in 1971-72 the 2.5 Trans-Am Series races with the Datsun 510s (National Champions '71-'72). The race team was disbanded at the end of the 1972 season when Brock moved on to hang gliding.

Brock founded Ultralite Products, which he built into the largest hang gliding company in the world, and developed the sport of long distance hang gliding competition. He then left the company, citing dissatisfaction with liability laws, and returned to the automotive industry.

A joke I just read

A Hummer drives up to a gas station, and after a half hour, the driver is still pumping gas in.

The cashier walks out, and says to the guy, "If you will shut the motor off you can make some headway on that thing"

Definition of gifted, and successful, Ricardo Juncos arrived in the US with $400 and a backpack, without a job, without speaking English. Now he owns a racecar team that just put two cars into the Indy 500

Juncos, who has harbored a passion for racing since he was 14, immigrated to the United States in 2002 after “losing everything” in Argentina’s depression of 2001.

He arrived in Miami speaking no English and without work, but was working in under 12 hours. Inside a week he found a job as an unpaid go-kart mechanic, but it was a start, and 3 months later he was team manager under Brazillian driver Christian Fittipaldi, and in 2003, his team won a championship.

Not long after, he started his own karting team and began amassing championships and building a reputation in the racing world. It wasn't until 2009 that he joined the Pro Mazda, but there, like everywhere else, he found almost immediate success. In 2010, with Noblesville native Conor Daly behind the wheel, Juncos Racing won its first Indy car championship.

Juncos hasn't stopped winning. Since joining Pro Madza and eventually Indy Lights, he has stockpiled 41 victories, 45 poles and the 2015 Indy Lights driver championship with Spencer Pigot.

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/motor/2017/02/22/ricardo-juncos-realizes-indycar-american-dream/98270828/
http://sports.usatoday.com/2017/02/22/ricardo-juncos-realizes-indycar-american-dream/

GRC rally racing... not doing so good at pulling in new sponsors or fans

VW, Honda, and Subaru have two car teams.

See anything missing? American car makers participating

Hyundai, Ford and Dodge all left.

The series hasn't fielded more than 10 cars per race all season

Scott Speed... started racing in open cockpit, then went to stock car, then GRC rally .. and in his first race, beat Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, and world champ at the time, Tanner Foust

He's one of two drivers for Andretti VW, the other is Tanner Foust, and in the first 7 races of the 2017 season, it was Speed and Foust, or Foust and Speed in 4 of them. And one of them has been on the podium in EVERY race

That's just brutally dominating the sport.

in 2016: 11 starts, 4 wins, 7 podiums, 18 heat wins, 571 points, 1st overall

http://www.motorauthority.com/image/100511743_scott-speed-and-his-shark-week-themed-2015-volkswagen-beetle-global-rallycross-championship-car
http://redbullglobalrallycross.com/drivers/scott-speed/
https://www.andrettiautosport.com/racing?series=global-rallycross

Bob Hope, a favorite celeb of mine with ties to a lot of car stuff, and Bing Crosby... with another odd tie in to the vehicle world, a Kurtis Kraft Pikes Peak racer

What about the name Esmeralda and the laughing horse?

 Bob Hope and Bing Crosby sponsored the car at the 1951 Indianapolis 500.

 Both were golf enthusiasts and played at the Esmeralda Open golf tournament in 1949.

Which was ran by the “Spokane Athletic Round Table” In 1950, the ART was developing a new golf course. Their emblem was a Laughing Horse head inside a circle.

Bob Hope and Bing Crosby used that logo on the race car to help the group raise funds to build the new Esmeralda Golf Course.

http://www.racingpastdevilsplayground.com/2017/02/01/bing-crosby-bob-hope-clark-gable-and-the-pikes-peak-hill-climb/

the last Hope and Crosby surprise was the soap box derby cars http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-goofballs-bob-hope-and-bing-crosby.html and Hope's Challenger http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/06/bob-hopes-1970-challenger-rt-440-727-ac.html 

the first four wheel drive at Pikes Peak, check the tire treatment, this is the only time I've seen lateral cuts in tread

http://www.racingpastdevilsplayground.com/2017/04/17/the-first-four-wheel-drive-at-the-pphc/

