Fixer & Gordon

Oops!

2011-12-05T10:13:00.000-05:00

A luxury sports car outing in Japan has ended in what may be one of the most expensive car crashes in history.

Eight Ferraris, three Mercedes-Benzes, a Lamborghini and two other vehicles were involved in the pile-up in the southern prefecture of Yamaguchi.

No-one was seriously hurt, but the road was closed for six hours after the accident.

Media reports estimate the damaged cars are worth at least 300m yen ($3.85m; £2.46m) in total.

...

Some of the most expensive scrap metal I've ever seen.

I Do Believe Beer and A tiny Penis Are Part of the Reason For This Display

2011-11-11T22:17:00.000-05:00

I gotta think this took place below the Mason Dixon line too;

I Got Another Good Boy

2011-11-06T11:40:00.000-05:00

I figured I'd brag about the kid over here too.
I posted this at Ornery Bastard last night.

Proud of the young man, I am.

All of 13 years old and he took to wrenching like a duck to water.

The kid as almost as big as I am at 13 and already wears size 12 shoes.

Scary.

I found a pair of coveralls that was a bit too big for him and we went to town .
Tearing the front of the motor apart, yanking the radiator, fan, belts, crank pulley and all to yank out the front crank seal and put it all back together.

He kind of petered out towards the end but he did awesome and took direction to the Tee.

Yeah, his name is Bobby and I am damn proud of him today.

A typical teenager, he tends to smart off but I figure some positive reinforcement will go a lot farther than threatening to beat his ass.
Besides, the boy has a natural talent which I am going to out of my way to encourage.

Speaking of talent, this kid will amaze you with his Yo Yo's. I am serious.
He pay's 80 bucks apiece for them and watches youtubes and is absolutely amazing at the tricks he can do.

If he stays serious about this much longer, he will make money.

For you lady folks, he looks just like that little Justin Beiber.
This kid is going to have to beat the little girls away with a stick in a couple years.

He never really had a Dad and I just came along but my other boy had the same situation and I could bust a gut, I am so proud of that guy.The young man is well on his way to being a stand up individual.
Speaking of which, I am going to be a Ornery Fucking Grandpa again.

Some time in March.

Thankfully, I have the New Wife to keep track of all these Birthdays and shit.

Y'all have a nice day and thanks fer stopping by

Attention Chevy Lovers

2011-10-24T19:44:00.001-04:00

There is a 1978 Corvette for sale that has 13 original miles on it for about fifty grand.
The guy bought it and put it in his barn.
I t is covered in dust and still has the window sticker in it and a gas reciept for seven and a half gallons of gas he paid for with five dollars.

Original down to the factory battery and it started right up.

I don't have that kind of money but I did just trade a 1995 F-150 for an 80 El Camino.
It has electrical issues but I have already traced most of them down to the printed cuircit board behind the instrument cluster that was demolished by some rookie mechanic.

Starts and runs good, has an Edelbrock four barrel and STILL gets better mileage than that damn ford with a straight six.

Kind of a two tone, flat black and grey primer, I call it the Rat Mobile.

Went to a wrecking yard and got an entire instrument cluster that even has a clock in it for 65 bucks.

I should be out there putting it in as I type, it ain't raining but I am going to wait a few more minutes.
Hey, I actually have insurance now.
The things ya gotta put up with when ya get married.

Btw, 1978 was the first year a Vette paced at Indy.

Racing Darwinism ...

2011-10-17T06:05:00.002-04:00

Veteran driver Dan Wheldon, who won the Indianapolis 500 for the second time this year, died from injuries suffered Sunday when his car was entangled in a horrific 15-car wreck early in the IndyCar series' season-ending race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Englishman was 33.

...

It was a bad day in Vegas yesterday.

Already we're hearing calls to reduce the speed and "make the cars safer". Indy Car is at a place NASCAR was 10 years ago, just after the death of Dale Earnhardt. Hopefully, Indy goes the other way.

NASCAR went the full route, a complete redesign of the cars, in and out, and look what we have now. Nothing more than a spec race (in the vein of IROC or the Barber Saab Series), a tour that's more suited to short tracks than super speedways. You see it now, as cars have to run in pairs just to stay on the lead lap or pass. NASCAR ain't NASCAR anymore. It's been made too "family friendly". Nobody wants their kids to see their favorite driver smeared all over the catch fence.

So Indy Car is at the point now where they have to make a choice. Slow the cars down and bulk them up with even more safety equipment or keep the status quo and let Racing Darwinism come into play. It goes like this.

Fielding a competitive Indy Car team costs big money.

If the owners don't want to lose their investment, in both personnel and equipment, they'll change the way they build cars. They'll figure out a way to keep them on the track at high speed or they'll continue to wreck.

If they continue to wreck, the good drivers will think twice about crawling into the car.

When they start losing money, things will change. There is no need for a complete makeover. The biggest problem is keeping the cars from going airborne and that's easy enough to do (a gyro and small parachute in the rear of the car - if it goes nose up at too steep an angle and too high a speed, the parachute deploys, dragging the nose back down).

Racing is racing, and people have been dying in race cars since the top speed was 30 mph. When you push the envelope, shit happens sometimes. Pushing the envelope is what racing is all about and when you put limits on speed, you lose some of the appeal.

I'm old enough to remember NASCAR when it was good. When the cars that ran on the track could be bought at your local dealership. Never seen a V-8, carbureted, rear wheel drive Toyota Camry on the road; have you? When you could tell the make of a car without the decals on it. NASCAR's "Car of Tomorrow" all share the same body. So how do they call it "stock car" racing anymore?

Indy Car has a choice. Follow NASCAR's lead and redesign the whole sport or allow the teams to make the changes they feel they need to in order to be competitive and entertaining. Personally, I'm for the latter. Racing with speed limits is neither racing or entertaining.

Granite Trial

2011-10-09T17:11:00.004-04:00

Click to embiggen

Once again the only Twin Shock Novice 4-line rider, my "Gord made the rope wrap around the tetherball pole! Yay!" award. Seriously, I'm proud of it. Four inches across and a half an inch thick and nicely machined and etched. Its maker said he'd engrave it for me for free if I want. I'm thinking of going with "World Trials Champion". Heh.

Once again, Mrs. G plodded around in the woods for some video. Thank you, sweetie.

From the SactoPITS Granite Trial on 10-8-2011 near Cisco Grove CA.

1st scene shows me as my own worst enemy. As usual. The delightful and senior-citizen-friendly young lady checker was bound and determined not to give ol' gramps here a 5. I deserved one, believe me. I paddled my way through.

On the next loop I got an honest 3 on this section. On the 3rd loop I fell on two duffs, mine and the forest's. Softest getoff I've had all year. Like landing on a pillow. Got my 5 legit! Finally. Heh. The young lady scorekeeper, who couldn't have weighed 90 pounds soaking wet, lifted my bike off me. An All-American girl, that one! I think that was the only section I couldn't clean at least once in three times through.

2d scene is riding a section in the snow. It was slushy and slippery and I had to put a foot down.

3rd scene shows me riding the "4 line" (beginner/novice) through an easy section. The exit to the check and the scorekeeper were cleverly placed behind a stump. The motorcycle you hear is not mine.

The day went well. The snow didn't matter much. I rode 3 loops of 8 sections for 24 sections, ended up with 21 points and 16 clean rides for my personal best on both. Damn fine way to end the season.

Last Gasp At Donner Summit

2011-10-02T16:35:00.003-04:00

This is from yesterday's Vintage-Beginner day of the SactoPITS Boreal Ridge Trial held at the Auburn Ski Club property located at Boreal Mountain Resort (formerly Boreal Ridge Ski Area) atop Donner Summit in the Sierra Nevada in California. 7200' of elevation and just a few yards from Interstate 80. You can see traffic on I-80 at one point.

Thanks to my lovely Diane who walked a mile and a half and clambered up and down rocks to get this video.

In the 1st segment, you can see me hit a rock that was hidden in the grass. I had to use my feet to save it and "5ed out". No glory after that so I just sat and paddled out of the section.

2d segment, I clean an easy section. I'm still a beginner and get to ride the easiest line.

3rd segment, I darn near clean the section but had trouble with a sharp turn at the end. I cleaned it on my 3rd try.

Even when you do it as badly as I do, this sport is big fun!

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

2011-08-27T00:01:00.001-04:00

Note: When I hooked my desktop back up I musta skipped something because I have no audio, so I posted this without being able to hear it. Lemme know if it plays OK or not.

Thanks to DrBlindopolis.

For All You Chevy Lovers

2011-08-26T17:10:00.002-04:00

Sweet dreams.

Geritol Trial

2011-08-07T01:35:00.003-04:00

The more detail-oriented among you might notice that I am not riding the same motorcycle I started my trials career on. This is a late night quickie and I will explain later.

My wife took some little dabs of videos of me at today's Geritol Vintage-Beginner Trial at the SactoPITS property in the Sierra Nevada east of Sacramento. I strung 'em together. Look at this as an old fart having fun trying a new sport. I've been riding dirt and street for over 50 years and thought I knew how to ride a bike 'til I tried this. Heh.

Cannibal Cruise '11

2011-07-10T14:59:00.011-04:00

Here are a few photos from today's Cannibal Cruise at Truckee River Regional Park three blocks from my house. We got there a little early while a good many of the cars were out on a Poker Run so I can only ass-yoom that none of these run. Cough. Missed the burnout contest too, but I'm opposed to those anyway on the grounds that they're wasteful and toxic. I don't like it when the NASCAR winners do it either. Why can't they just jump up and down and drill a ball inta the ground or sumthin'?

What car shows are all about. The only photo you really need.

Click photos to embiggen

The obligatory '55 Chevy photo or Mrs. G won't talk to me. Her first car was a 210 like this one.

"Oh yeah, dude, we hadda lower it so it's easier ta get the stuff outta the back, man..."

Here's the mural on the side:

A Ford I could live with.

Proper positioning of yer rod is important to impress the judges.

The trophies were on display. Even as far from the ocean as you can get and still be in California, the surfer and woody theme is popular. The painting is of a popular view of Truckee from Hilltop looking across the Truckee River toward downtown.

Always wanted me one'a these Meskin cowboy hats. They had 'em at the car show. Mrs. G got a floppy straw sun hat exactly like she's wanted for a long time but she's camera shy.

Update:

I stand corrected. Mrs. G is not camera shy at all and so informed me just before she let my arm untwist so I could work the camera.

Lovely ...

2011-07-07T07:48:00.001-04:00

Bad enough most people can't handle an automobile in 2 dimensions (left and right), now we're gonna let them drive in a 3rd (up and down)? Nothing good can come of this.

Unreal

2011-06-30T23:59:00.000-04:00

Someone recently paid 217 thousand dollars for a Volkswagen.

A completely concourse restored 1963 twenty three window Volkswagen van that took seven years to restore.

Click the link for a picture.

What Barrett-Jackson says about it:
Every part on this bus was completely rebuilt and detailed to the highest level possible. The interior has a German mohair headliner, original German balsamic gray interior, all original latches, handles, ashtrays and luggage rails restored to perfection. Many NOS parts were used on this build like the speedometer and clock. The entire inside of this bus is beautiful . Every detail down to the original radio is correct. The paint and body work on this bus are some of the first details you notice. The entire undercarriage of this bus is as detailed as the rest of it. Not only does everything on this bus look great underneath but it runs and drives like it would have when you drove it off the lot in 1963. This bus is museum quality and has every correct detail down to every correct little decal on the engine.

Still, really?

Junk before ...

2011-06-23T08:35:00.002-04:00

Gonna be junk after. Ain't nobody I know liked working on Saabs (well, except for my buddy Vinny who made a cottage industry out of being a Saab specialist). The "backwards engine" idea was the best. Try changing accessory belts (normal maintenance) in any amount of time when you got an inch between them and the firewall. Anyway, it looks like Saab is going the way of Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn as failed GM divisions:

PARIS - The outlook for Saab took a turn for the worse on Thursday, after the automaker’s Dutch owner said that it was unable to pay employees their June salaries and warned that the prospects for obtaining short-term funding were uncertain.

...

The announcement Thursday dashed hopes that recently announced deals with Chinese partners would turn Saab around. Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile has agreed to pay €136 million, or $195 million, for a 29.9 percent stake in Swedish Automobile, the companies said June 13. That deal came on the heels of the announcement in May that Pang Da Automobile Trade would pay €109 million for 24 percent of Swedish Automobile.

The companies have portrayed the deals as game changers offering access to the Chinese auto market, the world’s largest. But industry analysts have expressed skepticism that those cash injections, assuming they are approved by the Chinese authorities, are of a sufficient scale to fix Saab.

...

It's time to let it die a somewhat dignified death, as opposed to letting the Chinese turn it into a bigger piece of junk than it is now.

