August 2010

Tuesday 31 August 2010

Watching Paul Newman start and drive a 1914 Puegot at Indy? Awesome!

If you have Netflix you can do it instantly, or you can catch various clips on You Tube. Stick with the ones loaded by wintershollywood, they have the original audio ...

Once upon a Wheel, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413072/ a cool movie that Paul narrated, and got greasy wrenching on a 71 Super Bee, and takes a look at a lot of racing stars, the Unsers, Andrettis, Pettys, and so on. A lot of 1970 NASCAR footage, but also dragsters, snowmobiles and more.

Clips from early 1910 races, land speed racing on the sand and slat, Pikes Peak, Indy, and so on are amazing to watch while Paul talks you through the scenes.

Getting a moment on screen are such obscure and cool vehicles as Buckminster's Dymaxion, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/07/favorite-sculptor-of-mine-was-first-to.html and the Marmon Herrington Rhino: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/marmon-harrington-4-wheel-drive.html

http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/Once-Upon-a-Wheel/70002931?trkid=1211018
Celebrity friends such as Kirk Douglas, Dick Smothers and James Garner join Newman at the classic Indy 500, Formula One and NASCAR events. Featured are some of the most legendary race-car drivers of all time, including Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, Bobby Isaac, Richard Petty, Al and Bobby Unser and many more.

Some reeally famous people not named in the review, but getting moments on screen are John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Wilt Chamberlain, astronaut Pete Conrad, Glen Ford, and others as the cameras were takne through the pits at the first Ontario Motor Speedway celebrity pro- amateur charity race, which was won by Dick Smothers and Bobby Unser. Motion Picture and televison relief fund was the charity.

Hooniverse love

read about it: http://hooniverse.com/2010/08/27/so-much-awesomosity-from-a-dodge-caravan-2/#more-26589

Amazing, only 2 Dadge Daytona's are still in the possession of their original owners, here's one from Car Lust (cool website)

read about it: http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/05/a-very-special-dodge-daytona-500.html

Once a long time ago, anyone could drive a car about anywhere without restriction.. think they ruined it for us?

What do you think it is? The hood ornament is pretty big, maybe a Stutz?

via: http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/06/great-cars-of-egypt.html#more

You've probably read that Mercury has been phased out

But why is it that Pontiac being phased out caused such an uproar, and editorials, cover stories, etc etc etc... but no one is lamenting the Mercury becoming a has been. Why is that? What was the Pontiac name plate to GM, that the Mercury nameplate wasn't to Ford? Both were a bit more luxurious than the parent company name... both had a lot of terrible looking cars (Ventura for one) and both had a couple muscle cars of notable looks and reputation ( GTO, swiss cheese Catalina, Comet Cyclone, Cougar Eliminator)

read about the closing down of Mercury: http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/06/rip-mercury.html

the shark nose '38 Graham, quite a departure from contemporary design of it's time

Source of the images, and a good read about the Graham, and why it's nose was so funny looking: http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/07/graham-sharknose.html#more and http://reference.findtarget.com/search/Graham-Paige/

Awesome artist, a lot of talent! Andrey Gusev

from http://carcreator.blogspot.com/ go look at the rest of this cool portfolio!

The elegant Isard scooter of 1956-196. Via: Stabilcar

Via: Ottonero

(Source unknown)

Via: The Vintagent

Getting hooked on speed. Via: Sport Rider

Monday 30 August 2010

Max Balchowsky, creator of the "Old Yeller" series of handbuilt spare parts racecars that won in races against all the exotic European race cars

Max built the Old Yeller cars that defined this era (1958-1964) of California racing.

The Old Yeller legend began when Max and partner Eric Hauser acquired a Special built by Dick Morgensen of Phoenix, Arizona. Max applied his skills, modifying and upgrading almost every part of the car, and created a potent threat for overall wins.

Old Yeller, an assortment of junkyard debris powered by one of Max's killer Buick nailheads, embarrassed many an expensive European sports car and inspired a generation of hot rodders to go road racing... http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/27709714/95-MAX-BALCHOWSKYS-OLD-YELLER-I

Max pulled the engine, and put it into Old Yeller II, which he'd just built.

Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby also drove Old Yeller II. Gurney declared it "The best handling car I've ever driven". ... http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/MaxBalchowsky1.html
Old Yaller 1 was made from the Morgensen Special and all the work Max did to make it better, but Old Yellar II was all Max.

Max Balchowsky who took on the best in the business with his motoring equivalent of a mutt. From their outward appearance, cars like Old Yeller II appeared crude, but all of the Yellers were well engineered and usually competed for overall victory with much more expensive competition... http://www.supercars.net/cars/608.html

"Built from derelict freeway signs, a Coca Cola sign, Chevy truck parts, whitewall tires, and junkyard parts" .. " winning 8 of 13 outings in 1963-64" .. the engine was built with "special pistons, six Stromberg 97 carburetors on two Crower log manifolds, and an exotic camshaft from Ed Winfield" .... Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1969 By Harold Pace

"Max became good friends with Buddy Hackett and did the setups for the VW known as Herbie for the movie 'Love Bug.' Max is most legendary for the movie stunt work he did for the movie Bullit with Steve McQueen, and he knew Steve well. Max worked with Elvis Presley in several movies, and for Viva Las Vegas, Max used two Old Yeller race cars in the movie (one crashed)."
http://www.ada.org/news/3511.aspx

Via: Sirano Bros Clothing

Via:

Via: 独創的な乗物

Via: Blender Artists

Sunday 29 August 2010

The winner of the 1907 Paris to Peking endurance race

The 1907 ITALA mod. 35/45 HP won the prize of a magnum of Mumm champagne. The race went without any assistance through country where there were no roads or road-maps. For the race, camels carrying fuel left Peking and set up at stations along the route to give fuel to the racers. The race followed a telegraph route so that the race was well covered in newspapers at the time. Each car had one journalist as a passenger, with the journalists sending stories from the telegraph stations regularly through the race.

The 9,300 mile race was kicked off by a challenge by a newspaper "What needs to be proved today is that as long as a man has a car, he can do anything and go anywhere. Is there anyone who will undertake to travel this summer from Peking to Paris by automobile?"

It was held during a time when cars were fairly new, and went through remote areas of Asia where people were not familiar with motor travel. The route between Peking and Lake Baikal had only previously been attempted on horseback. The race was won by Italian Prince Scipione Borghese of the Borghese family, accompanied by the journalist Luigi Barzini, Sr. He was confident and had even taken a detour from Moscow to St Petersburg for a dinner which was held for the team, and afterwards headed back to Moscow and rejoined the race. The event was not intended to be a race or competition, but quickly became one due to its pioneering nature and the technical superiority of the Italians' car driven by Count Scipione Borghese, winning by three weeks. These sporting successes helped sales dramatically, the company continued to grow. The company experimented with a range of novel engines such as variable stroke, sleeve valve, and "Avalve" rotary types

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_to_Paris and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itala

Italy's National Automobile Museum in Turin (or Torino I'm not sure, I can't read Italian)

the wood buck for an Alfa Romeo Guiletta Sprint

Fiat Turbina

the winner of the Paris to Peking race

If you are ever near Torino, it looks like a must see to me! http://www.museoauto.it/home/

Images from http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomislavmedak/

The life of a hero. Via: Libero Liberati in English

Via: SiraraEpis

Via:

The Sinclair C5 was a battery electric vehicle invented by Sir Clive Sinclair and launched in the United Kingdom on 10 January 1985. The vehicle is a battery-assisted tricycle steered by a handlebar beneath the driver's knees. Powered operation is possible making it unnecessary for the driver to pedal. Its top speed of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h), is the fastest allowed in the UK without a driving licence. It sold for £399 plus £29 for delivery. It became an object of media and popular ridicule during 1980s Britain and was a commercial disaster, selling only around 12,000 units.

The C5's lack of seat-to-pedal adjustment, lack of gears, short pedal cranks, and that the motor overheated on long hills were serious problems; indeed the motor was essentially useless for climbing hills, with even mild gradients necessitating significant pedal assistance, which rendered the vehicle largely pointless.

Via: konachan

A superb 1/12 model of the motorcycle from Hiroyuki Yamaga's Dieselpunk anime masterpiece The Wings of Honneamise. Via:

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