Saturday, January 18, 2025

'23 tub

https://64.media.tumblr.com/76c3d051a7c760740bc8c521ba1f0866/902b351f08b27a00-ac/s1280x1920/5dd8d4f491f4fe1148697713eec154c5a9632bb1.jpg

it's story is at https://www.hotrod.com/features/1923-rat-tub-lives/

It's rare and fantastic to see someone has made a new matched set


 https://mecanicien.tumblr.com/image/189296121201

clever adaptation of a pop art aberration

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6AdwGoozqa/?igshid=tic011oe9w5j

since I'm more fascinated in the muscle car era, than any other, the factory race cars (nascar, SCCA, hi perf dealership sold models) thrill me the most

 

https://mecanicien.tumblr.com/image/611056632822218752

yikes! I've never been upside down, or in a serious crash in a vehicle... it must be shockingly traumatic

 

https://mecanicien.tumblr.com/image/611338217521922048

some Strasburg Railroad unqualified manager had an employee fired for not rubber stamping him a locomotive engineer and conductor license... that was illegal, and OSHA jumped in to fine the railroad, and reinstate the employee with pay and punitive damages



The Strasburg Rail Road is a heritage railroad and the oldest continuously operating standard-gauge railroad in the western hemisphere, as well as the oldest public utility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

 The railroad’s CEO said that the former official had resigned on his own, and former president and general manager Jim Hager — the fourth of five individuals to lead the company since November 2018, and who resigned, and declined to comment.

Thanks George! 

if you have had the notion you've wanted to do a family project car, with your dad, or kids, here's a good one

 https://silodrome.com/bmw-2002-parts-collection/

this Sno-Runner was left in the crate, as it was bought without spousal approval and then quickly hidden away to avoid an argument. It remained hidden for decades, and has only recently come to light. Thanks George!

 

https://silodrome.com/factory-crate-chrysler-sno-runner/

great way to save cool old mopars, made newer junk look like older Chargers when they need to crash them in movies and tv shows


someone didn't anchor the feet on this lift and when the 55 Chev got to the top? Shit fell apart and the car fell sideways

 


This is a Champion Lift. This was at the Barrett Jackson auction in Phoenix. It happened on Wednesday during setup day.

plowing real deep snow in Lake Tahoe last year... and the plow guy is so damn nice, he even clears out driveways!

photographers capture some really cool moments of beauty

 

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2025/01/friday-open-road_17.html

Finally, happy good news about the steampunk Miyazaki series Sherlock Hound! It's streaming on Amazon Prime!

 

I learned about this series in 2015 and posted about it  https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/05/for-fans-of-miyazaki-sherlock-holmes.html

the director of Customs and Border Protection at the Port of Baltimore acknowledges that CBP has neither the time nor manpower to inspect every shipping container.


At the Port of Baltimore, CBP scrutinizes several hundred vehicles every day, and on average will find one illegal export — nearly all headed to a particular region of the world, says Adam Rottman, CBP’s director at the Port of Baltimore.

“I’d say 90 to 95% of every one of our stolen automobiles is headed to West Africa,” he tells VOA.


https://www.voanews.com/amp/us-customs-agents-intercept-contraband-cars-headed-overseas/7939673.html

Friday, January 17, 2025

Very cool good news, that I really like to share... famous celeb artist raising money for the people that lost homes to the wildfires


As the devastating wildfires still rage on across California, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is joining the relief efforts by auctioning off some rare merchandise to raise money for the charity World Central Kitchen

Dodge has quietly issued a recall on every single Demon for a spark plug issue. (thanks Mike!)

Those who felt their Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 lost some of the 1,025 horsepower along the way get good news. It turns out they were right: their cars were indeed losing power.

customers have been reporting an issue referring to engine misfire and loss of power for a year and a half, ever since deliveries started, according to Butter Da Insider, the man who specializes in uncovering exclusive insider information on Stellantis, Ford, and GM.

He is in possession of a document (check the photo gallery) that Stellantis reportedly sent to dealerships. Those who will fix the Demons are also getting a tool kit for the procedure. According to the one who provided Butter Da Insider with the information about the recall, the box includes spark plugs, so it's more of a part supply instead of an actual tool kit.

it's heart warming to see truckers getting help from people when they are stuck on the snow or ice

https://fordauthority.com/2025/01/lifted-ford-super-duty-driver-rescues-stuck-semitruck-video/

clever


Ford CEO Jim Farley declared that The Blue Oval wasn’t going to be making “boring products” moving forward

A few months later, in October, Farley doubled down on that statement, noting that the automaker was “getting out of the boring-car business and into the iconic-vehicle business,” and instead, he planned to focus on passion products that also drive sales and profit.