I posted about the Four Wheel Drive company before, as they invented the 4x4 and got the contract from the US Army with the famous Nancy Hank http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/07/fwd-means-four-wheel-drive-auto-company.html

Pikes Peak started a pace car program in the 50's, I've never heard of that before

from a blog focused on Pikes Peak http://www.racingpastdevilsplayground.com/2017/04/21/the-pphc-pace-cars-of-the-1950s/

Left to Right, Ferrari Testa Rosa, D-Type Jag, and a BoCar at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb race 1960

http://www.racingpastdevilsplayground.com/2017/08/21/jaguar-prowls-at-the-pikes-peak-hill-climb-part-2/

DC3 in Bolivia, only a step away from a makeshift smelting pot where it could get made into aluminum ingots

https://www.facebook.com/thedakotahunter/photos/a.1562380684001742.1073741827.1562377804002030/1944149739158166/?type=3&permPage=1

an abandoned puppy in the town of Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil was found when people searched out a piece of property to build a Shell station on... and the dog stuck around and now is pretty happy with being adopted and becoming the station mascot

A dog who was sadly abandoned at a petrol station by his previous owners when the area was nothing but a derelict construction site has turned his life around by landing himself a job.

When the work on the site was complete and the garage finally opened, Negao became an official employee of the Shell garage.

Negao waits for people to arrive, goes up to greet them, and wins them over with total love and affection. Basically, he’s got fantastic charm – and customers couldn’t possibly love him anymore. Sabrina said: ‘Customers love him. Some people even bring him toys.’

Although Sabrina and her partner have officially adopted Negao, he has chosen to reside in the station, where he’s happiest.

http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/16/abandoned-pup-lands-himself-a-full-time-job-in-a-petrol-station-6451146
https://www.unilad.co.uk/animals/abandoned-dog-lands-full-time-job-at-petrol-station/
https://twitter.com/shell/status/834013299230531584

her first car ride

they even tried to wave down the driver, but he ignored them... he's been traveling a ways with the dumper raised, and everyone behind him knew eventually.... so, why didn't they get ahead of him slow him down with flashers? (lower your volume)

Murray wasn't shy about ripping off other companies trademarks and logos... they ripped off the Super Bee and the Torino Cobra

How about that... the first time I've ever seen this version of the Super Bee

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/musclebikeforums/otasco-drag-o-o-on-murray-mark-ii-t323.html

Murray Eliminator - Don the Snake Prudhomme "Snake Bite II" edition bike

http://www.rrcbicyclesuperstore.com/mueldonsnprt.html

Murray Eliminator, sheesh, talk about a dragster based bike!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/9150142-post34036.html

Looks like the Torino Cobra emblem, a shifter, dragster butterfly steering wheel inspired handlebars

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/6776-murray-eliminator-mark-ii-bicycle-from-1

http://copakeauction.hibid.com/lot/9768-16039-33504/muscle-bike--murray-eliminator-mark-ii/

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/musclebikeforums/show-us-your-murray-eliminators-wildcat-and-more-t996.html

original owner family finally parting with their Shelby AC Cobra, sold for 1.1 million. CSX 2344

Cobra CSX 2344 was originally delivered to Florida, finished in Princess Blue over black leather interior.

 It was sold new to Robert Lindauer Sr. on 24 July 1964, who traded in a 1963 Corvette convertible on this Cobra. Within Lindauer’s first month of ownership, the car was driven over four thousand miles, which included a trip to Chicago to visit his parents and to New York for the 1964 World’s Fair.

Robert Lindauer Sr. was a trained engineer working as a fuel cell and cryogenics engineer on the Apollo program at NASA during a pivotal time in the space race

The Cobra has been in storage in a climate-controlled garage since 1974 on jack stands and run occasionally in order to make sure it remained in running order.

In 2010, CSX 2344 was brought to Charlotte, where it was entrusted to Lee Holman of Holman-Moody fame. Holman focused on bringing the car mechanically back to running condition, leaving the cosmetics untouched and just as it left the factory in 1964.

It's very original; original power train, and upholstery, the car still has its original carpeting, convertible top, tonneau cover, top irons (wrapped in newspaper from 1970), seat belts, owner’s manual, jack, grease gun, original spare tire, original water pump, fuel pump, fan belt, and the original keys on their original Shelby keychain.

