Monday, April 27, 2026
If I win the lotto, I might not tell anyone, but the mansion I have built and the matching brass era car will be obvious signs. (this is a real 1916 photo, of a Massachusetts home, just pure awesome design, I would certainly get this one recreated!))
Nathaniel Sanders owned Boston Motor Company and was a dealer for Acme Automobiles. This was his home in Haverhill MA built in 1881, designed by Ralph Emerson.
The picture is from 1916, the house had 33 rooms.
It was torn down in 1946, when the family left Massachusetts and owed taxes on it. The city was having trouble with youths going into the abandoned house, partying and lighting fires.
The family sold the estate and land to the city, used the money to pay the back taxes and the city made the land conservation area.
https://haverhill.pastperfectonline.com/Photo/83456724-64EC-40B3-A716-462470667023See lots more photos of this place, exterior and interior at https://haverhill.pastperfectonline.com/bysearchterm?keyword=Birchbrow
A rare Douglas B-23 Dragon, once owned by Howard Hughes, is getting restored at Pearland Regional Airport in Texas. (thank you George!)
A total of 38 B-23s were built, serving initially as U.S. Army Air Forces medium bombers before being relegated to secondary roles during WWII, including reconnaissance, training, transport, and test duties.
Several aircraft converted for transport use were redesignated UC-67s. Following the war, all surviving examples were declared surplus, and many entered civilian service as cargo and executive transports
I just found out I never posted about the Saleen S7, thank you George! Fewer than 100 street-legal S7s were ever built.
When the Twin Turbo arrived in 2005 with 750 hp and a claimed 248 mph top speed, the car entered territory occupied by only one other production vehicle on earth at the time: the Bugatti Veyron. The Veyron cost over $1 million. The S7 Twin Turbo was priced around $585,000, but the Saleen never officially set a top speed record to challenge the Veyron.
If road car performance wasn't enough, Saleen built a racing version to prove the point on track. The S7-R was a purpose-built competition variant, and 14 units were produced. It went up against some of the most powerful factory-backed programs in GT racing and won.
In the FIA GT Championship, the S7-R beat works-supported Ferrari and Maserati teams. These were not private operations, but manufacturer-backed efforts with full factory resources behind them. Saleen beat them anyway.
a promotion by Healthy Choice Foods in 1999 caught the attention of a civil engineer (now associate vice president of energy and sustainability at University of California) they offered 500 frequent flyer miles for UPC codes mailed in as proof of purchase, double that if mailed in quickly
That meant $2.50 of pudding bought 1,000 airline miles. The airlines themselves valued those miles at $20.
He drove a van across California, cleaned out 10 different Grocery Outlets around Sacramento, and stacked 12,150 pudding cups from his garage to his living room. When cashiers got suspicious, he told them he was stocking up for Y2K.
There was no way he could peel that many barcodes alone before the deadline, so he called the Salvation Army and proposed a trade. He’d donate every cup if their volunteers peeled the labels first. They agreed.
He drove a van across California, cleaned out 10 different Grocery Outlets around Sacramento, and stacked 12,150 pudding cups from his garage to his living room. When cashiers got suspicious, he told them he was stocking up for Y2K.
There was no way he could peel that many barcodes alone before the deadline, so he called the Salvation Army and proposed a trade. He’d donate every cup if their volunteers peeled the labels first. They agreed.
The Salvation Army fed people with $3,000 worth of pudding. Phillips got the barcodes, and claimed an $815 federal tax deduction on the donation to the Salvation Army.
He mailed the barcodes in before the early deadline to double the points, and waited.
Then a giant package arrived. Paper certificates worth 1,253,000 frequent flyer miles. Lifetime AAdvantage Gold status at American Airlines. $150,000 worth of flights.
The Wall Street Journal put him on the front page in January 2000. The London Times followed a week later. Paul Thomas Anderson read the coverage and built a subplot in Punch Drunk Love based on this story in 2002.
