http://www.backroads.ie/forum/car-related/r-roads/81-random-picture-thread/page2847
Saturday, October 30, 2021
grace under pressure, and skill in the rain
but it's much better to experience this in the high res video, just skip the first 45 seconds
In 1970, four SCCA enthusiasts teamed up to field a race Camaro. An auto parts salesman, a mechanic, an office machine technician and the guy that was coerced into donating his personal 1969 Camaro Z-28 as the team’s race car.
Converting Oliver's stock Camaro into an effective FIA Group 2 race car took nearly a year and a considerable amount of financial resource. The car was given the required safety specifications, its street equipment removed, the 302cc engine tuned, fitted with a Franklin quick-change rear differential with swayaway axles, Grand National Stock Car racing hubs, large front and rear sway bars, Koni shock absorbers, 25-gallon Firestone fuel cell, Corvette calipers and discs on all four corners, Corvette upper and lower A-arms, Chevrolet heavy duty pick-up truck ball joints and suspension linkages, a full roll cage, a duel fuel filler system set-up on both rear fenders to accommodate racing directions and pit road orientation, a full night running light set-up composed of 3 sets of Marchal spot lights, mini cooper marker lights for the doors and a blinking roof light.
The car was entered in the 1971 24-Hours of Daytona where it qualified well and soon earned itself international fame. The fame was not intentional, as it was involved in the first crash of the race. A contact incident came early in the 24-Hours of Daytona when the No. 3 Martini & Rossi Porsche spun in the path of the Oliver/May- nard/Dobkin Camaro in Turn Two
In March, the friends entered the 12-Hours of Sebring. The car was repaired, painted in black livery, riding on new magnesium racing wheels, and wearing the number 88 the team began the endurance race with great ex- pectations. However their hopes were thwarted once again. Past the half-way mark the Camaro was up with the leaders in the Touring class until the state-of-the-art Franklin quick-change rear differential failed and forced a premature retirement. After 131 laps the mechanical failure resulted in a 35th-place overall finish. After the two valiant race outings the friends realized that a lack of sponsorship would prove a difficult obstacle to inter- national competition and they returned their Camaro to the ranks of Florida regional SCCA competition.
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/chevrolet/camaro/1969/868572
and it will be sold on Bring A Trailer
for more info,
Bill Noon bill@symbolicinternational.comSymbolic International
At Veloce Motors Vault
9340 Dowdy Drive Suite 102 San Diego
the racing really gets going about the 5 minute mark
look in the rear view mirror to see how far behind the cars he passes fall back
Friday, October 29, 2021
1905 Fiat, aircraft engine equipped, photographed at the 2021 London Classic
I saved the very large size copy of this bottom photo, so if you click on it, it will go full size
https://www.flickr.com/photos/91204887@N07/with/51270236448/
for comparison to a regular 1905 Fiat, see this beauty http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-pair-of-1905-fiat-60hp-five-passenger.html
Thanks to reminders from comments, I realize I've posted this before, back in 2016, https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/03/250-hp-3000-ft-pounds-of-torque-1905.html
Archeologists have uncovered a set of "incredible" rare Roman statues while excavating a site in England ahead of a high speed rail project, the rail company said in a statement.
at the site of the old St Mary's Norman church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, south east England, while archeologists were excavating a ditch around the foundations of an Anglo-Saxon tower.
As experts working on the High Speed 2 (HS2) project dug down, they found the three "stylistically Roman" busts, a discovery which archeologists have described as "astounding."
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/roman-bust-hs2-intl-scli-gbr/index.html
Achaeologists say they have discovered hundreds of Mayan artifacts and burial sites, along the route of a train construction project in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Researchers have so far discovered nearly 2,500 pre-Hispanic structures, 80 burial sites and thousands of vessels and fragments along the route of the "Maya Train," Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced in a statement Thursday.
Preliminary analysis indicated the Maya had inhabited the area for a long time, from the Middle Preclassic Period -- which began in 700 BC -- to as late as 850 AD, the end of the Late Classic Period.
