Saturday, September 17, 2022

to compete in the late 50s fin wars, Chrysler Australia went absurd, and bolted on optional wings, ON TOP of the wings the car was made with... called them Saddle Wings



Though tailfins were fashionable, the AP2 featured fins on top of fins. 

The saddle fins were optional, but most cars left the factory with them. Although the top fin looks part of the body, it was actually bolted on.

a ‘pavement princess' left the safety of the mall parking lot, and as you must expect, immediately was unable to function as a actual truck? Why? Idiot owner installed a butt plug, oh, I mean a hitch that only served as a jeweled butt plug, never intended to tow a trailer


and this was all the distance the Florida idiot could make it




it must have made a mechanic very happy to get one of these Blackhawk power packs added to his garage tools


Ausco Saf-Lift Bumper Jack advertisement from 1950, drawn by someone named Hellwig

I wonder, from seeing the news of 1950 on these mechanic schools by major repair corporations, how many lasted into the 80s, and if any of those still exist

 

a prediction that didn't come true, though it was in the right field, from an advert in 1950 MoToR magazine

instead, they went with heated rear windows that have the very tiny wires that de-ice the back window

best qualifying laps from Friday at Goodwood

putting a D11 to work in a quarry


only a couple minutes at the beginning of the video, and a moment at the end. This guy would rather talk on his video than record the dozer working. 

So I looked at the other videos on their channel, and found another, still short, but with the bigger ripper in use 






some weekend mornings I just want to get off to a slow start, and watch really damn big dozers at work

a small auction company I've never heard of has some cool stuff that has no bids, and only 13 days until the auction of Ron Vest's collection in Oklahoma is over (thanks Doug!)


 

1969 427 tri power 4 speed...  https://www.freedomcarauctions.com/auctions/12342/lot/3624-1969-Chevrolet--Corvette-Convertible

6500 mile 2017 Z06  https://www.freedomcarauctions.com/auctions/12342/lot/3628-2017-Chevrolet-Corvette-Z06-Convertible-2D-


'48 Willys  https://www.freedomcarauctions.com/auctions/12342/lot/3629-NO-RESERVE-1948-Willy's-Jeep

astonishingly lazy original owner accidentally preserved an original license plate for posterity


I've never seen anyone so damn lazy they mount the new one over the old one... 
 

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=5743232955700564&set=pcb.5235598073228812

Thomas Smith began the Smith Model A Motor Compressor Co when he realized how much air compressors were needed in industry, and construction, by rethinking junkyard Model As



T G Smith's day job at the Kentucky-Tennessee Power Company was instrumental in his realizing the various components of necessity:
city governments, businesses, and federal alphabet agencies created as part of the New Deal needed to power jack hammers, mining drills, and water pumps
and resources: 
Ford Model As were cheap machines with proven reputations, in driveways and scrapyards in droves.

Smith designed a clever system to retrofit a used Model A. 

He patented a cylinder head for the car’s 40-horse four-cylinder: 
Cylinders one and four burned gasoline, powering the engine as usual; 
two and three pumped air into a reservoir tank mounted on the car 


Smith’s conversions didn’t stop with a head swap.

The rear two-thirds of a Model A were lopped off, sectioning the car at the cowl. 

Little of the vehicle’s front went to waste: The leaf springs that originally ran parallel to front and rear axles were removed, rotated 90 degrees, and remounted to support the two wheels of the now single-axle compressor housing. 

The original hood, radiator, grille, dash, and gauges remained. The Ford’s original frame rails extended forward from the radiator and remained to form a yoke for easy towing.

The genius and the beauty of this, is that it's easily pulled, towed, and serviced by either you or your local Ford mechanic.




Friday, September 16, 2022

Richmond Auctions sold a rare sign for over $1 million, it was found unused, in an attic, and came from a Muskegon company that only was in business between 6 to 24 months. It broke the previous record sign sale price of 440k, by 1.1 million dollars




This record-breaking sign is the best-known example of this legendary sign. It was found in an attic in Michigan and it’s truly fresh to market – it has never been seen by the public eye before now.

