Notice the interesting stop sign design in the middle left
https://www.flickr.com/photos/missouristatearchives/7109697731/
Saturday, October 03, 2020
have some laughs, watch the old Joe Isuzu commercials
Hagerty just did a list of fun advertising camapigns, and wow, it's been forever since I've seen the Joe Isuzu commercials.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/lists/nine-car-ad-campaigns-that-sizzled-and-fizzled
sold for $400,000. Some rich guy invested in this primo GT 350 to flip it after having some fun. The video is on Maui's highway 378 aka Haleakala highway, with only one Prius coming down the hill in 4.5 minutes of charging uphill
I hope you play both, the car is mighty original, and those trunk stickers are cool! But the sound of the engine? Damn it. That's sweet!
Hard to believe you can build one exactly like this for under 100k, and never worry about damaging an investment grade original when you use it as a commuter
This hill climb is on Maui (of course, where the rich have the island to themselves) highway 378 in Hawaii, aka Haleakala Highway, was built to climb to the volcano crater, rising from about 3500' to 6700' with 22 switchbacks. (thanks Darryl!)
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1965-shelby-mustang-gt350-5/
Am I nuts? Or is this county paid for, fresh pavement, just a country club wet dream for the millionaires that move nearby? And by nearby, I mean on the island 24 miles wide. How long would it possibly take for the rich people with cool cars to get to the bottom of this road and have a pick up game of "race you to the top"
today's banners
BEER! Ha!
and this next one isn't a banner i made today, but I want to comment on it, and not with it's own post
I learned that this was known as a "Huck Starter" and I still get a bit happy at learning something new about this old stuff.
gotta say, today and the past couple days, the variety of posts impresses the hell out of me, and it's simply stuff at random I come across
Sandy emailed me, and said:
"No one story stands out to me at the moment but I love the "neighborhood" feel to your blog and of course the history as well."
I don't even understand the term " "neighborhood" feel" but I can tell you that it's a super compliment, and it made my day yesterday morning
I wonder how much European sports car manufacturers benefited (in design shortcuts) from being beat senseless by American hot rodders, like Max Balchowsky's Ol Yaller, and John Meyer's Pontiac powered home built - which proved that any American hot rodder with moxie could beat all their Italian, German, and British engineering with decades of development
John Meyer in his Pontiac powered Sadler-Meyer Special after winning the Unrestricted race.
sassy circus girls of Sarasota (I didn't make that up) of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1949.
I never understood why "sassy" is always used with a negative connotation. I've adored sassy attitudes, because it means the personalities are in full caffeine and humor mode, not the tepid, bored, and tired mode. It would be a hoot to hang out with these women, athletes, gymnasts, dare devils. They're my grandmas age, as these must be women in their late teens early twenties in 1949, so, the year my mom was born, and that would make them as old as my grandma, who was born in 29.
Beetleboards of America pioneered using automobiles as advertising vehicles in California during the 1970s
The decals themselves are a psychedelic mix of yellow zippers (for Levi jeans), airborne Red Barons (for a Seagram's drink) and Disneyesque stags on skis (for White Stag ski wear). The Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation is also a client, and so is Time Inc.
The mix is one of the advertising world's most colorful variants—a mix that has turned into a highly profitable business for both Mr. Charley Bird and the 5,200 Volkswagen owners who drive his mobile messages through more than 200 of the nation's major metropolitan markets.
Beetleboards of America guarantees its clients minimum of 156 impressions for ‘each ‐mile driven by the 5,200 four‐wheeled “billboards” now rolling in Canada and Puerto Rico as well as the United States. The cost ranges from $100 to $175 a month per car, depending on how many cars the advertiser wants and how long the campaign runs—three, six or nine months.
Their offices were in a large 2-story early 20th century house on Sunset Boulevard just east of Crescent Heights.
