Sunday, January 2, 2011

How they pave the high banks of Daytona




from http://whattayagonnado.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/paving-daytona-speedway-photos-quite-a-project-2/

this is just abominable

When, how, why did this ever seem to be a good idea? Had to be crack cocaine involved in this decision

Old fashioned spam came on a post card, from Ford, and tried to sell Model T owners new fenders, pistons, and axle overhauls

Found on http://www.bookofjoe.com/2010/12/1928-car-repair-mailer-sent-on-a-penny-postcard.html

why do trains have to stop at ever station.. what if this way of switching cars could let the train roll on, not stop, saving energy and riders time?


Just skip to the 35 second mark and watch it to the 50 second mark, you'll get the idea without ever listening to a word of it, or wasting any time
found on http://www.bookofjoe.com/2010/12/26/index.html

Barnfind Shelby AC Cobra, and a one owner, less than 7.4 thou miles '62 Benz 300SL roadster getting auctioned by Gooding Jan 21st

Said to be the only unrestored Cobra in blue and red livery, the '64 AAC Cobra spent 33 years in "storage" yet comes off as surprisingly lustworthy in spite of that. It began life as Carroll Shelby's promo car at SoCal racing venues, was pulled from the deeep barn sleep to do the 2010 Pebble Beach

from http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/15/gooding-unloads-its-time-capsule-cars-for-its-2011-scottsdale/

(here comes a rant) Moneymaking Speedtraps in Tennessee and Texas, everday guys win the fight against tyranny

If your route to work or NASCAR racing events at the Bristol Motor Speedway goes through Highway 11-E in Bluff City, beware that the local politicians have MADE a speed trap in Bluff City to generate revenue, they didn't take advantage of an existing change of speed limits, they changed 1 mile of roads speed.

YES, MONEYMAKING by effing with highway speeds and creating a speedtrap with cameras just to get your $90.

The 55 mph highway is 2 lanes in both directions, and for a mile, has been effed with to install a 45mph camera zone to screw drivers out of their money so the politicians don't have to stop giving themselves their own pay raises.

A guy who is running for State Rep, Lee White, stood on the roadside with a picket sign to alert drivers of the speedtrap, and gain free publicity for being a nice guy. Fair enough, thank you Lee! http://www2.tricities.com/news/2010/mar/22/lee_white_takes_advantage_of_race_traffic_pickets_-ar-235812/

What really brought this speedtrap to the world's attention was a cool guy that was hit with a ticket, and wasn't putting up with this BS. He looked into the ripoff, and learned that the Bluff City police department were not only assholes for letting this speedtrap happen without protesting it (speedtraps aren't law enforcement) but they also were too stupid to keep their OWN WEBSITE. So the ticketed guy I mentioned, Brian McCrary bought the Police website domain name, and now it protests the speedtrap!

That is, the Police Department website, is now a protest against THEIR OWN SPEEDTRAP! http://www.bluffcitypd.com/

read all about it http://www2.tricities.com/news/2010/jun/07/anti-speed_camera_activist_nabs_bluff_city_pds_exp-ar-233757/

I learned about it at http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/08/man-busted-by-traffic-camera-gets-unique-revenge-on-police-depar/

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Now, in Lakeway Texas, Lance Mitchell, co-founder of the website http://speedtrapahead.org/wordpress/ is fed up with the traps in his town and decided to fight against them by taking to the streets and warning other motorists about nearby speed traps.

If he's out on the road and spots a police officer in a speed trap, Mitchell will backtrack to a spot ahead of the trap, then don a bright orange "Speed Trap Ahead" t-shirt in order to alert other motorists of the waiting radar.

While the Austin American-Statesman ( http://www.statesman.com/news/local/in-lakeway-a-crusade-against-speed-traps-1146294.html?viewAsSinglePage=true excerpt below) notes that it's illegal to warn others of an enforcement action, it is illegal to warn others of an enforcement action, it's not illegal to warn people about the traffic code . In fact, Mitchell believes he is doing the same work as the officers initiating the speed traps but also saving everyone money in the process. People slow down when they see him thus avoiding a ticket and a raise in insurance premiums.

