https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/diary-of-a-b-17-tail-gunner/
Just A Car Guy
Cool things with wheels since 2006
Friday, April 19, 2024
actor Robert Stack used to race at El Mirage! and at 16-years old he and he his brother won the International Outboard Motor Championships in Italy! (thank you George!)
Here he is pictured at 19-years old in 1938. He is working on his model-a roadster and preparing it for a dry lakes run. Later that day, he set a record at 115 mph.
I'd never heard of him, despite his long list of Hollywood roles on IMDB, but recall the name from the "Unsolved Mysteries" commercials
Thursday, April 18, 2024
1962 Ford Galaxie 500 Saloon Racer built to production based FIA European Sedan Series of the early 1960’s, using a 1962 FIA Rule Book, built on spec to sell to someone that wanted a track day car they could drive to the local cruise or car show.. it sold for only 45k
https://www.vinracer.com/galaxie-vr004 out of So Cal, and I think I featured one of their Falcons already.
The first cover of Four Wheeler Magazine had this photo, and it's so good, and has such and interesting story, they used it again on their 60th anniversary issue and dove into the story
Aileen Maxwell was the photographer, and the location is Black Bear Pass overlooking Telluride Colorado.
That trail has been around for off roaders for more than 6 decades, but the local sheriff is fed up with the tourists, so he's shutting that down https://www.motortrend.com/news/1508-sheriff-calls-for-closure-of-black-bear-pass-after-latest-accident/
I think I needed to include that info, but that isn't what this post is about... it's about how a passenger along for the ride took a great photo, and a magazine recognized how cool it was, and began it's long run showcasing how incredible the off roading experience is.
She purchased this 63 Jeep in 1964, this is her with it in 2010, at age 95, after it was restored
In 1962, the Four Wheeler Magazine was just being published and Aileen’s picture of the Four Corners Jeep Club driving down Black Bear Pass was chosen as their first cover.
She eventually had 11 cover pictures and 4 travel stories featured in the Four Wheeler Magazine.
The last time she "jeeped" over Elephant Hill, she was 98 years old. She lived to be 106
A much more lengthy version of this story, and a lot more info on Aileen's photography and their use in the Four Wheeler Magazine are in the Feb 2022 issue
Ferdinand Ellerman, astronomer, with a cast iron frying pan and a grease gun!
what the frickin heck is this? An Australian Steam Powered Whim! Only 4 ever made!
The steam Whim was designed to collect and deliver trees into a sawmill. It is believed they could lift 19 tons of timber.
The crew of a steam whim consisted of a driver, a fireman to operate the whim, and a faller and swamper on the ground to prepare and attach the logs for carrying.
This color photo is only a 1/10th scale model to prove it was possible to make one from the photos
if I had the financial ability, I'd go to all the car museums, and junkyards, and show you so dang much interesting stuff... like tires from companies that went out of business in the 40s due to union labor impasse
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10161722133083735&set=pcb.1509471262967124
The Pharis Tire and Rubber Company was founded by the Pharis family in 1906, and was located in the former Simpson Soap Factory at 325 West Main Street in Newark. The plant was responsible for producing bike and vehicle tires for large brand names such as Firestone and U.S. Royal, as well as its own Pharis label.
During World War II, Pharis Tire made inflatable rubber lift bags for disabled planes. With the supply of raw rubber diminished by Japanese occupation in the Pacific, the government built the company new facilities to enable them to produce tires made from reclaimed rubber.
in the midst of a strike, Pharis decided to quit the tire manufacturing business. The tire molds and the Pharis name were sold to the Mansfield Rubber Company.
Found in trees dead is too common a fate for so many cars that no one had the funds to repair, when the mid 1970s had so many muscle cars dirt cheap during the OPEC oil crisis
I wonder how many muscle cars only survived the drunk drivers, rust, etc etc because they were off the road for a engine or trans problem, and forgotten?
"Mary", aged 25, from Burma, and "Kieri" aged 35, from Ceylon, helping to clear up the bombed sites in blitzed Hamburg, Germany, November 1945.
strangely enough, I have a link tag for Elephants.
Barnfind of the day is the previously unknown 7th 1937 Chrysler Imperial 2-door convertible rumble seat that collectors and registries were unaware of
the car was stored away around 70 years ago.
After all of these years, the car never even left home. It was just minutes from the town center of where it was delivered in 1937.
And the most incredible thing of all--it runs and drives perfectly. It idles. Everything works. The gauge cluster works and illuminates. The temperature gauge climbs, the generator charges, every light down the the license plate light still works, the windows roll up. After 70 years.
quite a complex instrument panel design, and the strangest oil pressure gauge I've ever seen! Sizaire Freres 4RI
Sizaire Freres was a French company made by two brothers and producing cars from 1920-29
https://www.facebook.com/groups/197491484165115/permalink/1513525245895059
the craftsmanship and design of wood toy train sets impresses me, these are made by a maried couple, Lane and Emily in Washington!
