Tuesday, November 25, 2008, 05:50 AM CST
[General]
Howdy One and All,
This time of year I always like to sit back here in Mayberry and think of all the things that I have to be thankful for. It usually isn't too hard to come up with a rather lengthy list and this year is no different...
Andy's generosity and warm cell
Aunt B's great cooking
moonshine that doesn't strike me blind
Obama isn't president quite yet
Brett Farve wasn't offered a position with the always amazing Cowboys
And this is just the short list! However, this year while I was making my list I did find just one small thing to complain about. It really wasn't a big one, and clearly won't keep me from enjoying a heaping pile of fried turkey later this week, but I have to admit, that this one is bugging me a bit.
I would be completely thankful this year if I had an extra $30,000 so that I could buy the amazingly unique '52 Ariel Square Four wooden racer that appeared on ebay earlier this week.
The car is being offered by the St. Louis Car Musuem and according to the description:
A truly One of a Kind work of automotive art! Built by a west coast boat builder in 1959, this awesome wood car will complete any collection. The story behind the car is that the builder wanted a unique hotrod, one that reflected his superior woodworking skills along with his knowledge and love for boats. He started by building a wood body modeled after a Modern Mechanics Magazine article, then he sourced out an ultra rare 1952 Ariel Square Four motorcycle engine and transmission for the power. The suspension was taken from a Citroen of the era, and rest was all hand fabricated. Many parts are period correct new car pieces, the taillights are Cadillac, the headlights are generic part store replacements, and the fuel cell is a California Speed shop special.
After reading about the car I said to myself "We'll butter my butt and call me a biscut" I need to have this thing parked in my garage!
The car was originally built in 1959 and is equipped with an impossibly rare 1952 Ariel Square Four motorcycle engine, a smooth-running four-cylinder 1000 cc engine able to push out about 42 HP. That might not seem like much, but when driving the sequential four-speed and with a weight of only a mere 750 lbs this little wooden car has got to be a rocket.
It has been a long, long, time since I saw a car that was so unique that I was struck with an impulse to whip out the ol' checkbook and start writing out a check. Not that it would have cleared the bank, but that wasn't the point. Looking something like an overturned rowboat that was struck by a guy driving a little French car, this is by far one of the most unique rods that I have seen in years.
What do you all think...am I out of my mind, or is this one-of-a-kind rod an incredible find?
It has been awhile since I blogged at ya so I thought that I would take a moment to let you in on a little secret I just heard...DETROIT IS IN TROUBLE!
With two of Detroit's Big Three automakers alegedly teetering on the brink of falling into the proverbial toilet, and headlines in all the print rags stating that congressional leaders have refused to advance a proposal for a federal bailout, saying auto industry executives had failed to persuade lawmakers that they would make good use of the money...One has to wonder...Is this the end of the Amercan Auto Industry?
At first I wasn't certain. Maybe I am still in denial, but I just can't imagine a world without new American Iron, Auto Workers Unions and all that good stuff. Heck, this is truly the Heartbeat of America, isn't it?
I was just starting to calm down and believe that everything would be alright...
But then I ran across an ad that I never thought I would see from Rob Lambdin's University Dodge "Buy One Dodge Ram...and Get a Second One at No Additional Cost! And, believe it or not it isn't a joke, you can check out the details on their website at: www.universitydodge.com.
(See Ad Below)
No need to wipe your eyes, you read the ad right. If you buy one Dodge Ram Quad Cab 1500 they'll throw in a Dodge Ram single cab for FREE! (And since we're talling about a new truck here, even though it is a Dodge, the second truck isn't just for spare parts!).
What is the world coming to?
I might have been less shaken if this had been an ad for one of those little foreign cars that can easily fit in the glovebox of my ol' Studebaker, but we're talking about American Iron here!
Next thing you know auto dealers across the country will be offering "double coupon" days or even worse, they will start offering trucks that have to be plugged in like a toaster where when something goes wrong you have to hire an electrician instead of a mechanic.
What do ya'll think...is this the end for Detroit?
I am a big fan of the Food Network's show "Diners Drive-Ins and Dives." In fact, I try to stop by as many of the places that Guy Fieri visits every time I get a chance to leave Mayberry.
Maybe it is nostalgia, but a burger with fries and a shake always seems to taste a little better when I can sit in the front seat of my own car with the radio tuned into a 50's station while some agile youngster ballances my meal on a plastic tray while negotiating tables, kids and the occasional stray dog in a pair of roller skates.
