Saturday, June 19, 2021

a world traveler who had driven through 52 countries on four continents, during 11 years, visiting Ford dealers, such as the LAA van Hamersveld company here.

https://www.archiefeemland.nl/bronnen/foto-s/detail/4ef21aaa-dc46-11df-a9e7-7590f0316edd

Pretty strange Hudson


 https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-981#post-13908729

Bob Hope and Jack Benny in a T Bucket... for the Beach Boys spot as guests on the Jack Benny show (Thanks Mr Paul! )

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-967#post-13897641


skip the first 2 minutes to get to the point whet the T Bucket rolls into the scene after the Beach Boys sing California Girls for the zillionth time with less energy than a butterfly sneeze, as they lip synched to a slow recording of the song


the episode is described and analyzed at https://moviemagg.blogspot.com/2008/12/jach-benny-hour-tv-1965.html as also having Walt Disney and Elke Summer



I wonder what the story was with the T Bucket?

Probably not an original 60s Shelby, as owners of real Shelby Cobras aren't likely to screw around with million dollar investments on the street

looks like a fuel cell in the trunk too, a good sign it's not an original.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Autos/comments/o2ycgi/someones_big_oops_on_this_cobra_right_in_front_of/

interesting rear entry passenger area, not many cars were made like this, 1900 Lanchester (thanks Billy O !)



Also no steering wheel. Still using a horse carriage dash board too.  Strange to see wire rims though, on something this early


https://imechearchive.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/drawing_first-production-lanchester1900.jpg

Right on the edge, at speed, with a long drop off

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-955#post-13888956

there aren't many photos of cars with a big spotlight on the running board

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-948#post-13884608

1971, San Francisco

 

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2021/06/18/only-in-san-francisco-would-one-find-a-jaguar-e-type-decorated-like-well-like-this

55 Nash Ambassador Country Club, It has Pinin Farina styling, a Packard drivetrain, a two-tone paint scheme... and its own accessory sleeping bags for the trademark Nash folding bed



Compare it to the Super Statesman 4 door


https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1955-NASH-STATESMAN-SUPER-4-DOOR-SEDAN-152273

the best selling cars since 1978. I wish there was comparison info as to the least expensive, median horse power

since 1998 it's mostly been the Toyota Camry. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/o1z6fw/the_bestselling_car_model_every_year_since_1978/

a sliding pillar suspension, on a 1932 Lancia (Thanks Gary and Graham!)


In the 1930s, Eritrea in North Africa was an Italian colony and the capital, Asmara, was almost exclusively populated by Italians. One of their biggest passions was motor racing and the local automobile club arranged numerous hillclimbs and street races. Notable events included the 1937 Coppa del Governatore dell’Eritrea, a 26km hillclimb from Nefasit to Asmara, and the 1938 Coppa di Natale, won by Emilio Romano in his Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza.

This is the only known Dilambda racing special created in period, surviving as is, with its pared-back body and substantially reduced chassis.

The car displays Vincenzo Lancia’s innovative sliding-pillar front suspension, a semi-monocoque chassis, compact 24-degree, 4-litre V8, and hydraulic drum brakes all round. The chassis has been skilfully shortened and narrowed. The usual Dilambda front cowl, suspension struts and bonnet have been streamlined with a lower profile.

It's rugged construction, torquey engine and sophisticated suspension made it particularly well suited to the long, challenging hillclimbs of North Africa.

Since the war, there had been a US base in Eritrea and the car was bought by a serviceman. It returned with him to the US, where it resided until 2020, relatively unknown to the broader public.

Friday, June 18, 2021

Jeremy Clarkson's new tv show is on Amazon Prime now "Clarkson's Farm"

 he seems to be his regular level of silly, and the show seems to be taking a fun view of what it takes to run his 1000 acre farm, and what it costs

It's a bit calmer than any episode of Top Gear, but the usual amount of buffoonery to show how easy it is to get things wrong when Clarkson has no idea what he's doing, or why he has the farming equipment he has to work 

I'm enjoying it, because Clarkson knows how to be charming, and goofy, on camera, and the camera work is impeccable. 


and episode 5 is about how farming and society were changed by the covid panic, the price of lambs for example, was cut in half because the restaurants had closed, no one could get egg cartons because there seem to have only been 3 factories that made them, and two of those factories shut down.

