Attitude Adjustment

Some fuck smashed a window out of the truck last night.
They really wanted the cheapest stereo I could find, I guess.
Tore up the dash to get it.

The replacement for the damned broken sun-visor cost more than the stereo, for perspective.

This is the fourth or fifth time somebody has hit the truck.
What is it about fifteen year old pick ups that would attract theives?


So, I may make a stereo delete plate for the dash.
Or perhaps a big gaping whole with wires hanging out will convey the message that there is not much worth swiping in the truck.


Fuckers...


I could use some Attitude Adjustment.

Fremont Friday

Bill Mitchell's Rivi

There is a general love-fest for Buick Riviera's over at the Jalopy Journal...

Rightly so.
The Riviera just might be the highest watermark left by GM.

Bill Mitchell was, by accounts, inspired by euro luxury and performance touring cars. He took the sharpest automotive designers on a trek through his visions.

Of course, there are concessions when one transitions from the design process to the production process. Vision and practicality collide.

The Riviera that anybody could buy (for a pricey $5000 in 1963 money) was a beautiful design.

But it is not what we see here.
That is Bill Mitchell's Riviera.
He bought one new, off the line, and had it customized to his vision of what it should be.



Here is a stocker for comparison.

Mitchell's gets a revised grill, slight chop with the windshield layed back, more pronounced scoopy things and maybe is just slightly more pointly in the hood fender lines.


It is interesting to see what the visionary would change in their own work, for their own eyes...

Great Snake

Yeah, my snake is pretty great...



I have no idea what this is.
I found it when I was writing the bit about giant snakes.

I sense that you are not as excited about the future full of giant snakes, in the same way that I am.

Beads, Booze & Boobs

Hey, it is Fat Tuesday.

Mardi Gras.

I don't really know what that means.
Something about Ash Wednesday, the last day of partying before Lent or something?






I know it involves amateur drinkers over-consuming.
Beads buy breast exposure.

There are parades, I guess to get the boobs and the beads together in one place.

Doesn't it seem really American?

A total escapist event from our usual miserable ways.
Parades, we love parades.
Plus excess and naughtiness.
We'll be awful, and church it away tomorrow.



There seems to be less Fat Tuesday frivolity, this year.
Do we skip Mardi Gras when there is a whopping global economic meltdown and failing reconstruction of New Orleans?

Is indulgence in poor form, in these tough economic times.

All reports indicate that we are drinking more, already, with the downturn.
Shiny plastic beads are cheap.
Nearly half of us have boobs.

Sort it out people.

Wall of Death with Lion

It's been a while since we have had any wall of death action here.
Bonus today, lion added for excitement.

History

Sonic Youth?

Have I really gone this long without posting up a Sonic Youth track?

Fremont Friday

Fremont is all strip malls and shitty stucco houses these days.

All in the name of progress, I guess.

Hey there Scout

Indian Scout scoot, built for going fast in one direction.

Coolness to the Nth degree.

Great Moments in Television

Crap, BJ and The Bear was awesome television!

I absolutely loved this show.

Greg Evigan stars as B. J. (Billie Joe) McKay, a professional freelance itinerant trucker who traveled the country's highways in a red and white Kenworth K-100 cab over semi truck with his pet chimpanzee, Bear (named for Bear Bryant, the famed college football coach; this explains the chimp's choice of headwear). He was constantly harassed by Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo (Claude Akins, who eventually spun off onto his own show, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo). Ben Cooper appeared in an episode of B.J. and the Bear and continued his "Waverly" character in The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo.

In 1981, when the show returned from hiatus, B.J. had settled down to run Bear Enterprises, a trucking company based in Los Angeles. His nemesis was Rutherford T. Grant (Murray Hamilton), the corrupt head of the state's Special Crimes Action Team, who was a silent partner in a competing trucking company. Because of Grant's harassment, B.J. was unable to hire experienced truckers, and he was forced to hire several beautiful young female truckers, including Grant's daughter Cindy (Sherilyn Wolter), and another busty blonde nicknamed "Stacks" (Judy Landers).

What is not to love, huh?

A cool young trucker, with a pet monkey, travelling the highways and byways, meeting hot chicks and solving mysteries - that is about all you need for a great television series right there.

If you can think of anything that would add to that (excluding stunt aircraft or aliens), well, you just let me know.


Somehow, the world could only absorb three seasons/forty eight episodes of this genius.
We are a lesser civilization for that.

Block quote borrowed from Wikipedia...

Ricky Bobby's Mom

I have professed my apprecication of the cinematic epic Talladega Nights previously.
Few people realize that portions of the story are based on one man's true life story.

And that bit with the cougar was taken from real life accounts of Ricky Bobby's mother re-introducing him to driving after a horrific accident. The story was changed up some for the movie.


Here is a photo of Mamma Bobby, driving around with Karen the cougar.

Red?

Ferrari's don't need to be red to be dead nuts sexy.

Case in point.


I assume that flare of red on the nose is to provide warning to the motorists in front of this 250.


As you look into the rearview, because you notice a thunder like the horsemen of the apocolypse coming up behind you, you spot a red which surely must be the gaping maw of hell.
In a sheer panic, you pilot your vehicle into the closest ditch - in the hope it may provide some cover from what will surely be your end.

Then this car passes you and crushes your soul.

Fremont Friday

Friday, the 13th

you can probably figure out where I found this

Caudron Replica

I will be the first to admit my projects get a bit out of hand. I start with a stew of images and references, I look through catalogs and never find what I see in my head and I start figuring out how to make it. Whatever it is, it takes longer than I thought and usually takes two or three attempts.

This guy has me full on beat, and I don't even know the story.

He liked the Caudron racer.
A one off plane, built to go fast.
The original is long gone.





So working from some drawings, not plans mind you, three way drawings.








