Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Make an entrance, don't just show up.



Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR Dickies 500, 2009... the Chevrolet Camaro SS pace car arrived at a race in style.
In a Chinook helicopter.
As a salute to US military veterans, the monster double-rotor chopper touched down by the side of track, releasing the Camaro driven by NASA astronaut Doug Hurley, who is not only a US Marine Corps colonel, but also holds a Texas Motor Speedway season ticket and piloted the shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station in July.

Just skip right to the 2 minute mark, go for the gusto, the rest is rubbish



Via http://micofeliciano.tumblr.com/page/63

Awesome photos from Spritied Drive Tumbler



Burn baby burn, the devil's got your number via: http://spiriteddrive.tumblr.com/

Golden age survivor in Brazil

The photo posted by Fabio Almeida was made in the district Taquaras rural Burnt Ranch, Sierra Santa Catarina.

racing a Stutz in Brazil, 1938

José Villafranca in 1938 aboard an interesting Stutz Ibitirama Street, Vila Prudente, Sao Paulo

1920 method of obtaining gas in Brazil was a department store

The photo above is from 1920, highlighting the "torpedo" a Ford TT.

The coolest thing in this image is the writing on the wall of the warehouse: Custodian of gasoline "Motano"-Standard Oil of Brazil.

So this was the sale of "Gazolina" in the early days! Well before the gasoline pumps, fuel was sold in department stores in brass!
http://antigosverdeamarelo.blogspot.com/2010/01/jacarei-curiosidades.html

On their way to south Brazil

image via: http://antigosverdeamarelo.blogspot.com/2010/02/volkswagen-do-brasil.html

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Power Tour 2004's all first gen Camaro photo shoot finally released to the public

Download any or all of 3 sizes here http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_1001w_first_gen_camaro_photo/index.html

You won't see many '64-'66 Imperials in So cal for sale, the upcoming movie "the Green Hornet" needed 29 built





Seth Rogen (who is the lead in the movie The Green Hornet) unveiled one at the 2009 Comic-con http://www.accesshollywood.com/seth-rogen/comic-con-2009-seth-rogen-unveils-green-hornets-black-beauty_video_1138356 for the video, but a full gallery of photos are here: http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/comic-con-2009-the-green-hornets-black-beauty#6
The original was built by icon Dean Jefferies.

Dennis McCarthy is the picture car coordinator (just 6 years of doing this so far) in Hollywood that made the cars used during filming the last two The Fast and the Furious movies, which he had over a $7 million dollar budget on just Tokyo Drift http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/general/hdrp_0607_movie_car_builds/index.html

and now he's building the Green Hornet "Black Beauty" Imperials.
29 of them.

great interview with Dennis here: http://www.latinoreview.com/news/fast-furious-week-continues-interview-with-car-coordinator-dennis-mccarthy-new-poster-6189 which is the same as the one here, http://www.collider.com/entertainment/interviews/article.asp/aid/10961/tcid/1http://www.collider.com/entertainment/interviews/article.asp/aid/10961/tcid/1http://www.collider.com/entertainment/interviews/article.asp/aid/10961/tcid/1 but with a different writer claiming credit for the writing... odd.

Some cool photos by Pairadocs in his Flikr stream




See a whole lot more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pairadocs/page6/

Relix Riot at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners Michigan


Ryan finds Mopars in fields and barns, even a Superbird

http://carsinbarns.blogspot.com/

Lots of photos, all of them are computer coded so they can't be saved and shown anywhere else.

Why don't we buy American cars? Jeff analyzed the situation (excerpts)

GM has 42 SUVs and trucks, 18 sedans, 8 coupes, 4 convertibles, 2 wagons and 1 hatchback.

.... little choice of American hatches in a sea of VW GTI's/Golfs/Beetles, Mazda 3's, Honda Civic Si's and Mini Coopers.

As much as I like the Camaro, I probably would never buy one because of the price and sheer principal. The day of the muscle car was over 30 years ago. If I want a muscle car I'll go buy a '69 Camaro for the same price and have a piece of automotive history.

Within my price range I had the Mustang, Camaro, and Soltice/Sky to choose from in the American market. Get ready for the competition now...Audi TT(Germany), VW Eos(Germany), BMW 1-series(Germany), Honda Accord coupe/Civic coupe/S2000(Japan), Nissan Z/Altima coupe(Japan), Hyundia Tiburon/Genesis coupe(Korea), Mazda Miata/RX-8(Japan), Mitsubishi Eclipse(Japan), Scion tc(Japan).....If you increase the budget by $5k there are a mess load of other imported cars to choose from.

Why doesn't GM or Ford offer sporty little sedans?

What happened to cool American cars ?

Read all about it: http://motoriginal.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-wont-americans-buy-american-cars.html

car design blog


Sunday, March 28, 2010

Black and white and cool all over

Sophia Loren on the hood of a 300sl

Nixon in Paris 1957

Bumper cars at a British carnival

The concept car Ford Seattle

Dizzy Dean trying to start a 2nd career

Daytona Beach racing 1953

Train wreck Palatine Illinois 1950

Cincinatti 1950

Looks like James Dean's Porsche

Brooklyn 1955, maybe a Packard taxi
From "If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger,There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats" a blog about all pre-1970 American culture via photography http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/

Not doing it right, not even close


"My Mother the Car" the car was made by Norm Grabowski or Barris?

Premiering in 1965, what may be the strangest sitcom of all time is a reminder that borderline brain-dead TV executives have been with us for decades — and deserve no say in the big-budget boardroom. Jerry Van Dyke played a man who discovers that his mother's soul has been reincarnated in his automobile, enabling him to hear her voice through the radio http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/worst-tv-shows-100109

Hot Rod Deluxe, May 2010 issue page 69 says Norm made it, and it was owned by Kaye Trapp, Hollywood studio photographer who used it as a push car for the Zueschel, Fuller, and Moody dragster

But according to http://local.aaca.org/junior/starcars/mother.htm Barris built the car; The car's body (finished in Metalflake carnation red with a white top) was made up from various vehicles including a Model T Ford, a Maxwell (precursor to the Chrysler), a Hudson, and pieces of a Chevrolet, including drive train. The car had a custom-made hood and radiator shell.
2 were made, one is at http://starcarstn.com/index.html in Tennessee along with a lot of other cool cars like the Munsters Dragula, and a collection of Barris customs





The video is badly editted news shorts from a local tv station perhaps... it seems like it once had commercials, only the first half is really worth watching