A barnfind Diamond T that's been buried since 1965 among a families things in their barn brings a Bonneville connection

 Not very clearly written out on the webpage with these images is that this barnfind Diamond T was one of a few sold by the Utah dealership that was Ab Jenkins sponsor and trucking help during his Mormon Meteor II Bonneville record setting runs.

Above is from the same dealership, and since I've never posted a Diamond T tow truck, I had to do it.

Ab Jenkins on his Bonneville reocrd setting Allis Chalmers tractor

and above you see the hauler on the right

Thanks to Don! http://imageevent.com/shaggy/lsrdiamondt

the last 4 are from my post about the movie "Boys of Bonneville" http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/07/movie-review-of-boys-of-bonneville-in.html?showComment=1366481639147#c7656346948366419572

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Portago just made my day, he told the story of the waning days of the Bugatti company, how Ettore fought and regained the factory, and then what happened. Educational and fascinating

fascinating that the company, with Ettore dead, only had once chance due to the limits of their available resources, and made the above Bugatti type 101. Sadly, it was identical to the Jaguars and Aston Martin (db2 below) and didn't get anyones interest. From the heights of fame to mediocrity, the Bugatti company had flopped.

for the complete range of the story, of which this is merely a single example, see Portago's post at http://deadlycurves.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-last-gasp-of-bugatti-1952-type-101.html

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things I learned from reading Vintage Racecar magazine, May 2013 issue

John Surtees, only person to win both the 2 wheel world championship and the 4 wheel world championship.
He won 7 motorcycle World Championships, and one Formula One World Championship in 1964,

it might have made headlines, however, John Campbell in the same year (the magazine says) set both land and water land speed records that year, and John Surtees accomplishments did not get the recognition due him.

Aston Martin was incorporated a 100 years ago, and this year the largest gathering of racing Astons will happen at Brands Hatch on July 6-7th

The Mac's IT Special was powered by a 2 cycle Rotax engine at all 4 wheels independantly

Aynton Senna won the 1988, 90, and 91 F1 World Championships, won 41 Gran Prix events, and made pole position 65 times, a record that stood for a decade until Michael Shumacher broke it.... and it all started with a 1 hp go kart his dad made him. With a lawn mower engine

Ettore Bugatti was so driven to win the 1925 Gran Prix, near Paris, at Montlhery, that he upgraded the type 35 to type 39's, made them full road spec, even having ballast to compensate for the lack of a passengers weight. Mid race refueling was not allowed, so they were fitted with oversize fuel tanks. Bugatti was so proud of them, he had a preview of the cars for the public the day before the race, at Strasbourg's Place Kleber

England now has more lions per square mile than Kenya

Lord Montagu inherited Beaulieu, a stately home according to Vintage Racecar magazine, but not a lot of money, so he made the estate the home to the National Motor Museum

An auction ring is when collectible companies attend auctions, and bid up the items to set the auction sales prices as high as they'd like to have the perceived value of their stock become. So if auctions seem to be setting prices, it's because the major media doesn't get numbers from private sales, they only get the prices that cars sell for at auctions, and thus, report the value of a make and model as having risen from the economic lows of 2008, 2009, to high numbers more in keeping with the trend toward investment grade rare items. Auction Ring. New idea to me, so beware.

Auction prices on the topic, here are some trends: American Muscle cars down 32 percent from the 2007 highs (no more million dollar superbirds, hemis, etc) Ferrari's are up 59 percent over the last 3 years, British cars are up 12%, postwar German cars are up 43 percent since 2006

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How did Jaguar get started as a car company, quite oddly, as a side car maker

The Swallow Sidecar Company was founded on 4 September 1922 by two friends, William Walmsley and William Lyons.

Both families lived in the same street in Blackpool, England. Walmsley had previously been making sidecars and bolting them onto reconditioned motorcycles. Lyons had served his apprenticeship at Crossley Motors in Manchester before moving to Brown and Mallalieu as a junior salesman.

 Lyons, having recognized the commercial potential for these sidecars, joined Walmsley and together they obtained premises in Blackpool. With a small team of employees they were able to begin commercial production of the motorcycle sidecars.