The car even retains a complete original tool kit, virtually unobtainable in the Cobra community.

http://www.rmsothebys.com/mo17/monterey/lots/1964-shelby-289-lindauer-cobra/1703671

Mustangs... driven by idiots, crash into the crowds waiting to see burnouts when jackwagons leave the cars shows... and now Mustang owners are even seeing the humor

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/391522-random-transportation-pictures-1702.html

cool photo op

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/391522-random-transportation-pictures-1702.html

In 2015, Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti issued his Vision Zero directive putting L.A. on course to eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2025. So far, it's a abject failure, deaths are up 50%

Seems to me that means everything they've studied, and implemented, has been the opposite of what they should have done, and they should undo the measures, steps, and changes to traffic in order to stop increasing deaths by vehicles

Read about this lunacy:  "the Vision Zero Alliance wants the city to work with community groups to change L.A. attitudes to see saving lives as more critical than marginal increases in car throughput."

LADOT further analyzed the identified High-Injury Network to identify 40 priority corridors where the city will prioritize projects, policies, and programs to reduce traffic violence. Reynolds stated that the major problem in these corridors is speeding. Safety interventions will include around 15 engineering projects, including improvements like signal re-timing and lane restrictions (road diets)

http://la.streetsblog.org/2017/01/26/ladot-releases-vision-zero-action-plan/

simply put, no one used their brain, and separated vehicular traffic from bicycles. It was tried a 110 years ago, the elevated bike path from Pasadena to LA.

Simply put, the city of LA has problems, and no intelligent problem solvers.

Plus, they have to waste 100 million a year in various lawsuits and legal costs associtated with biking and the lousy pavement and sidewalks. One bicyclist died last year due to hitting uneven pavement, and that single lawsuit was lost by LA, and they had to pay out 4.5 million dollars

 Edgardo Gabat a 56-year-old man wearing a helmet, was thrown from his bicycle and killed after striking a patch of uneven pavement on a street in Eagle Rock, after joining a Southern California cycling club for an evening group ride through northeast Los Angeles on Aug. 21, 2014.

 As the group moved west down a hill on Colorado Boulevard, Gabat struck a 2-inch ridge in the concrete and flipped three times over his handlebars, landing on his neck.

the budget for Vision Zero was $27 million.

The Department of Transportation general manager, Seleta Reynolds says she would need  $80 million just to reduce traffic deaths by 20 percent.

https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15660082/vision-zero-walking-biking-budget-bonin

Vision Zero?  Slowing down cars with more bike lanes sounds more like zero vision.

How many mass transit routes are planned from LAX and South Bay to the Westside?
The answer is simple: Zero.
There’s a proposed line along Lincoln Boulevard., but the expected completion date is 2047.
And the transit line between LAX and Westwood is not slated to open until 2057.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “in 2016, the first full year that Garcetti’s Vision Zero policy was in effect in L.A., 260 people were killed in traffic crashes on city streets, an increase of almost 43 percent over the previous year” and, at least as of April 2017, traffic deaths were running 22 percent higher than 2016.

Several council members have actively blocked safety improvements in their districts.

http://la.streetsblog.org/2017/08/24/l-a-vision-zero-turns-two-disappointing-trends-big-plans/

Former London bike courier smashed into a woman crossing a street. She died. He didn't intentionally hit her, but, he couldn't avoid her either, he had no front brakes on his fixie

So, things to learn, in London it's illegal to ride a bike with no front brakes, though I doubt it comes up often, and I doubt bike sellers give a damn.

In London, there is a 150 year old law still on the books, "wanton or furious driving" and this young biker was convicted of that, not manslaughter.

The woman, and mother of 2, leaves behind a husband that is out to get the law changed...

full story at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/23/cyclist-convicted-wanton-furious-driving-pedestrians-death/amp/

Thanks Stephen!

Ferrari 1,200 versions of the 365 GTB/4 'Daytona' between 1969 and 1973, and six were aluminium-bodied 365 GTB/4 Daytonas, but this is the only one they produced that could legally be used on the road

Five lightweight alloy racers by Scaglietti were created for the track for the 24 Hours of Daytona event, but this is the only one they produced that you can drive on the road with a registration plate, indicators and normal seatbelts affixed.