Rat Rod

2011-06-07T13:50:00.002-04:00

This is in response to Fixer's Gangsta Hamsta ad. These are more my kinda guys. Heh.

Thanks to kayakdaddy.

IoM TT

2011-05-28T14:44:00.005-04:00

It's TT time again! History.

Here's a nice relaxing and scenic ride on a pair of Old Gentlemen Vincents from Ramsey south 'round the Ramsey Hairpin (1:50) and up the mountain to its highest point. The cameraman is on a '53 Black Shadow. Note the almost vertical speedometer so you can see it hit the magic Ton whilst yer chin is on the tank. Heh.

Following 1950 Vincent Comet from Ramsey

Thanks to printermon, UK.

Vincent Hillclimber

2011-05-22T14:16:00.003-04:00

I played this one about ten times just to listen to it!

A Vincent Sidecar Oufit competing at Baitings Dam Speed hill Climb in 1992

Thanks to 72degrees, UK.

Men in Motion

2011-05-20T13:05:00.003-04:00

I edited this from a DVD made from an old Super-8 film. Backstory here. I didn't shoot this, but I bought the movie camera and projector from Rocket Man and he threw in the reels his wife had taken. He got the moniker 'Rocket Man' before the Elton John song because he was a truck driver and used to deliver guided missiles to Cape Canaveral. You will notice he appears frequently in the vid. Helps ta sleep with the camera operator, I guess...

Credit where credit is due. The original cinematographer appears, with Rocket's mom, at :28. She did pretty good, I think, given the limitations of the home movie equipment of the time.

Me and Mrs. G appear at 2:36, and the only two seconds of video in the world of me actually riding one of the damn things in an event is at 4:26.

Riders came from all over SoCal to ride this event but most of the riders and others in the vid are from our gang from the San Fernando Valley and environs.

This is just guys and gals having fun. Enjoy.

From Super 8 shot by Elena Rocket Man at the Dirt Diggers Grand Prix at Pioneertown (or maybe Trabuco Canyon. It's been a long time.), Orange County CA in 1977. Her hubby Rocket Man's the big guy with the beard on the 750 Triumph.

I love this ...

2011-05-16T15:22:00.003-04:00

To an old vet like me, K-I-A means "Killed In Action", and I've seen my share of dead Kias. That said, I love this commercial:

This one's for you, Nucks

2011-05-07T14:21:00.002-04:00

Flattrack Racing at Northfield Ohio in 1939 See more at http://akronmchistory.yolasite.com/

Thanks to akronmchistory.

Sorry Gord!

2011-05-05T23:57:00.000-04:00

Dayum, I feel like an idiot.

I went to send Gord a picture of an old Indian Motorcycle and the link took him to a nasty, nasty place.

My bad, I thought I caught the time stamp at the bottom of the picture and instead it took him to nasty land.

Understandably, he was quite confused and didn't have a clue as to what I wanted him to see.
"No more of that" kind of response.
I finally clicked on the link I sent him and figured it out quite pronto.

My Bad, sorry bud.

This is what I wanted you to see.

No brakes or clutch handles on the bars.
No gear shifter, and ahem, the cute little seat on the rear fender.

I Need A New Drool Cup

2011-04-12T16:04:00.001-04:00

The old one cracked after I dropped it when I saw this'

One mint condition Boss 429 Mustang with 4,400 original miles, it even has the original Bias Ply tires.

Can you imagine?
It's on Ebay and you can "Buy It Now" for a measly five hundred and fifty grand.
I knew a guy who had one of those when I was in high school, it was ten years old at the time and still one bad assed motherfucker.

Cross posted at Ornery Bastard.

"Publish and be damned!"

2011-03-16T18:53:00.003-04:00

My old pal Gary was the one who told me that Morgan was resurrecting (carefully chosen word) their 3-wheeler (see post below) so naturally I sent him a link to F& G.

I've known Gary since the late '70s when I was National Service Manager (grand title, little horsepower) at Triumph Motorcycles America, the factory-owned distributor. Gary was one of a team of fitters that came over from England to rectify a rear brake master cylinder problem by replacing them in the crates before the bikes went to dealers. One of the cylinders had failed in use as a clutch cylinder in some kinda Limey car or other and I think their lawyers panicked. Anyway, due to the new cylinders arriving in dribs and drabs, Gary and his partner John were in SoCal for about four months. Perhaps Gary will see this and tell me how many units they replaced, but it wasn't very many. I think the English term for that poorly planned flusterpluck would be "a right bloody cock-up".

During that time, me and my motersickle club buds rescued these guys from sheer boredom several times and took them out to the desert and other places, made 'em desert BBQ and such as that. The club called them "the blokes from Triumph". We were all Triumph riders anyway so they were a big hit and we've been friends ever since.

Gary emigrated to Oz several years ago and is the dealer liaison for the Australian Triumph distributor.

His response to F & G was so good that I asked him if he minded if I posted it. His reply to that is the title of the post. Thanks for the one, way ahead of you on the other, mate.

Hey Gordon – Thanks for the link.

The George Formby film 'No Limit’ is one of my favourites still. It’s a tale of the battling little man beating adversity. Freeze frame one of the mainstand shots and look at the flags of all nations .What looks like an IOM three legged flag is actually a swastika! This was probably one of the last outings for the glorious Socialist Germany before the little altercation.

The pub he crashed into is now a gift shop. The beer on the IOM is an acquired taste – always reminded me of cat piss.

The Catalina races were something else – all BSA’s and Triumphs – do you remember me riding that Pink TRIUMPH twin in Bean Canyon? it reminded me of that! Of course the best racing was always pre-legislation!

TTFN

GARY

I took the opportunity to tell him that yes, I remembered how good he looked on Triumph Lady's pink TR6 desert sled and that I still have photos and my pension could stand a little augmentation...

And I won't fault him for missing the odd Matchless and Velocette in that 50+ year old clip (three posts below). Heh.

His insight on 'No Limit' (two posts below) is great!

And yes, the best of everything was before the anti-fun people found out about it.

2011/12 Morgan 3-Wheeler

2011-03-13T19:26:00.007-04:00

If ya don't want to listen to Mr. Morgan, the great unveiling is at about 4:00.

The piece has an S&S V-Twin and a Mazda 5-speed+reverse. It is expected to cost around $40Large. More info here.

Me want!

Charles Morgan reveals the new Morgan 3 Wheeler at the Geneva Motor Show. Open to the public until 13th March 2011.

Better hurry...

Thanks to morgan3wheeler,UK.

I couldn't find any video of the new one at speed, so here's a slightly older model:

Morgan Three Wheeler Super Sports 1934

Thanks to vincentgreen1984, UK.

And when I get one, I won't even have to start it myself! Mrs. G has been ready for the day since she started this one 35 years ago. At least I think it started:

George Shuttleworth, Speed Demon

2011-03-06T15:23:00.015-05:00

I just gotta get a DVD of this. Hell, it parallels my own life/racing career (including the 'creative financing/sponsorship'. Heh.) so closely I could probably make it myself!

This is from No Limit (1935) starring George Formby, Jr.

Here's the setup. There's a golden comedy line in this that I couldn't read 'til I full-screened it. George is a Rainbow man and gets a letter back from the Rainbow Cycle Company Ltd. telling him thanks but no thanks for a spot on their racing team but "we wish you success on your reconditioned 1925 Rainbow motor cycle". Best o' luck on that old crapcan we sold you, chump. To me that's priceless.

Thanks to freejim2828.

Here's the obligatory (around here anyway) cruise ship scene on the way to IoM:

Actress and comedienne Florence Desmond sings in George Formby's debut Ealing-ATP film 'No Limit' (1936).

I've subtitled the scene, "Fixer takes the wheel!". Musta spent some time on the set first. Heh.

Thanks to littleshoemaker, UK.

Here's the payoff - the Isle of Man TT race, filmed on location on the Isle of Man. TT aficionados will recognize some famous landmarks such as the Ramsey Hairpin, the famous jump at Ballaugh Bridge, and others including a particular pub that's probably had more motorcycles through the front door than any biker bar in Sturgis. Heh. Try some of this stuff on modern racebikes and you'd have many expensive lumps o' shit and a lousy movie. There's something to be said for old-fashioned simple iron and steel motorcycles.

This puts a lot of modern comedy chase scenes to shame. I musta learned to ride by watching this in the cradle...

Thanks to megasuggs, UK.

I hope you enjoyed that. I sure did.

Catalina Grand Prix 2010

2011-03-01T15:44:00.009-05:00

There was a Catalina Grand Prix held on the SoCal island for several years back in the '50s. After a 52 year hiatus, there was one last year. This is huge to us old SoCal riders, operative word being 'old'.

From Dirt Rider:

A legendary event that had been nothing more than a faint memory for a select few, a tall tale for others and a history lesson learned through photos and 8mm film for most was about to repeat itself. We speak of a post-war race that took place 22 miles off the coast of Southern California on a small island called Catalina. This quaint little mound of terra firma in view from downtown Los Angeles on a clear day has been a small venture with vast history-including military training in the '40s, spring training for the Chicago Cubs Baseball team from the '20s to early '50s and the epic golden years of the Catalina Grand Prix in the '50s. 1958 marked the last year of the then legendary and world famous race and its hallowed ground lay dormant for 52 years before a miracle took place.

There's a good article in Cycle World too, which I just got in the mail yesterday.

Interesting tidbit: Even though there's an ocean between Catalina and L.A., it's the closest place to have a race these days.

Here's what it looked like in the old days:

Thanks to elrodracing.

Here's the recent one:

Cycle World Off-Road Editor Ryan Dudek gives us an onboard view of the Red Bull Catalina Grand Prix course on his way to victory in the Veteran Heavyweight A race.

Notice that not only are there no bikes in front of him, there's almost no bikes visible behind him on the switchbacks either. Mr. Dudek was haulin' the mail.

Note to Dudek: Next time put a camera facing to the rear. I'd love to see what the rear end is doing! I betcha he got that Katoom so crossed-up a coupla times he'da got pictures of his face!

Note: you may wish to take a seasick pill before viewing. Also, Mr. Dudek crammed a 5-mile lap into the ten minute YouTube limit. If I had done the same video, crossin' the line would have been in Part 3. Okay, okay, part 6. Heh.

Thanks to cycleworldmagazine.

Update:

Also see the weapons-grade 350 KTM in action in the desert. Whee!

Re: Daytona

2011-02-20T16:52:00.008-05:00

Who in Hell thought "pairs racing" was a good idea? That's racing? I'll give 'em this, in 45 years I ain't seen nothing like it. The last few laps should be interesting.

Update:

That's wrecked, that's ruined. Heh ...

Update (Monday):

Arguing with my buddy Noonan on Facebook about this ... whatever they call that race.

Personally, I thought the race was a joke. Cars running around in pairs for 500 miles ain't racing in my book. It's who can make the best bargain in the push/pull negotiations.

Then too, to take nothing away from the kid's talent or the Wood Bros. (their record speaks for itself), I'd offer that were it not for the "drafting" causing the wrecks that took out the real threats (Gordon, Johnson, Kyle Bush, Little E, etc) the outcome would have been quite different.

One pass down the driveway

2011-02-17T15:34:00.002-05:00

The 280cc mill is working hard in snow this deep. Not as hard as I would be if I had to use a shovel.

One pass down my driveway to show how well the Honda 928 handles snow as deep as it is.

If the excitement is too much for you, search for "watching paint dry".

Eye Candy & Strange Music

2011-02-12T13:52:00.003-05:00

Bu İngiliz motorsikletlerine ait bir slayt gösterisidir.

Oh sure, easy for you to say...

Thanks to thunderbird979, Safranbolu, Turkey.

Whadda da fucka?

2011-02-11T07:40:00.001-05:00

Don't look like any F-150 I ever seen:

Ford Motor Co. is suing Ferrari SpA for trademark infringement after the Italian exotic-car maker named its new Formula 1 racing car the F150. Ford says the car’s name comes too close to that of its longtime top-selling vehicle the F-150 pickup truck. Ford filed the suit in federal court in Detroit.

...

Does it look like yours, Nucks? Heh ...

This Is Cute

2011-01-05T15:39:00.001-05:00

From 1965, I was 5 years old and recognize several of these old cars, er, models of cars.
My old man actually had one of those old Volvo's. He used to race a Bugeye Sprite back then and raced one of the original Mini Coopers too.

No wonder I am crazy, it's hereditary.

Truer Words Have Never Been Spoken

2010-12-29T06:58:00.001-05:00

As Gord would say, Click To Embiggen.

Overkill

2010-12-23T15:25:00.001-05:00

OK.
Imagine a 42 liter, V12 Packard WWII Torpedo boat motor stuffed into a 1920's Bently as big as a bus.

Can you say scary?
Over 1500 Horsepower in an antique car you can barely drive over 50 miles an hour safely.

You gotta watch this, I love the open pipes. Go watch the video and read the guys take on his experience driving it.