 The company diversified in 1926, changing its name to the Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company and moved into the car coachwork business.

 In 1927 the "Sidecar" was dropped from the name, and it became the Swallow Coachbuilding Company. The increasing demand for Swallows made it necessary to move the company closer to the heart of the British car industry and so, in 1928, they moved to a part disused First World War munitions factory in Coventry. Business continued to grow and in 1929 the company was sufficiently confident to go to the expense of taking a stand at the London Motor Show.

In 1929 John Black and William Lyons realized a long standing dream and produced a one of a kind sports car, This "First" SS (Standard Swallow) was a sleek Boat Tail Roadster with a flowing, streamlined design and pointed to an obvious attempt at making a fast car, possibly with the intention of venturing into racing. This car is believed to have been shipped to Australia in the late 40s.

 Lyons wanted to move away from just being a coach builder and reliance on other manufacturers' existing chassis. He commissioned a custom chassis from the Standard Motor Company. At the 1931 Motor Show he unveiled the S.S.1 coupé and a smaller 1 litre version, the S.S.II. The continued success and expansion of the SS range resulted in the creation of the S.S. Cars Ltd motor company by Lyons in 1934.

After the Second World War, due to the unfavorable connotations of the SS initials, the company was renamed Jaguar Cars Ltd in 1945.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow_Sidecar_Company

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Motor Corps of America, I just learned of it. In the way the the world wars one and two changed baseball, gas and rubber rationing, and the switch from car making to tank and aircraft production, there was yet another effect I have just learned of

It was only with the first World War that women became part of the war effort beyond domestic duties. The Motor Corps was established by the National League of Women’s Services in conjunction with the Red Cross.

 It was entirely voluntary and appealed to many female socialites in Brooklyn who had the time and the money to share.

 Among the roles women could play, the Motor Corps was particularly challenging. It required the most training and time: a chauffeur’s license, mechanics’ license, a typhoid inoculation, and a car! Their duties included transport and ambulatory services for troops in the local region and they were on call 24/7.

Above, painted on silk

The massive relief effort engendered by World War I gave women an opportunity to demonstrate and develop their skills on a previously unknown scale. Although generations of women had used philanthropy to "expand their fields of action and their personal horizons," the social and economic needs created by the Great War provided women with a unique chance to expand their domain under the acceptable rubric of patriotism and humanitarianism. As a result, many women used their education and talents to venture into new fields of service.

 One of the new forms of volunteerism to grow out of the war was the women's motor corps. Thanks to the recent invention of the automobile, driving became a way for women to participate in the war effort. Like most volunteers, the motor corps women were young, single, well educated, upper- or middle-class, and professionally experienced. Moreover, they possessed special linguistic and automotive skills, making them a distinctly qualified group.

Although men ran the majority of the ambulance services, women drivers played a prominent role in the work of the American Fund for French Wounded (AFFW), the French-American Society for the Welfare of Wounded French Soldiers, the Smith College Relief Unit, and the American Committee for Devastated France (ACDF). Each of these services relied on women drivers to perform their work in France. The AFFW and Le Bienetre volunteers drove supplies to hospitals and soldiers in the war zone, while the Smith and ACDF wakens used their cars to aid the peasants of northern France.

  While women did not drive professionally prior to the war, many had already taken to the road before the first battles erupted. Turn-of-the-century car advertisements sought to entice drives of both sexes, promoting different features of the vehicle to each. To the female driver, the ads spoke of comfort, luxury, and leisure. Initially believing that women alone were concerned with style, color, and options, companies designed special models for women, offering such luxuries as gold clocks, crystal bouquet holders, and spaces for memo pads and fully stocked vanity cases. 

Some women even took their own private cars and chauffeurs with them when traveling abroad so that they could enjoy the pleasure and freedom of motor travel while surrounded by the comforts of home.

 The onset of war in Europe, however, quickly curbed American women's holidays abroad. Although some tourists viewed the war as a nuisance, others became seriously involved in the emerging relief forces. 