"Both the immovable archaeological artifacts and the movable ones expand the knowledge about daily life, and trade and cultural exchange relations that existed centuries ago in the Mayan area," the researchers said.
and when looking up info on what was found by the railroad effort, I found that in Guatemala they found the below pyramids:
advanced laser mapping has revealed more than 60,000 ancient Mayan structures beneath the jungles of northern Guatemala. Set across dozens of hidden cities, the discoveries include houses, palaces and a 90-foot-tall pyramid that was previously thought to be a hill.
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/ancient-mayan-structures-discovered/index.html
this Kaiser Jeep M725 started its life out in 1967 as a military ambulance. Now it'll be providing relief of another kind, this time in the form of a cold crisp beverage at SEMA 2021.
for this, and the other Mopar vehicles at SEMA this year: https://www.motor1.com/news/544070/mopar-sema-ram-dodge-jeep/
“The (Auto) Pound and the Jury (or Quentin Gets His First Parking Ticket),” by Louisiana Philharmonic clarinetist Allan Kolsky
In 1989, William Faulkner’s niece founded an annual contest to parody her uncle’s distinctive writing style. It ran for 16 years, with the winners published in United Airlines’ Hemispheres magazine. Here’s the winner from 2001,
For the fifth time in as many minutes, the bright shapes slowly passed us through the somnolent dust, each moving left to right, each in its ordered place. As we (once again) passed beneath the grim and merciless statue of the confederate soldier (that still unravish’d sentinel of quietude, his implacable marble hand forever shading the inscrutable carven eyes) our hearts sank a little deeper, not because we now realized that our quest was futile, but because it always had been, because we now seemed doomed forever to circle this postage stamp of land like slow planets orbiting some inescapable star.
‘Well well well,’ said Ratliff, ‘I reckon thats the fifth time weve been around this square and I still aint seen no parkin space. Why dont you just pull up in front of that fire hydrant — its only for a minute, anyhow.’
And now the musty smell of old leather—the thick, bound books containing what Father once called the sum total of mans ignorance: ceteris paribus and tempus fugit and caveat emptor too, and Oliver Wendell Holmes with Saint Francis himself, who never had a parking ticket and first thing lets kill all the lawyers and i father i have committed grand theft auto and he this looks more like a parking ticket to me and i but are they not the same and he you would take a perfectly common automotive error, an inevitable consequence of operating a motor vehicle and you would make it monstrous and i but it IS monstrous and he its only fifteen dollars, its not exactly the end of the world and i but i have still failed and he arbitrary lines delimiting segments of tarmac, the sum total of mans folly reduced to lines drawn ceteris paribus on some cosmic concrete chalkboard and i but did you ever get one and he of course and i how many times and he you want me to Count—NoCount would ever satisfy you and i but dont you believe in sin and he sin quentin was a term coined by those without courage to describe the actions of those who did indeed possess it and i but then our lives are just and he our lives are just so many tiny clumsy sandcastles before the godless oceans angry tide.
I took the ashtray from the table and I placed it on the floor. Then I realized that I had forgotten the gasoline and so I had to open the cabinet and take the can and remove the cap. The gasoline stung my nostrils as I poured it into the ashtray. I replaced the cap and I put the can back in its cabinet. I placed the parking ticket in the ashtray and I soaked it well with the gasoline. Then I remembered that I needed a match, but my hand had already found the matchbook in my pocket, and so I didnt have to open the cabinet any more.
in the news today
listening to AM 1070, KNX CBS news, on the commute home tonight, when they mentioned that silly string use or sales during Halloween is now illegal in Hollywood, and getting busted is a 1000 dollar fine
Thanks to a Los Angeles Municipal Code ordinance, anyone possessing, using or selling Silly String -- the liquid in a can that shoots out as a plastic-like string -- between 12 a.m. Oct 31 and 12 p.m. Nov. 1 can receive up to a $1,000 fine.
