Saturday, November 08, 2025
so many people are freaked out that Facebook is out to steal their info/photos, etc etc paranoid and so on... and they never discover all this fun stuff - Dan H posted that he sold an item on eBay and the buyer had a Japanese address. "I don't ever get orders from Japan, so out of curiosity I went to street view and found this"
why would anyone destroy a cool little vintage Mini by tossing it in a trebuchet? From the June 1992 issue of Car and Driver.
It is 60 feet high and weighs some 30 tons. Its main beam, made of laminated wood, is 57 feet long. It's weight box is filled with six tons of steel
an automated stacker system broke down at Rathbone Square, near Oxford Street, and vehicles were stuck there for 28 months, starting in December of 2022 (utterly absurd amount of time, and likely, all the fuel in all those vehicles went bad, some interiors might have gotten moldy)
The vehicle owners had to rent substitutes in the 28 months they waited for the stacker system to be repaired... many had no choice, and had to out of pocket for the rentals, as insurance was not paying roughly 1200 a month for rentals.
Despite repeated attempts by the BBC to contact AXA XL, the building's public liability insurer, the company has not responded to questions about the delays.
Deka, the German investment fund that owns the Rathbone Square development, and CBRE, the managing agents for the building, both said they were not responsible for the failure of the parking system.
Klaus Multiparking, the manufacturer of the mechanical stacker, said investigations were ongoing but its understanding was that a broken chain caused the breakdown.
Double Parking Systems, the UK company responsible for maintaining the equipment, said it had never been the owner, operator or insurer of the car park.
It said the time taken to resolve the situation was not down to them, and they had advised vehicles could have been retrieved seven months before they were finally released.
Double Parking Systems, the UK company responsible for maintaining the equipment, said it had never been the owner, operator or insurer of the car park.
It said the time taken to resolve the situation was not down to them, and they had advised vehicles could have been retrieved seven months before they were finally released.
Roman roads stretched 50% longer than previously known, according to a new digital atlas published Thursday.
The last major atlas of ancient Roman road networks was published 25 years ago. Since then, advances in technology and other newly accessible sources have greatly expanded researchers’ ability to locate ancient roadways.
Over five years, a team of archaeologists combed through historical records, ancient journals, locations of milestones and other archival data. Scientists then looked for clues in satellite imagery and aerial photography, including recently digitized photos taken from planes during World War II.
When ancient accounts hinted at lost roads in a certain area, researchers analyzed the terrain from above to spot subtle traces — things like faint differences in vegetation, soil variations or shifts in elevation, as well as traces of ancient engineering like raised mounds or cut hillsides — that revealed where Roman lanes once ran.
The data and an interactive digital map are also available online for scholars, history teachers or anyone with an interest in ancient Roman history. https://itiner-e.org/ for the interactive map
Earlier research had focused on “the highways of the Roman Empire” — the large thoroughfares most often mentioned in familiar historical accounts, said Brughmans.
The updated map fills in more obscure details about “secondary roads, like the country lanes, that connected villas and farms” and other locations, said Brughmans, who’s based at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Researchers previously tallied the extent of Roman roads as covering around 117,163 miles (188,555 kilometers). The new work shows nearly 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) of roads across the extent of the Roman Empire, allowing travel from Spain to Syria.
The study added a lot to archaeologists’ knowledge of ancient roads in North Africa, the plains of France and in the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece.
Roman engineering feats to build and maintain roads — including arched stone bridges and tunnels through hillsides — still shape the geography and economy of the Mediterranean region and beyond, he said.
Record $13 million in heroin seized at San Ysidro Port of Entry, about 290 pounds, hidden in a 2008 Silverado, the biggest haul ever discovered in a single car. A CBP officer noticed an abnormality in the spare tire on October 22.
According to CBP, the unidentified individual tried to enter the U.S. while driving a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado, the driver, a Mexican citizen with lawful permanent residency in the U.S.
72 packages of heroin were in hidden compartments, including the air filter, fender, glove box, rear seats and spare tire.
new tv series announced about Nascar, from AMC, one of the first long-form dramatic series to partner with the racing body.
