Saturday, January 24, 2026
sheriff's deputies pulled over a 79 Cadillac for speeding on PCH, and discovered 2 surprises, a homeless man was behind the wheel, and it was stolen from Jerry O'Connell.
It was stolen from O'Connell's Calabasas home in the west San Fernando Valley.
O'Connell and his family were out of town and were not aware the car had been stolen, the sheriff's department said.
The new GTP Pilot Sport Endurance tires on the cars competing in the GTP class look a bit different. The tread pattern is the talking point to get free publicity for the 50% recycled material tires factoid, which is interesting.
The texture is called the “Vision” pattern and it is designed to help with initial warmup, since the cars of IMSA do not utilize tire warmers.
Previously, it could take multiple laps to get the tires up to full operating temperature
These new GTP treads are composed of 50% recycled or renewable material, but last just as long during hard driving stints, including the double stints that often take place at big races like the 24 at Daytona.
the most and least satisfying tire brands have been under study by Consumer Reports over the past four years, over 52,000 sets of tires
The tire testing process includes a number of grip-related evaluations, including wet and dry braking, handling, and snow traction.
two brands had top marks for satisfaction among all-season tires: Michelin and Vredestein. Significantly, 10 all-season tire brands were given our lowest rating.
• The all-terrain tire category was judged to be more satisfying, with 11 of 26 brands found by owners to have favorable satisfaction.
• Satisfaction is widely distributed among the winter/snow tire category, with four brands receiving the highest ratings
two brands had top marks for satisfaction among all-season tires: Michelin and Vredestein. Significantly, 10 all-season tire brands were given our lowest rating.
• The all-terrain tire category was judged to be more satisfying, with 11 of 26 brands found by owners to have favorable satisfaction.
• Satisfaction is widely distributed among the winter/snow tire category, with four brands receiving the highest ratings
Uniroyal was rated at the bottom of Consumer Reports' recent ranking of the most satisfying All-Season tire brands, though several other budget offerings were also listed in the red for the same category.
Unfortunately it also landed last in customer satisfaction when it comes to its Winter/Snow tire offerings.
Sumitomo, Kelly, Hercules, GT Radial, Dunlop, and, BF Goodrich were also rated red by unsatisfied customers in that category.
In the Summer tire category, Sumitomo was the worst rated tire for customer satisfaction, with the budget brand making the unfortunate claim of being at, or very near the bottom of the list in all four categories surveyed for the Consumer Reports rankings.
In the All-Terrain category, Sumitomo earned the lowest marks for customer satisfaction.
Michelin Tires fared the best on the Consumer Reports satisfaction list, and earned the highest rating in all four categories surveyed.
It was the only manufacturer to claim that honor.
However, the European tire brand Vredestein was also rated well in all categories, earning light green marks in the All-Season, Winter/Snow, and Summer tire categories, and a dark green rating in the All-Terrain sector.
Robert Moses, a prominent 20th-century NYC planner, intentionally designed overpasses on the Southern State Parkway at a low height that busses couldn't pass under, because this would prevent low income bus riders from getting to Jones beach
This tactic in the late 1920s while FDR was the governor, was aimed at restricting access to public, city-funded beaches, enforcing segregation through, rather than of, infrastructure.
Allegedly some critics have argued that Moses utilized various urban planning techniques to disrupt Black and Latino communities, including constructing highways directly through these neighborhoods, such as the Cross Bronx Expressway. In order to build the Southern State, many Long Island farmers were either forced off their land or required to sell portions of their farms.
In one of the 1,300-page, Pulitzer-winning book's most memorable passages, Caro reveals that Moses ordered his engineers to build the bridges low over the parkway to keep buses from the city away from Jones Beach—buses presumably filled with the poor blacks and Puerto Ricans Moses despised.
https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/Q096/highlights/12650
Caro described Moses as “the most racist human being I had ever really encountered.” The evidence is legion: minority neighborhoods bulldozed for urban renewal projects
Thomas J. Campanella, a professor at Cornell University, a historian and a writer on city planning and the urban environment, sees the potential evidence of discrimination in the lower height of the Southern State bridges compared with those on other parkways Moses designed.
Cadillac mirror thermometer (thanks Mike!)