“We do not make shampoo,” Farley said during a presentation at the annual event, according to Automotive News. “Rule No. 1 at Ford: no boring products. Our industry is in the midst of a disruption. But one thing remains true: Great products always win.” “We’re not trying to make toasters on wheels,” added Jim Baumbick, Ford’s vice president of advanced product development. “We’re not trying to make just commodity products. It’s all about emotion.”


Thursday, January 16, 2025

things don't always go to plan when you show people what a great thing you've invented, sometimes tragedy has to intervene to get your invention the respect it deserves

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122160040526314299&set=a.122106749852314299

lol, this is good, and probably true. There's a LOT of people that just want the big 3 to make new stuff look like the cool stuff they once had. Just make it better this time around. Everything now makes the power it once did, with twice the gas mileage

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=912340961064587&set=a.555860870045933

this guy knew what it took to win, and how to get there


It's great to learn that celebs that can afford to help the volunteers, and the fire departments, and George just let me know that Jay Leno took his 41 fire engine to deliver a catered lunch several locations the fire fighters are using as forward deployed bases


 

Thanks George! 

A youtuber is building an F40 from scratch, with original body panels, and an original F40 chassis CAD model as a guide, he constructed a bespoke tubular frame, better than original, and he’s been able to track down all of the original body panels needed to build an F40 from scratch.


one blue 77 VW van survived the Malibu and made news headlines (thank you Don and Marc!)


Amid the rubble of the wildfires, a blue Volkswagen van from the 1970s somehow remained untouched. The van belonged to surfboard designer Megan Weinraub who was surfing with friends in Malibu just before the fire. The van is still parked in the exact same spot in Malibu where Weinraub left it when she heeded the order to evacuate. She can't go back for it yet, since the neighborhood remains closed to the public.

Getty photojournalist Justin Sullivan, went into the burn zone and photographed a dozen or so old cars on the streets




Thank you guys for the compliments on the 60k posts!

All of your posts are still great! I have been looking at them almost every day for many of those years. The only other blog in my favorites is the "Daily timewaster" that you turned me onto quite a while ago. Thank you.

Jack



Congratulations on the fine content and the exemplary perseverance; you are a great car guy!

Dan Pro



Congrats! This is my Nº1 car blog. Keep it going!!!

Hansz

 

With deep gratitude my mate. You have helped me through many hard to get sleep nights, here down under. I only have the greatest respect for your efforts and can understand that what once started out as a fun thing, can now become a chore.

Volksrob


Wednesday, January 15, 2025

train design by Luigi Colani in 1979

 


if you get a kick out of the way over the top goofy sales pitches that people come up with to sell cars online, you'll like this one trying to sell a military utility cargo vehicle

it doesn't have airbags (more like coward cushions; am I right?) but it does come with the factory original fire extinguisher.

This 1980s pleather was good enough for David Lee Roth's pants so it's gotta be good enough for truck seats.

Those brackets on either side of the cab will hold an M16A2 with a 20-inch barrel and iron sights. Try finding that on a new truck's options list.

You know how dealerships are. They're always trying to rip you off or sell you something you don't need. That's not a problem with the old M1008, because no dealership's service department will touch this truck with a 10-foot pole.


https://www.military.com/off-duty/autos/used-car-salesmans-pitch-why-you-need-m1008-commercial-utility-cargo-vehicle.html

On Jan. 8, Ukrainian drones flew 400 miles to strike a Russian air force’s bomber base

The blasts triggered a blaze at a sprawling depot containing as much as 800,000 tons of fuel—a blaze that raged for days. The fire finally burned itself out, or firefighters extinguished it, after six days. Hours later on Tuesday, drones struck a second time.

the search is on for the person who illegally drove on Death Valley sand dunes, it turns out there is one grass that only grows in Death Valley. It won't be missed, because no one goes to Death Valley to enjoy the grass, or even knows it exists. It does nothing for the environment.


while illegal off-roading occurs nearly once a week in Death Valley, off-roading incidents at Eureka Dunes are more rare — and come with much steeper ramifications. Instead of the $750 fine associated with driving off marked roads elsewhere in the park, driving onto the dunes could land someone with fines of up to $25,000 and imprisonment for up to six months.

Eureka dunegrass is native to Inyo County and only grows on sand dunes on the southern half of Eureka Valley, according to the Center for Plant Conservation. It was listed as an endangered species in 1978 due to a population decline caused by off-road vehicle recreation.

“The potential fines are much more severe because of the threatened species covered under the Endangered Species Act,” Wines said.


I and many others on this planet, don't give a damn about a useless weed that serves no function in the environment, as, there is no ecosystem that it's a part of, in the sand dunes, in Death Valley, because it's Death god damn Valley... it's in the 120s or 130s there. I'm surprised the grass grows there.

Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit Monday against Allstate over driver data privacy

Texas has sued insurance provider Allstate, alleging that the firm and its data broker subsidiary used data from apps like GasBuddy, Routely, and Life360 to quietly track drivers and adjust or cancel their policies.

Allstate and its subsidiary Arity did not get consent to collect, use and sell personal driving data from over 45 million consumers nationwide.

Allstate and Arity, a "mobility data and analytics" firm founded by Allstate in 2016, collected "trillions of miles worth of location data" from more than 45 million people, then used that data to adjust rates, according to Texas' lawsuit. This violates Texas' Data Privacy and Security Act, which requires "clear notice and informed consent" on how collected data can be used.

from now on, we'll tell the young ones, "once upon a time, there was a magazine called Hot Rod who had full time staff, not freelancers, who attended the cool hot rod events and shared the photos and stories in the magazine"



https://hotrodsofthedrylakesera.blogspot.com/2014/10/hot-rod-rodeo.html

Unfortunately, greed was more important to the people that ran Hot Rod, and every one of them looked at Hot Rod as an investment, not a solemn duty to carry a great legacy more generations and continue the coverage of events, and hot rods. 

By run Hot Rod, I mean the people that bought and sold it, no one else actually runs something, just the people that can sell it. 

If you love the dry lake era of the late 40s, 50s and 60s then you'll probably get a kick out of https://hotrodsofthedrylakesera.blogspot.com it only has 100 posts, and was done in just 6 years

13 women kept SLO’s railroad running during WWII and went for the ‘manly’ jobs of railroad roundhouse crew,


women of the roundhouse crew at San Luis Obispo’s Southern Pacific railroad yard, put their desire to work at jobs hitherto denied them, before their aim to serve in essential wartime capacities.

The 13 grease-streaked, overall-clad feminine “roundhousers” who work right along with the men in the roundhouse, where engines are brought for general overhauling, repairs and checkups, as machinists’ helpers, when asked why they were at the hard, greasy work.

All of them, from the attractive twentyish Amy Warfield, still bubbling with enthusiasm of it all, having been on the railroad job only ten days, to the cheerful, vigorous Katie Nelms, a grandmother, gave synonymous answers to the inquiry, “Why did you seek work on the roundhouse gang?” Their answers were straightforward — they weren’t going to miss their chance of doing something they never had a crack at before because it had been acknowledged by men as being for men only!

None of the women had previously worked at mechanical jobs. The majority of them were former office workers, laundry helpers and housewives.

Ina Wansley, the first woman to be hired on the local crew, reporting there on Dec. 11, 1942, said of the men’s attitude when she made her first appearance among them in overalls and kerchief, “They made no secret of resenting me, but I went right on with my work, and when they knew that I wasn’t going to be fazed by their unwelcoming attitude, they assured me that neither they or the engines bite. From the very first they proved gentlemen, never using rough language around the girls, and always ‘Johnnies on the spot’ to give a helping hand with a heavy load.” 

Virginia Bruger, a lovely young soldier’s wife, who, if one were typing occupationally, would describe her as “the ideal secretary type,” said, “One of my girlhood ambitions was to get right into the heart of the whistling demons.”

Then there is Nellie O’Neal, wife of a civilian employee at Camp San Luis Obispo and mother of two children. On the roundhouse crew for the past 14 months, her duties vary from the supply department, to the office and back to the engines. 

“Engines fascinate me,” she said. “They’re all so different. To most persons they would appear identical, but when you get to know them, you find they are very much like individuals, needing specific care. Very much like children, I would say.” 

Although a member of the roundhouse crew, Evelyn Hobbs, a soldier’s wife, finds that her duties don’t differ much from those of the home-maker — instead of keeping the home fires burning, she keeps the engine’s fires up. Evelyn watches the fires on inbound engines, making sure that the steam is kept at the correct temperature, until they are brought to the roundhouse. 

There are others, Carrie Steele, mother of two children, the only woman boilermaker; Marjorie Wilson, wife of a soldier, who spends her days filling air pumps and dynamos; Elma Linn, a mother; Billy Mayfield, a soldier’s wife; Rose Silvera, Donna Simpson and Lena Martin, all hardy, cheerful workers — and punctual, too, according to Lester Jaeger, roundhouse clerk — and why not? Didn’t they get something they “wanted, but couldn’t have?”

advance Auto Parts is closing over 700 stores and shuttering its West Coast operations.

 Seems that they had a ridiculous sale, around 80 to 90% off, but that was days ago, and those in the know took advantage and wisely didn't tell anyone and let others get a steal of a deal. 

So, it's not likely that there's still a sale going on, and batteries were not on sale

https://www.thedrive.com/news/you-can-get-killer-deals-at-advance-auto-parts-stores-now-that-theyre-closing

This 12,500 pound boiler was bulldozed into a swamp in 2002.



Look at the freaking size of these Argentine freight wagons! Grain exports were once one of the driving forces of the Argentine economy, right up until the great depression

The Great Depression, caused by the international financial crisis, led to a fall in the price of primary goods - between 1928 and 1932, the prices of Argentina's main exports fell by 60%, and the volume of Argentine exports decreased by almost 12%. Thus, faced with the global crisis, the Argentine agro-export model was losing its viability in the medium and long term.

At that time, Argentina was one of the ten most developed economies in the world, and its achievements in developing the country had turned Argentina into the richest and most developed country in Latin America.

The main producers of agricultural exports in Argentina were large landowners, latifundists, who controlled gigantic land masses - farms with an area of ​​over 1 thousand hectares owned no less than 80% of the land, and the 500 largest latifundists owned 30 million hectares! In total, of the approximately 1 million people employed in agriculture, about 650 thousand people were hired workers.


Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Yay! One more Silk City diner has been saved and will get another reincarnation!

Found for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Oneida County, it's now been moved 90 miles away to Fair Haven in Cayuga County, it now sits almost on the Cayuga-Wayne County line

It's been Kristina Brewster's longtime dream to own a restaurant. She’s been a cook in many eateries over the years, but always wanted her own place. 


after the first week of New York City congestion pricing, the PATH train fare hikes started Sunday, nope... absolutely no connection, collusion, or conspiracy would ever make me think that the train fares got hiked to take advantage of the situation... after all, only 43000 fewer cars used Manhattan streets after the congestion pricing was forced on the taxpayers who already paid for the roads


another unexpected side effect, that they have zero ability to deal with? all those people now trying to park just outside the congestion area. 

Betty White's 1st husband was a P38 pilot in WW2

 https://fox8.com/news/i-couldnt-hack-it-betty-whites-first-marriage-led-her-to-brief-bumpy-ride-in-ohio-town

There's nothing much to say about that 8 month marriage, but damn... the most beautiful women marry pilots, always have. 

1910 Mitchell Special Speedster, powered by a, 11 liter, 697cu in T-head inline-six built by the Wisconsin Motor Manufacturing Company. (thank you Capt Doug!)

Even has a legit Selden Patent badge and a Jones 60-mph speedometer! 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1910-wisconsin-mitchell-11-liter-70hp-special-speedster/

Look at this young punk, in 74-75, in San Diego at an intersection of Miramar Rd just West of the 805 (thanks Mike!)

 Mongoose frame, Ashtabula something something Motomag something Dan Gurney, heavy duty Schwinn front

one hell of a great Hot Wheels track! Thanks Mike!


https://www.ksl.com/article/51227621/have-you-seen-this-utah-hot-wheel-enthusiast-makes-elaborate-track-to-race-his-cars

a vintage 300 SL Gullwing, a Ferrari F430 and a 190SL drop top, and a 67 Shelby GT 500 are not what you’d expect to see parked next to a shopping center after sundown, but someone did the smart thing and got them the hell out of burn zone Calabasas BEFORE the fires struck



 

thanks Mike! This is a hoot!

 

Sixty thousand posts. So, that's a nice round number.

 

ok, and 19 more before I looked at the scoreboard and noticed I had passed the goal. 




there just aren't many photos of 10s of thousands of poles

if you try and find a photo with 60,000 poles, Google shows you crowds of Polish people, I kid you not. 

So this logging jam photo from the old days will have to do. After all, logs are made into telephone poles... so, ergo, logs are poles. And I've posted photos of logging yards in the past... so, now it was time for a bigger better photo with the most poles yet. 

So, 60k. Not bad for a car guy. I think this is the 3rd laptop, 5th or 6th mouse, 18 years and some months, 3rd commuter car, 2 part time weekend jobs, 12 regular full time jobs, 5  or 6 different conventions, and there must be some other interesting things by the numbers (to quote John, the long roof fan https://oleragtop.blogspot.com ) 

And by the way, you CAN look through all the archives by using the "Older Posts" button at the bottom of the pages of posts, or using the "Archive" links on the right hand side of the page to look at some particular year, or week


and I actually recommend those years 2013-2017 for some of the best posts. I had more time back then to do deep research on articles