I can remember many a' night when my folks would take us down to the A&W Rootbeer restaurant near our house for a frosty mug of rootbeer after a long day spent swimming at our favorite waterhole. This wasn't one of those "new-fashioned" restaurants that requires shoes and a shirt for service mind you. Nope, we could sit right in the backseat of my dad's old Pontiac in a pair of cut-off shorts without a shirt while shirt smelling slightly like the lake we had just left. Heck, back then I probably didn't even know where my shoes were during the summer months.
It always concerns me that one day my own kids won't have the same fond memories that I have of growing up. I simply can't believe that one day they will find themselves blogging about their own memories of sitting inside a sterile Chilli's or an Olive Garden restaurant.
Anyway, I was glad to run across the following article today proving that I am not the only guy that misses the blessed convience of an old fashioned drive-in restaurant. However, while I sure miss the whole notion of the drive-in, I'm not sure that I would go as far as the owner of the '77 Caddy pictured below!
What childhood memories do you miss...and how far are YOU willing to go to make them a modern reality?
Let me know by clicking on the "Leave a Comment" link below. I look forward to hearing from you.
(I've placed a link to the Caddy article below your you to enjoy)
Things have been pretty hectic here in Mayberry with the elections and all. But, earlier today I found a couple of free minutes and hit the 'ol national internet.
Since I have been literally glued to my television for the past several days (not necessarily due to all the election coverage, but because I was trying to superglue the UHF knob back on), I have been pretty excited about the elections and just about everything "presidential."
In between checking election updates and ordering funky socks from Amazon.com for all my closest friends and a few other gifts from the Holiday Gift Guide that recently appeared on OCW (Christmas is coming you know...and I am checking my list twice already!) I ran across a great article that takes a look at WDPD (What Do Presidents Drive!).
Their Top-Ten list includes the personal cars of our nation's leaders from JFK to good ol' Ronald Reagan.
As I prepared to head out to the local polling place today, I have to admit that I was seriously weighing the fact that John McCain's first car was a '58 'Vette, while Obama was forced to drive his grandfather's Granada...maybe this is why he is so intent on spreading the wealth...Heck, if I was stuck cruising the streets of Chicago in a Granada as a youngster I too would feel like I had been short changed. As a result of the psychological scars he may have received from having to drive a Granada, maybe instesad of offering subsidised health care we can all convince Obama to Subsidise the 'ol collector car market if he is elected...A chicken in every pot and a Hemi' in every garage!
You can check out the article on What Drives American Presidents by CLICKING HERE.
Now that I think of it, it seems kind of strange that they failed to mention the 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 that Ted Kennedy was driving back in 1969...
All Right Boys....I have to get me one of these (the souped up golf cart...I couldn't handle the other these days!)...Roscoe P. Coltrane look out:
I ran across this interesting article earlier today and just wanted to share it with my Old Cars friends. When I was a kid we had a gocart that had a 125 cc engine bolted onto the back. We thought it was pretty slick, but even that cart wouldn't jump an irrigation ditch. Did any of you guys (and gals) have a souped up toy when you were younger...and did it ever get you into trouble?
MORGAN -- The golf cart a 26-year-old man used to elude Morgan County Sheriff's deputies for a day was no ordinary scooter.
Peay and another deputy gave chase when they saw the golf cart spinning donuts, doing wheelies, and generally tearing up the grounds at Morgan City Park at about 11 p.m. Aug. 16.
"I lit them up with a spotlight and everybody fled," Peay said. Three people were in the golf cart and two on foot, all heading in separate directions. "We concentrated on the cart."
The short chase over a period of less than five minutes led through parking lots and lawns, to State Street in downtown Morgan city, and finally to an alfalfa field where the cart -- with only a driver on board by then -- got away.
Peay believes the cart, obviously powered by more than the usual electric motor such carts use, was fitted with a car engine.
"It wasn't any faster than us, but in the alfalfa field it was jumping irrigation ditches," Peay said. "We couldn't get through the ditches."
But the officers recognized the driver as Trev Dawson, of Morgan city, someone they'd arrested before on minor charges, and pulled his booking mug. He was arrested the next day at his grandmother's house.
The cart wasn't Dawson's, but he was among those who tinkered with it to give it its extra horsepower, Peay said.
It has since disappeared, he said.
"No one would disclose who owned it. It's probably sitting in someone's barn now."
Talking subsequently with associates of the driver, who were milling about the city park, officers were told he had run because he'd been drinking and feared an arrest for drunken driving.
That was an ironic choice, since driving under the influence is a class B misdemeanor with a penalty of up to six months in the county jail. The evading charge he earned is a third-degree felony with a penalty of up to five years in prison..
But on Oct. 1 Dawson pleaded guilty in 2nd District Court to the evading charge in a plea-in-abeyance negotiation, meaning he avoids jail with 12 months of good behavior, after which the charge is dismissed.
