Saturday, January 20, 2018
Beverly Cleary, The Mouse and The Motorcycle, one of my favorites when I was a kid
The premise is simple: Ralph is a young mouse who lives in Mountain View Inn with his mouse family. He’s going a little stir crazy and wants to seek out adventure and live on the fast road, but past mistakes mean he’s got to practice caution. Things get interesting when a young boy, Keith, arrives at the inn to explore California with his family. Even more interesting, Keith has a shiny new motorcycle (toy) and it’s not long before Ralph gets involved in zany hijinks like getting trapped in a wastepaper basket and more.
Ralph and Keith bond over the motorcycle and at first it’s all fun and games for the two. Keith lets Ralph ride his toy motorcycle and the two get along famously, but sadly a stop comes to the fun when his mother catches the mouse taking it for a joyride. What follows is a mini adventure and even a rescue of sorts by Ralph who seeks to set things right between him and his friend.
They even made a stop motion animated of it back before CGI.
I wonder why this classic hasn't been given a proper new movie treatment?
http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2018/01/motorcycle-books-for-kids-mouse-and.html
were any of you ever stationed in Pearl Harbor in 1992-95 and met Marty and his wife with their matching Dusters?
he punched out his 440 to 505, and had a flip front end
hers was a cherry 340
My grandpa's tractor, an Allis Chalmers B
It had a big power take off wheel on the drivers left side for a long canvas belt that would spin a buzz rig
By the way, directly behind the tractor is the garage my grandpa built in the 70s, and it was fantastic... 2 cars deep at least, so the tractor could spend the winter behind the truck.
The building way in the back, the small white one? That's the chicken coop, and the tiny brown building is an honest to god outhouse from when this was a homestead with a big log cabin.
In the early thirties, Allis-Chalmers tractor division manager Harry Merritt studied the farm census figures and discovered that of the nearly seven million farms in America, some four million were of 100 acres or less.
Furthermore, the million or so tractors at work on American farms were nearly all on the larger ones. Although the Fordson tractor and then the first-generation row-crop tractors, including the Farmall, Allis-Chalmers's own Model WC, and others, had been gaining significant market penetration and making mechanised agriculture ever more popular.
Merritt concluded that there was a need for four million small, inexpensive tractors to fill the needs of the small farmers still using horses. Merritt set out to build the tractor that would finally put the horse out to pasture.
The Model B was Allis-Chalmers' second-generation row-crop tractor. It was small, light, and versatile. The combination of an excellent tractor and effective marketing helped the B to become a commercial success.
Early sales literature for the Allis Chalmers B was devoted to convincing the farmer that the new B required less work to maintain than horses. It was also armed with government-supplied facts and statistics along with Allis's own research proving that the new B cost less to both buy and operate than horses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allis-Chalmers_Model_B
check out this cool home built kids tractor made from rotor tiller tires, electric wheelchair, and lotsa love
that little kid grew out of it, but it was passed onto another little kid. By the way, a duplicate was commissioned by an admirer, so there are two out there
from one of my long time favorite sites:
http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-things-we-build.html
Herbrand tools... was bought by Kelsey Hayes, the company that made good rims. Bonney history merged with them, as smaller tool companies couldn't compete with less expensive imported lower quality tools
The Herbrand Company was founded in 1881 in Fremont, Ohio by Jacob Herbrand, Charles Thompson, and J.B. Van Doren.
By 1909 Herbrand's products included carriage hardware, bicycle and automobile wrenches, and safety razors, and Thompson was the GM and President. Herbrand wasn't mentioned again, so, sadly, seems to have lost his company, or sold it or died... but, hey, his name is now known, and no one knows anyone else that ran the company after him.
As the automobile gained popularity in the early 20th century, Herbrand expanded production of drop-forged tools for automobile tool kits.
During the 1920s and early 1930s Herbrand expanded their line of tools and became a supplier to high-volume retailers such as Western Auto Supply and Montgomery Ward. Western Auto catalogs from the early 1930s list Herbrand tools and mention their brand names "Van-Chrome" and "Multihex".
