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
Saturday, April 25, 2026
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
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
you need a laugh, admit it
I stopped at the Shell station to grab a drink.
As I was pulling up, I noticed the police watching a little young chick who was smoking a blunt while pumping her gas.
I saw her and thought, this girl is stupid, crazy, or both, especially with the police standing RIGHT there!
But you know me, I minded my own business .. kinda.. and I went inside and got my drink.
As I was paying for my stuff I heard someone screaming!! Like I’m talkin' a violent death scream!
I looked outside and I saw that this girl’s arm was on fire!! She was swinging her arm, running around Acting like a fool !!
When I got outside, the police had the girl on the ground and they were putting the fire out!! Then they put handcuffs on her and threw her in the squad car.
I was thinking, arrested? Shouldn’t she be in an ambulance, not a squad car??
And being nosey as I am, I asked the police what they were arresting her for...
He looked at me, dead serious, and said, "WAVING A FIRE ARM”!!
(thank you Rick for the dad joke!)
T P (probably stands for Terrific Place, or Totally Perfect) Auto Repair on El Cajon at Texas St (an ASE-certified NAPA AutoCare Center)
End result? Awesome service, great job, done in exactly 2 hours, 1/2 the time I thought it might take, and I completely recommend them for car repairs and parts replacements/upgrades... but keep in mind, I'll be taking my commuter back there for a anything it needs in the future, so, I'll might see you there!
Who has EVER seen a place with so many perfect reviews?
It's the newest addition to my list of Recommended Shops! I love this place! https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/recommended%20shop
if there's a cool car that has been parked a while, don't put much hope into it running for a reasonable amount of money...
successful sharks don't stop swimming
Tom Suddard, Grassroots Motorsports magazine
Good article in 2024 Hagerty magazine issue
The article dives into MGAs
The MGA's design was loosely based on a factory-built race car for a privateer running the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1951, that was scrounged up using MG TD mechanicals by Syd Enever, who joined the company in the 1920s at the age of 14
The MGB was ultra rigid, a unibody, and MG's monocoque car, and resulted from contributions from Syd Enever.
The MGB GT had a sculpting assist from Pininfarina
SAIC Motor of Shanghai bought MG in 2007 by acquiring Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC), which had bought the brand from the defunct MG Rover Group in 2005. Currently, MG operates as a division within SAIC's passenger vehicle branch.
I don't know what the heck people are tuning in for, but something sure caught traction today... right after I put Mission Hills Automotive on blast for being lousy at professional conduct. I guess a million people must have seen that!
that's about 1/2 of last months entire audience, in one day... since 5pm last night
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
British singer Dua Lipa has helped fund a pickup truck for Ukraine’s First Medical Battalion as part of a humanitarian effort supporting frontline medical units
The “Club For…” event which reached the British media and was also promoted by the Dua Lipa book club.
have you heard of a "bedbug"? Fiberglass kid truck bed on a newish VW Bug. Darby Waund, a senior in chemical engineering, and her dad transformed a Volkswagen Beetle into a Purdue-themed truck that has become a rolling display of school spirit.
she and her dad used an aftermarket fiberglass conversion kit from a company called Smyth Performance, Inc Waund said. "And you literally just take a saw, and you chop the back half off."
The Beetle's rear section is cut away, then replaced with fiberglass panels that form the truck bed and the reshaped body.
"You don't mess with the chassis or the axles or anything like that," Waund said. "But you cut all of the metal off the back half of the car, and then you replace it with these fiberglass panels and paint it, make it look all pretty, and now you've got bedbug."
The Beetle's rear section is cut away, then replaced with fiberglass panels that form the truck bed and the reshaped body.
"You don't mess with the chassis or the axles or anything like that," Waund said. "But you cut all of the metal off the back half of the car, and then you replace it with these fiberglass panels and paint it, make it look all pretty, and now you've got bedbug."
Not the first time I've posted about Purdue: https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-official-mascot-of-purdue.html
but somehow I've never heard of the Worlds Largest Drum crew until now, and Darby is the team co-captain!
In 1921, Paul ‘Spotts’ Emrick decided that the “All-American” Marching Band needed something to set them apart from other bands. Emrick’s idea called for a bass drum larger than any other. The idea for a big bass drum had previously been imagined, and there were already drums four feet in diameter. Emrick wanted one at least twice that size – a “drum larger than the man playing it.” This sparked the idea to create the World’s Largest Drum.
Of course I posted it, it's got WHEELS! HA! (and they are Model A racing wheels!)
In the 1920s, the carriage was equipped with standard bicycle wheels, however these were quickly replaced with Model A Ford racing tires, due to the Drum’s immense size and weight. These are the same wheels it rides on today. The Drum itself weighs 315 pounds, while the carriage weighs 250 pounds, totaling 565 pounds.
Steve Green, along with his decrepit-looking VW campervan, Cecil, are on a mission to rid the beautiful creeks of Cornwall rivers of 166 abandoned fiberglass yachts
the legacy of the mass-produced fibreglass pleasure boat boom is unfolding.
Yachts bought in the 1960s and 1970s are now reaching the end of their useful lives and end up in landfills, but because disposal is charged by the ton, many of them are abandoned by their owners, who don’t want to foot the cost (between 1 and 4k) or take responsibility for disposing of them. (in San Diego they were anchored out in the bay, and then sunk)
Steve relies on small charitable grants, crowdfunding and enthusiastic volunteers willing to paddle kayaks out to wrecks and help. Green ran up £8,000 on credit cards last year when the grants didn’t cover all the decaying boats he took to the dump.
Green is keen for Britain to follow the French model, in which boat manufacturers have to pay an eco-contribution for every boat sold. This is combined with an annual tax on boat owners – who are easy to track down because boats have to be licensed – and used to fund 35 free-to-use boat scrapping centers across France.
Green is keen for Britain to follow the French model, in which boat manufacturers have to pay an eco-contribution for every boat sold. This is combined with an annual tax on boat owners – who are easy to track down because boats have to be licensed – and used to fund 35 free-to-use boat scrapping centers across France.
The Association pour la Plaisance Eco-Responsable, which runs these centers, has removed more than 16,000 boats since it was launched in 2019
when 1986 Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine was invited to visit the Lake Placid Olympic training center in the early ‘90s he became fascinated by the bobsleds. In 1992 he founded Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, Inc. In 2002, they won silver and bronze, in 2010, they made the fastest sled in the world, and won gold
After hearing how the US was an also-ran entrant in the sport using borrowed technology from Europe, Geoff decided to bring his chassis designer Bob Cuneo ( I wonder if he is related to Terence or Joan? https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=cuneo ) in to see how they could create the next level sled and lead the US to success.
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=26038459269127880&set=pcb.26038459655794508
https://usopm.org/from-the-racetrack-to-the-winter-games-building-a-better-bobsled/
https://usopm.org/from-the-racetrack-to-the-winter-games-building-a-better-bobsled/
After another eight years of cutting-edge innovation and development, the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project unveiled “Night Train,” a $250,000 state-of-the-art American-made bobsled. Dubbed the fastest sled in the world
Bodine refused. “The money was dangled out in front of us to see if we would cave in and sell some of our equipment, but we said no,” said Bodine. “We didn’t do it for profit. We did it for our American athletes and no one else.”
The push team included a New York Army National Guardsman, and a biological systems engineering PhD and middle linebacker for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers.
(I've already touched on Olympic bob sled teams recruiting exceptional football athletes https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2024/09/you-never-know-what-youre-going-to-find.html when I met Justin Orr, 2010 Olympics Bob Sled team)