He pissed off the cops running the speedtrap, and they lost their porofessionalism, if they ever had it, and they made it a vendetta to ticket him. The Lakeway Police Department fined him, jailed him and eventually the two went to court. Mitchell won and then turned around and sued the town and a few of its police officers to court and the judge reamed them. Yeah Judge!

Some TEXAS towns have gone so far over the top on speedtraps to raise money for their budget (and give themselves payraises) that the state of Texas passed a law capping the revenue small municipalities may receive from speeding tickets at 30 percent of their total budgets.

here is an excerpt from the Austin American Statesman, the really meaty part that highlights the cop James Debrow (25 year vet of the state police) getting his personal vendetta that started in Apr 2008 going against Mitchell a year later in 2009

Early on April 22, 2009, Mitchell spotted a Lakeway police cruiser set up inside a school zone with a radar gun. He set up his warning station up-road, pointing enthusiastically at his speedtrapahead.org logo shirt whenever a driver passed.

a black police cruiser soon arrives. Mitchell asks if he is being detained.

"We're doing an investigation here," Debrow says. "We'll let you know."

A bit later, Debrow consults with a code enforcement officer who shows up. Another officer takes photos of Mitchell and his truck.

A few minutes later the group approaches Mitchell; an officer asks for his ID.

When he hands over a card with his name, address and birth date, Debrow demands his driver's license. As Mitchell begins to explain how, technically, that is not legally required as he was not driving, Debrow abruptly orders Mitchell handcuffed and placed under arrest.

During the 13 hours he was detained, Mitchell eventually was informed he was being charged with violating Lakeway's sign ordinance by displaying a sign on his shirt and a decal on his truck.

City officials are unaware of police handcuffing and arresting anyone else for sign violations.

Still, the city doggedly pursued its sign violation charges against Mitchell.

"There was more than just a T-shirt," pointed out city prosecutor Scott Taliaferro. "There was also a truck involved."

Lakeway police even tacked on two additional charges against Mitchell: engaging in construction operations that produced noise disturbances. The charges seemed to baffle even the prosecution, and they were dismissed before the trial.

In testimony, the Lakeway officer who wrote the tickets, Hector Almaguer, insisted he was simply following orders from Debrow, who'd instructed him to call if he ever saw Mitchell exposing a speed trap. He also said Debrow told him the local judge had issued a standing order to have Mitchell arrested.

"I about jumped three inches out of my chair when I heard that," the municipal judge, Kevin Madison, recalled. "That is absolutely not true."

Pirelli ads are witty, and almost always better than all the rest of the tire companies

found on http://www.autoblog.com/

El Ciste finds interesting stuff





check out the whole variety at http://elcistebravado.blogspot.com

Autoblog's years best photos

1937 Bugatti Atlantic Type 57sc at the Mullin museum

Historic races at Monterey

Love the paint scheme and the Barracuda looking custom Challenger. Too bad they don't have the guts to factory make a good Barracuda, I don't give a damn that the "Plymouth" brand doesn't exist... the car would have nothing in common with real 67-71 Barracudas anyway, beside a few retro looking design touches.
XK-SS Jags
1925 Bugatti Type 13 Brescia at the Mullin Automotive Museum that was pulled out of the lake recently, it had been dumped into the lake to avoid paying duties: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/1925-type-22-bugatti-pulled-out-of-lake.html

photos from http://www.autoblog.com/

best compliment of the day

Timo at Old Russian Cars http://www.oldrussiancars.com/links listed his favorite blogs and sites

I was top of the list, and his comment was "justacarguy.blogspot.com – Pictures of interesting cars. Not the regular stuff, the cool stuff. "

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Rhinos, they'll knock your car out even if it kills them

from http://loxleelovesengines.tumblr.com/

Sinister and awesome looking Ferrari 458 GT2

see the whole gallery at
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/ferrari-458-gtc-shakedown-at-fiorano/full/#3675940

Unusual rail road crossing sign, ever see one that says "Look out for the cars" ?