Isabel Lathrop, an American who had been living in France for seven years, founded the AFFW just two days alter fighting broke out. Initially, the AFFW served as a general supplier for small, isolated hospitals. In December 1917, the organization became an auxiliary to the Red Cross, increasing its membership and diversifying its responsibilities. The AFFW grew to sponsor fifty drives and fifty motor cars as a result of the merger, becoming the earliest and best-known motor corps. Like many wartime agencies, the AFFW served as an umbrella organization to numerous branches and smaller associations both in the United States and abroad. By December 1914, the AFFW had become a clearing-house for seven hundred American subcommittees that collected supplies and funds for France in its name. 

Anne Morgan, daughter of financier J. P. Morgan, headed the Civilian Committee, one of the women's motor corps units organized under the AFFW. Working with General (later Marshal) Henri Petain and the French Ministry of War, the Civilian Committee's original unit of ten women set up its headquarters in the devastated Aisne district of northern France. By 1918, the Civilian Committee volunteers had become so dedicated to their work that they sought independence from the AFFW in order to form an organization based solely on the peasants' needs.

above info just the beginning of a book, located here http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-17199155/the-u-s-women-s-motor-corps-in-france-1914-1921

above, a driving hat/goggles

Above image, 1918 Flatbush New York found on http://brooklynhistory.org/blog/2013/03/20/photo-of-the-week-womens-motor-corps-in-flatbush/

All I know about the Motor Corps I have Sandy to thank for! 

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car propulsion methods are compared in this months Automobile magazine, May 2013 issue

in 1900 there were 4192 motor vehicles registered in the US

1681 were Steam powered, 1575 by electricity, 936 Gasoline engines

1905, there were 78,000 registered motor vehicles.

Steam and Electric had double in number, but that means only about 3200 were steam and electric, and 75,000 were gasoline powered

1912, the electric started is developed by Charles Kettering

The starter made the gas engine far simpler to use for a lot more people, and this sounded the end of the difficult to recharge Electric, and the slow to heat up Steam

1915 was about the end of the electric, and 1920 the end of most steam.

1925, Stanley is done

1931, Doble (best steam engine made at the time) is done http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/07/among-few-steam-powered-cars-doble.html

1941, Detroit Electric is through

http://www.automobilemag.com/

the Voisin http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/07/unique-look-at-automotive-design-french.html is the one from the Mullin Museum in Ventura, and is in the article because of the gas engine with the sliding cylinder sleeves. The big car is a White, and like the right side car, the Chrysler Turbine http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/bit-of-this-and-that-in-display-case-at.html, are both owned by Jay Leno. neither the White, the Turbone, nor the Voisin are really in the article, but they make for a hell of a cool photo, and they didn't have an electric car to use. A proper selection would have been a Doble, either a Baker electric or Detroit Electric, and a gas engined car of the same era

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I just found a massive project website, it's trying to show photos of every car ever made around the world, zumann.com

http://zumann.com/ 

They are missing some of course, and even more obvious, they don't have a contact email to help them out, tell them of cars they've missed, and send them the photos. Damn, I hate it when it's impossible to help someone out because they aren't smart enough to leave an email address. 

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the Brewster Buffalo, double World record holder, the best Finnish fighter of WW2

This pursuit plane got credit for being the best Finnish fighter of World War II. It was registered in The Guinness Book of World Records twice: for shooting down 477 enemy planes, an average of nearly 11 victories per Brewster, and for a single fighter (hull No BW-393) shooting down a record 41 enemy planes

The kill ratio for the Brewster against the soviet planes was 67.5 to 1.

Brewsters were bought by Finland, and one was stuck heavily in combat, caught on fire, and was emergency landed into a lake. The pilot walked away, and hiked 20 kilometers tot he front lines to join his side in the battle... hiked through a mine field. http://heninen.net/brewster/english.htm

In 1998 the remains of the plane were discovered and pulled out of the lake.

that isn't the Nazi swastika... history has shown that symbol to have been very old long before the German Nazi party put it on the worlds awareness as the symbol of everyone's enemy in WW2. Finland's air force was using the symbol since 1918

Interesting historical sidenote, the Finnish didn't ordinarily nickname their planes, but a couple were funded by private citizens, or a company, and were given names of those. Noka and Tre Broder (Nokia and 3 Brothers)  and they were rarely painted with anything but victory stripes, however, and I love this, one pilot used Karelia beer labels. That is cool.

http://www.warbirdforum.com/faf.htm
http://heninen.net/brewster/english.htm

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African Muscle Cars.com just said hello, so I'm letting you know about them as well

This site is dedicated to South African built muscle cars and other rare South African cars. In the late 1960's and early 1970's several muscle cars were built in South Africa. Very low volumes of these cars were produced and they are becoming very rare.

