Saturday, September 02, 2023
The train station in Staples, Minnesota on Amtrak's daily Empire Builder service was built in 1909 by the Northern Pacific Railway, it's still used every day
The Northern Pacific Depot and freighthouse in Staples, Minnesota are significant as the sole surviving structures of what were originally extensively developed yard facilities at the railway’s division headquarters. The railway dominated the development and the economy from 1889 until well into the twentieth century. Located on the main line of the Northern Pacific line, the Staples depot is also significant as an extremely well-preserved example of the type of work produced by staff architects of the railway.
an ice box from a passenger train car.
Friday, September 01, 2023
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Baja racing privateer Stroppe Courier, engine by Stroppe, paid for by Champion Spark Plus co, owned and driven by Don Bare and Ray Lynch from 72-75 or so n
It was wired up and assembled, and painted by Bare and Lynch. Interesting because the Stroppe orange white and blue colors were reversed, so Blue was on the bottom.
There were 4 or so other Couriers, mostly Stroppe prepped, so it made sense to stand out.
With a NORRA cat 10 or Score 7 field full of Ford Couriers, this also prompted Bare/Lynch to change the grill and paint to all orange in ’74 and enter as a Mazda for a better chance at “first mazda across the line” cash.
This identity crisis continued when Tom Haliburda bought or traded for this courier and raced it with Gary Turner in the late 70s and early 80s as a Mazda. The original title labels it as a Ford Courier.
Motor was built originally by Stroppe's engine room and paid for by Champion Spark Plugs. Rear was originally a Mazda HD unit, the tires were originally 13-9.00 Bridgestone Alligators on slotted 13x6 mags with a Bronco bolt pattern
funniest thing I've read today so far, a writer's bio
Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford family and spent many hours holding a trouble light over a straight-six miraculously fed by a single-barrel carburetor while his father cursed Ford, all its products and everyone who ever worked there. This was his introduction to objective automotive criticism.
Magazines folded like socks, wacky wavers, origami stocks. A few switched to long form coffee table book style higher quality (Rodders Journal) and others tried, but didn't have the various factors needed to stick it out until they could figure out how to succeed (Motor Trend Classic)
I like to point out good writing, and good writers, because all of us experienced the best writers and writing, and APPRECIATED them.
But they grew old and either died or retired. The market changed, car magazines fired staff, shut down titles, and didn't figure out how to excel at doing the only job they existed for during their 100 year run (1905 to 2005) because they'd only ever had one trick, rely on the income from advertisers, and suddenly, there was no reason for corporations with advertising budgets to pump the money into propping up magazines with mediocre results.
Magazines folded like socks, wacky wavers, origami stocks. A few switched to long form coffee table book style higher quality (Rodders Journal) and others tried, but didn't have the various factors needed to stick it out until they could figure out how to succeed (Motor Trend Classic)
Thursday, August 31, 2023
What's the rider's suit look like?
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=615275154134033&set=a.483974800597403
a replica of the factory-backed Toyopet Crown RSD that was entered in the 1957 Mobilgas Rally Round Australia
Why put yourself thought all this? Well simply put, to sell cars.
The Japanese motor industry was in the first stages of development and the next step was to start to export the products rolling off the assembly lines. Geographically and economically, the U.S.A. and Australia would be the logical places to start.
The Japanese Consulate in Australia put a request into the industry for someone to send an entry to the rally and Toyota stepped up to the plate.
The President of Toyota Motor Sales Co. Ltd., Shotaro Kamiya, gave full encouragement to the project, “There will be no progress if you fear failure”.
they fix old street cars, in Dallas, in a former mattress warehouse, now a restoration and repair shop, where Dallas’s newly acquired historic trolley cars are painstakingly restored and the current fleet is affectionately maintained.
When MATA founder Phil Cobb began revitalizing the city’s trolley system in the late 1980s, he visited a private collection in San Francisco and bought Rosie on the spot.
Margaret was purchased in the mid-1990s, when a transit system in Toronto planned to scrap it.
The car known as Betty ran in Dallas in the 1920s, but was eventually sent to the ranch of a Dallas Railway CEO, where his children and grandchildren used it as a playhouse.
The street cars were cobbled together from various countries and across decades.
For example, the car known as Emma came to Dallas from Brussels and has a narrower body, better suited for European streets.
Matilda is much bulkier and ran for six decades in Melbourne, Australia before being shipped to Texas. Rosie was built in Philadelphia in 1909 and then shipped to Portugal, where it ran for 79 years before being bought by a private collector in San Francisco.
Other than upgrading cars with safety features that include extra brakes, lights, and stop signs, MATA claims each car in the fleet is as close to original as possible.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/dallas-trolley-car-barn