1939 photo above, below is one of the traffic signal towers I've been posting, it's from a 1918 photo

Sailing bicycles, Ormand Beach Fla 1903


Sultan of Brunei collection

Aston Martin One-77 supercars, limited to just 77 examples, for $1.7 million apiece were just bought by an anonymous purchaser.

Now educated insiders are speculating that the Sultan of Brunei bought the cars to add to his multi-billion-dollar, 7,000-strong car collection, the world’s most expensive auto hoard.

According to Guinness World Records the Sultan’s collection includes over
600 Rolls-Royces,
more than 450 Ferraris,
570 Mercedes-Benzes,
380 Bentleys,
170 Porsches,
dozens of Koenigseggs,
and 20 Lamborghinis to name a few.

He owns several rare custom, one-off and concept cars, some worth tens of millions apiece, including a Ferrari Mythos, a Jaguar XJ220 by Pininfarina, a Bentley Java, a Bentley Dominator SUV, bespoke Rolls-Royce and Ferrari station wagons, a Porsche Carma and a Koenigsegg Agera.

In the '90s the royal family accounted for nearly 50-percent of all Rolls-Royces sold. The Sultan owns the racecars driven by each F1 world champion since the 1980 season.

Known for buying multiple models of supercars in order to have one in every color, he owns several McLaren F1s, six Ferrari FXXs, four Ferrari F40s and three Ferrari F50s. The Sultan, who’s worth an estimated $20 billion, stores the collection in five heavily-guarded airplane hangars and employs a team of mechanics and specialists to keep the cars in perfect working condition.
info from http://ultimate-luxury-community.com/

See a gallery of some of the cars at http://jalopnik.com/379855/a-garage-fit-for-a-king-the-best-of-the-sultan-of-bruneis-amazing-car-collection

1939 Rolls Royce Phantom III Labourdette Vutotal

Rebodied in 1947 by Labourdette of Paris, this Phantom III was the designer's last and arguably most daring work. It was commissioned by the flamboyant Louis Ritter who let Labourdette go all out, so much so, the body alone cost $44 000 which made it one of the most expensive of its time- equal to around $375 000 in 2003

After it was transformed into Labourdette’s creation, the car was sold off to different owners, including a New York plastic surgeon, a drug dealer who ended up in a Cuban prison and even S. Mars, possibly of the candy empire. In the winter of 2005 John W. Rich of Pottsville, Pennsylvania purchased the car for his extensive collection.


this car was at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours

read about http://www.supercars.net/cars/3606.html

photos from http://www.tuningforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=112&t=78130 via http://stipistop.com/

Ice road truckers... big deal. These drivers drive right into the running river, how they make it across without getting washed away I can't believe

from http://thedailywh.at/post/2070871411/early-bird-special-russian-truck-drivers-redefine via http://stipistop.com/

Ralph Lauren garage was just photographed by Vanity Fair



A tour of Ralph Lauren’s car collection is up for auction for charity, and the estimated tour is $150,000. That’s right, $150,000 to look at–not to own–the vintage Ferraris, Porsches and a 1936 Bugatti Atlantic, which is valued at north of $30 million. As the bidding description states, “You and a friend will receive a tour of this extraordinary private collection of classic cars given by Ralph Lauren himself.” The day ends with a ride in the 1936 Bugatti. The winner also get a signed copy of “Speed, Style, and Beauty: Cars from the Ralph Lauren Collection.”

Having some quality car-talk time with Ralph would be an experience to remember. But for $150,000? For that amount, I think I would rather buy my own Porsche or Ferrari. This is, however, for a cause, and someone may well hit the estimate. Even if they don’t, the tour is likely to raise a large chunk of change. So far there have been four bidders and the top bid is $42,500
For more about it http://ultimate-luxury-community.com/category/luxury-addict/luxury-cars
and http://justacargal-s.blogspot.com/2011/02/ralph-lauren-car-collection.html

WANT !


One reason so few 1918 Harleys are around today


found on http://theborderlinesociopathicblogforboys.blogspot.com a blog with a good name, and great content

My favorite banners of 2010, in order of most to almost