Made by a company named NW Alpine, of Washington
this set sells for 175 on Etsy, from the manufacturer
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
the P 47 Rae caught my attention for it's ASTONISHING billboard, and mission symbols, but then... I see it's pilot had the same name as my maternal grandfather, H Shook! (this post motivated by all the wonderful readers who boosted my spirits today and got me posting instead of glumly applying to jobs)
He had a childhood dream of flying, and on his 21st birthday, he entered flight training for the Army Air Corp. He graduated just days after Pearl Harbor and remained in the states as an instructor pilot, further sharpening his flying skills.
He was a career Air Force pilot and commander. As the D-Day invasion neared, he was offered a squadron commander position and promoted to major while still only 23 years of age.
He participated in three different combat theatres including leading a squadron of P-47's for 3 missions during the D-Day invasion and 3 more the following day.
He finished his USAF career leading an Air Division during the Vietnam War.
this is the best version of the billboard I can find
B 25 Sunday Punch, has quite to cool paintjob around the nose guns! And a cool story! (this post motivated by all the wonderful readers who boosted my spirits today and got me posting instead of glumly applying to jobs)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9529957@N06/5955799013
First used in 1915, the term “Sunday punch” is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as:
-A powerful or devastating blow, especially: a knockout punch
-Something capable of delivering a powerful or devastating blow to the opposition; saving his "Sunday punch" for the end of the campaign.
In Oak Ridge, Tennessee, work on the atomic bomb continued when Frances Smith Gates, editor of The Oak Ridge Journal, first used the phrase "Sunday Punch" on Sept. 14, 1944:
-A powerful or devastating blow, especially: a knockout punch
-Something capable of delivering a powerful or devastating blow to the opposition; saving his "Sunday punch" for the end of the campaign.
In Oak Ridge, Tennessee, work on the atomic bomb continued when Frances Smith Gates, editor of The Oak Ridge Journal, first used the phrase "Sunday Punch" on Sept. 14, 1944:
“Right Now, the most important thing you can remember in your daily work is this: our part of this war will not end with the defeat of Germany. As the District Engineer [Colonel Kenneth D. Nichols] pointed out in his message to the workers of this project last week, Japan is our final objective … We can defeat the Jap, decisively and more quickly, by remembering that every work-hour registered here is a Sunday punch aimed straight at Tojo’s button. Remember this when we defeat Germany. Stay on the job and finish the Japs!”
Wanting to literally deliver a Sunday punch to the Japanese, workers of the J.A. Jones Company decided to donate overtime pay from two Sundays in February 1945 toward purchasing a bomber.
The momentum grew to include all workers at the K-25 Area
J.A. Jones, Comstock-Bryant Electric Co.,
Midwest Piping, William A. Pope Co.,
Schulman Electric Poe Piping,
Lambert Brothers, Birmingham Slag Co.,
Reilly-Benton Co., and Happy Valley Enterprises.
The K-25 Bomber Committee and the companies and the workers donated $150,000 toward the purchase of a B-25 they named Sunday Punch.
On March 18, 1945, A Davis, chairman of the committee, formally presented the plane to Lt. Col. Sanford Chester of the Army Air Forces at the Knoxville Airport while a "huge crowd looked on."
https://www.oakridger.com/story/lifestyle/2023/08/31/sunday-punch-k-25-workers-go-above-the-line-of-duty/70671004007/
Immediately following the dedication ceremony, Sunday Punch was ready for war and sent to the China-Burma-India theatre as a member of the “Earthquakers” medium bomber unit.
Immediately following the dedication ceremony, Sunday Punch was ready for war and sent to the China-Burma-India theatre as a member of the “Earthquakers” medium bomber unit.
Upon landing in India, the plane was amazingly assigned to pilot Lt. Thomas Evans of Knoxville who was interviewed for the Oak Ridge Journal’s July 19, 1945 edition. “I was in my glory. I had my own airplane, a brand-new one – and bought by the home-town folk! I knew you folks would get a great kick out of it, too.”
Immediately following the dedication ceremony, Sunday Punch was ready for war and sent to the China-Burma-India theatre as a member of the “Earthquakers” medium bomber unit. Upon landing in India, the plane was amazingly assigned to pilot Lt. Thomas Evans of Knoxville who was interviewed for the Oak Ridge Journal’s July 19, 1945 edition. “I was in my glory. I had my own airplane, a brand-new one – and bought by the home-town folk! I knew you folks would get a great kick out of it, too.”
82nd BS, 12th BG, served in Italy
With the top turret pointed forward, there were 14 fifty cal guns in action, some call that a "Watering Can" it's about 200 rounds a second
There's a mention in P.I. Gunn's biography that a single strafing run on a Japanese barge, cut it in half.
Learning new stuff every day!
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