"A citation could be issued and the silly string could be confiscated," an LAPD spokesman said.
The ordinance, which was passed in 2004, lists safety and environmental concerns as the reason for preventing people from using silly string on Halloween.
I mention this, because it's true, but ridiculous.
And, because they followed this story, with news about a "sideshow" law.
Sideshows are “illegal gatherings in which groups of drivers take over intersections, city streets, stretches of busy freeways and/or parking lots to do tricks with their cars, including burnouts and doughnuts,” The Sacramento Bee reported. https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article254863887.html
The fine for getting busted is 500 dollars.
THAT silly string use is twice as expensive of a fine than reckless driving? That is pure California stupid.
Thursday, October 28, 2021
in tragic news, some justice for the family of an 11 year old girl, killed by a NY State Trooper who rammed the family car, flipping it, killing the kid... after pulling the car over for speeding, and pepper spraying the occupants - who then took off to try and evade the lunatic officer
A former New York State trooper has been charged with murder and manslaughter, and until Wednesday's indictment of Christopher Baldner, no state trooper "in recent times" had ever been indicted for murder.
Probably, none needed to be, until now.
The state trooper “used his car as a deadly weapon” according to New York Attorney General Letitia James.
This wasn't the first time he'd used his police unit as a deadly weapon. The indictment also charges him with endangering the lives of three people by ramming his vehicle into their car in a separate incident in the Kingston area in September 2019.
PLUS Gov. Kathy Hochul cited that Trooper Baldner struck a car in the same area in January 2017.
What is also criminal is that neither of the previous battering ram events were ever going to blight his professional record until this event. SO, what I'm saying, is, that the state attorney general, and his supervisors and superiors, could have prevented this death by taking him to task for that 2019 ramming, OR the 2017 ramming.
Has ANY news outlet point out that this girl's death, and he families grief, would have been prevented if they'd done their jobs? Nope. I realized that myself. This trooper ought to have been set straight before killing Monica Goods.
James, in a press release, said the girl’s father was pulled over by Baldner for speeding, and after the driver asked to speak to the supervisor, the trooper “deployed pepper spray into the interior of the car,” leading the father to drive off because he feared for their safety, prompting Baldner to give chase.
Monica Goods’ father told the Daily News that Baldner pulled him over for speeding and the two argued. Goods told the Daily News that Baldner lost his temper and sprayed the interior of the SUV with pepper spray, striking him, the girls’ stepmother and the two girls.
Fearing for his life, Goods said, he drove off and Baldner pursued him, ramming him twice at high speed. The two crashes — documented in state police accident reports — caused the SUV to flip over a guardrail, ejecting Monica.
The attorney general charged Baldner with second-degree murder — which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison — second-degree manslaughter and reckless endangerment.
"Police officers are entrusted to protect and serve, but Trooper Baldner allegedly violated that trust when he used his car as a deadly weapon and killed a young girl," James said. "While nothing will bring Monica back, we must hold law enforcement to the highest standards, which is why my office is committed to seeking justice in this case."
So, regardless of the police brutality of the past couple of years, and all the deserved factual publicity fall out, like the murders by police being the motivating push to nation wide protests against police who behave as though they, their police academy instructors, their road supervisors, and their police chiefs have not been educated on due process, and power tripping cops are still losing their fucking minds because they are not, and have not been, focused on professional behavior.
Thanks Kim!
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monica-goods-death-christopher-baldner-new-york-state-trooper-charged/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/nyregion/monica-goods-christopher-baldner.html but the NY Times is behind a pay wall. It's probably worth the cost of a subscription, as the Times really has a ton of fine journalism
So, the job of "reporters" continues, to keep up the public shaming of police, police departments, sheriffs, and state troopers, their police unions (who are SUPPOSED to be relevant to the professional behavior of their union members) police chiefs, police captains, police commissioners, mayors and governors who collectively have failed to be professional, legal, and respectable.
Blaine Harrington began his career in photography in the 1970s after a brief stint racing motocross.
