It was brought to SEMA in 2019, but I don't remember seeing it there
Saturday, March 06, 2021
nice Mustang designed and build by Chris Ashton/Ruffian Cars
Six/ten meant a 6 wheel ordinary drive truck would get a tag axle with 4 more tires, connected with this belt drive, to result in 10 power driven wheels for maximum traction (thank you Lane G!)
In the early ’50s tag axles were gaining in popularity, but it soon became apparent that they lacked in traction. In an effort to address this problem, a company was started in 1953 in Sioux City, Iowa, producing large pulleys to be installed between the dual tires of the drive axle and tag axle. By connecting these pulleys with a large V-belt, the drive axle powered the tag axle.
Since the tag axle was powered by silent V-belts instead of noisy gears, the company was called Silent Drive.
https://silentdrive.com/our-company/
Bobby Allison leads David Pearson, Richard Petty and the rest of the field at Riverside International Raceway in the 1975 Winston Western 500.
showing what a variety in race cars there once were... versus today's who gives a shit about nascar anymore, because the cars are all the same. That's my attitude.
They weren't all pretty, but they were all worth your time to see if someone with an ugly god damned car could win, or how the hell do they make something as fugly as an AMC Matador competitive?
Serious, there is nothing interesting about F1 when no one passes anyone, and nothing interesting about Nascar when all the cars are not only boring, but do not have anything STOCK about them. Want viewers? Tell the team owners to quit wasting millions on the car, just go buy something at the local dealerships, show up on race day, bolt on some sticky tires, and see what happens.
“Mechanic: Me”
Wendell Scott was an Army mechanic in World War II.
Scott and his sons did all the prep work and upkeep on the NASCAR premier series cars he owned and raced in the 1960s and 70s.
Scott famously decaled his race cars with the phrase, “Mechanic: Me” to show fans and competitors that he was the one responsible for doing the hard work necessary to go racing.
Jack Roush pioneered the roof flaps used to keep NASCAR vehicles on the ground during high-speed spins.
https://www.nascarhall.com/blog/top-10-wrenches
Prepping for Talladega in 1997, his driver, Jeff Burton thought it would be okay to mess with the roof laps which Roush had invented and became standard for NASCAR.
He relocated them five inches forward, which helped lower the air drag and increase his speed. Some might argue NASCAR officials slightly overreacted. Rather than just fine Burton, they literally cut the roof off the entire car. They also fined Burton $20,000 to ensure no one would try this roof trick again.
https://www.hotcars.com/pics-of-nascar-race-cars-that-broke-the-rules/
Friday, March 05, 2021
The Cannonball Compact Car Division of Nascar, 1960... so slow and boring, it only happened 3 times, from 1960 to 61. The Corvairs were so stock, they still had dealership window stickers
With the release of the compact 1960 Plymouth Valiant, NASCAR sanctioned a special race for the new six-cylinder compact car class, which would involve all three major automakers.
Chrysler racing engineers working in Dyno Cell 13 went to work on the 170 cu in slant six. This special group would be responsible for taking an ordinary 170 cubic inch six and making it put out extraordinary horsepower, that would earn these Chrysler racing engineers the title of most powerful and feared in-line six cylinder ever built in America.
(All they did was get 8 more horsepower, so, whoever wrote this was drunk. Notice, 140 hp stock, 148 hp after all their work)
The 170 slant six performance would be put to the test in front of millions of TV viewers.The 1960 Plymouth Valiant was only available in a 4 door model; this was given a standard block with a set of special domed pistons for a higher compression ratio, a Racer Brown ST-21 cam, a 21" long ram intake manifold, a four-barrel Carter AFB, exhaust manifolds that dumped into a 2-1/2" o.d. outlet pipe into a bigger muffler from an Imperial.
Seven slant six Valiants entered the new NASCAR race; and won the first seven places
CBS aired the compact sedan races as well as the qualifying for the Daytona 500 race in a live TV special for their "sports spectacular;" it was estimated that 17 million people were watching.
Junior Johnson even qualified a Simca!
Leading the CBS broadcast was Walter Cronkite. Although he wasn't a racing analyst, he was a sports car racer himself, he competed in the 12 Hours of Sebring the previous year and having him on the broadcast would give a sense of legitimacy. https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/03/walter-cronkite-from-race-car-driver-to.html
He went on to anchor CBS's coverage of the Winter Olympics a few weeks later, and took over as anchor of CBS's Evening News in 1962.
