December 2010

Friday 31 December 2010

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Zaniest thing I've seen in a while, the Jade Warrior from 1985

Skip the first 30 seconds

Learned about it from http://zelastchancegaragedu78.blogspot.com/ information from http://www.dragzine.com/news/the-jade-warrior-a-truly-insane-and-one-of-a-kind-ride/

The creation of British motorcycle racer Angus MacPhail, who built it himself in his garage, it's called the “Jade Warrior,” did the quarter mile in under 8 seconds a quarter century ago without the use of nitromethane. That's riding on the tip of a bullet.

It was powered by an inline 4-cylinder that blended MacPhail’s own engineering with that of a Ford Cosworth and sported a Roots supercharger producing somewhere between 400 and 500 horsepower.

The frame was, obviously, a completely one-off piece that was built monocoque-style – with a main center section made of alloy and put together with Araldite adhesive and Monel rivets. A well-designed body with ground effects incorporated helped keep it stable and hooked up at close to 200 MPH. Angus claimed it was actually very easy to navigate down the track.

Coolest damn thing you'll see all week. 1913 Harley, heavily optioned,TANDEM !, unrestored, with a quick history and instructions how to start it. WOW

the bike's options are discussed for the first 5 minutes, then the bike is started up and the procedure is wonderfully demonstrated, step by step. (starts at minute 5:30)
Thanks Mike! This is great!

The Camelback locomotive design, used in conjunction with the exceptionally wide Wooten firebox, not safe though

The "Camelback" design, which straddled the cab over the center of the boiler, allowed the exceptional width of the Wooten firebox, which burned lower BTU anthracite coal from Eastern Pennsylvania.

The Locomotives in the picture were also called "Mother Hubbards" among other names. They were discontinued from freight service because if a side rod broke, it would wipe out the cab and if on the engineer's side, the engineer also. In yard service they were much safer because of the lower speed which was not so likely to break a rod and sling it through the cab.
photo from http://www.shorpy.com/node/9335?size=_original

sHiLdD cONvERTeR

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Via: We Find Wildness

"The first motorcycle/scooter built in Pakistan by Hamid Omar, inspired by plans found in Popular Mechanics." Via: Off Road Pakistan

Via: Satya!!'s photostream

Thursday 30 December 2010

Probably the coolest damn tank I've seen

from http://zelastchancegaragedu78.blogspot.com/

Porsche tractor gallery

see the whole gallery at http://zelastchancegaragedu78.blogspot.com/2010/11/porsche-tractors.html

Something new in the world of 3 wheelers

No information, just a gallery of photos on http://zelastchancegaragedu78.blogspot.com/2010/11/pak-rak.html

innovative use of wrenchs

from http://zelastchancegaragedu78.blogspot.com/

president of the Packard Motorcar Company in a 1913 Packard doing a trailblazer journey across the USA scouting a route for the Lincoln Highway

photos from http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585&page=930

Conceived in 1912 by Carl Fisher, (founder of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway), the Lincoln Highway would be the first highway to stretch coast-to-coast. In those days few “improved” (graded) roads existed, and those few were only found within city limits. Long-distance auto trips weren’t something even considered by prudent individuals, but the highway would prove instrumental in making cars a viable mode of travel.