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

Read More

in the midwest there is a airplane and automobile museum that has rescued some cool buildings to give the Wings and Wheels Museum some period correct locations

 Above, the Springfield Hanger made in 1938 was used until the 1960s, at Commercial Field. Once used by the big airlines until growth out of small aircraft caused the need for ginormous hangers and larger runways

Above, the Waukesha Hanger was built in 1937, at the Waukesha Wisconsin airport that once was the training facilty for air cadets that went on to World War 2 as pilots from the region

Slim's Garage was a steel prefab car repair and gas station in Green lake Wisconsin, made in the late 20's early 30's

1924 Sunoco gas station, after being made obsolete, it was bought by a railroad museum, and now the Vintage Wings and Wheels Museum.
More info on all the building at http://www.poplargroveairmotive.com/museum/grandopening.htm

Now situated at the campus of the Poplar Grove Illinois Vintage Wings and Wheels museum  http://www.poplargrovewingsandwheels.com which is closed through winter and spring, but opens in May.
It's North West of Chicago, North East of Rockford Illinois

Read More

The Flying Heritage Collection and museum, funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, it may be the most diverse and thorough collection of flying WW2 military aircraft

In Everett Washington, (North of Seattle) located at the former Alaskan Airlines base of operations, on Paine Field which has other aircraft museums according to http://www.flyingheritage.com/Content/Docs/AirClassics_NewHangar_Hellcat.pdf is what once was Vulcan Warbirds a decade ago.

There are between 17 and 19 fighter aircraft,
a P40C, P47D, P51D Mustang, F6F Hellcat,  B25 J Mitchell, Hurricane, Spitfire, Bf109 Messerschmitt, ME3, FW190D13, Fi156, C2 Storch, Il2M3 Shturmovick, I16 Rata, U2/Po2,  A6M3-22 Zero, Ki43 Oscar and a MiG29

And a JN4D Curtiss Jenny

Plus, a Sherman tank.

the Messerschmitt Bf 109 crash-landed on a beach in northern France, disappearing into the sand until a wingtip was noticed poking out again in 1988.

Painted with a toothy snarl, the P-40 Tomahawk was shot down over the Russian tundra where it lay for the next 40 years. It is now the ONLY  Tomahawk in flying condition

this Oscar was sent to Truk Island in the Pacific Ocean as part of the Japanese Air Force. Later it served on Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. Shortly after the end of the war, this Oscar was found in dense jungle four miles from Vunakanau airfield on Rabaul. The plane had severe front-end damage from its final landing, but was repaired by Japanese soldiers with parts salvaged from a number of other Oscars.

This Zero was one of many Japanese combat planes destroyed by American bombing on Babo Airfield in New Guinea during World War II. In the early 1990s this Zero wreck was discovered and acquired by the Santa Monica Museum of Flying.
 Around 1994, three recovered Zeros, including this one, were sent to Russia for restoration. The fighter's salvageable parts were retained, while missing or heavily-damaged components were created by Russian craftsmen in order to make the planes flyable again.

The B-25 Mitchell was built in Kansas City in the last days of 1944. It was one of 117 modified to carry a Hughes fire control radar for training. The plane served with the Royal Canadian Air Force for ten years until it was sold as surplus in 1961. Soon after, the plane was purchased by Cascade Drilling Company of Calgary and converted to a water-carrying "fire bomber." In the mid-1990s, the B-25 was purchased by the Flying Heritage Collection

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/north-america/news/article.cfm?l_id=9&objectid=10863384

In 1998, Paul G. Allen began acquiring and preserving these iconic warriors and workhorses, many of which are the last of their kind. Allen's passion for aviation and history, and his awareness of the increasing rarity of original WWII aircraft, motivated him to restore these artifacts to the highest standard of authenticity and share them with the public. While the education they provide is significant, we hope you take special pleasure in knowing that these historic aircraft are not meant simply for display in a static museum environment. As part of the Flying Heritage Collection, their destiny is to return once more to the sky, where they were always meant to be. The Flying Heritage Collection is operated by Friends of Flying Heritage, a 501 (c)(3) organization committed to educating the public about these rare, historic aircraft.

the  Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet carried two Mk 108 autocannons. Each weapon fired 650 rounds a minute and each explosive round was over one inch in diameter.
http://flyingheritage.com/TemplateMain.aspx?contentId=63

Read More

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/

Read More

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.

Read More