The compact sedan race quickly turned into a dull affair (80 mph on Daytona is slow as hell to watch) as lap after lap Lee Petty managed to turn away all challenges. It was made even duller by the fact that besides his Valiant, the next 7 positions were also hyper-pak Valiants.
(Notice the writer contradicts his earlier statement that the 1st seven places were all Valiants, now, it's the 1st place with Lee Petty, and seven more Valiants.) and the disclaimer on Allpar is: (We make no guarantees regarding validity or accuracy of information, predictions, or advice -)
Notice that Zora Duntov was cited as the Chevy engineer to be tasked with upgrading the Corvairs... and said he didn't have time to make them competitive with a 4 barrel carb set up, in this caption
The Chevrolet Corvair Fireball Roberts raced at Daytona in 1960 was completely stock and still had the window sticker from Don Allen Chevrolet in Miami.
Richard Petty came in #23 in the following 20 lap race, where only the 1st three finishers were Valiants, where Panch, Schechter, and Frank were 1, 2, and 3.
Hawaii dem State Rep. Sharon Har, who was pushing for tougher DUI laws after surviving a crash with a drunk driver, has been arrested — for driving drunk as hell last month in her 2019 Mercedes while driving the wrong way on a one-way street
She refused to take a breath or blood test, which means her driver’s license was immediately revoked for two years — one of the penalties she helped implement.
Morgado insisted in his report that Har “related that she is not currently taking prescription medication.”
However, that is the reason she gave in a statement to local media, saying she had been taking prescription cough medication with codeine for an upper respiratory illness that had lasted several weeks.
She said she “had a beer with my dinner” that “in conjunction with my medication, contributed to my impaired driving.”
During her arrest, Har asked if the cops “knew who she is,” officer Christopher Morgado wrote in his report, according to the Star Advertiser.
“Sharon then related that she was going to be the next Governor, but ‘this’ will mess up her plans,” the officer wrote,
https://nypost.com/2021/03/04/lawmaker-who-railed-against-drunk-driving-arrested-for-alleged-dui
before he was famous, Al Jarreau worked at Allis Chalmers, picking tractor parts out of of dusty, dirty tractor parts bins (Thanks RLK!)
So there I was, fresh out of high school in 1959 on the Allis Chalmers payroll for the summer only.
My job was to roam about a huge warehouse (three floors, each the size of a football field) picking tractor parts from thousands of bins.
It was not unusual to go for hours without seeing another person. So you can imagine my surprise when I got off the elevator one day hearing this absolutely perfect jazz scatting Ella herself could not match.
I pushed my little cart towards the sound, looking down each row of bins for it’s source. Finally, there it was, this tall guy with a head as shiny as a cue ball. I startled him a bit and he quit singing. He smiled and after a moment of silence I said, “Hey man, I thought Jon Hendricks had come to town.”
He laughed, took a few steps toward me, extended his hand and said, “Hi, I’m Al Jarreau.”
“Pleasure to meet you Al, I’m Bob.”
That’s my claim to fame. I worked at Allis Chalmers in Milwaukee with Al Jarreau, picking tractor parts out of of dusty, dirty tractor parts bins. The icing on the cake was meeting Al’s father. He worked at A-C as well and would wait for Al outside the warehouse at quitting time. The three of us would walk to the plant gate every day. I don’t recall the father’s first name, but the guy was as cordial and gracious as they come. Al was a stone cold knock-off of his father. Al left us a couple of years ago, but I’ll always remember his friendly, “Hi, I’m Al Jarreau.” RIP Al.
stuff like that? Never shows up in Wikipedia, or any other site. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jarreau
Thanks RLK for taking the time to type that up and share it!
Compliment of the day (Thanks RLK!)
I would like to express my appreciation for the work you put into Just a Car Guy. Like thousands of others I’m sure, I find the time I spend here very satisfying and well spent.
What I find particularly pleasing is the political/cultural perspective that tends to sneak through on occasion...and the other times as well when it appears with all the grace of a charging rhino. Your response to “Smithhere” comes to mind. “Right to the point,” as Kasper Gutman (Sidney Greenstreet, 1941 version of “The Maltese Falcon”) would say. Or, “Here’s to plain speaking and clear understanding,” as he toasts Sam Spade (Bogie, same film).