"This year I left both Alamy and Getty because I simply cannot stand seeing my work sold for next to nothing.
In general photography business has suffered what I consider a “perfect storm” of changes: the internet, the disappearance of much of print, digital photography and the overabundance of imagery, and the major stock agencies taking over smaller “mom and pop” stocks agencies. Then the price war, mostly started by Getty, drastically lowered prices and led Corbis to go out of business.
I really cannot paint a rosy picture for anyone who wants to do this “dream job.” I think that boat has sailed, unfortunately.
A great portion of my income in the last five years has come from enforcing my copyrights. The digital age has made it easy for people to copy and steal photography, music, writing, etc. I am thankful that I registered much of my work with the U.S. Copyright Office before I started to find infringements.
I worked with Pixsy in the beginning and still do somewhat. Through their site, which helps you reverse search your entire website, I found something like 100,000 infringements! Most were in places where there is nothing I can do about it: China, India, or safari companies in Africa. But in the US, UK, Germany, and a handful of other countries, pursuing copyright infringement works.
In stock photography, there is this one-size-fits-all approach to pricing. A photo taken with an $8,000 super-telephoto lens is priced the same as an iPhone photo. One photo is absolutely much better than another. Doesn’t matter. Same price. One photo was taken from a helicopter that I paid $600 for the flight. Doesn’t matter."
Toby Wells, respect
Toby frequently rescued many dogs from death in animal shelters by putting them to work at different locations as company watchdogs. He felt it wasn't as perfect as family life, but it beat the alternative these dogs faced. Many of these tough canines lived to be quite old and grew to be companions of employees. They were well cared for, and burial services were even held when they passed away.
The twin causes of welfare for animals and children were championed by Toby Wells, who was known for rescuing dogs from the animal shelter. His legacy and spirit now live on through the foundation.
The tournament began after his sisters established the Toby Wells Foundation and were seeking ways to raise funds and awareness for causes to honor the memory of their brother, who died at in May 2000 from medical complications after being paralyzed in a swimming accident.
“Our family was in the construction equipment industry,” Wells said about Contractors Equipment Company, a business her brother helped run until the family sold it in 1999. “A lot of our supporters were construction workers who really enjoyed golf.”
The family also funds the Toby Wells YMCA in Kearney Mesa, through which it serves unprivileged children and military families.
“Funds from the golf tournament are directly benefitting children,” Wells said of the event that takes four to five months of preparation by the family.
But tasks such as accumulating auction items and the like are a labor of love because of the good causes.
“And it all comes from San Diego, like the Padres and the Chargers,” West said. “And Maderas donates back too. Every bit helps.”
In all, nearly $14 million has been raised for the Toby Wells Foundation through a variety of endeavors.
Not bad for an event organized by two women who don’t play golf, helping kids and dogs
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
1969 Pontiac Farago 428, at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours. It’s mostly a Pontiac Grand Prix, but the body is all Carrozziere Coggiola. The name stands for Coggiola, Farago, and the 428 under the hood.
Besides the coachwork, a special one-off set of Firestone tires and wheels were fitted to the car
Frank Herbert, the author of Dune, got his start in writing as a reporter for a newspaper, and he was often teased by his colleagues for his propensity to embellish routine automobile accidents
One of Herbert’s early stories was headlined, “14-year-old Bride Misses Death by Hair’s Breadth!”, chronicled a collision that left a teenage girl with head lacerations. She jumped from her 16-year-old husband’s truck before he came to a stop and was struck by an oncoming car, Herbert reported. Much of the story focused on how her hair became caught under the car’s front wheels.
Herbert left The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa California) in 1954 to briefly work for the San Francisco Examiner. He transitioned from journalist to fiction writer in 1955 when he published his first novel “Dragon of the Sea.”
Did you know that the 1st edition was published by Chiltons?
It was the first book to win a Nebula Award, in 1966, but it was passed over by 20 publishers before Chiltons went to press.
