Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Gingerbread Jeep made by the Ritz Carlton of Tucson
Even the sand beneath the Jeep is made of crushed graham crackers!
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/gingerbread-jeep-display-at-dove-mountain-resort-brings-holidays-to-the-desert
a 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona in the middle of a restoration and will be sold as-is, along with a complete collection of original and new parts.
the first owner put only 6k on it, then the 2nd owner rammed it into a ditch bad, so bad they hoisted it out by wrapping the chains around it, and lifting
then it was sold for parts.... then 30 years in storage, then some bodywork which you can see on the hood and doors
https://www.thedrive.com/news/31646/dismantled-1971-ferrari-365-gtb-4-daytona-project-is-the-most-extreme-fixer-upper
Adam has been through a hell of a week... after his classic Toyota Land Cruiser was stolen
On Saturday, Savage posted a tweet saying his vintage off-roader had been stolen at 4 am, but, in the same post, mentioned that San Francisco pd had found the vehicle after his home security cameras caught the thief red-handed.
The car thief apparently hotwired the truck at 4am and headed for the hills.
authorities found it abandoned and stuck in the mud not too far from Savage's San Francisco home.
the right hand drive diesel Land Cruiser is useless with the street tires and winch mounted on it, because, well, yuppies are posers with vehicles whose capabilities they hamper so it's useless at it's intended purpose, but makes them look cool on city streets. Adams great at making stuff, but making his legendary off roader get out of a yard? Nope.
Then the tow truck driver was also out of his depth once his tires were no longer on pavement, and he got stuck.
The winch on the Land Cruiser was stolen by the thief when he took off after getting the Toyota stuck.
So a 2nd tow truck arrived
what muddy and swampy mess was the 6 wheel drive tow truck stuck in that it needed a 2nd two truck?
https://www.thedrive.com/news/31652/tv-host-adam-savages-stolen-toyota-land-cruiser-recovered-after-thief-buries-it-in-mud
https://twitter.com/donttrythis/status/1210970037411909633
Allegedly a cop hit a damn pothole so effing bad, the car caught on effing fire, which distracted the cop who then flipped the car on it's side. If such a pot hole exists, why didn't any reporter get a photo of this car killing wonder?
the concrete culvert in the lower left is the same, as looking at Boyles Street at the intersection of East Frwy, it's the exact match
so there is the intersection that is on the far side of the cops, above image
And below shows the culvert and driveway into the business building, where the cop car lays on it's side
https://www.thedrive.com/news/31662/police-car-flips-over-catches-fire-after-hitting-giant-pothole-on-houston-streets
https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/hpd-crashes-on-boyles/285-7dd1dbb6-8241-49bf-a6b3-37466fd7e65a
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/drunk-driver-HPD-cop-pothole-chase-pursuit-14933874.php#photo-18806881
All reporters failed to get a photo of the pothole that is reportedly the cause of this.. fire that dumbass
Frankly, after looking at the news, where no reporter or photographer or cameraman went to see what this extra-ordinary pothole looks like, for the report, I looked on Google street view for it.
Why?
Because I want to see that monster of a pothole. What I find by verifying exactly where the cop car ended up on it's side, by looking in the background, is the business name starting with the letters DA
is this DaVita on the other side of the 10 interstate
Which means the cop was driving East on "East Fwy" the access road (which is a one way) for interstate on and off ramps, then made a right turn heading South on Boyles, and took the corner too damn fast
following the superimposed lettering that says "eeway service rd" up the image from the bottom to midway, shows where the turn had to be made
Took the corner too fast, over corrected, fishtailed, and overcorrected again, instead of heading down Boyles, and hit the big culvert on this near side of the entry to that business building.
because that cop car ends up on it's driver's side,
right there.
In the upper left you can see the yellow guard tube around the telephone support cable, in the 3rd and 4th images, as the camera was placed on the South East corner of Boyles and Amarillo - Facing east towards the 10 interstate and DaVita business.
And as that cop car roof is pristine and unmarked, without any damage, that car did not roll.