I really liked the part about him gettingn his eyebrows singed off from the open pipes.

It makes you believe that if you tried to run that motor out the old Bently would come off the ground.

BTW, Merry Christmas from the gang here.

The Amazingly Boring Antics Adventures of Gordon and Bermflinger!

2010-12-16T03:13:00.005-05:00

Here's a little vid of me using my new snowthrower, which works very well indeed. So good that I have named it "Bermflinger!". I was gonna give it sort of an Alpine/Swiss type name - Ausgeflingenderbermensehrfahrren! - but I couldn't spell it.

Could my old blower have cut up and tossed this berm? Sure. Not nearly as easily and quickly though. This blower has cut my my snow clearing time at least in half and with a lot less effort. This old man thanks you, Soichiro.

Watching me blow snow is about as exciting as watching paint dry, I know, but the dogs are fun. Notice the out-of-focus bit when I heave into view. I think the camera was trying to focus on the discharged snow.

I'm getting used to the machine, which operates similarly yet entirely different from my old one. I'm getting used to the big mittens too. Watch me try and horribly fail to throw a ball for my dog!

Enjoy.

An idle mind is a terrible thing to waste...

2010-11-07T13:50:00.007-05:00

It's ~~raining, fixin' ta snow~~ snowing, Mrs. G's NASCAR race is on, and I'm bored. Please forgive me...

Steven Jordan from Malvern with his 1947 Ariel, running a 600cc sidevalve 'Jap'(*) engine originally from a Howard-gem rotavator!!

*Not literally. More properly 'J.A.P.'. Putting one of these engines in a hillclimber is roughly the equivalent of putting a Briggs & Stratton in a dragster. J.A.P. made hellacious fast motorcycle engines, but this ain't one of 'em. Strange cats, these Limeys, but hey, ya go with whatcha got, and the thing probly gets him back and forth from the feed store and pub just fine...

First, watch ol' Steve get his ass blown in the weeds by a coupla 'modern' ('60s) bikes. Event is the '08 Red Marley Hill Climb:

Thanks to SethyF, UK.

Here's a sled in action that's slightly newer than the one Steve got his mill from:

This video shows my Howard 'Gem' Rotavator. I have brought the machine back to life. Her year of build is 8th August 1950 with a serial number of G17447 and is an early series 3 machine. This can be noted by the quadrangle gear gate. Howard was the Reg Trademark but she was made by Rotary Hoes Ltd in East Hordon Essex. She has a single cylinder BJ (British Junior) engine. I have tried to get the machine back to it's orginal state right down to the waterslide transfers which finish the machine off.

Thanks to Mayso4910, UK.

As you can see, not much difference in performance. Heh.

That said, a beautiful restoration of the old rotovator. The thing's a moose compared to a modern rototiller. Sure is purty, 'tho.

I actually have experience with the Troy Bilt type since my late mother-in-law had one to till her one acre+ garden with her husband at the helm. Considering that ol' Ralph drank a mite, it is notable that he never ran himself over with it. Being the mechanic in the family, it fell to me to keep it running on our occasional visits, which was pretty simple, although I swear I found parts that fell off it inside her home-canned veggies...

In the years after Ralph passed, Nadine modernized with a Sears lawn tractor. I know more about those things than I care to as well...

Un- Real

2010-10-24T08:34:00.000-04:00

This is one tough little bastard of a truck.

They ran it into a tree, submerged it in the ocean for five hours , hit it with a wrecking ball, dropped it, dropped a trailer on it and even set the damn thing on fire, and it still ran.

Crater Camp

2010-10-16T14:04:00.004-04:00

Nice little write-up (no can c&p) on a place I almost remember from my youth from Elrod Racing. Others too. The way it used to be. Sigh.

Crater Camp from Elrod Racing on Vimeo.

How I Wished I Could Have Been There

2010-10-15T04:56:00.004-04:00

Blogger seems to be fucked up as usual.
One hundred years of Indy cars all lined up at the starting line. From 1911 to the present.

How awesome would that be to see?

http://pressdog.typepad.com/dogblog/2010/10/the-historic-grid-listing.html

Copy and paste the link, commence drooling in 5, 4, 3. 2, 1....

Kraut Cup Trial

2010-10-11T14:13:00.009-04:00

This trial came to my attention when I thought the trials season was over. My third trial and my best one yet!

I rode 11 sections, or slightly over one loop, the farthest I've made it in one of these events so far. I'm happy about that.

I figured out it's best if I don't ride any more after I realize I'm tired to the point where my concentration and judgment lapse, which is when Bad Things Happen. As a result, I didn't fall off this time. A first in my trials career! I'm happy about that.

One of the reasons, I'm sure, that I did better is that I'm starting to relax at the helm a little. I'm getting more comfortable with the bike and am heading for the point I need to be at, somewhere between "Bend The Handlebars Hang On For Dear Life" and "Thumb And Forefinger Barely Touching The Handgrip", although my "HotHotHotDeathGrip" has caused the firmly-glued-on left handgrip to move almost an inch to the right! Heh.

In my three trials, I have improved a little at a time. The learning curve may have eased off the vertical a point or two. I've learned a lot about trials-specific riding techniques that are WAY different from what I'm used to, and all manner of little details that will pay off next season.

At this trial, Mrs. G didn't feel like taking any videos and that's fine. She played with the dogs a lot (they love the PITS property and all the people!) but managed to trudge to five of the sections to watch me. She got two still photos.

She says I went by too fast in this one, something I've rarely been accused of in my racing career! I'm glad my hands are visible or it would've looked like I've figured out how to balance the bike well enough to take a leak behind a tree whilst still mounted! When I get to that point, there WILL be video! Heh.

Click photos to embiggen

This one is pretty typical of the terrain. Mrs. G loves rocks! You can see the red and blue "split" markers that show riders of different skill levels which path to take through the section. That's me in the center, blue jersey, red helmet, walking the section (all the riders do that) and trying to talk some rocks into moving aside a little. It didn't work.

All in all a pretty good end for my first season. I'm looking forward to next year.

Granite Trial

2010-09-25T20:31:00.015-04:00

There's good news and not so good news, but I'm happy with my day!

Part of the good news is the SactoPITS property. It's just under 40 acres and their events fit inside it just fine. Also, it's absolutely undevelopable so they'll have it as long as they want it. It's two miles from the Eagle Lakes exit of I-80 on a section of Old Hwy 40 that turns to one-lane rocky shit a mile out. I-80 passes about 300 yards to the south (you'd never know it was there) and the main electrical transmission lines across this part of the Sierra pass virtually over it. I was impressed. The place is perfect for this kind of small event. Trees and rocks. Lotsa rocks.

Next in the good news department: I asked the sign-up ladies if I could pay my 2011 dues (I skipped 2010) five days early and ride on it rather than pay 15 bucks for a one-day membership like I did at the Granite Patch in July. They took pity on a poor old whiney senior citizen and let me do it. The guy next to me in line said that sounded good to him and they let him do it too. Heh.

PITS requires AMA membership and so I had dug out my membership card to take along to show them. I've been an AMA member for 52 years and hadn't even seen the card in probly 25. Everything's different than on the newer cards and they'd never seen one like it, sweet young things in their 40s that they were. Those gals looked at me like Sasquatch, or maybe Moses, had come a-boilin' down outta the hills to ride their event!

Actually, lotsa old guys ride this sport, but as resident Olde Pharte around here I have an image to maintain.

The best part was Mrs.G caught me on video cleaning a section. We had the dogs with us (they had a blast!) and she was keeping an eye on them. She did her duty and put their little asses in the truck and came looking for me. This was the only section she got to with the camera as it was the closest one to the truck. Thank you, sweetie.

If you saw the vid of me bein' a non-ridin' squid at the July event, this one takes some of the sting out.

Section 6 at SactoPITS Granite Trial near Eagle Lakes CA on 9-25-10. They make the "4 line" sections very easy for us beginners.

I will now put the sting back in.

I gotta leave ya hangin' 'til tomorrow. Certain parts of me are threatening to go on strike if I don't get into a hot tub toot de sweet! I better get outta this chair while I can do it unaided by the Fire Department! See ya.

Monday afternoon. Sorry I haven't finished this post yet. I've been busy. I will.

I have now ridden two events. I didn't finish either one, but I've learned a lot.

A word about the scoring system: Trials is scored like golf - lowest score wins. '0' or 'clean' is the goal in the observed sections. You get points for putting your foot on the ground or stopping, up to a maximum of five points, at which point there's no more glory.

On balance, I'm improving. In my first trial in July I scored two 'cleans' in eight sections, or 25%. In this trial I scored four 'cleans' in six sections, or 67%.

The observed sections for my skill level are pretty easy, as you see in the video. The club does that so beginners won't get discouraged and take up knitting or something. No problem here, knitting needles are too dangerous and I'd probably strangle myself with the yarn.

The actual sections aren't a particular problem for me, but the trail in between them IS! Only maybe a coupla hundred feet or yards, but rocky, narrow, occasionally steep up or down and winding. Mountain goat shit, at least to me. I'm not very good yet at riding this motorcycle. I've only ridden it, other than right around my house to make sure it runs OK, in these two events, almost certainly less than five miles total.

I could ride my regular dirt bike over any of this terrain a lot better for two reasons: 1) I'm used to it, and 2) it has a seat. Think about it - you stand up on any dirt bike to negotiate rough terrain, but if you hit a particularly dicey stretch you can paddle with your feet for balance and still be attached to the bike with your hind end. If you gas it, it's probably not going to jump out from under you. Riding standing up all the time because there's no seat, which totally sucks by the way, if you try to paddle with your feet you're only attached by your hands. If you gas it a little too much, your foot or feet are somewhere between the ground and the footpeg and only the top half of you is likely to go along with the motorcycle. You have no balance whatsoever and eventually something will happen that makes you let go of the handlebars, or maybe worse, NOT let go, and then it's all over. Kind of a comic visual unless you're the Wile E. Coyote - wide eyes, ears straight up, puff of smoke far below. Heh.

It won't be too long before I'll be able to toodle along on the trials sled as easily and well as the hordes of little kids who are presently blowing my doors off, but for now the in-between trails tire me out big time, which means I don't ride as well, which tires me quicker, and so on and so on. Each section I actually arrive at is a small victory.

In section 7, the next one after the one in the video, my concentration lapsed for a second and my bike tipped over. I put out my foot to stop a fall. Woulda worked, too, if there had been any ground there, but the ground was three feet under the foot. Eventually, foot reached ground, but there was no saving it and I went ass over teakettle.

While I was lying there, I realized how exhausted I was and decided to call it a day. The section personnel all ran to my aid and got me up and outta there and I rode back to the truck.

The biggest blow was to my pride of course (nothing new), but Mrs. G noticed a quarter-sized booboo on the part of my elbow that I couldn't see (note to Self: wear the protective gear, idiot). She whipped out the medical gear, cleaned the wound and put a band-aid on it. Had to pull a coupla pine needles out of it first.

A note about trials people: I turned in my scorecord as a DNF so the club wouldn't go looking for me and told the lady what I thought was a humorous "you guys kicked my butt". She actually apologized and I had to backpedal fast, "oh no, please. I had a lotta fun." As I was sitting on the motorcycle rack on the pickup recovering from all this, all kinds of folks came over and asked if I was OK. Word spreads fast in a small club like that and they don't know me from Adam. Very, very nice folks.

I rode my first motorcycle race in 1962. I didn't fall off in that one and rarely did thereafter. In thousands of racing miles I have never, say again never fallen off in two consecutive events like I have in this sport, and never at 2 mph or less.

That shit's gotta stop. This season's pretty much over, but my plan for next year will start with a simple act: as soon as this coming winter's snow melts I'm taking the cap off the Dakota. That will let me load up and go practice, practice, practice at a moment's notice instead of messin' with the rack.

This season was pretty much about riding a couple of events to see if I liked it. I do. My simple goal for next season is to finish an event and to do that I just have to ride, ride, ride the damn motorcycle until I know what it's gonna do and what I'm gonna do in a given situation and thus gain confidence and expend less energy, and since there's a level of athleticism I had not considered but which has been brought home rather sharply, to get my 'sickle-ridin' muscles (roughly from just above the knees to just off the ends of my fingertips) in shape.

Stay tuned. This is gonna get better and better.

Some things never change

2010-09-04T18:06:00.004-04:00

I didn't understand a word of this except for the Indian gent who probably doesn't speak Hebrew. You don't need to understand Hebrew to understand this: Bike riders are the same everywhere!

Get Hamas and Hezbollah on these bikes and presto! Peace! Would you believe bench racing?

השקת אופנועי "royal enfield" בישראל - 08.08.2010

Thanks to Calcalist, Israel.

Rough seas ...

