Saturday, February 10, 2018

Dan scored when pulling out the carpet on his 66 Belvedere, it was parked in 1979, right about the time someone stuffed a $100 in an envelope and hid it under the carpet... emergency fund? Hide it from the wife?

the dates are 1974 and 77

Because this was posted in a Facebook page, a lot of people chimed in with what they had found in old cars...
Chad says:
Just recently, I found underneath the glove box liner on my friends 69 Charger Dash, that I am restoring for him, an envelope with $20 in it. It was an envelope that was addressed and stamped to go someplace in the Bay Area. The car's been sitting dormant since 1989 and the envelope was dated sometime in 79.
Anthony says:
a friend of mine found a bag of coke and casino chips under the back seat of his 66 Impala
Dan says:
brass knuckles in the kick panel rubbed the insulation off the wiring. Also found a bag of pot under the drivers seat.
Larry found:
120.00 stuffed in the ripped up drivers seat under the seat cover
Douglas said:
Once when I drive limos I found a paper football and I figured it was just a dollar bill. A couple months later I needed one dollar so I figured I’ll use it and unfolded a $100 dollar bill. Instead of McDonald’s I went to chili’s that day.
Billy said
I once found 650 one dollar bills in the dash behind the glovebox of a van I bought at Carmax.
Russ said
one time i bought a 68 chevelle and there was a 10 dollar pack of quarters in the glovebox and box of tools in trunk
Joseph said
I bought a 77 Ford van for Parts, but there was an old metal coffee can up the seat with $800 in Cash and change in it...I paid $300 for the van...and made another $500 in parts I that I didn't need...that was a good day...


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1929403260421820&set=gm.1449937521794905&type=3&permPage=1&ifg=1

Extremely glamorous advertising photos.

Buck Jones and his 1931 boat tail Cadillac based on a 31 Caddy limo


Body looks 1928 - 1929 Cadillac Roadster and the wheels are 1930 - 1931 Cadillac (plus the hood doors also look 1930 - 1931 Cadillac)


An actor named Buck Jones, who began his career in the silent movie era.

While in Los Angeles, and with his wife pregnant, Jones decided to leave the cowboy life behind and get a job in the film industry. He was hired by Universal Pictures for $5 per day as a bit player and stuntman. He later worked for Canyon Pictures, then Fox Film Corporation, eventually earning $40 per week as a stuntman. With Fox his salary increased to $150 per week, and company owner William Fox decided to use him as a backup to Tom Mix. This led to his first starring role, The Last Straw, released in 1920.

Jones had an affection for race cars and the racing industry, and became close friends with driver Harry Stillman. Due to his association with Stillman, he began working for the Marmon Motor Company, where he test drove many of their vehicles.

 Jones, whose real name was Charles Frederick Gebhart, became known as a "cowboy" actor in an era when westerns were at the height of their popularity. Hollywood moguls assumed that no actor could be marketed with a name that wasn't memorable and easy to pronounce so Gebhart was tagged with one that suggested cowboy culture.


In 1907 Jones joined the United States Army a month after his 16th birthday: his mother had signed a consent form that gave his age as 18. He was assigned to Troop G, 6th Cavalry Regiment, and was deployed to the Philippines in October 1907, where he served in combat and was wounded during the Moro Rebellion.

On "Merv Griffin's '60s Retrospective" DVD release, John Wayne in 1970 states that Buck Jones is his hero, that Jones went back into in the 1942 Cocoanut Grove burning building in Boston to save others and was trapped there

 He died two days later on November 30, at age 50.

http://www.overdrive.fi/forum/threads/vanhoja-valokuvia-ameriikan-raitilta.267070/page-390#post-3084509
http://marque1.typepad.com/marque1/2012/09/cowboy-actor-buck-jones-and-his-1933-packard-special.html
http://www.barchetta.cc/all.ferraris/events-stories/events/2006/auctions/gooding-co-palm-beach-auction/gooding-co-chandler-sale-tops-36-million/index.html
http://aacalibrary.tumblr.com/post/132211664839/buck-jones-and-his-custom-car-there-is-speculation

4 wheel drive infographic


Subaru had one car in 2015 that didn't have 4 wheel drive

Speed-limit enforcement is arbitrary, and the fines have no relationship to justice or simple fairness. Countless fees and charges continue to ratchet ticket costs ever higher.