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7729622,-95.2987883,3a,75y,359.33h,66.73t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMC8ADvfc75uuESkjc5I52Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Not that it matters that they don't make new Beetles... no one wants them. They haven't made desireable Bugs since Woodstock... but here is a touching use of the old bug to let buyers now some new crap is getting made you won't care about anyway
Making a cool video about what a cool car they made should have been the point. But they had to ruin it by using it one more time to introduce - who gives a damn what they are introducing? No one.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/31673/volkswagens-emotional-beetle-send-off-video-is-fitting-for-an-icon
It's been a couple years since I've featured FlyGirlPainter aka Shayne Meder (we both work in San Diego, so I've seen her work in person a couple of times)
I did not know she did kick ass wall art too!
https://www.facebook.com/flygirlpainter/
previous coverage https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/09/betsy-painted-by-flygirlpainter-shayne.html
Happy Yew Year!
and with this post, I've exactly equaled how many I posted last year, only by coincidence, not by design
I get a kick out of so many things related to vehicles, and one is how someone started a car dealership way back when cars were an invention, you know, 100 years ago -ish
Otto P. Graff, founder of the Graff Chevrolet that bore his name for many years, signed an agreement with the Ford Motor Company in 1914 to sell 125 cars a year.
As the treasurer of Genesee County from 1910 until 1914, Mr. Graff was well known to the Flint banking community. When Ford removed the previous dealer they asked Mr. Graff, as the treasurer of the county, who he thought would make a good dealer. He replied "I would".
He had often looked out his office window and thought "if I had $1 for every car in and out of that Ford dealership it would be a good thing". And so, with $600, which he and his wife Flora had saved, and high hopes, the new enterprise was launched as the Ford Sales Company. It was located on N. Saginaw Street, just north of the Flint River. The first year was encouraging with sales exceeding the 125 car quota and reaching the 150 mark.
The business continued to grow and in 1924 a new sales peak of 2,400 vehicles was reached. Three years later in 1927, the Model T was discontinued, and for 18 months there were no Fords available as the company converted to the Model A.
With the advent of the Model A, business looked good again. Then came the disaster - the Depression of 1929. Otto P. Graff lost everything he had worked so hard to achieve.
He stayed in business though, but on a line of credit from the bank who knew that tough times don't last, tough people do. So they paid him $75 a month until things recovered
Cars were not manufactured during World War II as all manufacturing facilities were dedicated to the war effort. As a result there was huge pent up demand following the end of the war. Much to the chagrin of Mr. Graff, Ford decided to take Lincoln and Mercury away at the time when over 2,000 orders with deposits were on hand. During the entire year of 1946, Ford allocated only 176 cars and trucks to Graff, leaving many customers very unhappy. It required another 2 ½ years to clean up the backlog of orders.
In 1982, a drastic step was to be taken for two reasons. First, General Motors gave all of its employees the option to purchase any General Motors vehicle below dealer cost. At that time, about 50% of the Fords sold by Graff were to the United Auto Workers members employed at General Motors. Graff could not be price competitive with Ford vehicles. Secondly, Ford had a continual problem keeping a second successful dealer in Flint and had purchased that dealership and it appeared Ford would continue to operate a factory owned dealership in Flint.
Max and Hank discovered that Uptegraff Chevrolet was for sale in Davison, and within two weeks, they were able to consummate a purchase deal. Ford was notified that Graff would give up their franchise as of August 1, 1982, and Hank Graff signed a Chevrolet franchise agreement on August 2, 1982.
At the time of the acquisition, Graff and Uptegraff were the two oldest family held dealerships in Genesee County - Uptegraff for 60 years and Graff for 68 years. The new Graff Chevrolet has been a very successful operation as evidenced by the fact that 4,703 vehicles were retailed in 1986. That was the 95th largest sales volume in the United States and second largest among the Chevrolet dealers in Michigan.
Their history gets far more complicated as their ownership of other dealerships grew, but you've already read the important part. Having a dealership is no walk in the park when manufacturing companies can't hold up their part. Also, in 2009, Chevrolet shut down business with a lot of dealerships, including one with this family.
https://www.hankgraffdavison.com/about/
genius idea if you can only plan it out, and have willing participation from customs in many countries
Advertising Agency: RKCR/Y&R, UK
Executive Creative Director: Mark RoalfeTypographers: Lee Aldridge, SiD
Copywriter: Phil Forster
Art Director: Tim Brookes
Photographer: Carl Warner
Production: Ali Power
Account Director: Glynn Euston
http://leesfreeriff.blogspot.com/2011/09/clever-land-rover-passport-ad.html