2010-09-03T16:34:00.007-04:00

As folks who followed our trip to the Baltic know, I ran into my buddy "David the Engineer", formerly the 1st Engineer on Queen Elizabeth 2 and now with Carnival Corporation Fleet Division. He was doing surveys on Holland America Line's Prinsendam and then on Queen Mary 2 the same time we were aboard. Much beer was consumed. Heh ...

That said, he gave me some of his personal pics of Cunard's Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Victoria in rough seas as they chased each other across the North Atlantic for Vicky's New York debut, a couple years back.

My buddy Dave was aboard QE2 and his buddy was an engineer aboard Vicky and they took these pics while texting each other in real time. From what he related, the texts went something like this:

Vicky to Lizzie: "You're a dragster."

Lizzie to Vicky: "You're a submarine."

Vicky to Lizzie: "Dragster, submarine."

Lizzie to Vicky: "Submarine, dragster."

Queen Elizabeth 2

Queen Victoria

Click pics to embiggen

It was nice to have a mate to hang with at nights and catch up on sea and car stories. We also have a mutual friend so we got to say bad things about him because he wasn't there to defend himself. Heh ...

Update:

This is for Comrade Misfit, who knows a good ship when she sees it. Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Mary 2 at Pier 92 on NYC's West Side. My buddy Dave took this pic from the Empire State Building.

Chase Scene

2010-09-02T13:56:00.004-04:00

I ran across this video and just had to share. It's from a TV movie, The Ballad Of Andy Crocker from 1969. I remember watching it because it had motorcycles in it. The movie was pretty forgettable, although it turned out to be prescient in its main theme.

The film tells the story of a young man's struggle to reclaim his life after fighting in the Vietnam War. Written by actor Stuart Margolin, the film is notable as being one of the very first films to deal with the subject matter of Vietnam veterans "coming home". It is also noted for its unusual casting, which placed a number of noted musical artists in key acting roles.

Stuart Margolin is best known for being "shifty friend and former cellmate of Jim Rockford" ten years after this flick. We all have friends like that, and he served to remind us to always keep bail money in a safe place for when he gets us in trouble. Heh.

The last sentence in the quote explains why 'Marvin Gaye' is in the title of the clip. Posted by a fan, no doubt.

In this clip, Our Hero is making his bird after his world comes apart, and attracts the attention of a coupla motor cops who dutifully give chase. The clip is accurate in that a 500 Triumph could not outrun a Panhead on the road (a 650 woulda left 'em in the dust) and Andy wisely takes to the dirt.

The scene is hilariously inaccurate in that the motor cops fall off where motor cops, who are notoriously good riders in real life, wouldn't fall off, but the script called for it. Kudos to the stuntmen who fell off on cue right on the 'X'. Also, about 30 seconds in, there's a front wheel shot. This musta been put in by an editor who couldn't tell a Triumph from a Honda(?), or didn't have the right clip the director needed, because it's not the bike it's supposed to be. The theory is a) it's a low budget flick, and b) most people will never know the difference. Or care.

Kudos also to the sound editor, who got the exhaust sounds right. Nothing in movies galls me as much as seeing a Triumph, one of the best sounding bikes ever, going down the road sounding like a Husqvarna.

The movie is set in East Texas, but the scenery is northwest of Los Angeles and the bike has a CA license plate. I saw the movie once, forty years ago, and memory being what it is, he may have stolen the sled in California and ridden it home to Texas. Movies do this kinda shit all the time. Nothing's as funny to a resident of L.A. as seeing, say, Rockford doing a screeching turn off of Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank onto Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu when the two are thirty miles apart.

The final scene is a break point in the plot where Andy realizes the world he left a year ago is not the world to which he returned. Running outta gas is a metaphor for his hopes and dreams. I woulda just gone and got a can of gas and come back and tried it again.

Enjoy this for what it is.

Thanks to SBP519, Canada.

My Pal's Kid

2010-08-10T15:01:00.003-04:00

Here's some footage of my buddy Steve's son Eric. Last week's National Championship round at Donner Ski Ranch from 2:40.

Eric Storz motorcycle trials video. Including footage from 2010 AMA National Trials Championship.

Don't try this at home...

Thanks to ericstorz.

Tires ...

2010-08-07T14:31:00.005-04:00

I pull a lotta shit out of tires. Once I got a spark plug (porcelain end first), another time a nail clipper, a sharp rock, a crucifix, you name it, I got it out of a tire. I once took the fork end of a tire plug tool (had to dismount it) that musta fell in when the guy who was plugging the tire's tool broke (I heard it rolling around inside the tire when I took the wheel off) and he was too lazy to dismount it. Fuck I know how somebody balanced that wheel.

So last week, I got one I never had before. Half-inch plywood:

Naturally the tire was shot and had to be replaced. Ain't no fixin' that.

Speaking of tires, this is what happens inside a tire when you run it too low on air pressure. Think about it:

Click pics to embiggen.

This one wasn't far from shredding completely apart. Can't be good if it happens at highway speeds.

Crashproof motorbike - too good to be true?

2010-08-05T15:37:00.004-04:00

I got this from CAFKIA's brother Frank.

Thanks to Biertijd2, Netherlands.

The most important part of the motorcycle is still the nut that holds the handlebars.

Guess what I'm doing ...

2010-07-23T19:01:00.003-04:00

In honor of Comrade Misfit's comment on a previous post:

Click to make bigger.

Yep, I'm changing a headlight bulb on a Lexus LS 460. No fucking shit.

The One World Tour

2010-07-23T14:33:00.006-04:00

There are some email lists I don't mind being on. This is a teaser for a new DVD from Choppertown. These guys make niche indie 'sickle and hot rod movies and the one I've seen is pretty good. I wish them all the best.

What happens when two indie directors are given the chance to take the trip of a lifetime? Join filmmakers Zack Coffman and Scott DiLalla on a crazy six week trip as they show their films throughout Europe, meeting underground builders and throwing parties along the way. As they blast through each country they are met by local friends and fans who treat them like long lost family. Part travelogue, part video diary, and part biker mayhem, this once in a lifetime adventure is not to be missed.

More commentary here or click on video after it starts.

The answer to the question posed in the beginning of the video is:

Why, ya put yer dickies in gear and GO of course!

Thanks to choppertown.

Institutionalization ...

2010-07-23T05:19:00.002-04:00

I need it.

Once again, as I try to pack it in and get out of the damn car business, somebody sticks the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate in my ass.

Yesterday, out of the blue, I was offered a chance to buy a busy shop that's also a New York State Vehicle Inspection facility.

And I'm actually considering it. Meetings this weekend, more when things firm up, or not.

Tips ...

2010-07-09T19:30:00.009-04:00

Don't bet on the horses.

Seriously, since I'm packing it in, I figured - as I think of them - I'll impart some tips to make 'mechanicing' a little easier.

Today's tip is fastener organization.

When I gotta take a lot of shit apart (like this Honda Accord I had to do cam and balance shaft seals on), I try to keep the fasteners for every assembly I have to disassemble, separate.

I keep a drawer full of little Ziploc bags for just the occasion. We get stock (nuts, bolts, hardware, small parts) in 'em and I save 'em. As you can see in the pic above, the power steering pump is removed and laid on the side, and the timing covers are off. Those bolts go in a bag. The timing covers, motor mount, valve cover, and any driven accessory I have to remove, all the fasteners from each go in a separate plastic bag.

And then I put the bags, in the order I removed them, in my magnetic parts tray that keeps them all in one place while I work on the job at hand. If I just tossed the fasteners in the tray, without the bags, I'd have a pile o' bolts all stuck together. If I piled 'em on my bench and somebody sneezes, they'd be all over the place. This keeps 'em all together and I just pick 'em up (in the reverse order I took 'em out) and install 'em as I put shit back together. Easy and cheap (if you don't have a magnetic parts tray, get one - they'll set you back $15 if you don't buy it from Snap-On - and scavenge the bags from parts or your local dope dealer (Does anyone remember "dime bags"?) Heh ...

Click pics to make bigger. Sorry about the quality but they're from my cell. Ain't taking the Nikon into the shop.

My Trial

2010-07-06T12:29:00.005-04:00

Heh. First trial I've ever been to that wasn't in a courtroom and I wasn't the guest of honor.

This past Saturday we went up to the Donner Classic Trial put on by Sacramento PITS at Donner Ski Ranch, aka "the granite patch", so I could try my hand at trials riding. Try my hand it did, along with every other part of my body both internal and external. I'll get to all that.

I raced my first motorcycle scrambles race in 1962. After a hiatus for my military service, I did a lot cowtrailing and raced flattrack, TT scrambles, dirt grand prix, and my favorite of all, Southern California desert racing and enduros, up 'til 1980 when I moved to Northern California. Since then I've mostly done my dirt riding on the Forest Service roads and single tracks up here in the mountains. I won a few trophies and always thought I was at least a competent rider, if not the world's fastest.

Until last Saturday.

Trials riding is the hardest thing I've ever tried on a motorcycle. There are reasons for this which I will get to in a minute, but suffice it for the moment to say that I cannot remember ever riding as poorly as I did in my first trial.

Part of it is due to the slow speed at which the event is ridden. There's no gyroscopic effect. The rapid turning of the wheels in higher speed riding produces stability, which helps overcome and mask a multitude of sins. Balls and speed will get you to the finish line.

Not in trials. The 'observed' sections, which is where you score or hopefully don't score points (lowest score wins. '0' is the goal.) are ridden in first or second gear at more or less a fast walking speed. The rider has to provide the balance and stability of the missing gyroscopic effect. This is harder than it sounds and takes a lot of practice. Also, the motorcycle has no seat and is ridden with the rider standing on the footpegs. You stand up for bumpy spots in a desert race or on a trail, but you can sit back down. I never thought of myself as a lazy-ass desert rider before, but the standing up all the time business sucks. Mightily, but that's the way it is.

Skill, honed through practice and experience, is what's important in this sport, along with mental prowess. It's a thinking man's motorcycle sport. The riders dismount before riding a section and walk it end to end and plan their line. I did that too, of course, but the best laid plans of mice and men aft gang agley. Heh. I bounced off rocks that I swear weren't there a few minutes before. The truth is I had so little experience that I couldn't tell what was important and what was not.

Speaking of skill and experience, I had absolutely zero. I had only ridden this bike for about forty minutes total prior to the event. I spent hours getting it into shape to ride, but that didn't count. The proof, of course, is in the pudding, which this outing pretty much turned me into.

I promised you the most embarrassing video of me you are ever likely to see in a post the other day at Alternate Brain, but first a word about my good friend Steve Storz.

Steve sorta got me into this (backstory here) and wanted to make sure he gave me all the help he could and rode the event with me. I could not have done this first one without him and for that I thank him no end. As you will see in this video, Steve (orange backpack) followed me like a mother hen. I'm surprised he didn't tell me to go ahead and run over the section check person since I'd already hit everything else I wasn't supposed to. At the other sections he hollered encouragement. More on that later. This is the very first few seconds of my trials career. The good news is I can only get better at it.

The best I can say about that flusterpluck is I didn't fall off or kill anybody.

As the day went on I got a little better at it. I could actually feel myself improving and actually 'cleaned' a coupla sections, naturally out of walking range for Mrs. G and the camera, and therein lies a tale.

The two sections I rode good were more or less straight lines, and since my problem is turning the damn bike, I did OK. One was too easy to feel good about, but one was a coupla hundred feet up a gulch in a watercourse made out of fist-to-head-size rocks. I got to ride up the center of the thing, just a coupla slight jogs. The better riders had to ride up on the sides of the gulch.

At the start I snicked 'er inta low and rared back and let 'er fly. About halfway up I heard Steve yell at me, something like "Keep going!". Like I was gonna stop on my best run of the day! At the top, the checker punched my section card and we had this little conversation:

Checker: "What gear were ya in?"

Me, with brain fade: "I dunno. Low, I think."

Checker: "You wuz carryin' a lotta speed. Don't let these guys make ya nervous!"

Heh. Thanks, buddy, but I don't need no help making me nervous. That was a very desert-like section, probly the only one that I had a chance of riding clean and the only one that didn't make me nervous.

I was riding the "4 line", which is the beginner's line. The trials folks are the nicest people in the world and the gent was just trying to help me, but I thought it was funny.

Steve and I rode the first loop of eight sections and started on the second. As I was leaving the first section after screwing it up worse than in the video, I started up a rocky path to the next section on a very bad line and hit a rock exactly the wrong way. The bike fell over and I fell somewhat more than 90° from my standing position and landed flat on my back. No damage to speak of, and I'm damn lucky there wasn't a pointy rock where I hit, but it jarred the shit outta me and it took me a coupla minutes to get up. I actually couldn't tell if I was hurt or not and so chose to end my day and went back to the pits and that was it.

I had a swell time. Beatin' the crap outta myself was a lotta fun and I'm gonna do it again. I'm going to practice this until I can do it without looking like a non-ridin' fool. So there. Stay tuned.