Musgo, originally located in Muskegon, Michigan, was believed to be open for less than six months during the late 1920s, and probably went bankrupt in 1929, along with so many other small businesses killed by the stock market crash and great depression. 

By far, it’s the highest graded Musgo known to exist. Decent examples of this sign sell for 100k, outstanding ones for 200-300k. This one is impeccable, and a better example does not exist. https://issuu.com/morphyauctions/docs/flipdoc_sept_30-oct_3?fr=sMDdlZjQ2NjA1NQ for more info on this sign's uniqueness

Any place that has a '61 4020 John Deere behind the bar, and a '52 Chevy truck against the far wall, is worth taking a look at.





read about it in the Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/how-luke-bryan-jason-aldean-theme-bars-are-remaking-nashvilles-broadway-721634 to learn it's owned by a serial restaurantuer, from Ohio, as well as the Luke Bryant restaurant next door, the two restaurants share the same kitchen

Lakeside Montana had a 1995 Crown Vic cruiser that was used for patrol for 13 years, and 15 years as a speed trap decoy with a mannequin appearing to be running radar in the 45 zone, where most people are doing 70


I forgot that The Grand Tour, Skandi Flick episode is streaming on Amazon Prime today... so, now you know

In the news, charter planes and busses were used this week by the governors of Texas, Arizona, and Florida... to make a hilarious political point, forcing the lefty liberal democrats who reside safe (and far North) of the USA/Mexico border (and the flood of 2 million illegals a year) to prove they can live with their immigrant welcoming rhetoric - because NOW the proverbial chickens have come home to roost


While some Democrats are blasting Florida Gov DeSantis for sending migrants to Martha's Vineyard, a county official, Keith Chatinover, a progressive county commissioner for Dukes County, Massachusetts, where Martha's Vineyard is located, said less than a year ago that he would "love" to see the area become a home for immigrants. 


He said that in response to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who was pushing a bill for Democrat-led areas like Martha's Vineyard to become ports of entry for processing migrants coming in from the southern border.



I heard the Martha's Vineyard homeless advocate (Seriously, they have homeless on Martha's Vineyard?) declared a "humanitarian crisis" and called the national guard (!) to deal with the plane load of illegals that arrived suddenly and unexpectedly on the billionaire retirement island. 

Ken Burns, famous documentary maker, likened the country club island's new 50 residents appearance, as the like the holocaust. Yes, the genocide of the Jewish people by the Nazis.  https://nypost.com/2022/09/16/ken-burns-likens-relocation-of-migrants-to-rise-of-nazis/

Martha's Vineyard is an island of 15,000 people, and at least 2 presidential dynasty families, with a dozen country clubs, at least 3 yacht clubs, 16 art galleries, and it is part of the state of Massachusetts.
About 60% of the residents are only seasonal, and they are mostly megawealthy, like Oprah, the Obamas, the Clintons, and Hollywood A listers

today I heard from a relative of the inventor of the Prescott steam car!


here's the only one I've ever found in person, and Nick says he's going to road trip, and dig into family history, and make a book... so I hope to learn a lot more about this steam car manufacturer from him in the future.

One very cool side effect of having photographed, and posted my photos here on my car blog, is that about once a year, someone wants to trade me a copy of the book that they are going to make, for the use of my photos of whatever they have an interest in. 


Most amazingly, one of the 1st people to want to use some of my photos, was Randy, the Blastolene genius, who made a book of the many Blastolene vehicles he's made or been involved with. 