There was something in it for the Volkswagen owners, too. They are paid $20 a month, and a new coat of paint and a $70 to $100 decal removal job when a campaign ends, plus the Volkswagen owners get a lot of fun out of being mobile conversation pieces.
“It's a great way to meet people,” said one of Mr. Bird's drivers. One sign of the eagerness with which the drivers have responded to the colorful ad operation shows in the 75,000 applications from Volkswagen owners that the company has on file.
In addition, some advertisers have ideas as to whom the drivers should be:
•Clairol hair products. A light green Volkswagen decked with flowers is driven mostly by carefully coifed women.
•Kool cigarettes. A VW picturing majestic waterfall, with a pack of Kools superimposed over It, is tooled around by motorists at least 21 years old who promise not to park near hospitals.
the above is for Ultrabrite tooth paste, (Thanks Steve!) 
and soon there will be a book about them
https://delawarebusinesstimes.com/news/people/ad-pioneer-charlie-bird-gets-behind-carvertise/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65359853@N00/45968048424/in/pool-1970s--we_were_the_1970s/
Friday, October 02, 2020
please join me in a standing ovation for the El Toro High Auto Shop class for their Mopetta replication! Thanks to the shop teacher, Casey, for sharing this with me!
Here is the latest project at El Toro High School Auto Shop.
They were so enamored with the Egon Brustch micro car made out of moped parts in 1957 in Stuttgart Germany. Only a handful were made and are absolutely priceless so they made their own from just pictures on the internet.
They made a wood buck, bought pink foam at Home Depot, glued it together, sanded the shape, bondo on top of that sanded smooth, gel coat sprayed and sanded smooth, then a water base release agent applied, and then 4 layers of fiberglass and we made a mold out of the foam plug.
Couldn’t find a JLO 50cc engine and 3 speed transmission so we used a Honda 80cc water cooled 6 speed power plant.
They've built two bodies so far, and the kids want to make the second one a hybrid. They took it to cars and coffee San Clemente Sept 5th and it was a huge hit!
Painted it 2020 mustang gt grabber blue and the kids lettered it by hand.
Ain't that the coolest?
Remember, it was only a decade ago that a shop teacher and some high school students restored a bug eye Sprite after class... and got on the Tonight Show! So don't take your eyes off the students, they are doing fun things, and making cool stuff!
Here's an original, in probably the most famous photo of the Mopetta
made by a grandad for his grandson
I think you are likely to agree that things grandparents make are some of the very best things on earth
http://mildlyinteresting-blog.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-boyfriends-grandpa-made-this-for-him.html
this is terrific, the world record flugtug distance (have I lost you already?) was set by Miss Mitchell II! (In the nearby Hangar #3 at Fleming Field in South St. Paul is the actual B 25 Miss Mitchell)
Rachel Norman's team "Major Trouble and the Dirty Dixies," set a new record with the "Miss Mitchell II," a man-made and woman-piloted flying machine broke the year 2000 previous world record of 195 feet.
"Major Trouble and the Dirty Dixies," of Inver Grove Heights, came up with the idea to model their flying craft after Miss Mitchell. They came up with a very good representation of Miss Mitchell.
The B-25J "Miss Mitchell" served in the 310th Bomb Group, 57th Bomb Wing of the 12th Air Force in North Africa and Italy completing over 130 missions. https://commemorativeairforce.org/aircraft/7
A lot of engineering, time and testing were put into the craft, and it was worth it! The aircraft was pushed from the 30 ft high platform, released from its base and cleared the world record, flying 207 ft
skip the first 38 seconds on this next one, blogger won't allow me aymore to change the code to get videos to start on queue
now I have a new glider ambition, should I win the lotto. I have for the past 20 years wanted a Platz Glider, now I want a glider that looks like a WW2 bomber.
Is this not the coolest looking glider you've ever seen?
https://www.rivertowns.net/news/942111-woodbury-womans-world-record-flight-flugtag
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/03/19/flugtag-returns-to-st-paul