Also, I met lots of really nice people and that's the other thing motorcycle sport is all about.

To close this out, here's a vid of Steve who is quite competent at his class level. He took a 4th place trophy.

And one of Cody Webb, who is a friend and mentor to Steve's son Eric and well on his way to becoming this year's National Trials Champion, who shows us how the pros do it. He rode the three loops and 24 sections clean, no points, and won the Master class. Eric Storz got 2d.

There are more videos of the event here, including Steve and myself. If your sides aren't still hurting from watching my first one.

And thanks to Mrs. G for the videos of me and Steve. After showing her how to work the camera, the cat's outta the bag, so to speak, so I have to get better at this. I will.

New BMW ad? Maybe not...

2010-06-30T13:43:00.002-04:00

I got this from my pal Gary, who's the dealer liaison for the Triumph motorcycle distributor in Australia.

Clicken zie to embiggenische

And So It Ends

2010-06-13T03:45:00.006-04:00

Ford has decided to shut down the Mercury line after 71 years.

I worked at a Lincoln/ Mercury dealearship for ten years. A fancy Ford was a Mercury, they came with A/C and some different tail lights, chrome, and some other ammenities to make them stand out.
The end of an era and here is as good as any requiem.

Back in the day, Mercury was a powerhouse apart from the mundane, much like Pontiac was to Chevy.

RIP.

Putting in my papers ...

2010-06-10T18:50:00.004-04:00

Finally.

I'd had it with the car business years ago. Just burnt out and tired of all the crap so this past week I gave Nunzio notice that I'd be packing it in at the end of October. I was finished 2 years ago, when I left Harry's, and had it not been for Nunzio's guy leaving him suddenly, I wouldn't be doing it this long. It's enough.

Once upon a time, I used to love cars; working on them, talking about them, driving them but I've been doing this for close to 40 years (overhauled my first motor, a Buick Straight-8, when I was 10 years old) and been getting paid for it for the better part of 35. I can't stand 'em anymore. I have to talk myself into going to work every morning and it gets worse every day. It's one of the reasons I've basically ignored this blog for a while. Just can't bring myself to deal with it when I'm home.

Now that I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not an oncoming train, I've got a few things to say about the business.

Car Makers:

I hope all of you fall on financial hard times. You deserve it. Not the good folks who break their ass for you on the lines and in the dealerships, but those of you white collar assholes, from the corporate/management types to the engineers. Are any of you car guys anymore? Have any of you worked on the crap you foist on the American people? Do any of you think about what it takes to service the pieces of shit you design and how much extra it costs your, and my, customers because designing something that's easy to maintain is the last thing on your minds? I bet customers $5 that they can't find the oil filter on their cars. Shit, on some cars, I gotta look at the manual so I know where it's hidden. What the fuck? I gotta put my hands on it every 3 months or 3000 miles, why the fuck you gotta hide the bastard, you bloody simpletons?

You've turned cars into plastic shitboxes (even the most expensive). Try disconnecting a plastic vacuum line (or fuel line) when it's cold, or the little fucking plastic clips that hold door panels or interior parts on, or electrical connectors; old and dry. It's ass-puckering trying to take anything apart, waiting to hear that little "flink" and see a piece of plastic shit go flying away, needed to lock a connector or panel in place and now broken.

Cars have gone from being "driving machines" to people's living rooms. There are more lights, TV screens, automatic this and that, but actually driving the car is more of an afterthought. Half the crap today has more blind spots than a semi truck, yet shit beeps and lights go on when you get close enough to something else. Your car tells you everything, when to get the oil changed, when the tires are low, when your window washer fluid is low (my new car will even email me when it's pissed off about something), and most folks disregard the shit anyway. Either that or it scares them to death. Jesus Christ, owners manuals are now several volumes and look like the manual for the Space Shuttle.

And aside from all that; since 1973 (the first gas crisis), we've known the internal combustion engine was a dinosaur. Its essential parts haven't changed much in a century; Henry Ford would recognize an engine for what it was, and while we've refined them, they're basically hundred year old technology. Oh yeah, there are more bells and whistles; engines are tunable to forty times a second to produce fuel economy, low emissions, and horsepower per cubic inch that we couldn't have dreamed when I got into this business. Thing is, a hundred years later, we're still burning gasoline or diesel. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Parts Places:

You're almost as useless as tits on a bull. Auto parts isn't a profession anymore, it's a minimum wage job and those (generally) who work behind the counter don't know shit about a car, let alone what they're selling. Used to be, a parts man knew about how shit worked together and could make recommendations as to brand and quality. Nowadays, even at NAPA dealers, you get whatever shit they get a deal on from the manufacturer or rebuilder. I've replaced 3 alternators over the course of 6 months in the same car because of crap rebuilds. Yeah, they replace them under warranty but they don't pay me for doing the job twice, or thrice, and the customers sure as hell don't give a shit I can't get a reliable part, they look at me like I'm some kind of fuckup. I'm the guy they see and it's my responsibility, ain't it? They ain't coming to you bitching when they have to pay for a tow because the rebuilt alternator (or brake caliper, or starter) decides to take a shit a month after I install it. Whores.

Car Dealership Service Departments:

You, single-handedly, have done more to destroy the reputation of mechanics than any other cause. It's called "upsell" and you all do it so well. It's a dictum that no one leaves a dealership service department without buying something. Take your car in for warranty or recall work and see what happens. You get a laundry list of things wrong with your car, from the brakes to some kind of service, to a cooling system flush, to a tire rotation, that "you really should have done now before something bad happens". And they get you for a thousand bucks. And people wonder why everybody thinks most mechanics are crooks. Rotten fucking scumbags.

Car Makers, Fastener Makers, and Tool Companies:

All of you are in it together. What the fuck happened to hex-head nuts and bolts? What ever happened to Phillips or Slotted head screws? Fuck no. The fastener guys dream up some new way to tighten a bolt and sell it to the car makers. Once they incorporate it into their line, the tool guys have to make a new wrench, or socket, or special fitting, to remove the fucking thing properly (without breaking or stripping). Mechanics spend hundreds, even thousands, of dollars a year just keeping up at Snap-On, Mac, Matco, S-K, Gearwrench, Craftsman, or any of the others. The boss sure ain't buying me what I need. You should see how many sockets, wrenches, cups, and pliers I have just to take off the million different oil filters that come on cars nowadays.

K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Jiffy Lube, Sears and the others:

You have done more than anyone to take the profession of mechanic and put it in the same league as burger flipper. You pay your 'mechanics' nothing, you work them to death, and most of them don't know any more than to change oil, mount tires, and change batteries. You shouldn't be allowed to have auto repair facilities.

Most of my customers:

Most of you are self-centered pieces of shit.

Let's see:

You make an appointment for tomorrow, don't show up, don't call to cancel, and then leave your car (before we get in, drop the keys through the mail slot) three weeks later unannounced, and expect us to drop what we're doing and get the job done "because you need it by noon".

You call for an NY State inspection and we ask if the "check engine light" is on and you say no. You drop it off and it's burning brightly. The inspection expires tomorrow, but you need the sticker because you are leaving on vacation tonight, driving to Florida.

Your biggest concern is the red paint on your beautiful white car (came a little close to something, didja?) yet heaven forbid you'd come in and get your oil changed a little more regularly than 15K intervals. Yeah, the car looks nice but the motor will be junk long before the paint fades.

You bring your car in for a service, brake job, and exhaust work and you "can let me have it for an hour".

You let me know you're looking for a used car. I tell you to let me look at it first before you buy it. You go buy it, disregarding my admonition, and then cry when you bring it in when I tell you it needs a lot of work for it to pass inspection. Told ya to bring it to me first, idiot.

You're a rich fuck and you cry about every dime you gotta spend on your "baby" that cost as much as somebody else's house.

You think you know about cars so you sit there and tell me what I should do, how I should do it, and what parts to use. Do it yourself, dickhead.

I could go on but you get the point. Just can't do it anymore, both mentally and physically. I got a bum shoulder, hip, and knees, in addition to arthritis in most of my fingers. Can't do another winter. It isn't fun anymore, no challenge and too much headache. I'm tired of coming home cold and tired, or hot and tired, or wet and tired, or all of the above. I'm tired of cuts, bruises, busted knuckles and fingers. I'm tired of being spooged with chemicals, boiling oil, and coolant.

I'm done and I'm looking forward to doing something, anything, else.

Space Age Stone Axe

2010-05-15T12:26:00.004-04:00

Great vid from our pal peckhammer. He has lots more motorcycle vids there and at blip.tv as well.

The 2010 Royal Enfield Classic C5 Bullet is a retro bike more accurately described as "vintage evolution." If you had purchased a Bullet ten years ago, you would have found it to be a nearly exact copy of a 1956 bullet; same soft aluminum cases and timing covers, same points-style ignition, same motor, and same manufacturing methods from five decades ago. That's changed over the last few years, after tough emissions standards prompted Royal Enfield to design a completely new unit construction engine, complete with electronic fuel injection and a catalytic converter.

It also has hydraulic lifters and a front disc brake and still manages to look even older than my '01!

Get Out Your Wallet Gord

2010-04-24T17:16:00.004-04:00

Here is a wet dream come true dude.

11 New 1975 Norton Commandos Found in Belgium!

Jesus, I am getting a woody just typing about these things.. What a score!

You know damn well these little jewels are long gone for serious cash money.

Bermuda Cub

2010-04-20T17:03:00.004-04:00

Fixer, slip a few of these back from Bermuda in your luggage. If they're all in as good shape out there as this 45 year old example, I'll take one, shiny aftermarket rims, incorrect front fender and all!

Thanks to Bermuda1105, Bermuda.

AMA Hall of Fame Videos

2010-02-24T17:16:00.003-05:00

The AMA Motorcycle Hall Of Fame is loaded with motorcycle history and a good place to look up stuff or while away some time and learn something.

Well, I just discovered the AMA Motorcycle Hall Of Fame Museum's YouTube channel. These are short (about 1:30) biographies of riders from way back when up 'til recently, narrated by Dave Despain. I saw vids on people I actually knew!

This gent was the Greeves and Hodaka dealer in North Hollywood. I had a Greeves in the '60s and got my parts from him and Mrs. G bought a Hodaka Wombat from him.

Go over there and scroll through their lineup. You'll probably find something to watch.

Winternationals turns 50

2010-02-10T12:06:00.007-05:00

Good article in the LATimes:

Gasoline cost about 30 cents a gallon, John F. Kennedy was the new president and "Wagon Train" was the most popular show on television.

And in Southern California, a man named Wally Parks settled on a parcel of land next to the fairgrounds in Pomona in 1961 to establish the second major drag-racing event for his relatively new National Hot Rod Assn.

The event was called the Winternationals, and five decades later it remains among professional drag racing's signature contests, even as the sport has expanded nationwide and speeds of its top-flight cars have soared to more than 300 mph.

Here's something I didn't know:

But last year, the NHRA shortened its top-fuel and funny car races to 1,000 feet to slow down the cars, whose speeds had climbed to 330 mph.

Shit, real drag racing only needs the width of an intersection. I had a '68 Chevy pickup (Custom Cab, Chevy Truck 50th Anniversary Gold, $2750 brand new), 307 small block with 3-onna-tree that was geared so low it would only go about 90 flat-out, but it would beat anything away from a stoplight.

Back in those days, I got my flathead 6 '48 Plymouth M Stock tuned-up from "Too Slow To Time" (It actually said that on the timing slip they handed me) to 58MPH/21:47 by taking off the air cleaner and emptying the trunk. I mighta been slow, but I participated, if minimally, in the SoCal drag scene.

I actually blew off three M Stockers in a row at San Fernando Drag Strip - a '52 Merc, a Corvair, and a '53 Pontiac. The high point of my drag racing career came when I rolled up to the line again and the announcer said over the loudspeaker, "Here comes that nasty blue Plymouth again!". Of course, this time I ran against the M Stock World Champion Hudson that would do about 80 in the quarter. I think that guy was putting greasy palm prints on the trophy girl about the time I shifted into second. Heh. It was fun.

Oh God, the memories are flooding back...

I trophied that old Plymouth once at the 1/8th mile strip in Holly Ridge, North Carolina. They couldn't run anything faster than B Gas there because it would get stuck in the mud on the return road. They timed the runs with a stopwatch, I think. Real grass roots, down home place it was. The guy asked me what class I wanted to run, and I asked him what class had no one else in it. Took a downgrade to N Stock, but I made it to the other end of the strip and got the trophy. Big-time cherry-picker from California. Heh.

I actually had a header plug (exhaust cut-out) on that thing. Cost $2 at a muffler shop. Installed! I used to put washers in between the plug and the cap. It was more or less an exhaust leak, but it sounded great! Ah, the ignorance of youth. I pine for its loss sometimes, but at 64 I think I'm still a pretty good teenage bozo.

Enjoy that article. I sure did.