By the 1960s the increasing competition in the tool industry had made it difficult to remain independent, and in 1961 Herbrand was acquired by the Kelsey-Hayes who had previously acquired Utica Tools in 1956, and Herbrand became part of their Utica Tools Division.
by 1964 they added Bonney Forge and Tool, and in 1967 sold out to Triangle, who was bought up by Cooper.
Bonney Vice and Tool Works was founded by Charles S. Bonney in Philadelphia in 1877, the company moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1906.
In the 1950's, it was acquired by Miller Manufacturing of Detroit,
Kelsey-Hayes was originally a manufacturer of automotive wheels and then brakes for a variety of American automakers and apparently, the diversification fever of the 60's, decided to get into the tool business.
Enter H. Arthur Bellows Jr. He founded the Triangle Corporation of Stamford, Connecticut in 1967.
The following year, Triangle acquired Torque Controls, a manufacturer of torque wrenches, moving production from South Elmonte, California to Utica's factory in Orangeburg, South Carolina in 1970.
At that point, the Utica firm was employing around 800 people, making about 200 models of pliers and over 1000 custom models, with an automotive tool line of over 1200 items. Under the brand name Utica/Bonney, the company was making around 50,000 tools per day.
In 1982, Triangle Tool went on to acquire the Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company. Triangle merged with Audits/Surveys Worldwide, and the tool side was sold to the Cooper Tools Conglomerate in 1995.
http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2018/01/vanished-tool-makers-bonney-forge-tool.html
a Model T.. so simple, but, what other car can you strip down like, this, and drive on the freeway?
driving this must be pretty close to driving a motorcycle, from the point of view of no cage, adn the only thing under you is a seat at a lot of road
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Fordmodelt/permalink/10159754078895548/
An example of how I can remember cars pretty well, I saw this charger one Hickam AFB about 25 years ago. Once. It just popped up on facebook, and I recognized it.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2065155966835650&set=p.2065155966835650&type=3&permPage=1&ifg=1
Here is the conversation we had about it on Facebook...
Ray was saying I bought it in 1990 from the man who ordered it from Honolulu Dodge. 43k miles, matching #, no rust, for $7500. My friends thought I was crazy. Still own it.
I replied I believe I saw this car getting restored on Hickam Air Force Base in 1993-94. The one I saw was said to have been bought by a Honolulu cop, and that he used it as a cop car because the PD didn't have a budget to purchase a fleet of cop cars, so, officers were given an amount to buy their own. I think I've even got a photo of it getting wet sanded
Ray replied Yes, this is that car! Curtis Cabral painted it. He was the master! Can you find the photo? I would like to see it. Thanks! Curtis was killed in a motorcycle accident about 10 years ago. Would like a pic of him.
I took these photos in the early 90s, probably 93
Friday, January 19, 2018
Ever hear of the 1985 IROC Z signed by all the rock stars at Live Aid? It sold for only 22k in 2004
After the concert, the other IROC Z went to the GM Heritage Collection Center and this one went on the GM international auto show schedule.
In 1986, it was raffled off at a concert in New York City named "Drive Aid" All proceeds went to the Live Aid Foundation. A-25-year old computer programmer won the drawing for the Camaro but he realized he could not keep the car or pay the tax on it.
The lucky winner was named Ken Bowser of Colchester, Connecticut. In august of 1986, Ken decided to put the car up sale
He sold it to a collector who basically threw a cover over it and stored it.
Twenty-five years later, the car only has 911 original miles.
Just think, a couple of the autographs are from dead legends, like Tom Petty
Can you imagine what a 1969 Camaro with signatures from everyone who played at Woodstock would be worth?
https://www.facebook.com/heath.rodney/posts/1272699002803507
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1985-CHEVROLET-CAMARO-IROC-Z-2-DOOR-COUPE-161594
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/history-originality/556049-85-camaro-iroc-z.html
https://www.facebook.com/notes/cars-on-linecom/live-aid-camaro-uncovered-after-24-years/441790960191/
http://www.camarosource.ca/rare_specialty/drive-aid_camaro/
stolen 1976 Trans Am t-top 455 4spd recovered, and the car thieves were caught... one is named John Smith for gods sake, seriously. They hid it behind hay bales... like they probably saw someone do in a movie
Found in St Joe Missouri, stolen in Iowa
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1620767877996616&set=a.288585201214897.67544.100001902571441&type=3
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