 Some of the cars like the Fairmont GT and Chev SS were imported in CKD form and assembled in South Africa. Other cars were high performance versions of models sold through dealerships like the Capri Perana, Granada Perana and Chevy CanAm.

One thing that is similar amongst all these cars is the fact that they were all built in South Africa.  Information on these cars is extremely hard to find. The goal of this website is to provide a central place where information on all the different muscle cars can be found.

Ford

Ford Motor Company of South Africa built several muscle cars and uniquely South African cars. Some of the most well known are CKD (complete knock down) form imports that were assembled in South Africa.

These include both the 1970 style Fairmont GTs and 1971-1973 Fairmont GTs. Many of the uniquely South African cars are homolagation specials like the Sierra XR8, and Capri Perana.

 Although many of the Perana cars produced by Basil Green are homologation specials, there are some that were not used for racing at all like the Granada Perana

Chevy

The Chevy Canam is an insane car. It was built in 1973 for racing consisting of a very light Vauxhall Firenza body and the Z28 engine used in racing in America, but better known for their use in Camaros. The high performance engine and light body gave it superior performance figures.

The Chev SS is another car that was imported from Australia in CKD form and assemled in South Africa. It is mechanically virtually identical to the Holden Monaro. It had a modified grill and two lights on each side in the front grill.

 
Plymouth

Valiant Barracudas are nearly identical to the Plymouth Barracudas of the US. The were assembled in South Africa from 1967 to 1971 and sold as Valiants. They are beautiful cars with the fastback design. In the US the Formula S version is starting command quite a good price, here we also have Formula S versions.

Above is named a Valiant Charger. Obviously, a Duster 

Below, named a Valiant Barracuda. Why they held onto Valiant is a mystery

right hand steering wheel visible through the windshield

http://www.africanmusclecars.com

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U2 airplane chase cars

In the article the chase cars are listed as Ford Station Wagons, then El Caminos, then CHP package 5.0 Mustangs, then CHP package Camaros, then Pontiac GTO, then G8 GTs, and soon, Camaro SS

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there are only 7 airworthy P38's left, but 5 of them will be in the air above Chino may 4th and 5th 2013

Where is Chino? East of Los Angeles, west of the 15. Near the intersection of the 71 and the 60, just a short south skip from Pomona. Their museum is at the March Air Force Base on the 215 http://p38assn.org/museum.htm#address

http://p38assn.org/

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How the auction companies compare based on sales in Scottsdale Arizona since 2002

I can't recall what magazine I got this from, probably Hagerty or Automobile

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Winter tires... work better at cold temps below 45 degrees F than summer tires due tot he rubber staying pliable

they also have tread designs that are better at tracking through snow and slush, but its the supple rubber that doesn't get rigid like the summer tires rubber compound when cold

Michelin (very expensive) claims (!) 25% better traction than their competitions tires for winter tires

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The Palm Spings Air Museum

 for an entrance, this is the coolest!

Above were the planes from one hanger, which had the aircraft from the European theater of battle

This display is astonishing

Doesn't the above look nearly like a Pixar airplane, you know, the grin below the nose, the canopy as eyes

  Hidden behind the two wings is a Catalina that's getting restored.

Above: Before .. . .. .. . ..

The aircraft's engine had died during takeoff from the U.S.S. Sable, and the plane rolled off the bow of the ship and into the water. Amazingly, the pilot, Ensign William Forbes, survived.

for National Geographic's coverage of this Wildcat from Lake Michigan; http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/12/pictures/121211-fighter-plane-world-war-ii-lake-michigan/#/ww2-era-airplane-found-lake-michigan-cockpit_62202_600x450.jpg

Below: After being pulled out of Lake Michigan where it had been since a WW2 training flight went wrong it's been restored.

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