How about a sensible, easy-to-understand formula

Factors would consider the type of vehicle is doing the speeding
high-performance machinery should be rewarded with acknowledgment that the vehicle is capable of safely operating at higher speeds, while lesser vehicles driven fast are death on radials and deserve higher fines

the vehicle’s 70-to-zero braking distance.
the better a vehicle at slowing down safely and quickly, the less it should be fined

the environmental conditions at the time
was the road dry? Wet? Was there plenty of light?

https://blog.caranddriver.com/fine-whine-a-semiserious-proposal-for-rationalizing-speeding-fines/

car dealerships, there are about 18000 in the USA

and about 10000 of those are affiliated with True Car

Autonation, Penske, and Group 1 Automotive are the 3 biggest dealer groups

how much can smug electric car owners crow about being green? Not much, and even less where the electricity they draw is made by coal electric plants

A recent study by some economists determined that EVs, rather than getting tax breaks, should be taxed at higher rates in the coal-dependent East and Midwest for the indirect air pollution they cause. In California our grid is more diversified with wind, solar, hydroelectric, and natural-gas generation.

The Union of Concerned Scientists produced a study in 2012 saying that the i-MiEV on California electricity produces the same greenhouse-gas emissions as a car with an 88-mpg combined fuel-economy rating. In coal-heavy Michigan, however, the i-MiEV is only a 43-mpg car.

Still, 43 mpg is not bad, it's only as good as a Chevy Cruze eco though. And then, what's the point of having an electric car when it's no better than a gas engine for mpg, with regards to pollution, and worse than a gas car when driving long distance, and cost.

So, pay more, for the same pollution, can't drive across a state, and so.... what's the point and the upside to an electric car? If it gets in a wreck and catches on fire, shorting through the battery pack, nothing a fire dept showing up can do to put it out and save the occupants

https://www.caranddriver.com/columns/i-bought-a-used-electric-vehicle-got-a-plug-we-can-use-column

Brad Paisley, All I Wanted Was A Car




Lyrics

My buddy Blake was all-state with dreams of the NFL
Jenny McClain had big brains
She got a scholarship to Yale
And there was Hershel who did two commercials
And he was going to be a movie star
But all I wanted was a car
All I wanted was a car

Part time job making chicken kabobs at the food court at the mall
I hauled my uncle's trash
I cut my neighbor's grass
And I raked the leaves in the fall
My parents they were stunned how this former lazy bum was suddenly working so hard

But all I wanted was a car
All I wanted was a car

Yeah when I was sixteen all of my dreams revolved around one thing

All I wanted was a car
All I wanted was a car

When I finally got that big hunk of steel
Those four wheels underneath
I went everywhere in it
Broke the speed limit
And I even broke in the backseat

Now when I look outside sitting in the drive
It blows my mind to see an SUV and a sedan
And two kids playing and I can't believe they all belong to me

When I caught my mama's eye in that thing I used to drive
I never dreamed it would take me this far

All I wanted was a car
Sixteen all of my dreams revolved around one thing
All I wanted was a car
All I wanted was a car
All I wanted was a car

Songwriters: Brad Paisley / Charles Dubois / John Lovelace

an example of why GM went bankrupt, and Suzuki hasn't? Washerbottles

there were 58 Hemi Super birds with the 4 spd 833, and 135 with the 727 3 speed auto


the above Bird was only driven 6000 miles. 

Why would anyone pay 6 thou, and only drive it for a couple months. Everyone since has just flipped it for profit over and over, and still, no one enjoys a like new Super Bird with nearly no miles on it



https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/11/03/plymouth-road-runner-superbird-auction/3349815/
https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/1970-PLYMOUTH-HEMI-SUPERBIRD-178638

1970 Road Runners came with a 3 or a 4 speed, and the 3 is rarer

only 230 Road Runners were made with the 3 speed

Traditional Rod and Kulstom Illustrated page 10, issue 43

the 1962 Buick Electra used the Cadillac roof



because they are both GM, and the Electra had such a longer roof than the Le Sabre, they just borrowed the right size roof from the parts shelf

the car is the Electracutioner, built by Von Hitch Kustoms. It was in the Suede Palace in 2017, owned by Roger Trawick

http://www.pictame.com/tag/electracutioner

Dylan Hayward has a .75 size 1929 Model A made in the Geelong Victoria Australia plant, but there's nothing on the internet about it that I can find except these two magazine exceprts



Traditional Rod and Kulture did a great article, Issue 43, Fall 2015

Fist bump, biking brother

Cool photo

Just a quick question


Just why is the security so ridiculous near airplanes? 9-11, right?

