Saturday, December 28, 2013

it's been a long week (and a record number of posts for the week, and for the year), here's some more humor







all from lecontainer.blogspot.com

I just came across the video that should accompany the bottom photo, it seems to be a protest be vegetarians

cool art

This, this friends is a once in a lifetime barnfind motherload of Chevy. 2 1969 Camaros and a '67 and '70 Chevelles


just one problem, but a great story and full gallery at http://www.junkyardlife.com/2013/05/barn-find-1969-camaro-twins-haunt.html

Test drive area.. with a 1969 GT 500 Shelby Cobra Mustang. Let the burnout begin!


found on http://prova275.tumblr.com

turns out it took 4 years to find more photos of this test drive. It was a lemon, and died on the test drive



http://www.overdrive.fi/forum/threads/vanhoja-valokuvia-ameriikan-raitilta.267070/page-192#post-3040742

street art, of various kinds



I don't know the name of the photographer that nailed the top image, but the bottom photo is a piece of graffiti art by Oak Oak, a French artist

both found on lecontainer.blogspot.com

First time I've ever seen a woman in uniform, with a cool sports car. I could fall for THAT!


decades of the old saying "A man in uniform" did nothing to get me dates when I was in the Navy.

But this woman? Wow.

Found on http://prova275.tumblr.com

found on 2 different websites on the same day, coincidentally


obviously the sidecars are different and that the bikes are going in different directions, but how interesting that the angles are about the same. I suppose that the vehicles are from countries that drive on the opposite sides of the road to get sidecars on opposite sides


top image from Le Container lecontainer.blogspot.com , botttom from moscowpoint.blogspot.com

I'll say that this is advertising far more than any bike can deliver

Oiler's Car Club & The Race of Gentlemen

This is the sense of humor that keeps me reading through Junkyard Life


See? Good funny stuff http://www.junkyardlife.com

Another rare car dies, by a tree, but instead of a drunk driver, a storm knocked over the tree, on top of a 12,500 mile '83 Hurst Olds Cutlass.

scored on Craigslist, the car was listed for $500, and the shifter (Lightning Rod Hurst) alone was worth $400, rims - another $300 for the rims.

http://www.junkyardlife.com/2013/09/1983-hurst-olds-cutlass-crushed-dead-by.html

good stuff from Jim and Chester's Garage blog




Mercury stocker... wow, talk about a heavy car to get started with!





an original Hertz rental car from the golden days of rent-a-racer Shelbys


Playmate June Cochran in a Plymouth Sport Fury go cart. All the photos from this photo shoot are at https://www.facebook.com/pg/Jrcentraldotcom/photos/?tab=album&album_id=371851489609275


the whole Hurst line up... that is the first time I've ever seen all of these


just a sample of why I still like http://prova275.tumblr.com

The recommended list is shorter - some sites have dried up, and don't post anymore, or shut down

Just an fyi. I finally made the time to look through that list for the first time in a couple years.

serious disappointment. I've cut at least 10 sites in the first 1/2 of my list, and that's ridiculous.

Update Dec 29th... holy crap this is effing ridiculous how many sites have given up, dried up, or disappeared. I've deleted about another 10 today

John Wayne's personal non movie IH Travelall is going for auction, the owner has previously been asking a million dollars.

The IRS audited the Horseless Carriage Club of America... found it hadn't met the obligations of educational endeavors, revoked the 501(c)(3) tax exempt donation status

In the months after the IRS declared that it would revoke the HCCA’s 501(c)(3) non-profit status in May 2011 and consider it a for-profit organization, many club members feared that the loss of that status would effectively spell the end for the club.

Though the club, founded in 1937, had spent much of its existence as a 501(c)(7) non-profit organization – as a social or recreational club, according to the IRS tax code – it switched to 501(c)(3) non-profit status in 2007, thus enabling donations to the club to become tax deductible (and, the club hoped, resulting in more and larger donations to the club).