And what pictures he could find of the Caudron.








He built a replica.

A real, zooming through the air, airplane.





That is a whole other level, right there.
I can't even imagine jumping into that sort of project...yet.
Sounds like a whole lot of fun, doesn't it?

You can click on the pics to enbiggem.

Another cut up Corvette

You might assume that I am a big Corvette fan, 'cause I like cars and Corvettes are cool and all.
And Corvettes are cool.
But Corvette guys kind of ruin it for me.

And there are Corvette guys.
Guys interested in over-restoration, numbers matching, over optioned ego-feeding machines.
The usual folks in old cars wave is met with a steely grimace from Corvette guys.


Which makes really love Corvettes like this one.
Corvettes were designed to haul ass (after the first ones).
They are automobiles to be used in anger.

This Corvette looks like an angry sum'bitch.


If I were ever to lift a tarp and find a Stingray, I probably wouldn't do this to it...exactly...
But if I found this one, I would be looking for every excuse in the world to hoist those skinny front-runners into the air.

Giant Snakes!

Have you been paying attention to the conversations about giant prehistoric snakes?


Hoo-boy!
Giant snakes.

The fossil they found was more than forty feat long.
That is a big f'n snake, there.
At that size, you might just get one into an airplane.


Apparently, snakes were that big back when the world was a bit warmer.
Which makes me think this whole global-warming scene could maybe be really exciting.


Did you see those Anaconda movies, with John Voight?
God, those are absolutely great cinema - aren't they?

The future could be kinda like one of those movies, only with a lot more giant snakes.
A lot more giant snakes!

Maybe it'll be like Starship Troopers (another fantastic film) only not in space and with snakes instead of bugs in the future.


Man, that'll be cool...


I picture myself as a cross between two of Kevin (best actor ever) Costner's greatest roles; the post-master guy and the fish guy from Water World.

Sort of a loner, looking out for the good of man-kind, roaming the landscape on a great big rabbit, blowing up giant snakes.



I figure if the snakes get giant, well, rabbits might too. And rabbits are pretty quick and can jump pretty good. That will be the perfect mode of transport in a future full of giant snakes.


I had better get the baboonbots done before the giant snakes show up.
I will probably need some back-up.

Wacky Racers

Did you watch the Wacky Racers when you were a little kid?

I can still hear Muttley's wheezey laugh.

Silver Suit

I really want some reason to put on the silver suit.

If you don't know what I am talking about, go look at this.

History

Write it down for you...

Perhaps there is some recessive Appalachian gene showing here.

Banjo and washboard action, somebody beating on a baking sheet.
This song rocks.


Elliot Brood

Fremont Friday

Now this looks fun!

My complusion with trikes continues...

Will Smith

Will Smith should never be referred to as "Big Willy" no matter how many times he says it.


This is Big Willy...

Buckeye Chuck

It has been suggested that I have been too far distanced from the Butter Cow, the Popcorn Festival and bratwurst to remember Buckeye Chuck.

Chuck would be the official groundhog of the great state of Ohio. Based out of the state of the art broadcasting facilities of WMRN radio, in Marion, Ohio - Chuck is answer the the questionable viewpoints of Penn's hometown hedgehog, Phil.

It is true that I did overlook checking on Chuck's weather predictions for the coming six weeks. Perhaps he and Phil differ on the remaining duration of winter. My lax correspondence and failure to emphasize my affection for Buckeye Chuck is inexcusable.

My apologies to the fine people of the greater central Ohio region, the WMRN radio station and especially to Mr. Charles Evers.

Ooh Oooh Ooh!

Things are really progressing nicely with the baboonbots...
But I shouldn't say anything.
I am trying to keep it secret, you know.


The indictment of Maddoff, one of my principle backers, kind of took me off balance. He was a good source for operating capital.
Bummer.

Anyway, I ran some operating plans by some of Richard Branson's people - and they ran it up the flagpole.
So, things are still on track.
I think.
We'll see.
Richard is really into the whole space travel thing, and when he saw that the plan included a moon-base he signed up.
It probably means I need to step up the work on that portion of the plan, which is fine.
I have probably been too fixated on the genetic-modification-robo-mutant stuff, anyway.

Six More Weeks

Phil says six more weeks of winter.
Sorry...

It was in the 70's here, this weekend.
I don't think I can take another six weeks of that.

Didn't I use this picture last year?
It seems strangely familiar.

Process

Here are some process pics, to demonstrate that I just make shit up as I go.
I had decided that the other nose I had going wasn't right, right?





So I came up with this AA grill shell. You saw that previously.
I sectioned, chopped and filled that to fit my shit.
And I made that tape frame horn cover thing, to think about things.


Then I cut and rolled a bead into some 20 guage, so things wouldn't look like crap metal bent over the horns. I have low standards but things have to look right.
Like real car parts.








And that was all well and good.
I bent the shit out of the front of the 20 guage to fit the frame horns
My intention was always to have some louvers in this thing.
I know a guy with a louver press, but he is not close by, so I decided to teach myself how to hand cut some lovers.







I made some holes to locate the edge of each louver and cut between the holes with a cutting wheel.
There is a bit of 2x4 that acts as a door lock for the garage door, so I used that to make a lame hammer form for the louvers.
That is not some neato process, I did it with an X-acto and the same cutting wheel I used earlier.








A good bit of hammering and thinking and drinking later, I shot some primer on things.

The primer came more as a means to not over work things, this is a rough, garage built jalopy after all.







Another trip to the side yard spray booth and we have a frame horn cover.



So there you have it.
There is not some ultra cool process to building a real hot-rod.
There are just hours in the garage, sorting shit out.
I suppose I could have just ordered some catalog junk, but where is the fun in that?



The heat is in the tools, son, so get to work.