Over the next five years he flew his entire family to 43 countries.
Net cost after the tax write-off: $2,325. That’s $54 per country.
N.R. Dunton ran a pipe to a spring two miles away and established Cool Springs in 1926 on Route 66 west of Kingman, Arizona
Cool Springs became a poultry operation called the Chicken Ranch. It was abandoned in 1964 and then burned down.
Cool Springs was partly rebuilt in 1991 to be blown up for the film Universal Soldier. Ed Leuchtner bought it in 2002 and resurrected the landmark.
Sunday, April 26, 2026
A superfan of Big Boy 4014 has submitted a motorized, 3,920-piece Big Boy 4014 LEGO kit to the company. If his idea gets 10,000 votes, it will be among designs advanced to LEGO’s review pool for potential production.
With nearly 4,000 pieces involved, the model is also complex to put together, requiring 987 pages of instruction.
the original 1974 Gone in 60 Seconds was the subject of an extensive article in Hagerty's magazine, and since I haven't seen that original movie in forever, there was a lot of interesting info to read
J.C. Agajanian’s midget racing track Ascot Park was used as a location in the film
Parnelli Jones loses his Big Oly Bronco to the car thieves crew and offers a tour of his facility to the main character, who plays an insurance adjuster
His Rolls Royce was used as a car for the thieves to steal
Big Oly was winner of the Baja 1000, Baja 500, and Mint 400, and fetched $1.87 million at auction in 2021, but during the movie's filming, was just another race truck close to hand and available for the movie. Only time would reveal it's value to collectors
After the movie, the producer/director/actor and star of the movie went on a promotions tour, and stopped at a car wash in San Leandro, to spiff up Eleanor before the film premiered at the Palace Theater that night.
An 11-year-old kid was hanging out there because he liked cars. Upon encountering the star, and Eleanor, the kid's life took a fateful turn.
“I was blown away to meet him. I admired the car, and he said, ‘This is not a car. Her name’s Eleanor, and she’s my co-star.’” The die was cast; mesmerized by the smashed-up Mustang and the flamboyant director, the kid said that he hoped someday to work in films and perform stunts.
Halicki told him to look him up when he turned 18—and that’s just what he did. Martin got to know Halicki and went on to become an award-winning stunt coordinator.
He served as stunt coordinator for the 2000 remake of GI60S, produced by action film mogul Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie
Sammy Davis Jr was given a Duesenberg replica by the owner of Harrah's resorts and casinos. It was built in 1971 by the Duesenberg Corporation of Gardena, California, and patterned after a 1935 Duesenberg SSJ, using templates from the original 1935 SSJ La Grande body. Thank you George
Road & Track magazine founder John Bond featured the Miller SSJ in the magazine’s February 1971 issue and called it “the best replica yet,” a significant endorsement from one of America’s most respected automotive publications.
Road & Track magazine founder John Bond featured the Miller SSJ in the magazine’s February 1971 issue and called it “the best replica yet,” a significant endorsement from one of America’s most respected automotive publications.
The car was purchased new by Harrah’s in 1972 through legendary Duesenberg dealer Leo Gephart and made available to Sammy Davis Jr. during his frequent performing engagements at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Reno. The title was later formally transferred to Davis as his personal car.
Instead of sourcing a '35 engine from a Duesy, they went with a Mopar 383 and 727 trans, and added a centrifugal supercharger.
The chassis was a Dodge truck
I wouldn't have guessed that anyone would come all the way to Barona drags (in East San Diego) from Santa Barbara ... but Seth Hammond and his friend Chip Foose went home with a 1st place trophy
Gray Baskerville got it right back in 1975 when he wrote, “Seth Hammond is slightly eccentric…”
Running a Pinto four-cylinder he set his first-ever Bonneville record at 140 mph in 1976 and has managed to keep his name in the record book every year since then.