“Thunder Road is about the Whitlock racing dynasty, a family bound by legacy, love, and the weight of their name.” said Fusco. “Set against the high-stakes world of NASCAR and the mythic outlaw roots of a sport born on the whiskey-running backroads of the south, you might call it Succession with stock cars. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this dramatic, action-packed, uniquely American story to life with AMC and NASCAR.”
Ryan Reynolds announced to film a remake of the Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges crime comedy movie, Thunderbolt & Lightfoot.
The original 1974 film followed two criminals. Thunderbolt (Eastwood) was an experienced thief while Lightfoot (Bridges) was a young vagabond. The two met when Thunderbolt was pretending to be a preacher and was attacked by an old associate, Red (George Kennedy), who wrongfully believed that he was betrayed by him. As he runs away from his former friend, Lightfoot helps him out by picking him up in a car that he had just stolen.
The pair eventually develop a plan to team up with Red and another old partner of Thunderbolt's, Eddie (Geoffrey Lewis), for a heist. The unlikely team then attempt to rob a bank as chaos ensues.
things with wheels... rice field tractors
see them in action, with the driver on a plate behind them and when that gets moving, the driver is gliding along like a snowboarder https://www.facebook.com/kanokphan.homsuwan/reels
Compliment of the day!
I love your blog, you have some very interesting stories and pictures.
UserBronco
first-start of rebuilt 22.5-liter Matabele V-12 aero engines, part of a massive restoration project that will culminate with the Sunbeam 1000hp running at speed on the sands of Daytona Beach in 2027.
The push is on to finish the restoration of the car in time for the 100th anniversary of the record in 2027. The team plans to take the car back to Daytona and run on the sands once more
Why the hell did Dodge put a wing on a truck, when the Viper didn't need one? The 2004 Ram SRT-10
it just gets in the way if and when you actually want to use the truck bed
ever heard of the 60's fiberglass car, the LaDawri? Think Paxton Supercharged Cobra GT 350 with a different body, because it's 289 in on a Ford chassis... thank you George and Doug!
Dawes began producing fiberglass bodies in British Columbia in 1956, introducing the LaDawri Cavalier – widely considered Canada’s first production fiberglass sports car. After moving operations to Southern California in 1957, he expanded the lineup to include around 19 models, reportedly selling about 700 bodies before the company’s closure in 1965.
So, that's just seeing what was going on, the fiberglass Corvette, but dying with the 1965 GT 350 Cobra Mustang's availability
and it's currently on Bring a Trailer for 20k! https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1962-ladawri-conquest/
There sure were a lot of choices for anyone that wanted a Fiberglass sports car, Meyers Manx, Fiberfab, Glasspar, Victress, Devin, Kurtis Kraft, Kellison, Bocar, AMT etc
The New York Central's five Shay B-60-2 locomotives, for street-running service in New York City in 1923, were encased in full metal shrouds, from the wheels to the roof.
The above photograph of No. 1897 with its casing partially removed offers a rare glimpse of the specialized geared machinery hidden within its urban armor.
By the way, thoughts on the FAA / Airline / Airport issue
Must SUCK to try and catch a flight from SEMA to get home (I drive from Vegas to San Diego, 5 hours, and sure would be less risky to fly instead of deal with TIREDNESS for a boring 5 hour steering wheel chokehold.... trying to rely on caffeine and podcasts to combat being up for over 20 hours on the drive home, since waking up a 3 am to get to SEMA to hit it at about 10 am that morning.
Also, just my 2 cents, as what is the point of a blog if not to make a place to give your two cents about whatever... right?
Sure seems sunlight bright and clear to me that the US Govt isn't playing by the rules of "pass a damn budget, on time, every time, no delay, and balance the damn thing, and consider not blowing a couple trillion more that just gets added to the 34 trillion dollar deficit / bankruptcy thing no one deals with" that they once did, and wouldn't it be nice if instead of the repercussions and fallout being something only the regular citizens have to cope with (no airline traffic controllers getting paid, and neither are the other airport govt workers, are the soldiers, sailors and Marines getting paid?)