That change, however, also necessitated that the club provide an educational aspect, and the club had a difficult time proving that it had fulfilled that obligation during a subsequent IRS audit.

full story and details at
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/12/24/horseless-carriage-club-shifts-away-from-non-profit-status-to-satisfy-irs/

True parts support superiority, this is when you can build a new machine only from the parts catalog of a company. BMW has it. (Almost, 5 used parts were used)



Max BMW of New Hampshire is busy at work this week building a 1975 BMW R90S motorcycle from all new parts listed in the BMW replacement parts catalog

learned about it from http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/12/19/building-a-bimmer-from-the-bmw-parts-catalog/

check out the Facebook updates at https://www.facebook.com/MAXBMWMotorcycles

not just the police pedal car, it's the Squad Car

hmmm. Maybe this bloody Demon is what got the puritanical types to get Detroit to stop using magical names like Demon, Warlock, etc


Remarkable similarity in WW2 photo and painting

a quick check on Hooniverse... yup, the world is still crazy



both from http://hooniverse.com which is having a contest as to the worst Craigslist car out there http://hooniverse.com/2013/12/18/craigslist-crapshoot-50/

from the "what if" world of Photoshop inspired by the dean Moon Cheetah race car transporter




all 3 from http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/12/27/short-hood-looooooong-deck-extreme-cab-forward-imaginings/


This isn't a photoshop though, it's the Ford Explorer concept car

reposted in full, in respect, to spread the recall and to honor the impressive lives of those who died this year

It’s tradition to look back at the end of each year, both in joy for what we’ve accomplished and in reflection for those who are no longer with us. As in years past, the list of those in the hobby who’ve died in the past 12 months is a lengthy one, and though they’re no longer with us, their memory lives on in what they’ve accomplished over the years. http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/12/27/looking-back-on-a-few-we-lost-in-2013/

Phil Remington. If it involved going fast in the postwar years and originated in Southern California, chances are good that fabrication guru Phil Remington had a hand in it. Over the span of his career, Remington was involved in everything from racing hot rods on dry lakes to building Indy cars, Lance Reventlow’s Scarab, Carroll Shelby’s Cobra and even Ford’s GT-40. Remington died on February 9, age 92.

Art Malone. Many of today’s professional racers spend an entire career within the confines of a single motorsport, but Florida’s Art Malone was anything but a one-trick-pony. His career in motorsports began with racing stock cars on local dirt tracks, but when longtime friend Don Garlits was burned in a crash, Malone stepped in to drive the Swamp Rat I. Malone was the first to lap Daytona in excess of 180 MPH, and the last to campaign a supercharged Novi in the Indianapolis 500. Malone died on March 29, age 76.

Dean Jeffries. An artist who painted with a pinstriping brush and sculpted with a shaping hammer, Dean Jeffries is probably best known for his creation of the Pontiac GTO-based Monkeemobile, the oddly asymmetric Mantaray, or Chili Catallo’s 1932 Ford three-window coupe, as seen on the cover of the Beach Boys Little Deuce Coupe LP. A former employee of George Barris (with whom Jeffries had an ongoing feud), Jeffries also painted the “Li’l Bastard” nickname on James Dean’s Porsche 550, and painted the first Cobra for Carrol Shelby. Jeffries died on May 5, age 80.

David Markin. As the former owner and CEO of Checker Motors, Markin grew the company’s portfolio to include an interest in Great Dane Trailers, insurer American Country Insurance Company, and a metal stamping company that supplied the Detroit Big Three. It was this diversity that allowed the company to stay afloat, even after the last Checker Cab was built in 1982. Ultimately, the near-collapse of the domestic auto industry in 2008 eliminated much of Checker’s business, and the company filed for bankruptcy in early 2009. Markin died on May 30, age 82.