In 1981, Seth bought a Lakester that was built in his hometown of Santa Barbara, California, by Tim Rochlitzer and that was on the cover of HOT ROD in 1962. He ran it until 2003, putting nine people in the 200 MPH Club and three in the 300 MPH Club, including his wife, Tanis (at 305, the first woman above 300 mph)
What's the connection with Chip Foose? Chip's dad Sam had a shop next to Seth, and Chip learned from Seth how to use a lathe and a mill. He's been painting Seth's race cars for decades.
Seth has been drag racing since the late 60s
Saturday, April 25, 2026
C.A.M. 2 was a contracted airmail route between Chicago and St.Louis starting April 15,1926. The lead pilot was Charles Lindberg.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1978309086111354&set=gm.27511408498461182&idorvanity=164403560255045
Starting April 15,1926 the lead pilot was Charles Lindberg.
After his nonstop flight from New York to Paris in 1927, he returned to flying for C.A.M. 2.
Every time Lindberg flew the mail they sold you a special envelope and stamp to mark the occasion!
Lagonda (you may not be familiar with it) was a pre WW1 British car that was became part of Aston Martin in '47, named for a Shawnee village in Ohio where the founder, former opera singer, William Gunn was from
Then, Lagonda famously hired W O Bentley away from Rolls Royce, after his firm was absorbed by Rolls Royce in 1931.
Bentley designed the 180 Hp V12 for Lagonda's large touring cars
I went out to El Centro to get a magazine collection for Steve... and dang it, the guy has these in his back yard!
The guy's hobby is fixing up fire trucks and ambulances and selling them!
best writing I've read in months!
It was the kind of truck where people just assume you have an open container, a loaded gun under the seat, no insurance and interesting prison stories. People got out of my way.
"I was young dumb and bringing them in, was like making it back to England in a shot up B17." A story from a service station mechanic!
when I was still in school working at one of the last full service gas stations I had a special thing I would do. They would send me to rescue customers cars that were not well.
I drove in cars on few cylinders, no brakes, and a 1960 Pontiac with a broken engine mount and no power brakes or steering.
The Ford truck stuck in reverse, I backed up about a mile and a half to bring in. The cops just laughed at me because it was 6AM on a Saturday.
Then I delivered a Dodge twice with a broken planetary. It only had reverse too. Backed up side streets for two miles, twice.
damn shame service station mechanics didn't write about their experiences for magazines back in the day!
Friday, April 24, 2026
the rip rap is being removed from the Logan river
About 60 cars so far have been pulled from the banks of the Logan River, near Trapper Park, as part of an ongoing restoration project.
https://ksltv.com/local-news/cars-debris-pulled-from-logan-river/901582/
I've never heard of a Toyota Crown before
In North America, the first through fourth generations were offered from 1958 through 1972, being replaced by the Corona Mark II.[2] The Crown nameplate returned to the North American market in 2022
Police are investigating a robbery of an armored truck that occurred Friday morning in northeast Las Vegas, two days after a armored truck was robbed in Philly (thank you Steve!)
The robbery was reported just after 9:30 a.m. on Friday, according to Metro, near East Cheyenne Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.
Wright 4480 3/8ths or 1/2" drive ratchet wrench, a lot like a Thorsen 77
Also known as the "pear shape" socket wrench
Inventors: Richard B. Wright (Akron, OH), Hugh T. Greenlee (Gates Mills, OH)
(if your last name is Wright, and you're from Akron Ohio, you're related to the Wright Brothers... so am I)
And Greenlee tools are well known to be high quality, and now owned by Ridgid
The Patent was filed on June 7th, 1982 and Granted on Oct. 30th, 1984 and the assignee was the Wright Tool and Forge Company in Barberton ,Ohio
yesterday I was suprised that the traffic hit 904,000... but that? Was easily surpassed by todays traffic of 1.494 million readers... just in time to appreciate my post on T P Auto Repair on El Cajon and Texas St, and how much I appreciate the work they did, and how quick they were
The total for the day was 1611572
Thursday, April 23, 2026
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