You sir, have cultivated the concept into an art form, one the likes of HL Mencken surely would have embraced had his editors been more understanding.
well, why doesn't someone climb up there and rescue the cat?
The tabby was spotted curled up on top of an Avanti West Coast train about half an hour before it was due to depart for Manchester at 9pm and refused to move.
Passengers were transferred to a replacement train with only a slight delay and the train was taken out of service so staff could coax the cat down from its precarious perch, where it was perilously close to the 25,000 volt overhead lines.
After a two and a half hours, the standoff came to an end when a bin was pulled up beside the carriage, giving the animal a platform on which to disembark.
The feline appeared unbothered as it alighted the train, according to station staff, who described it as “swaggering off” into the night as though it had other places to be.
Thursday, March 04, 2021
a good way to get more use from a car that was wrecked or rusted, this was in Dexter Michigan, in 1935
Makes me wonder if junk yard owner/operators realized how many wrecked cars they could have sold as pumpers.
Ok, so, weird thought.. .. this would be a cool photo to have poster sized in the garage.
Sister John Bosco, of the St. Sebastian School, in Akron, Ohio, 1962.
seriously, I can't make up things like this, and to show you that Nuns Having Fun is a thing, I present: https://gramho.com/explore-hashtag/NunsHavingFun
if a Hot Rod staffer like Ray Brock lost a car performance competition, he would never live it down
I'm surprised to see one of the Yeakel brothers names on it!
RLK knew a LOT about this flat car, and shared this info!
I’m going to hazard a guess here and suggest the image of the loaded CNW flatcar was taken at the West Allis, Wisconsin Allis-Chalmers works.
The plant was serviced by two railroads, the Chicago and Northwestern and the Milwaukee Road.
Having been employed by both I’ve given a bit of thought to the image and cannot think of any other facility in Milwaukee that required a car with the capacity to handle 400,000 pounds.
Thus, my keen sense of deduction leads me to believe the load is out of A-C.
In days long past railroads used to paint a ‘Load Limit’ and ‘Capacity’ on each car. The definition of each was pretty much the same, so at some point recently (relatively) they dropped the capacity reference. In short, both represented the weight axle journals could bear.
In this picture we see four trucks which would effectively double the capacity of a standard flatcar. Also note the ‘dispo’ instructions painted on the car: as soon as this damn thing is empty don’t even think about loading it again and return it promptly to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
There are two ‘built dates’ painted on this critter, December 1930 and July 1943, the 43 date obviously referring to a rebuild. By 1943 everything coming out of A-C was made for the war effort, so we can be reasonably sure this equipment was made to handle such loads. This is not to say with certainty this load was part of that effort as security issues would have precluded pictures of wartime materials.
My father worked at the Hawley Plant during the war, a building hurriedly constructed for the specific purpose of producing stuff for the Manhattan Project. Dad received a draft deferment because of the nature of his work. He left us in 2005 at 90 plus and he kept a tight lip about his work there to his last breath.
He had a bunch of other great stories though, one in particular I’ll always remember. They were in the middle of a project that could only be shipped by rail, but traffic could not find a carrier with suitable equipment. The ‘supe’ finally got pissed off and said, “We’ll build our own damn car.” And they did. Such was the mindset at A-C. I used to drive dad through what was left of A-C, repurposed buildings that sell women’s panties and bras, sub sandwiches and the like. It tore him up, recalling days when A-C WD tractors came out the south end of tractor plant two, a steady stream of orange 24/7, and transformers and dam turbines sat on railcars waiting to go, lined up like automobiles in a parking lot. Women’s panties, but no tractors for every corner of the planet. Good grief! RIP Pop.
Thanks RLK!
This photo id from the post a month ago of the cyclotron https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2021/02/neither-my-contemporaries-nor-my.html
what a great low budget movie, with excellent casting
http://mildlyinteresting-blog.blogspot.com/2018/02/parked-next-to-me-at-office-today.html
I'll be damned, I posted this back in 2018
Wednesday, March 03, 2021
a bizarre place for an AMX to show up, the cover photo on a sample album for DJs to play in 1968
see the rest of the 1968 album covers at https://hotvvheels.tumblr.com/post/178632158606/take-a-spin