It was known to have been shipped to Japan in 1971, and then it fell off the grid. It only has 22,611 thousand miles on the odometer, and the original unused spare

Mostly because the most recent of four Japanese owners - a Makoto Takai - purchased the unique 365 GTB/4 in 1979 and locked it away in a garage for the best part of half a century.

It's going to auction in Italy, Sept 9th, Sotheby's "LEGGENDA E PASSIONE" in partnership with Ferrari

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cars/article-4823042/The-1-5m-Ferrari-hidden-Japan-40-years.html
http://rmsothebys.com/ff17/ferrari--leggenda-e-passione/lots/car/1704895

just simply beautiful

Of course, I may be just crazy from the fumes.. .. but there are many like me, and we have meetings.

http://www.rmsothebys.com/digitalcatalogs/2017/FF17/

this would be a damn cool art gallery exhibit, or man cave center feature or wall mount... it's the wind tunnel test model 50% smaller than the car

This original 812 Superfast wind tunnel model is handmade with carbon fibre and other prototypal material. This is the original 1:2 scale aerodynamic model used during the different stages of development, including to test and improve the computational fluid dynamics results inside the wind tunnel.

http://rmsothebys.com/ff17/ferrari--leggenda-e-passione/lots/model/1705815

no frickin way

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/9178752-post34180.html

the ugliest car ever in front of Barris's shop? Probably

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/9183950-post34216.html

an original tool kit for a 275/365 GTB/4.

Included with the original roll is a complete set of tools, including seven Everest wrenches, five screwdrivers, two hammers, a pair of pliers, sparkplug socket, oil filter wrench, grease gun, wheel hub tool, spare light bulb and fuse set, Bellux safety reflector in its original case, Pirelli belt and Battaini jack.

http://rmsothebys.com/ff17/ferrari--leggenda-e-passione/lots/tools/1705814

the Challenger pace car at Indy, that crashed into the photographer's tower

Interesting rims... but, seriously, the pants? With sandals, neckwarmer sweater, a sherriff's badge, and a yachting cap? What a poofter.

Palmer, who splits his time these days between Florida and Indianapolis, says the Indy 500 starter had told him to cross the starting line at the same time as pole-sitter Peter Revson.

“It was much faster than I had practiced,” Palmer was saying this week. “He was going 125 mph.”

Palmer mashed the gas one last time, then hit the brakes. Nothing. Sitting next to Palmer was IMS owner Tony Hulman Jr. In the back seat were astronaut John Glenn, the future U.S. senator from Ohio, and ABC sportscaster Chris Schenkel.

They plowed into the camera stand at an estimated 60 mph.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/9211002-post34385.html

Cage talked Palmer out of the pace car. Here’s how:

“I invited Eldon for a tour of the (vintage) cars,” Cage says. “At the end of the tour there was an easel with a picture of (the 1971 pace) car. Framed up. And I said, ‘Eldon, I’d like to have your car here.’”

“He doesn’t say a word. Two days later he calls me. He says, ‘Come get the car.’”

It was 2006. The purchase price was $200,000.

“I’ve never told anyone what I spent on that car until now,” Cage says.

He does other things with his money. He gave $10 million for an athletics facility at Berry, which the school named the Cage Athletic and Recreation Center.

Cars are another passion. He also has the queen’s car from 1971, the two backup pace cars — identical orange Dodge Challengers, one was the beauty queen's pace car,  — and even that Charger (yellow, black interior) once owned by Al Unser Sr who won that days Indy 500, but because the pace car that he would have been given was damaged, was awarded the yellow Charger instead

Cage found one of the backup pace cars in a backyard in Fort Wayne, two small trees growing through the floorboard.

The day before the race, Palmer was allowed to make practice runs in the 383 powered 1971 Challenger convertible. On those practice runs he placed a cone on pit row to show him where he needed to start slowing down in order to not have any problems after he broke off from the field. As you’ll see in the video, he was absolutely hauling ass down pit row and began to brake way too late to stop. The problem? Someone took the cone away and he waited too long to apply the brakes.

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2016/05/26/doyel-most-infamous-pace-car-indy-500-history/84928420/
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2014/10/20/infamous-1971-dodge-challenger-to-take-part-in-largest-ever-display-of-indy-500-pace-cars/
https://bangshift.com/general-news/videos/wild-video-the-infamous-1971-indy-500-pace-car-crash/



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