So where did the 9-11 hijackers come from? Across the border.

So, why don't we stop people at the border? Ummmm... no one knows. Nancy Pelosi happens to want illegal aliens to be welcome in the country though, so much, she stood for 8 hours, a new record, making a speech about it.


Did she stand up for 8 hours for anything patriotic? Nope.


Oh. Why does anyone vote for her at re-election? So more illegals can come into the country? So she can remain in office ignoring Americans? 

Friday, February 09, 2018

Wow, there must be a story here...

interesting way to get a better view

I found a Tumblr that is specifically about pre-1960s gas and service stations



this is the best old photo I've seen of  Art Lacey's B17 gas station, full post about that http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/01/i-love-b-17-bomber-story-here-is-good.html


http://p4gasstation.tumblr.com/

Bite by Casler... I dig this whole race conglomeration, the car, support trucks, and the hand painted lettering on them all. Hayden Proffitt's '64 Plymouth Savoy

the 1964 Ford identification guide

things that children in the car should not say to the nice policeman pulling you over? (Allen came up with a great idea!)

1) its okay officer, he does this all the time  (Allen)
2) He always drives like this when he drinks (Bruce)
3)
4)


What have you heard, or thought of?

Thanks Allen!

Car thief caught in the act, in the truck!

Ever see anyone pound on a quarter panel to bounce a quarter, as a demonstration of solid body construction? I haven't, until now

Making do, when you don't have a lift, but you have lots of junkyard tires

hang on... how about this instant improvement by putting some vertical stripes over the headlights of an Edsel!


Man, I dig it. It would be even better without the license plate, and the hint of the round bezel on the drivers side lights

http://workingclasskustoms.blogspot.com/2017/07/rustndust-2017.html

Huh... a little something different but you can appreciate the way the car was built by the iconic influence of Porsche and Gullwing 300s

Compliments to Wheels Are Everything Blog! They got featured in Rodders Journal!


What for?

Well, they realized what everyone else knows, but no one else did... that making a version of a car with a lowered body on cooler rims is what we prefer to look at instead of stock factory height and rims.

And then they did cool stuff like this:


from that to this



another example



See what I mean? They even fixed the old film color shift

But it's not just something they do to 53 Corvette photos, they work magic on everything



I mean, C'Mon! This is really great work! They even work on illustrations:

and they take boring blah images, and make an illustration from it to show what's possible

 http://www.wheelsareeverything.com

Thanks Mike! for a fun Levis commercial

Coolest thing you'll see today... the 1966 Chevrolet Thrill of the Year Demonstration Program

Everyone's heard of the Hirohata Mercury, customized by the Barris brothers... but, had you heard of Bob Hirohata?


he was one of many incarcerated at a concentration camp, a U.S. government facility known opaquely as the Manzanar War Relocation Center. His offense: being born to Japanese parents.

The United States government via a Presidential Executive Order (now you know the power a President can wield) decided to herd, without due process or a declaration of martial law, some 120,000 men, women and children living in California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona into remote concentration camps.

Bob Hirohata was one of many hot rodders you know by name imprisoned without reason, cause, or legal recourse. Larry Shinoda and Takeo "Chickie" Hirashima are probably known to you as well.

Some left the camps long before the end of the war, through a method created in 1943, when the U.S. Army began recruiting volunteers for an all-Nisei unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The 442nd fought valiantly, taking part in the rescue of the Lost Battalion in the Vosges Forest in France, as well as campaigns in Italy and Germany, earning the nickname of Purple Heart Battalion and the distinction of being the most decorated Army unit for its size and length of service.

One of the regiment’s achievements was liberating a unit of Dachau, a Nazi death camp, an action not officially acknowledged for years afterward, by the 442nd whose own families were still held in concentration camps in the U.S. Ask me why I'm not racist, and angry with people who are.

Bob, was not yet a teenager when he was sent to the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds assembly center in Pomona, that is home to the NHRA Winternats, Grand National Roadster Show, and LA Roadsters Show, to the concentration camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming.