Walt Arfons. In the mid-1960s, Walt Arfons, his half-brother Art and Craig Breedlove were the biggest names in land speed racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Walt Arfons is credited with creating the first jet-engined dragster, and with brother Art (with whom he had a tenuous relationship) campaigned a dragster known as the Green Monster. Later, with Goodyear sponsorship, Walt Arfons would campaign a series of cars called the Wingfoot Express, while brother Art ran against him in evolutions of the Green Monster land speed record car. For three days in 1964, Walt Arfons held the land speed record of 413 MPH, before it was recaptured by his brother, Art. Walt Arfons died on June 4, age 96.

John Chun. Few patrons of the Chun Mee Chinese Restaurant in Delano, Minnesota, knew that proprietor John Chun had a past that involved working as a designer for Shelby American. Credited with styling the 1968 Shelby G.T. 350, and with designing the now-iconic coiled-cobra logo for the brand (used with minor variations to this day), the soft-spoken Chun later worked as a designer for Chrysler and for Tonka Toys. Chun died on July 6, age 84.

Phillip Caldwell. For decades, the unwritten prerequisite for running the Ford Motor Company was a surname in common with the founder, Henry Ford. In 1977, Henry Ford II terminated Lee Iacocca, appointing Phillip Caldwell to the vacated position. One year later, Caldwell was named president, and in 1980, he became the first chairman of the company outside of the Ford family. Under his watch, Ford would launch such memorable vehicles as the Fox-platform Mustangs, the 1983 Thunderbird and the Pinto replacement, the front-drive Escort. Caldwell died on July 10, age 93.

Cal Worthington. An iconic Southern California television pitchman, dealership-owner Cal Worthington elevated the act of selling cars to an art form. Typically clad in Western attire, complete with cowboy boots and a 10-gallon hat, Worthington would introduce his dog Spot in nearly every pitch. One time, Spot was a hippopotamus, another time Spot was a gorilla, or a chicken, or a lion; in fact, the only consistency to Worthington’s beloved ads was that Spot was never a dog. Worthington died on September 8, age 92.

Eiji Toyoda. When Eiji Toyoda joined the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works in 1936, the textile equipment manufacturer had already produced its first automobile, the AA. As Toyoda rose through the company ranks, there was even talk of a joint venture between Ford and Toyota; however, World War II prevented this from occurring. In 1950, Eiji Toyoda was sent to the United States, to learn the manufacturing methods behind Ford’s successful River Rouge plant. His observations (and ideas for improvement) would later form the basis of the Toyota Production System, or kaizen (change for the better) manufacturing. Toyoda was instrumental in bringing the Japanese brand to the United States, and later established new manufacturing facilities (such as the former NUMMI plant in California, a joint venture with GM) around the world. Toyoda died on September 17, age 100.

Hal Needham. Best known as the stuntman or stunt coordinator behind such car-guy movies as Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run and Stroker Ace, Hal Needham’s resume included participation in over 300 movies (10 of which Needham directed) and 4,500 television episodes. His early years were spent in poverty, as the son of a sharecropper in the deep South, but Needham would go on to success as a paratrooper during the Korean war and later, as Hollywood’s best-known stuntman. In his 30-year onscreen career, Needham reportedly broke 56 bones, twice suffering fractures to his spine. Needham died on October 25, age 82.

Other notable deaths in 2013 included fuel-injection pioneer Stu Hilborn, Indy 500 mechanical genius George Bignotti, former Chrysler executive Stephan Sharf, author A.B. Shuman, Tucker collector David Cammack, Edsel designer Roy Brown, Crane Cams founder Harvey J. Crane, F1 driver and Le Mans champion Jose Froilan Gonzalez, photographer Jae Bueno, racing driver and team manager John Coombs, hot rod innovator Fred Carrillo, Vanishing Point director Richard Sarafian, Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club founding member Bob McEwan, and motorsports manager Ken Gregory. -

entirely from Kurt Ernst at http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/12/27/looking-back-on-a-few-we-lost-in-2013/

PS, holy moly... Kurt doled out some incredible cool praise when he included Jae Bueno among these giants of industry and innovation

something new to me in the world of snowplow train engines and motor wheels

Gifs from Go Away Garage