I discovered by accident, what that plane is that they used in Jurassic Park World Dominion

Following the end of World War Two, the French Air Force found itself with two military transports, the German Junkers Ju 52, which for a short while, was manufactured in France. The second aircraft was surplus American Douglas C-47 Skytrains

Neither were efficient for loading cargo, with side doors, so, in 1947, looking to modernize the military, France's competition for aircraft manufacturers to develop a modern medium-weight cargo aircraft resulted in SNCAN coming up with an innovative design that featured rear clamshell doors.                   

https://simpleflying.com/nord-noratlas-history/



Quetzalcoatlus was a massive flying dinosaur that may just be the largest flying creature to have ever lived. As members of the pterodactyl family first discovered in Texas in the United States at Big Bend National Park in 1971 https://a-z-animals.com/blog/meet-quetzalcoatlus-the-50-foot-flying-dinosaur-in-jurassic-world-dominion/

dammmnnnn! Those Fiat 500s were tiny! (an all caps for emphasis "TINY" is a contradiction, isn't it?)

 looks like it would be so damn much fun...  with a hyper little engine, and go-kart like suspension 

https://chrisoncars.com/say-hello-to-my-little-friend/

A.L.I technology's Xturismo hoverbike made its US debut at the Detroit Auto Show, drawing comparisons to the speeder bikes of "Star Wars."


 it only costs 3/4s of a million dollars for the Japan version, and no, they aren't going to sell those in the USA, their plan is to make a smaller version, electric... Yeah, that's not likely. Batteries weigh too damn much to power aircraft for the duration buyers will demand. 

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-717311

amazing... someone in Platteville, Wisconsin has a pair of mules that move a 3 wheel, steel wheel (no pneumatic tires) type of forklift to unload a semi trailer


Looks Amish, so, why the motor that powers the hydraulics? Man, they cheat! 



Lance Reventlow front and center with foot on the tire. Scarab, Monaco 1960

 

https://primotipo.com/2021/05/19/better-late-than-never/

publicity whore Salvador Dalí on a carriage drawn by his own goat. 1953.


Thursday, September 15, 2022

Factory workers & their two cats (I love that) at a manufacturing company that assembled Cadillac cars, in the year 1903, Second row, third from the right, Henry Leland. (Thanks Jeff!)

https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/pv0zbt/factory_workers_their_two_cats_at_a_manufacturing/

Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols and Louise Thaden at the National Air Races, Los-Angeles, 1933

https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/ut932w/amelia_earhart_ruth_nichols_and_louise_thaden_at/

Supermarine Spitfire of the US 307th Fighter Squadron rests on the beach at Paestum, Italy near Salerno after being shot down Sep 9, 1943.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/vpl0az/supermarine_spitfire_of_the_us_307th_fighter/

Rosa May Billinghurst, the suffragette who used her wheelchair to charge police officers during protests.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ColorizedHistory/comments/wgy92y/rosa_may_billinghurst_the_suffragette_who_used/

A circus girl standing at a door of a circus vehicle during a rehearsal for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Sarasota in 1949.

 https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/xe0zc1/a_circus_girl_standing_at_a_door_of_a_circus/

The German government has sold off its last shares in Lufthansa The airline recently returned to profitability after reporting its first quarterly profit since the outbreak of the pandemic.

 the current and previous German government and taxpayers supported Lufthansa during the most severe financial crisis in the company's history during the covid shutdown. The stabilization of Lufthansa was successful, and is now paying off financially for the German government and thus for the taxpayer

The airline recently returned to profitability after reporting its first quarterly profit since the outbreak of the pandemic.

2 tourists and a tour guide are dead after the 2022 Jeep Gladiator they were traveling in fell nearly 250 feet from a popular off-road trail near Imogene Pass in Colorado.


The Colorado State Patrol says it responded to a report of a crash at 12:32 p.m. and found a white Jeep hundreds of feet down from the road. The truck was believed to have slipped over the side of the trail, falling 100 feet and landing on its roof before rolling a further 140 feet down the embankment. The vehicle's driver was ejected, and his body was found near the banks of Canyon Creek. His passengers, a pair of Arizona tourists, were found dead inside the vehicle.