Starting in the early 1970s and lasting through the early '80s, Cadillac equipped models like the DeVille and Seville with an analog "mirror thermometer" built directly into the driver-side housing. These clever mechanical dials were tilted toward the driver and even featured fiber-optic lighting so they were visible at night, allowing owners to monitor the outside temperature without modern sensors or LED screens.
the predictable result of not towing with a proper vehicle, and experience enough to know how to tow. Hell, I've got zero experience too, I know it, and DON"T tow. That's what tow truck companies are for.
Neither made it father than 4 miles, combined they got as far as 4 miles and one exit ramp.
Incredibly rare type of Roman road discovered in Worcester, its only comparatives are in Rome and Pompeii.
The road is believed to have been hidden for nearly 2000 years.
Archaeologists were brought in to establish the authenticity of the cobbled path. The road is constructed with large stones laid in bands, a well-known Roman building technique.
Illustration for “There Are No Ordinary Men in Iowa,” Saturday Evening Post, May 10, 1947.
Albert Dorne, born to such New York poverty, by age 10 he was working on escaping the single mom with 4 kids in the slums life he'd been born to
he skipped school, and hung out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, made friends with the guards and docents, and was the youngest ever given a pass to paint and draw in the galleries. By 7th grade, he dropped out of school, to earn money with art, and his teachers made a pact not to turn him in to the truancy officers, knowing school was a waste of his life, and he was destined for better under his own stewardship.
He sold newspapers, more cleverly than other newsies, by picking a better location. Not the highest trafficked, but the location with the best tippers. By age 12, he'd hired 4 other kids to man spots he picked out.
He apprenticed as a letterer with then-letterer and future prominent illustrator Saul Tepper before beginning a five-year stint at the commercial art studio of Alexander Rice. He left the studio to begin a freelance career and soon his illustrations started appearing in such magazines as Life, Collier's and The Saturday Evening Post and by 1943 was featured on the cover of 'American Artist' magazine, recognized as 'one of the best and highest paid in the field of advertising illustration.'
Eventually, Dorne became the wealthiest illustrator in America, the president of the Society of Illustrators, and the founder of the international Famous Artists School in 1948 with the assistance of Norman Rockwell. Faculty included colleagues Al Parker, Austin Briggs, Rube Goldberg, and several others. The Famous Artists School correspondence course influenced generations of artists.
He drove a custom made Mercedes with a burled walnut dashboard and a pull-out bar. His steering wheel featured a silver plaque with Dorne’s initials and a large star sapphire.
Friday, January 23, 2026
I just learned that the narrator of the Disney classic "The Brave Engineer" was Jerry Colonna
and I had no idea, that he also voiced the March Hare!
Henry James Soulen, The Parade, 1888-1965
Born in Milwaukee in 1888, Henry James Soulen was a noted illustrator who attended the Art Students League in Milwaukee, the Art Institute of Chicago, and later studied under the celebrated teacher, Howard Pyle, the founder of the Brandywine School. He also studied with N.C. Wyeth.
Soulen was also the recipient of the Peabody Award for magazine cover design
During World War II, he gave free art lessons at the Valley Forge Military Hospital, a rehabilitation center for veterans.
Another Frazetta movie poster! After The Fox - 1965
same style of Rolls Royce as the other one I posted 4 months ago https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2025/10/just-campy-and-60s-goofball-as-hell-but.html
I've never heard of this before... huh!
Of course, you are familiar with Ray Harroun racing the Marmon Wasp in 1911, who used mirrors to see competitors.
When asked about how he came up with such an innovative idea as the rearview mirror, Harroun took no credit. He said that in 1904 he saw a driver of a horse-drawn buggy using a rearview mirror. Harroun thought it was a great idea. He copied it and installed it on his race car.
But even earlier, in 1906, Dorothy Levitt, born Dorothy Elizabeth Levi, author, businesswoman, and automobile engineer, who started in the automotive world as a secretary at the Napier motor company. used a handheld beauty mirror to assist her during a car race. She identified that a similar fixed mirror inside the car would help drivers
Berger's 1921 invention, featuring a 3x7 inch plate glass mirror attached to the windshield, was the first widely distributed version for daily driving, turning a surveillance tool into an essential safety feature
Berger’s business must have been quite successful. He married an opera singer and actress, and the couple bought a house in Huntington Palisades, a new development between Brentwood and Santa Monica. They lived there through the 1930s and ‘40s. They also owned a thoroughbred racing stable. Several of their horses went on to be highly competitive in the major horse races of the day.
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