What The Hell Was Fixer Doing In Florida?

2010-01-29T15:45:00.003-05:00

Just kidding, Fixer would have brought it back in one piece.

Mechanic traveling 163 mph in Porsche crashes in south Fort Myers

Routine maintenance on a 2008 Porsche Boxster took an unusual turn Thursday, when a Sanibel mechanic took the car on a wild test drive, reaching an estimated 163 mph, and crashed it.

Kenneth Kasten, 50, owner of the Sanibel Shell service station, was driving the Porsche on McGregor Boulevard near Punta Rassa Road at 6 a.m. when he lost control and flipped the car into some mangroves, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The Porsche - owned by Nanelle Wehmann of Sanibel - was the only vehicle involved in the crash, which occurred in a 55-mph limit zone.

The FHP estimated the damage to the Porsche at $50,000.

Kasten wasn't seriously injured and left the scene before emergency crews arrived, Cpl. George Kantor of the FHP said. Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor in the crash.

Authorities arrived on scene to find the car smashed, abandoned and upside down.

Initial reports were that the car was stolen, but Kantor said it quickly became clear that Kasten had permission to drive the car.

Wehmann said she has been bringing her vehicles to the Sanibel Shell for years and was surprised to learn about the crash.

"I'm just thankful he wasn't hurt," she said.

Kantor said because Wehmann knew Kasten would drive the car, Kasten wasn't charged with theft.

Kasten was found a few hours after the crash hiding in a nearby parking lot and was given a notice to appear in court on charges of willful and wanton reckless driving and leaving the scene of a crash.

I once took a Lincoln Mark 8 on an extended test drive and hit 135 before I backed out of it, that was way fast enough for me.It was raining a little and the front end was starting to float.
The guy kept bringing it in bitching about a howling noise around the top of the windshield at high speed and no one could duplicate it because when he said high speed, they figured seventy miles an hour.
I finally talked to him and he said no, it started in around ninety.

I glued the shit out of the seal at the top of the windshield and never saw him again.

Cruise night returns to Van Nuys Boulevard

2010-01-13T14:22:00.004-05:00

I remember Cruise Nights on Van Nuys Boulevard. They were fun to go watch. I never got in any trouble or saw much of the stuff that made the cops shut it down. I'm glad it's back, even as a shadow of its former self. That's probably a good thing.

By the way, the photo in the article shows a '62 Chrysler Newport, which none of us would've had up our ass in those days if we'da had room for a boxcar, but I guess anything old is cool now. Hmmmm. Some of us 'old stuff' have been so cool for so long that it's just a given and nobody even notices anymore...

LATimes

As the souped-up muscle cars, restored classics and lowriders cruise through the old Rydell Chevrolet lot on Van Nuys Boulevard, Reid Stolz takes stock of a scene that was familiar to anyone growing up in the San Fernando Valley a generation ago.

Here's the crux of the biscuit right off the bat:

"Remember when we were young and the cops were old?" said Stolz, 51, watching an LAPD patrol car glide by. "Now the cops are young and we're old."

After a 28-year break, Stolz and other car lovers have brought cruising back to "The Boulevard," though the drivers are now more likely to be middle-aged guys with graying hair and grandkids, driven by nostalgia rather than teenage vanity.

Yeah, how much trouble are a buncha old farts gonna cause anyway? Wait'll me an' Fixer an' Nucks show up...

It was more than just a scene, it was an iconic ritual that was imitated, written about in hot rod magazines and captured on film. Cruise night came to represent a Southern California lifestyle that young people in the Midwest and the world over could only read about. Cruising the boulevard on a Wednesday night was about adolescent freedom, a sense that anything was possible and, above all, fun.

Back then, young people just showed up every Wednesday night. Girls and boys by the hundreds milled on sidewalks as candy-colored cars blowing rubber smoke streaked by blasting Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd from eight-track stereos.

Led Zeppelin? Pink Floyd? 8-track? Holy crap! I went to those Cruise Nights waaaaay before that! Beach Boys and Bobby Rydell days! On AM radio.

I must be older than I thought. Sigh.

The tradition dates to the late 1950s when high schools in the San Fernando Valley held club meetings each Wednesday, said Jon Billesbach, 67, of North Hollywood.

Youths in car clubs would head to the boulevard after the meetings ended for street racing, he said. Later, everyone gathered at the Bob's Big Boy restaurants in Toluca Lake or Van Nuys.

Cruising reached its zenith in the 1970s, and the boulevard was its own teenager universe.

There were a lot of people older than teenagers, trust me.

Streets lamps bathed the bikers at Arby's in an arc of white light. The van guys parked outside the Heads 'N Highs head shop and the street racers converged at Bank of America. Latino youths parked their lowrider at the June Ellen Doughnut shop, just south of the 101 Freeway, Stolz said.

Here we go again - there weren't even any head shops when I went. There aren't any now either, although there may be again. Full circle and then some, I guess.

Pretty good article. Go read.

Memories

2009-12-30T16:03:00.008-05:00

Here of late I've been digitizing my old photos. Here's some taken by Mrs. G at Adelanto Raceway in the late '70s.

Even with monkey Pat as far out as he can get, Larry's got the hack wheel in the air:

Click photos to embiggen

Lonnie off the line! Note his clutch and throttle control.He's not kickin' up much dirt with his rear wheel, and there's daylight under his front wheel. That's called 'hooked up'. He probably won:

Chuck 'Feets' Minert, for many years one of SoCal's best scrambles riders and factory BSA motocross rider on his ancient but fast BSA Catalina Scrambler:

My pal Sluggo (couldn't find a link to Wanted Posters). He once borrowed my 500 Triumph single, went out and trophied on it, and said it was the easiest bike to ride he'd ever rode. Grrrr...:

Pretty cool pics, huh?

Of course, when moi flies by, I'm so fast that everything but my plumber's crack outran her. Thanks a pile for making part of me famous, honey. I have no idea why I had a pencil in my pocket.

More like this later. You may run screaming into the woods at the thought now.

Since ...

2009-12-18T19:39:00.001-05:00

Honda pays a lot of bills in the Fixer house, I figured I'd show their new commercial. If you're a Rube Goldberg fan like me, you'll love it, commercialism aside.

Vid stolen from Atrios.

Very Scary

2009-12-15T15:13:00.006-05:00

Either this guy has balls of Tungsten or he is insane.
Check out this photographer snapping pictures as an out of control dragster slams the barrier at full throttle inches away from him.

Notice the concrete being shaved off the barrier and the wheel spinning.

More pictures and the full story here.

Then And Now

2009-11-18T12:29:00.003-05:00

1955

2010 Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing

That thing looks Bad Assed.

Check This Out

2009-11-07T15:55:00.003-05:00

I cracked up just reading the name of this place.

That Will Buff Out.

It's a virtual "Glad that wasn't me" experience.
Although, I do resemble a few of those experiences, thankfully not this one,

H/T to our other Blog Buddy, Just An Earth Bound Misfit, I.

Before you die ...

2009-11-04T06:00:00.002-05:00

In a runaway Toyota, SHUT. THE. FUCKING. CAR. OFF!

...

The 2009 Lexus ES 350 shot through suburban San Diego like a runaway missile, weaving at 120 miles an hour through rush hour freeway traffic as flames flashed from under the car.

At the wheel, veteran California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor desperately tried to control the 272-horsepower engine that was roaring at full throttle as his wife, teenage daughter and brother-in-law were gripped by fear.

...

That's all. Turn the fucking key and the engine stops, and you coast to the side safely. WTF? Is this so hard?

Cross-posted at the Brain.

What is it with Krauts and sidecars in the desert?

2009-11-03T16:33:00.002-05:00

This is what happens when ya listen to Grampa's tales of his motorcycling adventures in North Africa in '42...

Thanks to Winterbiker, Germany.

Oil Bath

2009-11-01T16:20:00.002-05:00

Every old Britbike came standard with one or at least had one sometime during its life, but I never knew there was a patent on it! Norton must have made a lot of money on this over the years from licensing fees and royalties...

Norton's 1949 500 ohv single.

Thanks to 828cc, UK. Lotsa short clips of cool old rides.

Tokyo Motor Show

2009-10-22T14:39:00.004-04:00

Crick to embiggen

Visitors surround Yamaha's new concept bike, the "Super Tenere", which features a traction control system, anti-lock brakes and other advanced technologies, at the Tokyo Motor Show in Chiba on October 21, 2009. Futuristic concept cars, plug-in hybrids, zero-emission electric vehicles and even a hydrogen-powered scooter jostled for the limelight as the Tokyo Motor Show kicked off on October 21.

Cars, bikes, oddball concepts, and pretty girls. Photos and not much of an article.

Go for a ride with me

2009-10-17T14:24:00.002-04:00

Still testing the camera mount. Vibration level seems OK at cruising speed, still need to rubber mount it before old-fashioned long-stroke single vibrates modern electronics to bits. Heh. Moved it closer to center of bike, now it picks up too much wind noise, not enough exhaust note. I'll keep after this 'til I get it. It's fun.

This ride is out of my neighborhood and north on California SR 89 to the Hobart Mills turnoff. Note all the dirt haulers. That's a major industry around here.

Please enjoy a ride in the Sierra Nevada sun.

I never noticed the vibration before I saw it on the video. Now I do.

Note: No speed limits were seriously damaged during the filming of this video.

Thanks to me.

H-D to Discontinue Buell, Sell MV Agusta

2009-10-16T16:33:00.005-04:00

Dealernews

Harley-Davidson plans to discontinue its Buell product line and divest its MV Agusta unit.

The move, approved Oct. 14 by Harley-Davidson's Board of Directors, is part of the OEM's new business strategy to drive growth through "a single-minded focus of efforts and resources."

Translation: Even though Buells are better motorcycles than Harley-Davidsons ever thought of being, the clowns that want H-Ds aren't buying them, and the guys who want cutting-edge sport and adventure bikes aren't either.

Also, an awful lot of H-Ds were bought by guys who cashed out during the housing bubble and that's over. Their bikes are expensive and they're hurtin' for customers.

MV Agusta apparently hasn't worked out too good for 'em either, probably for about the same reasons. I remember the last time H-D went with an Italian motorcycle company, Aermacchi, who brought us the H-D Sprint and other models that were eventually bulldozed, quite literally, into the dustbin of history. Duck, here it comes again!

Harley-Davidson, Inc. purchased 100 percent of MV Agusta Group shares for about $108 million in August 2008. At the time, MV was retailing 5,800-some bikes through a worldwide network of about 500 dealers.

H-D says it will immediately commence efforts to sell the business, which is based in Varese, Italy.

See a video from Erik Buell at www.Buell.com.

The guy looks like he just had his world jerked out from under him. He has.

Too bad, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. On the flip side, it looks like Mrs. G's got a classic.

The Little Old Lady From Pasadena Lives Again!

2009-10-11T21:15:00.002-04:00

Go granny, go granny, go granny GO!

Let that be a lesson to all you young whippersnappers out there.
Granny will get yer ass with a 9.74 in the quarter.

The handbasket slows its descent a little...

2009-10-11T14:47:00.004-04:00

Counterpoint to the post just below this one, or perhaps therapy after it, here's some big guys making big guy bikes:

Thanks to fowkes1968, UK.

Update:

Here's a Triumph dealership that knows what it's doing!

Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?

2009-10-11T13:59:00.005-04:00

I knew about this, but just discovered this video:

Exclusive video inside the Loncin motorcycle factory in Chongqing, China where the BMW650GS engine is manufactured and then shipped to Germany.

For More details, full coverage and photographs visit www.bikeland.org

Here's a factory tour.

Here's one on engine and final assembly. Other than BMW.

Thanks to Bikeland, Anaheim CA.

China is the world's largest producer of motorcycles but I would say that most Chinese motorcycle production is meant to provide little sneezers to replace bicycles, donkeys, water buffaloes, and camels in an emerging Asian market. There are Chinese bikes and scooters here in the U.S. but they haven't caught on in a big way. The word I left out is 'yet'...

They're dirt cheap, but have no dealer network to speak of, and no track record as to reliability, parts availability, etc. For the most part they're funny lookin' too. The same could have been said of Honda and the Japanese motorcycle industry fifty years ago.

Also see: China wants to be your friend. Interesting. Scroll down for some cute if not overly endowed girls. Motorcycles too.

Heh ...

2009-10-09T16:35:00.003-04:00

Put yer glasses on or click it to make it big.

I'll try anything once ...

Hurley-Pugh

2009-10-04T16:55:00.003-04:00

I've had this in my bookmarks for years. If you like droll English motorcycle humor carried to wretched excess like I do, you will want to go see "Home of the Hurley-Pugh Owners & Enthusiasts Club". The site is very extensive, very, very clever, and is obviously a product of many truly wonderfully sick minds!

It will take days to see the whole site as once you get into it you'll want to see everything! Believe me, it's worth the effort.