episode 4 was surprisingly about all the wildlife on the farm, owls, badgers, and deer. Very nice

the new Pixar movie, Luca, is a love letter to Vespa



I am only trying to share the 1st clip. All the rest of this 9 minute compilation can be ignored


funny and true

https://ampervadasz.tumblr.com/post/654224241629249536/unmute

Thursday, June 17, 2021

now, here's a clever way to launch a glider. I bet there is something about this technique that isn't a good idea. Whatever. I neither have a glider, nor an American Underslung, or Thomas, to launch it from

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-937#post-13876982

clever

https://ampervadasz.tumblr.com/post/654170888740159488

a good actor, a great director (one of my favorites), but a terrific writer (which I wasn't aware of), I present for your enjoyment - Werner Herzog describing a parking lot


Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Documentary) is great, Encounters at the End of the World (Documentary) is great, Rescue Dawn is terrific, and I recommend them all. 

quite a van design... for an interior designer

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-936#post-13876697

how about this for free advertising? Good choice!

https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdWheels/comments/o0y64m/saw_this_pizza_delivery_delorean_in_texas_today/

the crew of the Yellow Fang!

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-936#post-13876677

Touring Europe at 18-mph clip on a leisurely 7,000-mile trek through Europe in a 1901-model one-cylinder antique Knox auto.


By Brendan P. Mulready | Stars and Stripes | Published: June 8, 1960


Believed to be the only car of its kind in the world that is still fully operational, the auto was one of 100 built in 1901 by the Knox Auto Mfg Co., of Springfield, Mass.

"I know of five others in museums but I have never heard of another still running," said Johnson, who, at 58, still wears a look of boyish enthusiasm when he talks about his car.

The Johnson travel saga really started in 1933, when he first laid eyes on the ancient auto. "It took me 18 years of persuasion to get the owner to part with it. Then it took another three years of careful work to restore it to working order. So, it was 21 years after I first saw it that we took our first ride it it," Johnson said.

On their previous tour of Europe and a. trip from Massachusetts to Florida, plus participation in various antique car rallies, the Johnsons put more than 10,000 miles on the old car.

The car has two speeds forward and no reverse. "We don't need reverse gear because we can turn around in a nine-foot circle. And from Cherbourg to Germany we have not had to shift to low gear at any time. We move along pretty steadily at 18 miles an hour, on the level, up hill and down grade," Johnson explained.

The power plant is an eight-horsepower "porcupine" engine. The name comes from the fact that there are 1,818 4-inch long threaded pins sticking out from it to radiate the engine heat as the car moves along.

https://www.stripes.com/news/touring-europe-at-an-exciting-18-mph-clip-1.63337

compliment of the day!

 This blog is long being my favourite place to find cool things with or without wheels and spend many hours seeing older posts and old things. Keep on!

Aurelio

Clumsy gas guy sure makes a mess of it

https://ogdaa.blogspot.com/2021/06/fucking-mondays-gifdump-pt-ii.html#more

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Wheels on a helicopter, are pretty useless. Now, give that useless factor, and integer of 10 for being in snow, on a helicopter.

Wheels on a helicopter in snow are as useless as religion. Only practiced in a religious building, and left there after the meeting, only causes problems, doesn't solve any. 

But when enough people agree that something useless must make some sense, and do something good, that no one can explain, and you simply are told to take it on faith that there was ever any evidence that there was any proof, for any religion, in any country, just like wheels on a helicopter, they get the stamp of approval and continue to be installed at great expense without ever justifying their existence.

Just my point of view. If you think I want to hear a contrary point of view on religion, you're as crazy as believing in some super power being that exists forever, but can't be seen, can't do anything humans can notice, ignores the prayers (you know, using your telepathic powers to send a one way communication to that super being) that it's believers send, and never has prevented or cured cancer, saved anyone from drying of fire, or drowning, or being murdered, or the misery of children, due to people's need for a father figure, that old men have tapped into to get rich and have many wives. 

Most things that have wheels, need them for mobility. A helicopter, well, that's why it has the spinning thing on top. It can relocate itself, without using wheels - which is why a lot of helicopters have skids. 

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2021/06/dangerous.html

Are you as surprised to see Albert Einstein here, as I was to find this photo of him on the Jalopy Journal?