It sure would be nice to see that by not passing a budget (and I don't mean a month to month spending bill that only delays the inevitable "where's the next annual budget?" problem) the hundreds of millionaires that are supposed to work for the citizens, who aren't millionaires (huge gap of wealth between politicians and voters on that point) the politicians, and their office budgets, and their govt provided vehicles, transportation budget, per diem food allowance, and gas cards are all frozen from the day the govt gets into shut down mode, until they work out the solution and get the govt budget passed for the next annual cycle... and that they have to show up to work, in the big ol voting chamber where the House of Representatives, or Congress members, plus the VP and the Pres, sit at those desks and don't get to do anything but look at each other with hate and discontent, and eat cafeteria food made by unpaid US Capitol Building cafeteria workers, and use the bathrooms that unpaid US Capitol Building janitors clean... while those politicians are on a pay freeze.
But, more interesting than my notion of how the politicians should have to be burdened by the results of their lack of results on doing the only job they are hired to do - do not vote for a single one of them to get re-elected, they obviously are not capable of doing their job, and only us regular people have to bear that burden -
is it NOW clear that a high speed rail system around the country would be a great idea, and a way to avoid using the airlines/airports/air traffic controller who are not getting paid, and actually govt ordered to cut 10% of all flights?
Yes, a high speed rail system is expensive, and so are airline tickets. It would be nice to avoid the monopoly, and instant death of transport when the airports shut down, if we had a high speed rail system.
We've recently seen just how paralyzing the airlines are when ONE little thing happens, like
the volcano in Iceland diverting all air traffic from that New York to Europe route in April 2010,
or the covid pandemic cutting 90% of all air travel at it's worst,
the combo 1-2 punch of 2008 recession and jet fuel price surge,
the 2019 Boeing 737 Max groundings,
the 2017 British Airways data center power fail,
the Feb 2018 and Jan 2021 storms that screwed up Europe's airports
the Jan 2023 Southwest Airlines snafu back to back with the NOTAMS failure
the June 30th 2023 United Airline fiasco in Seattle-Tacoma airport
the March 2025 electrical substation explosion at Heathrow
Fall of 2025 drone intrusion into European airport airspace
Anyway, clearly, airports can be easily shut down by tech fails, uncommonly harsh weather, and paychecks getting cut off.
Sure would be a good thing to have another fast transportation way to get around the country, instead of driving your own car
(new to me) Wallace and Gromit Ultimate Cracking Contraptions Fails
the Preston North End Sockamatic
the other brands at the Optima Challenge
nice crusty ol Ford! Just sitting here in the finals means that there is a lot going on that isn't obvious to a view on the surface
Friday, November 07, 2025
Chevys at the Optima Challenge Tuesday morning
I haven't seen this Z 28 for a couple of years, but have photographed it at the Optima Challenge before... cool car
If you look at this, and guess - Nova? Chevy II? Just like I did, that would be close, but wrong. It's close though, it's an Acadian Invader, I shit you not. Here one is selling on BAT https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1964-pontiac-acadian-invader for 12.5k
I knew at first glance that my initial guess of Nova was close, but not exactly right, so I guessed Chevy II... knowing there's something a tiny bit strange with that grill lower section that rests on the bumper. Or, is it a upper piece of bumper, something like a push bar? Anyway, that's the clue it's the Acadian Invader. Thank you Chuck for pointing me toward the Beaumont direction
it's surprising to see how much a Vette gets modified when (from what I've seen at the Optima Challenge) they don't get worked much harder than any regular street car does... VW bugs and a Toyota Yaris have been in the competition... it's not the Le Mans, not that much top speed stuff happens in the slalom or speed stop challenge
I just watched a race at Laguna Seca, speeds didn't top 125. Too many turns drop the speed to around 60
Compliments and congrats to Westen Champlin, SEMA 2025 Content Creator of the Year, a Kansas-born gearhead social media sensation who builds and races custom vehicles. You'll probably remember him from his fun and crazy stuff, like Buttercup.