Note: Hydrate well before going to the site. Don't even think about having anything to drink in the same room with you.

Also, if you think of the 'gh' in '-Pugh' as 'ke' you'll get the joke quicker.

On "Adjusting the Pugh-O-Spark magneto":

Magneto clearances should be checked at the regular 500 mile major service intervals.

Gaining Access

First remove any leg guards, fairing panels, engine bars and/or auxiliary fuel and oil tanks that may be blocking access to the engine. Such additions depend on the model. In the case of the Gentleman's Twin-Outrigger Combination, remove both sidecars. Remove the cylinder head and cylinder. Finally, remove the seat (remembering to "safe" the ejection charges if fitted), fuel tank, main oil tank, carburettor, spark plug, battery and starter motor.

On H-P's test rider:

Steerforth - An Appreciation

...of Captain Eric 'Killer' Steerforth MC, the famed Hurley-Pugh development rider and six-times TT challenger. Educated at Eton, a variety of crammers and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, 'Killer' soon became well-known within his circle for his robust attitude to discipline and his enjoyment of the more esoteric field sports. A fine horseman, he was renowned throughout the Rutland country for his keenness to be in at the kill, often joining hounds on the ground and tussling them for a crack at the fox.

After a gallant career in the Army, serving throughout the First World War on the Western Front in a variety of roles, ranging from command of a rifle platoon at First Ypres, to command of a company on the first day of the Somme, to command of a battalion at Paschendaele, to a platoon command in Flintshire after an incident at the Bull Ring in Arras,
...

Who can forget that rangy, black-shirted figure on the howling Hurley-Pugh Manxman Excalibur Clubman as it wallowed through Ramsey, spreading its characteristic slick of waste oil over the road behind it, or the unforgettable sight of the tall figure, in its trademark long black leather coat, playfully shooting at the Scunthorpe apprentices with a Mauser Model 1892? Who will ever forget his Christmas party game of 'Pin The Tail On The Hebrew'? Certainly not Nat from Assembly!

Just go. Enjoy.

Customizing: The Disease Creeps In...

2009-09-05T17:33:00.010-04:00

Well, I've had my Royal Enfield for fifteen months now, and it's been stock for too long. I added a set of OEM accessory leather saddlebags, and they look nice and work fine, but that was for utility. It's time to start making it a little different. Gotta start somewhere.

I got my Royal Enfield Online Store e-flyer a coupla weeks back and they had an aftermarket Ace Air Canister* air filter that reached outta my monitor and grabbed me by the stackin' swivel. It came on the big brown truck yesterday.

*While I was gettin' that link I wrote a short review of the product. They 'accepted it for moderation'. We'll see if they print it. It was generally favorable.

Here's the stock setup:

Click photos to embiggen

It took about two minutes to peel the stock parts out, and then I discovered, cleverly hidden out of sight - oh, the horror! - the most terrifying oxymoronic two words in motorcycling to come so close together:

Note to Lucas: Put the lawyers back in the box. I kid...

It was a pretty straightforward swap, although I did have to re-engineer the new bottom bracket a little. The canister missed it by about half an inch. 'Re-engineer' is a pretty high-falutin' term for grabbing the little aluminum strap with a Crescent wrench and tweaking it sideways.

The whole job took about fifteen minutes if ya don't count throwing tennis balls for my pup. Hyar 'tis ready to rock 'n roll:

I plan to replace the mickey mouse-lookin' wingnut on the top with a nice chrome dome nut. Clear the decks, Mountain Hardware, here I come! I could probably get one on my next trip to the Buell dealer, but I'd rather pay one dollar than ten. Heh.

Its makers claim that the air filter will increase performance, but frankly I doubt it. It probably won't even increase intake noise, as underpumped as these stock engines are. I have a replacement for the next part in, the one between the air filter and the cylinder head, that may in fact hop it up a little. Then there's that muffler...an' that barely bumpy li'l camshaft...an' those clogged-up as-cast ports...an'... More on all that as it develops unless they find a cure.

The Ace Air Canister looks real good. I think bikes should have round lines instead of square ones just like women, and for me this product does that.

Update:

The new air filter actually does increase the performance a little. My seat-mounted jeans-encased dyno doesn't print readouts, and you wouldn't want one if it did, but I can feel better acceleration and the exhaust note is slightly crisper.

Self-touching will begin in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ...

2009-09-05T10:17:00.007-04:00

I just got my weekly email from Ford Racing (still keep my finger on the pulse) and the photos of the 2010 Cobra Jet Mustang at the track are out. The engine makes me drool.

Click to increase displacement.

Looks like they had to lube the shock towers to slide that motor in there. Heh ... More at Ford Racing.

More on the new Cobra Jet here.

First kick? No, they all start on the last kick...

2009-09-02T16:52:00.003-04:00

I got this post from this blog. This is probably some corollary to Murphy's Law:

Royal Enfield motorcycles delight in making you look like a fool in front of friends, loved ones, and, especially, attractive members of the opposite sex. How does an inanimate object know that, instead of merely trying to go someplace, you are trying to show off your ability to kick start a mighty beast into life?

I don't know. But my Royal Enfield Bullet knows. To foil me it has moved its own kill switch into the "off" position, and developed instantaneous fuel starvation or flooding.

The fortunate thing is that when the friend, loved one or attractive person gets bored and wanders off, the Royal Enfield will cheerfully return to full operational duty. It's not disloyal; it just wants to keep you humble.

All true.

The Storz Bros Trials Demo Team In Action

2009-08-24T13:18:00.005-04:00

Yesterday me'n Mrs. G went up to Portola to visit with our friend Steve Storz and watch his sons demonstrate trials riding at the annual Portola Railroad Days shindig.

The 50-mile drive up there was pretty uneventful except for about one second of stark terror. A doe ran across the road in front of us. If she'da waited another quarter of a second, we'da had venison for lunch, car service. It was all over before my reaction time let me do more than lift my foot off the gas pedal. It was close enough that I looked for hoofprints on my pickup later. Whew!

We caught up with Steve and the boys at the local skate park (video with me 'n Steve discussing the day) near last year's venue in between shows. The demo area had been moved to a vacant lot right downtown so we moved our rig over there and watched the show and visited. "Downtown" is sort of a relative term. Portola ain't New York City. The main street is off the highway, so it wasn't much of a problem for them to close off the street for the Railroad Days event. If you were driving down Hwy 70 you'd have to get really creatively lost to find it!

Here's Eric Storz doing a show. You can see Mrs. G wearing a red T-shirt. I was wearing a Storz Performance T-shirt and had been seen canoodling with Steve, so for all intents and purposes, I was sort of a quasi-official member of the team. One of the Railroad Days staffers saw her standing where she was, sort of off limits to the general public (or the sane!), and asked me if she was with me. I said yes, and that she had been run over by motorcycles lotsa times (true) and not to worry. Heh.

Things don't always go as planned. In this one, Demo Team member Ian Delaney does something that probably wasn't in the script:

Of all the things motorcycle riders want to be famous for, that wasn't it, but folks all over the world will see that one! Heh.

He wasn't hurt, still being of the age where he's made out of rubber, and it probly worked out pretty good, all things considered. The Demo Team is sponsored by Ryan Young Products, which is the importer of the Shercos the Storz boys ride, and Ian rides a Montesa. I can see Ian's picture with his sled on top of him in the ad now - "Don't let this happen to you! Ride a Sherco!"

The show was very popular and the lads spent some time autographing posters for the spectators afterwards. We stuck around long enough to watch 'em load enough gear in Steve's F-150 to make a gypsy proud, and they lit for home and so did we.

There's some more videos of the Demo Team at my YouTube Channel. The Portola setup wasn't as video- or spectator-friendly as it could have been (Steve said that setting it up was like watching three women rearranging furniture), but nobody seemed to mind. Here's a much better video than mine that Steve took at a Demo show at Moto Expo in Del Mar last year:

Me'n Mrs. G had a great time. Steve's kids and their friend Ian are fine young men and solid trials competitors with great futures in the sport. We feel fortunate that they come this close to us once in a while so it's easy for us to go visit. The video camera is icing on the cake.

Oh, yeah, we stopped at Los Dos Hermanos on the way home for enchiladas rancheras and chicken fajitas. The perfect end to a perfect day.

230 mpg?

2009-08-12T05:51:00.000-04:00

Real good, but who's gonna buy the fucking thing?

General Motors announced on Tuesday morning that its Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car had delivered a fuel-economy rating of 230 miles a gallon — which sounds outrageous. With that kind of gas mileage, you could practically drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on a single gallon of gas, or for around three bucks.

...

Of course the range on pure electric power is about 40 miles, and then the gas engine kicks in to keep the battery up. That's fine, it's still pretty economical and most people drive less than 50 miles in a day, so driving it should still be inexpensive.

I'd like to know who can afford to buy one with a price tag of $40K?

Ein Volks auto ist 'es nicht.

Honda, Toyota, Ford, and Chevy make hybrids (I'd stick to the Japanese brands if you're in the market) a lot cheaper which are also economical to buy, drive, and repair (something unknown about the Volt). The Chevy Volt is nothing more than a cachet vehicle; something with which the well-to-do can show off their 'greenness'. Hopefully, GM will use the technology to make small sedans in the $12 - $15K range that will be more accessible to the masses. Thing is, as GM has done for the last 30 years, it looks like they've already missed the boat:

...

Team Nissan is referring, of course, to the electric vehicle in the photograph above (and the video below). The LEAF, which will go into production next year – with a tentative release date of 2012 – is expected to be much cheaper than the Volt. How much cheaper? Nissan isn’t saying. Wired, for one, thinks the cute-as-a-button car could come in at $25,000 – some $15K cheaper than the Volt.

...

Toyota has had electric vehicles for the better part of the decade and Honda is also producing their own version. It's probably a safe bet the Japanese will do them better.

And if you do want to spend a lot for an electric, Herr Daimler has a car for you:

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Daimler plans to roll out a Mercedes-Benz model that runs on electricity in 2010, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview.

"We plan an electric Smart for 2010 and for the same year a Mercedes (electric) model as well," Dieter Zetsche told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in comments to be published in the Saturday edition.

Daimler currently has in London a fleet of 100 first-generation Smart cars that run on electricity.

...

I'm sorry to say, as reports have claimed, that if GM has staked its survival to the Volt, there won't be many sunny days ahead.

Cross-posted at the Brain.

Paging Mad Max....

2009-08-04T00:30:00.002-04:00

Mad Max to the nearest white courtesy phone, your truck is here.

I wouldn't want to see this thing in MY rearview mirror!

Pics courtesy of English Russia, they have some very cool stuff there.

On the radio ...

2009-07-26T06:18:00.004-04:00

My good buddy Indian sent me this. This guy built a radio controlled Ford 23T in 1/3 scale:

And because my mind works in strange ways, a little companion music:

Donna Summer - On The Radio

Old Guys Rule!

2009-07-23T16:53:00.004-04:00

Very short video showing an old fart (same age as me) puttin' the stretch on the other riders big time.

These engines would probably seize just about instantly if ya fired 'em up below 9000'!

#12, Eddie Mulder on his 1969 Triumph Bonneville, following with a ten second gap #80, Keith Speir on his 1969 Triumph "Eddie Mulder Special" and two other riders (sorry - I didn't see who) closely packed, riding in the Vintage motorcycle division, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) 2009.

Thanks to Philol0gy. More PPIHC vids there.

From The Duh Files

2009-07-22T02:16:00.002-04:00

Duh.

I woulda never guessed.

Latest Indian

2009-07-19T13:06:00.002-04:00

Companies that make Indian motorcycles come and go. Go read about the latest iteration of this old brand, and watch a pretty good video.

The video is worth watching just to hear Susan Carpenter call herself "a little bit of a whore...". Heh.

Shorter: OK bike if you like that sort of thing. Too much money.

Be careful when you buy the boss a present

2009-07-18T21:48:00.006-04:00

I won't vouch for the translation, but I thought this was funnier'n shit.

The Ewan and Charlie reference explained a little here and here.

Thanks to loveyourGS.

Stuff ...

2009-07-09T15:17:00.007-04:00

Limey Steel ...

Yes, we have a customer with a '54 MG. Good God is it rough, and a royal pain in the ass to work on (think 65 years of rust), but cool to toodle around town in.

And one of my favorite rides, a late model Jaguar S-Type 'R'. Fast as hell and handles like a dream while you feel like you're sitting on a plush leather couch.

Yes, that says "supercharged"

By the way, the huge aluminum brake calipers are so light, they weigh less than the two brake pads inside 'em.

Got change for a Quattroporte ...

This is one beautiful piece of Guinea Iron (2007 Maserati Quattroporte) with a story behind it that has a moral.