How cool is this? It's not often I find the most famous people to ever exist in a car photo so I can rationalize posting a photo of them here on my car guy blog. 

This sort of uncommonly cool photo rarely comes up... it just makes my day to post something like this at the end of the day, to leave here as the first thing you'll see when you pop by to see what I've been up to lately

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-935#post-13875762

right there front and center, is a Checker. Strange looking design compared to nearly everything else of it's time, except that 33 Willys I posted yesterday


https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-933#post-13873648

These guys were just wonderful. Darn shame there are people that haven't ever seen and enjoyed the 3 Stooges

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-932#post-13873040



not many airplanes get hauled down city streets

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-931#post-13871972

and it was only last week or the week before that I posted running board spare tires having advertising on the wheel covers


 https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-931#post-13871309

the Bonneville Salt Flats welcome sign was stolen on June 11

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/06/16/bonneville-salt-flats/

The six-speed manual 911 GT3 can't be sold in California... Porsche calculated the noise level to a legal limit of a standard CHP did not adopt.

at the bottom of Porsche's press release is this surprise: "The seven-speed PDK gearbox will be the only transmission offered in California with the 911 GT3."

The six-speed manual  911 GT3 can't be sold in California, sorta. It's more like they won't. 

According to a Porsche spokesperson, the GT3 passes California's drive-by noise test when equipped with the automatic; with the six-speed stick, it fails, sort of. 

 It's based on which testing method California chooses to employ.

The California Code of Regulations specifies that highway vehicles must pass a drive-by noise test designed by the Society of Automotive Engineers—specifically, SAE J1470, "Measurement of Noise Emitted by Accelerating Highway Vehicles." 

A vehicle accelerates past a microphone, and the sound pressure level, in decibels, is recorded.

SAE J1470 aims to measure "the highest noise level consistent with urban driving." The exact testing method varies based on vehicle size, power output, peak acceleration rate, and gearing, but generally, it involves a full-throttle run starting at 50 km/h (31 mph) and continuing until the engine reaches its peak-power rpm. Manual-transmission vehicles are tested in either second or third gear; given the GT3's curb weight and power output, the procedure calls for third.

Here's the thing: Automatic-transmission vehicles aren't necessarily tested at wide-open throttle. The method specified in J1470 states that "the throttle shall, as rapidly as possible, be opened as fully as will ensure maximum acceleration without operating kickdown" (emphasis added), and held at that position until the car reaches the end of the testing area. "Kickdown," as defined by the SAE, means "a forced downshift to the lowest possible gear (first or low gear)."

You see the problem here. The GT3 automatic can do nearly 80 km/h in first. Certainly, flooring the accelerator in an automatic GT3 would trigger a multi-gear downshift all the way to first. So while the procedure calls for the manual GT3 to run full-throttle nearly to redline in third, the same procedure prohibits full-throttle acceleration in the automatic version of the very same car. 

Hence, the automatic passes the test, while the manual fails.

But the SAE J1470 is no longer the most up-to-date testing method when it comes to measuring drive-by noise.

SAE J1470 was first published in late 1984. The paper reveals itself to be relatively out of date when it comes to automotive drivetrain technology: the standard test procedure assumes that the typical stick-shift vehicle is "equipped with a manually operated gearbox having not more than four forward gear ratios." 

There are alternative testing parameters for vehicles with new gearboxes with more than four forward ratios, and SAE has published updated versions of the test method since 1984. But the basic framework of J1470 seems insufficient for testing modern vehicles in 2021.

The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) addressed this with an entirely new vehicle standard: SAE J2805, published in 2008 and updated as recently as May 2020.

 J2805 completely revamps the drive-by test procedure. Rather than a full-throttle (or nearly full-throttle) drive-by, J2805 lays out a hugely complex method of calculating the appropriate rate of acceleration for each individual vehicle being tested. As the very first paragraph of J2805 states, this updated procedure "is based on extensive statistical investigations of vehicle operation in real traffic." J2805 includes techniques appropriate for hybrid vehicles and other advanced drivetrain designs that did not exist when J1470 method was published. Long story short, J2805 more accurately simulates "acceleration at a partial throttle condition in urban traffic."

But California doesn't use J2805. 

