some interesting vehicles found on tonight's walkabout, but what I can't figure out, is why among these million dollar homes, are so many dirt cheap trucks and cars

 

been sitting there since 2007, just getting rustier

interesting trailer

I kid you not, there are about 4 Airstreams in about 6 blocks... this little area has more that anyone where else I've walked so far, and they also have plenty of other kids of RVs

this Jeep is really neglected... just sad to see the paint is a mess. At least they put a cover over it

todays installment of what's under the car cover

I'm guessing the above is a Chevelle

 

I'm guessing this one is a 1969 Charger... I guessed wrong, Of course it's a Mopar

How about that? There simply are NOT many 67 Barracudas out there

This is for sure a Cadillac

and I guessed right on this Porsche

and there was a place with 4 or 5 cars under covers

Sure these two closest to the camera are interesting... but that 3rd one way back by the house is an Isetta

and you don't see anyone with an Isetta.

the former editor of Car and Driver just wrote an article about the 1993 Camel Trophy, Land Rover and Camel-brand cigarettes paid for everything, costing them millions every year.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/driving/mud-wrestling-at-some-point-in-the-93-camel-trophy-we-began-naming-the-leeches/

STP lube in a tube... never heard of it until now

 https://www.ebay.com/itm/323666261471?hash=item4b5c0335df:g:q74AAOSw64xcS3Gw

yes, you might have a well outfitted garage, with lots of tools and test equipment. BUT ! Do you have an ignition tester? Lol, I've never seen one of these before, but darn it, I like it

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324138680462?hash=item4b782bc08e:g:W~QAAOSwq9Zemdcn

2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee Rallyetimer romo Compass / Stopwatch.

 

there are several on Ebay, from about 20 dollars to 80 dollars

Looking at one of the companies from the 1930's -70s that made a wide variety of anything that would sell at Sears, JC Whitney, Popular Mechanics, etc... Fee & Stemwedel aka Airguide

Established inauspiciously at the outset of the Great Depression, the Airguide Instrument Company—originally known as Fee & Stemwedel, Inc.—managed a 60-year run as one of the country’s leading producers of “weather instruments,” i.e. thermometers, barometers, rain gauges, hygrometers and other instruments such as speedometers, tachometers, and the like.  (Didn't Ed Roth's cars have Airguide guages?)

Electrical engineers Albert L. Stemwedel (b. 1904) and Richard L. Fee (b. 1900) were part of the same generation of young entrepreneurs who’d launched radio giants like Zenith, Motorola, and Admiral. 

Fee spent the ‘20s (which were also his 20s) working as an electrician in Waukegan, while Stemwedel—a graduate of the Armour Institute of Technology—was an electrical contractor living in Rogers Park.

they hired Howard Taylor, who’d recently been laid off by Western Electric because of the Wall St crash and great depression, as a service man for them, as he had an inquiring mind and a lot of practical know-how.

At the height of its popularity, the Airguide brand name was associated not only with weather measuring devices like this one, but a slightly broader line of products one might categorize as “scouts equipment.” Advertisements in Boy’s Life and Popular Mechanics during the ‘40s and ‘50s showcased a healthy assortment of Airguide compasses, telescopes, and binoculars

1947 advertising 

1948

Makes a lot of sense to make opera glasses, binocs, and spy glasses at the same time

 

not only did they make a compass for snowmobiles, they made an altimeter. Yes, for snowmobiles

I grew up in snowmobile country, never saw any with an altimeter, and frankly? Have no god damn idea why the hell a snowmobile needs an altimeter. A flare gun? Yes. A winch? Absolutely. Extra gas tank? Are you kidding? Of COURSE they need an extra gas tank. But an altimeter? 

1957

they were so compass crazy, they even put a compass on a hand grip

then used that hand grip for their wind speed indicator

this nice condo building at the intersection of Winnebago and Wabansia in Chicago is their old factory

https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/single-post/airguide-instrument-co/

I hope you've enjoyed this look at the variety of things they made, and aren't you glad neither of us are collectors of every neat thing we see?