Saturday, December 21, 2013

Don't 1/8th mile race Hildo, he's got center of gravity, torque, and traction on his side

Barney Oldfield, always on the publicity angle


found on http://t-s-k-b.tumblr.com

for a really good article on Barney: http://theoldmotor.com/?p=110717

Barney must have really had a great connection at Firestone, they also sponsored, or advertised, on the Mercedes that I found at the 2012 Desert Concours http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/03/barney-oldfield-firestone-tires-benz.html

it has skis and a big damn engine...

Unimog .. not going to be stuck in anything you can walk through up to your chin

Lawn mower fun, cutting grass has nothing to do with it

ugliest COE I've ever seen... a travesty

for you who love art, innovation, and creative advertising

Indian dealership built cyclecar

Corporate use of public roads, destroying them, but those roads can't be fixed with tax dollars. (my guess is that those oil companies are using tax loopholes in offshore banks)

The sharp increase in heavy traffic from a historic oil boom has damaged many farm-to-market roads in South and East Texas. The damage related to energy development has become so extensive that state and local authorities lack the funding to make all the repairs. Last month, the Texas Department of Transportation announced plans to convert more than 80 miles of paved roads to gravel. The conversions are expected to start Monday, TxDOT officials said. But the plan has been met with criticism from lawmakers and some of the farmers and ranchers who live near those roads.

“Since paving roads is too expensive and there is not enough funding to repave them all, our only other option to make them safer is to turn them into gravel roads,” TxDOT spokesman David Glessner said.

Dimmit County, near the Texas-Mexico border, will be hit hardest by TxDOT’s decision. More than 30 miles of the county’s farm-to-market roads are slated to be turned to gravel.

In the final days of the 83rd regular legislative session, lawmakers found $225 million to repair county roads affected by energy development, and the same amount for repairs to state-owned roads. That funding, though, was only a temporary fix. Efforts to increase taxes on the companies that are profiting from the energy boom to cover the road repair costs failed to gain traction. TxDOT said repairing and maintaining the oil field roads into the future will cost about $1 billion a year in additional funding.

The conversions will affect roads in four South Texas counties — Live Oak, Dimmit, LaSalle and Zavala — and two West Texas counties — Reeves and Culberson. Glessner said the farm-to-market roads that will be turned to gravel were picked, in part, because they are rural routes that are ineligible for federal funds.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/19/conversion-of-roads-to-gravel-met-with-concern/

Friday, December 20, 2013

bellytanks had another common repurpose other than hot rodders dry lakes streamliners... because they were a lot easier to find in Vietnam, and make pretty good canoes!



Found on http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2013/11/vietnam-war-military-trash-recycled-by.html


During the Vietnam War thousands of fuel tanks were jettisoned by U.S. combat aircraft. The photos above (credit Hilli Rathner) demonstrate how locals have repurposed the tanks into serviceable boats not dissimilar in design to traditional watercraft.

Janis Joplin's Porsche



found on http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2013/11/janis-joplins-psychedelic-porsche.html

She bought the car used, off a lot in 1968, and let her artist friend, Dave Richards, paint jellyfish and butterflies all over it. They called it a kaleidoscopic rendition of the "history of the universe." Richards's paint job has been restored.


similar, but not the same. Found on http://www.pinterest.com/pin/302233824967965815/




A war memorial in Hyde park I just learned of, for animals - they had no choice


as to my overriding theme about "things with wheels that are cool", the mule in front is carrying cannon wheels.. if you want to know why, youtube the British military teams moving cannon through obstacle courses in a tradition started in the Boer wars

Found on http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2013/11/remembering-animal-casualties-of-war.html

Wisconsin got smart about road salting.. they saved on rock salt by using cheese brine

Brine is a liquid cheese-making byproduct; if you’ve bought fresh mozzarella, it often comes floating in the stuff. To cheese-makers, it’s a hassle — they spend many thousands of dollars to dispose of cheese brine each year, trucking it to wastewater treatment plants.

Cheese brine hit the highway. And in the first year alone, tiny Polk County saved $40,000 in rock salt costs. Conversely, F&A Dairy saved on brine disposal costs — to the tune of nearly $30,000. “Everybody wins,” says Chuck Engdahl, F&A’s wastewater manager.

Found on http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2013/12/cheese-brine-for-icy-roads.html

the exploded view, by photographer Fabian Oefner




below, the part of the models used for a couple of the above photos. 



What looks to be an ‘exploded view‘ of a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR taken at a microsecond in time, is actually a meticulous and painstakingly crafted artificial moment by artist and photographer Fabian Oefner.

 In Disintegrating, http://www.mbandf.com/mad-gallery/explore/disintegrating-by-fabian-oefner/  Fabian sketches where the individual pieces will go. He then takes apart a model car piece by piece; from the body shell right down to the minuscule screws. Each car contains hundreds of components.

found on http://twistedsifter.com/2013/12/the-slowest-high-speed-images-ever-fabian-oefner/

Photographers and geniuses, they look at the same things everyone else does, and see something no one else does, the genius explains it, the photographer shares it. I applaud Lucas Zimmerman





Located somewhere near Weimar, Germany, photographer Lucas Zimmerman set up his camera on a foggy night and started taking 5 – 20 second long exposure photos as the traffic lights shone into the distance.

Lucas was able to play with the colour of the traffic lights by adjusting the ‘temperature’ in post production (hence the green light looking blueish in #4). The ethereal results became a series simply entitled, Traffic Lights. http://www.behance.net/gallery/Traffic-lights/13150627

Lucas has been shooting professionally since 2009, working around the world and holding his first exhibition in Beijing last year. In December of 2012 he partnered with Maria Le Quang and founded LUMA Visual Creations, a photography group based in the German cities of Landau, Würzburg and Weimar.

Found on http://twistedsifter.com/2013/12/traffic-lights-in-the-fog-by-lucas-zimmerman/

The drone visual identification guide

dWrenched George found a newly created steam powered bobber, with a 1923 steam engine


Built by Carlos Stenson from Sweden, Moonshine Trickster as he called it, is powered by steam. By an 1923 steam engine to be exact.








Photos from http://www.dwrenched.com/2013/12/dwrenched.html via his sources http://www.custombikeshow.se / http://www.harleyvillage.it / http://www.amdchampionship.com / Onno Wieringa

Thursday, December 19, 2013

a little bit of flooding never slowed, floated, or made it difficult to steer a steam locomotive! Onward!


I don't recall where I found this image

Did anyone else note the cool AAR Cuda in Fast & Furious 6? Built by SpeedKore Performance Group


someone finally took another photo of it


https://www.facebook.com/AmazingRides/?fref=nf




https://www.facebook.com/SpeedKore01/


It belongs to Erik Davis, cofounder of a car collection and racing team with the guy that was driving the car that killed Paul Walker. All 3 may have been in business together. 

good guys and bad guys, easy to tell apart in the westerns, and (I'm told) the tv show Hawaii Five O

My friend Tris watches the show Hawaii Five O, and pointed out the numerous times Chevrolet is "Proud to present" the show and the Chevy commercials throughout it... and how all the bad guys drive Fords. That makes me laugh

New York and New Jersey speed shops in 1971 (thanks to J!)