Seems the customer bought this car a couple months ago off the Internet for a high-5-figure price tag, sight unseen (pics only). Imagine his surprise when, last week, the dashboard advises him of a transmission failure (Tiptronic) with only 15K on the clock. No problem, you say, take it to the dealer and heave 'em fix it under warranty. Well, seems Maserati and Ferrari are pretty particular about transferring warranties. They don't like people selling their late model cars as 'used cars'. Guess what? They informed him the warranty is void. Heh ... Now he gets to pay me to fix it. By the way, the dual disc clutch pack alone is $2500.

Moral: Never buy an exotic car (or hotrod) off the intarwebs unless you or someone you trust can physically go and see it and drive it.

Another story related to this car. The Ferrari/Maserati dealer we used to use for parts (Ferarri of Glen Cove) went out of business. So now, instead of driving a mile and a half, we have to go to Ferrari of Long Island which, fortunately, I pass on my way home.

So, the other day on the way home, I stop in to get all our account and resale paperwork set up with their parts department and pick up the parts I need for the Quattroporte. Now, I've never been in there but I've seen the building a million times so I pull in a space and head for the front door. As I'm walking up, I look through the glass and I see this huge marble atrium and the only thing in it is this huge marble desk with a hot woman sitting at it and a security guard standing next to her.

By the time I got the front door open, the security guard was on me. "What do you want?" He says. Mind you, I'm coming from work so I'm dirty, wearing a ball cap, uniform shirt - open with a dark blue 'wife beater' underneath - BDU pants, and combat boots.

I ignore him and walk up to the babe behind the desk. "I'm looking for the parts department," I tell her.

"Well, that wouldn't be in this building," she says, and I can see her turning up her nose at whatever it was I was spooged with last before I left the shop. "That's three buildings up the block. This is the showroom."

"Excuse me," I said, tipping my sweaty hat to her. "Thank you." I gave the guard an evil look before heading out, thinking if I went home, showered and got into one of my three-piece British suits and went back, she and the guard would have thrown their backs out trying to bend down to kiss my ass. Fuck 'em both; ain't buying no Ferrari.

The Prince of Darkness lives ...

So I get this 10 year old Jaguar in with a steady miss in #1, plus random misfires throughout. I ohm out the #1 coil and I find the resistance is a little high after determining I had a signal from the processor.

I check the computer and see the car has about 60K on the plugs, so I yank the coil to check their condition. I pull the coil out and what do I see? Jaguar ain't learned shit over the past 50 years.

After seeing that little sticker, I ordered 6 new coils. Heh ...

"Safety meeting" at Nunzio's?

2009-07-08T16:38:00.003-04:00

Click to embiggen

Photo: LATimes

Splinter City

2009-07-07T13:26:00.004-04:00

This is a Czech film of an American race in 1920. An amazing period piece. I sure wish they'd had sound back then!

You know how much a splinter hurts, right? Picture an assload of 'em!

Also note that the machines don't run rear fenders. Best to not slip off the seat or you're in for a polish job that will rock your world!

This will become clear toward the end of the film: 212=132. Holy shit.

Indian Board Track Racing at Daytona

Thanks to FloridaSportbikes.

For Our Pal Gordon

2009-07-07T02:18:00.003-04:00

Actually, I'm impressed, they spelled it right.

H/T^ Failblog.

Speaking of aluminum ...

2009-06-25T14:53:00.004-04:00

In comments on my last post, we discussed the amount of aluminum you find in today's cars. I had this big, fat, late model Chevy pickup (2500 series) in the shop today and what do I find on it? Aluminum brake rotors. Granted, they're aftermarket and this guy threw a buncha money in the trash buying 'em, but you see these a lot on hybrids and the micro-minis the car makers are pumping out these days to save weight and increase fuel mileage.

The reason I had this load in the shop today is for a vibration that came on at 40 mph and continued up to highway speed (kept up no matter how fast I got it on the highway). Now what possessed this guy to put these huge tires on it when it hardly sees any dirt is beyond me but the things have the most aggressive tread to still qualify as a street tire (noisy as a fuck). The whole wheel/tire assembly weighed about 60 lbs which is why I said he wasted the money on the drilled aluminum brake rotors.

The idea behind the aluminum is to reduce "unsprung weight". That's the weight of the parts of the vehicle not controlled by the suspension - "anything below the springs" in our parlance (wheels, tires, brakes, axles and differential housings sometimes, control arms sometimes). The idea is the less weight below the springs, the better handling the vehicle is and is less susceptible to "bump-steer" - the wheels reacting to bumps and divots in the road. It's why they put steering dampers on off-road vehicles - to absorb the shock to the steering gear and undesirable inputs coming back through the steering wheel. The weight savings over iron rotors compared to the aluminum ones is negated by the heavy wheels and tires.

The reason you see a lug nut with washers under it is because I was running the beast up in 4WD on the lift without the heavy ass wheels and tires on it (trying to rule them out as the cause of the vibration) and I had to keep the rotors from flopping around and destroying the pads, calipers, and mounts.

After running it up while having Nunzio watch the driveshafts and anything else that rotated while driving, we looked at the front axles (it's got an independent front end) and found the inboard constant velocity joint in the left front was binding. The hubs stay permanently locked (the shifting to 4WD is done through a solenoid on the New Process Gear transfer case) so you get it in 2WD as well. I slapped a new axle in it as soon as I could get one sent up and the vibration went away. Thankfully, I only had to take the wheels and tires off twice. I hate working on trucks.

Heeeeeere's Billy!

2009-06-20T12:44:00.002-04:00

Fixer's bud talks bikes.

Thanks to plumtv.

"I have a rattle in my front end."

2009-06-17T18:30:00.008-04:00

When a customer tells me that, I usually reply, "It's the marble rolling around in yer head."

Took me a while to find this one (Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 Pickup), but when I pulled the front differential cover, all this shit fell out along with the 90-weight:

Got a new (rebuilt) 3rd member coming from Jasper in a couple days.

Note: Click pics to embiggen. The darker metal pieces are parts of ring and pinion gears. Hardened steel as opposed to the cast iron aluminum (figured that out when I could actually see it) of the housing and bearing caps.

Update:

I got the diff out of the truck first thing this morning:

As you see, the right side bearing cap is gone (yes, I know it's on the left in the pic, but in the car it's on the passenger side; that's the right side no matter how you look at a car), only the bolts and bosses are left. That's what most of the shiny shit sitting on my bench was.

The ring gear (the darker shit in the pile on my bench) got the worst of it.

The new unit should've got there late this afternoon and I'll install it first thing tomorrow.

So what goes on ...

2009-05-31T19:36:00.003-04:00

At the local Volvo dealership where the parts department manager brings his delivery vehicles to us to repair as opposed to having the mechanics at the dealership work on 'em?

I have yet to get a satisfactory answer to that, but their checks don't bounce so I could give a shit less.

Treasures ...

2009-05-23T06:21:00.003-04:00

It's that time of year to get all the cars out of Winter storage for their owners. Nunz and I spent Thursday morning in the barn, putting batteries in, getting them started, and then servicing each one. Lotta fun driving the old iron.

One of the original Datsun Z cars:

Classic Benz's:

An old VW Thing. Nunzio and I want to paint it Wehrmacht gray and put a Maltese Cross on the doors. Heh ...

A mint '57 Tbird:

An old Rolls:

A mint '70s MB convertible:

And talk about mint. This '78 Beetle is perfect:

The last hotrod ...

2009-05-19T14:00:00.002-04:00

The last hotrod I built for myself was a fire breathing Camaro (454) about 20 years ago and I got rid of it when we moved in here (the guy who got it still runs it on the track) because of all the work I knew I had to do on the house (didn't have time to support a hotrod). I told Mrs. F I was gonna build us one more before I die and one of the young'uns is gonna inherit it. Well, for the last couple years I've been keeping an eye and an ear out for some classic iron that needs some help. It has to be the right car (or big pile of parts) at the right price.

I think I found it.

More when plans firm up ...

Home-brewed 700cc Royal Enfield 'Musket'

2009-05-16T17:56:00.006-04:00

This is just amazing. Me want!

From BikeAdvice.in

What you see here is a 700cc Royal Enfield V-Twin constructed using two 350cc top ends. The whole bike appears to have come from the factory, or maybe the “special vehicle operations” section, instead of the mind and work of a creative and determined owner.

When you read the story of the build, take note of the process, …he had an idea and over many years kept at it, continued learning, continued working, he just kept going until the idea became real and he was riding this bike down the road.

From Aniket Vardhan

I was born in and lived in Delhi, India till 1999 when I came to the USA - ostensibly for a Masters in Industrial Design, but here’s the dirty truth- I came because of the sound of a Harley Davidson. Saw one once in Delhi, long ago, belonged to some filthy rich type, heard it start up and rumble away, wet myself publicly and resolved that one day, I would visit their homeland.

Yeah, them hawgs'll reach all the way to the other side of the world ta fuck ya up...

By all means go read about how he did it, but first watch this:

Damn nice job, Mr. Vardhan!

Thanks to BikeAdvice, India.

Update:

I couldn't resist...

This one shows that Mr. Vardhan knows that when you are demonstrating a completed exhaust installation, always point it at a brick wall for maximum effect.

And the all-important road test:

Thanks to winsomniac.

Also see bench testing the completed engine. Read the sidebar.

[...] If you all know about the Norcroft and Carberry Enfields and are wondering why I did this anyway, well, too much time, effort and dreaming had been done when I heard of them, so inspite of some major discouragement that the enfield V twin had already been done by professionals, I decided to plough ahead anyway. NO REGRETS! Watch out for some more videos from me with info on the motor, test rides etc. coming soon!
TURN UP YOUR SPEAKERS, CRANK UP THE BASS!
Thanks for watching!

I thank him for documenting this so well. Inquiring gearheads want to know...

Final thoughts

What Mr. Vardhan did was take the rotating and reciprocating elements from two pretty nondescript Royal Enfield single-cylinder engines and make his own crankshaft assembly and crankcase to graft them together and then get the resulting lump to fit between the wheels. It's been done before, so it's not unique in that way.

What is unique is that he did it at all. That is a tremendous amount of work. He obviously paid a lot of attention to detail and it shows. He ended up with a very nice 1930s-looking motorcycle that is his and his alone.

I think he should make me one.

Dear Chrysler,

2009-05-15T05:36:00.000-04:00

It'd have been nice, during this tumultuous time for the auto industry, if you'd have thought about your parts supply chain before embarking on this 'reorganization'. I have 3 Jeeps in various states of repair because I can't get parts from you and they aren't available in the aftermarket. Get yer shit together, I'm running out of room.

Regards,

Fixer

Fixer & Gordon

Oops!

I Do Believe Beer and A tiny Penis Are Part of the Reason For This Display

I Got Another Good Boy

Attention Chevy Lovers

Racing Darwinism ...

Granite Trial

Click to embiggen

Last Gasp At Donner Summit

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Thanks to DrBlindopolis.

For All You Chevy Lovers

Geritol Trial

Cannibal Cruise '11

Click photos to embiggen

Lovely ...

Unreal

Junk before ...

Rat Rod

Thanks to kayakdaddy.

IoM TT

Thanks to printermon, UK.

Vincent Hillclimber

Thanks to 72degrees, UK.

Men in Motion

I love this ...

This one's for you, Nucks

Thanks to akronmchistory.

Sorry Gord!

I Need A New Drool Cup

"Publish and be damned!"

2011/12 Morgan 3-Wheeler

Thanks to morgan3wheeler,UK.

Thanks to vincentgreen1984, UK.

George Shuttleworth, Speed Demon

Thanks to freejim2828.

Thanks to littleshoemaker, UK.

Thanks to megasuggs, UK.

Catalina Grand Prix 2010

Thanks to elrodracing.

Thanks to cycleworldmagazine.

Re: Daytona

One pass down the driveway

Eye Candy & Strange Music

Thanks to thunderbird979, Safranbolu, Turkey.

Whadda da fucka?

This Is Cute

Truer Words Have Never Been Spoken

Overkill

The Amazingly Boring Antics Adventures of Gordon and Bermflinger!

An idle mind is a terrible thing to waste...

Thanks to SethyF, UK.

Thanks to Mayso4910, UK.

Un- Real

Crater Camp

How I Wished I Could Have Been There

Kraut Cup Trial

Click photos to embiggen

Granite Trial

Some things never change

Thanks to Calcalist, Israel.

Rough seas ...

Queen Elizabeth 2

Queen VictoriaClick pics to embiggen

Chase Scene

Thanks to SBP519, Canada.

My Pal's Kid

Thanks to ericstorz.

Tires ...

Click pics to embiggen.

Crashproof motorbike - too good to be true?

Thanks to Biertijd2, Netherlands.

Guess what I'm doing ...

Click to make bigger.

The One World Tour

Thanks to choppertown.

Institutionalization ...

Tips ...

Click pics to make bigger. Sorry about the quality but they're from my cell. Ain't taking the Nikon into the shop.

My Trial

Queen Victoria

Click pics to embiggen