Saturday, January 27, 2024
Friday, January 26, 2024
finally, something fun to share... Farbs. Mattel / Hot Wheels was selling these in 1971, and Kellogs even had one if kids mailed away for it
While the series was manufactured by Mattel and feature wheels also used on Hot Wheels products these were not officially branded as Hot Wheels products.
It turns out, Eddy, was a WW2 submariner, a radar and sonar operator on the USS Batfish, SS 310 from 43 to 45!
Eddy enlisted in 1942, and is the last surviving crewmember of the Batfish. In its seven war patrols, the Batfish is credited with sinking nine Japanese ships, including three Imperial Japanese Navy submarines in a 76-hour period, in February 1945 — a feat unsurpassed to this day
AND Eddy is most famous for inventing the Yakity Yak Talking Teeth! (plus 795 other toys!)
https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2023/12/1/23984756/eddy-goldfarb-102-year-old-toy-inventor-documentary-yakity-yak-talking-teeth-kerplunk-games
https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Bye-A-Nose says this was a prototype, and didn't make it to production
One Farbs track set Mattel produced with the cars was actually a Kellogg's Cereal promotion featuring the Hy Gear model and a short piece of Hot Wheels track, along with a green plastic boot that would "kick" the car down the track. It was called the "Booter Booster Set".
Thursday, January 25, 2024
big dozers and excavators were put to work to create earthworks to prevent lava flows from getting to the city of Grindavik Iceland
On December 27, 1935, the United States Army Air Corps, stationed at the time in Oahu, sent ten bombers to Mauna Loa.
Twenty 600-pound bombs, containing 300 pounds of TNT-explosive, were dropped on the volcano.
Despite the first unsatisfying results, bombs were tried on Mauna Loa a second time in 1942. This time the vents feeding the lava flow were targeted, but again the direct hits were few. Three days after the bombing, the vents partially collapsed by natural processes and caused the main lava flow to stop.
a quadtrac on a plane headed to Antarctica!
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=802458545260885&set=a.577513834422025
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
and now for something different, a prototype 1958 Lamborghini Agricole DL 30C
one of 10 or so prototypes made that included both a set of wheels and a set of tracks, the wheels allow the prototype to be driven on the road when needed, with no concern about damaging the asphalt.
This 1969 Shelby GT350 was stolen shortly after it was delivered in 1969 and damaged badly enough that the insurance car wrote it off and paid out the owner, and sent the car to the junkyard
The owner was cashed out, and the car was destined for the scrapheap.
This is where ABC Auto Wreckers of San Leandro, California came into the picture. Jerry Lecatse bought the car and set to work turning it into a race car eligible to compete in the SCCA B Production Class.
The original 428 was removed and replaced with a Boss 302 with a more rules-friendly displacement of 302 cubic inches
In 1982 the car was bought to return it to its earlier SCCA racing specification. But, before work could begin, the car was damaged in a storage facility fire along with 14 other vehicles.
The car remained in damaged condition in a new storage facility until Goeringer met famous hot-rodder Doane Spencer, they got to talking about the car and struck a deal to finish it together, repairing the parts that needed it with a donor chassis. Spencer would sadly pass away in 1995 and the project wouldn’t see completion until 2012.
did you know there is a Greyhound Bus Museum? It is open from late May to mid-September, and has outside exhibits of a 1921 Flag Stop Station and 1940 Art Deco Terminal
It took nearly 20 years to get funding from the state, but by then Nicolelli had a wealth of Greyhound memorabilia. There are badges, uniforms, awards (like the 1961 Gold Steering Wheel for Safe Driving) and of course, buses.
Greyhound had it's start with 2 guys, and a 1914 7 passenger Hupmobile they couldn't sell on their part time car sales job, so, instead they used it to haul miners on short trips from Alice to Hibbing. 15 cents one way, 25 cents round trip