Vehicle noise testing is performed by CHP, as defined by California Code of Regulations Title 13, Section 1046, which specifies SAE J1470 as the official testing procedure. 

So while Porsche assumedly engineered the GT3 to pass the updated J2805 test with both available transmissions, in California, the old method is still the law of the land. (Porsche's spokesperson indicated that CHP has been planning to update its testing regulations to incorporate the new SAE procedure)

So for now, Porsche can't sell you a 911 GT3 with a six-speed manual in California—despite the fact that the automatic equipped GT3 has the same engine, the same exact exhaust system, and, makes the same amount of noise.

"We don't know when the new SAE J2805 procedure will be adopted by California, therefore we can't guarantee the sale of the manual gearbox on the 911 GT3—and where there's doubt, we're always cautious," Porsche's spokesperson told Road & Track

the first event in SRX racing


Happy Birthday Gene Winfield! (he was born in 1927)


one of my favorite photos I have taken, it was at the May 2010 EL Mirage event http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/05/el-mirage-may-2010.html

oh, it's so on! You don't make vrooom vroom noises at another trucker at a stop light, without the challenge being accepted!




I'd post the video if I had an embed code, you know... but some sites are run with other software that doesn't operate the way I need them to so I can get the code

I don't think I've seen one like this before, with a crew cab, early 30s



https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-930#post-13870998

I never would have guessed anyone would see an axle off a train, rolling down a highway, without any trucker pulled over nearby wondering how the hell he was going to get it back on his trailer


Tuesday, June 15, 2021

LT George Lang, bombardier and his B-29, photographed on Tinian. 2Oth AF, 58th BW, 40th BG, 25th BS. Thanks to Eric H for celebrating his grandfather, and sharing these photos!



the Aspen Road Race in the May-June 1952 issue of Road and Track, highlighted the dirt road racing without helmets of seat belts, with a wife or girlfriend as a passenger. Thank you Larry C !


Ralph McQuarrie, one remarkable artist, and Korean War combat vet, that you might not recognize the name of, but are very likely to recognize his art. After all, only one artist created the look of a galaxy far far away and was essential in it coming to movie screens in 1977

His career included work on the original Star Wars trilogy, the original Battlestar Galactica television series, the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and the film Cocoon, for which he won an Academy Award.

Without Ralph McQuarrie, there would be no Star Wars. 

He served in the United States Army during the Korean War, surviving a shot to the head. After returning from the war, McQuarrie moved to California in the 1960s, studying at the Art Center School, then in downtown Los Angeles.(it is now known as Art Center College of Pasadena )

He got his 1st job in art as an illustrator for Boeing, in the parts catalog. (Hence my legit reason to post about him here). 

He then went to work for defense contractor Litton Industries, drawing guidance and control equipment

Then he went into storyboarding for Boeing, who were making films for presentations, as well as diagrams for a manual on constructing the 747 Jumbo Jet

That led to working for CBS and NASA designing film posters and animating CBS News' coverage of the Apollo space program.

He was working on a film for Encyclopedia Britannica, when they had a screening of THX 1138.

 The young filmmaker George Lucas was impressed by McQuarrie's work and met with him to discuss his plans for Star Wars. Lucas sought visual reference material to support his pitch to film studios.

Lucas knew it would take more than his words and descriptions to convince a studio to support such an ambitious project, and reached out to McQuarrie to help visualize the planets, vehicles, and characters he only saw in his head. 

McQuarrie's concept paintings were instrumental in helping Lucas to win approval from 20th Century Fox; armed with vivid illustrations of his planned movie, Lucas was able to convince Fox executives to take a gamble and fund his Star Wars project.

McQuarrie’s style crafted the visual design of the entire galaxy to come. As Lucas said “Ralph’s contribution to the Star Wars world is incalculable. His genial contribution, in the form of unequalled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy. When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph's fabulous illustrations and say, 'do it like this'."

McQuarrie designed many of the film's characters, including Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/stuff-you-missed-in-history-cl-21124503/episode/ralph-mcquarrie-part-1-82377231/

https://www.ralphmcquarrie.com/

https://www.starwars.com/news/ralph-mcquarries-most-memorable-masterpieces

A Vespa that toured the country of France, and collected the stickers!








 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1603243593259589/?multi_permalinks=2849900605260542&hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen