it's story is at https://www.hotrod.com/features/1923-rat-tub-lives/
Saturday, January 18, 2025
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 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!
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.
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.
“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.
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.”
“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
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.”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
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.
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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
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/mta-manhattan-traffic-dropped-7-5-first-week-congestion-pricing
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/path-train-fare-hikes-new-york-new-jersey/
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/path-train-fare-hikes-new-york-new-jersey/
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
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!)
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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.
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