Bob got out of the Navy in 1952, and doing well from the thriving family insurance business in Los Angeles, took his car over to the Barris Brothers who had done a terrific job on Nick Matranga’s then famous 1940 Mercury Coupe, told them chop the top and change the side windows to get the hardtop look, plus whatever they felt would make it look amazing.




The inside was pinstriped by Von Dutch, and I read on the HAMB that Bob made the knobs, and went on supplying Barris with them.

Hirohata’s car was the first chopped 1951 Mercury and the first hardtopped 1949-1951 Mercury.

So, then he went and changed hot rodding in the 50s.

But about Bob Hirohata?

The story, from George Barris is that he was murdered while changing the oil on a car in his parents driveway in 1981, shot execution style May 14, 1981. The murder was never solved.

Why? It's reported that it's connected to working with his parents who owned an insurance company, and parking lots in downtown L A., he witnessed a crime of some type and testified against the criminals who ended up in jail.


Barris had Mamie Van Doren model with the car for Hot Rod Magazine, which he wrote articles for Hot Rod back in the 50s


Larry Shinoda, after the concentration camp, served in the National Guard during the Korean War, built Ardun-equipped drag-race cars and won his category at the NHRA Nationals in 1955. Shinoda could be found in the pits at Indianapolis, too, where he was involved in designing a race car.

The unconstitutional illegal imprisonment of Japanese-Americans remains a national disgrace 75 years later, and is brought back to the news as when Kyle Miyata Larson won the Pure Michigan 400, as Larson's mother is Japanese-American. His maternal grandparents, Manjo and Betty Miyata, spent the war years as prisoners at Tule Lake.

FDR’s executive order was rescinded in 1976. In 1988, the U.S. Civil Liberties Act provided apologies and some measure of financial settlement for the injustices, and later laws provided for preservation of some internment camp sites as memorials. In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to 20 members of the 442nd.

https://www.historicvehicle.org/award-winning-custom-hirohata-merc/
https://www.drivingline.com/articles/george-barris-1925-2015-kustom-kulture-original/
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-bob-hirohata-murder-investigation.149041/page-2
http://autoweek.com/article/car-life/casualties-home-front-japanese-american-hot-rodders-and-executive-order-9066
https://www.quora.com/The-execution-style-murder-of-custom-car-owner-pioneer-Bob-Hirohata-is-unsolved-How-would-one-go-about-finding-the-facts-of-the-1981-coldcase

accept no fakes or phonies.


http://www.overdrive.fi/forum/threads/vanhoja-valokuvia-ameriikan-raitilta.267070/page-345#post-3075043

Anyone know what the story is with this photo? It's got to be the 2nd team, to take on other events when Linda was busy, the guys in the yellow shirts look legit, and no one is going to make a fake trunk platform and shifter


The Canadian Edsel

Just a couple of notes on the Edsels.

the blue car is a stock Ranger 2-DHT that was remodeled into a factory prototype stock Corsair 2-DHT.

 The blue car is a proposed 1960 Corsair 2-door hardtop, except Charlie Wells of Ohio, hand-built it from a standard Ranger 2-Door Hardtop and did a marvelous job.

 They are both prototypes of proposed 1960 models that were never produced. The red car is long gone, and the blue car is a marvelous recreation done by a man whose first name was Charlie, who has since passed away.

The red car is a proposed 1960 Corsair 4-door hardtop. If it was ever a functioning car, it was dismantled (like most are) by Ford after the photos were taken.

The other reference to Jim (his last name is Popp) 1960 Serial Number 1 is a hoax. The whole car was created in his garage, and the #1 VIN created to match the car.

 The rub about Jim Popp is he insisted his car was an original, normal production unit, yet anybody who has owned, torn down and rebuilt many '60s and studied them, knows better. His car is a 4-door hardtop, a model of which a scant 135 were ever assembled. When new models hit the assembly lines, the first ones off are the ones most expected to sell quickly. In the case of the 1960 Edsel, those models were the Ranger 2- and 4-Door Sedans.

the blue car is a stock Ranger 2-DHT that was remodeled into a factory prototype stock Corsair 2-DHT. Pictures of the original prototype are in b/w and all over the Internet. Only Charlie Wells' meticulous reproduction is in color, Polar White over Cadet Blue.