Nortons first overhead cam 500

Norton CS-1 1929

Italian Schneider Cup entrant, 1931

 

Technical problems prevented the Macchi MC 72 from entering the 1931 Schneider race, but it later established a still unbeaten world air speed record of 440 mph for piston-engined seaplanes.

A.V. Roe Canada in 1955

Canada 1955.  The Official Handbook of Present Conditions and Recent Progress.
Ottawa:  Dominion Bureau of Statistics, 1955.

Below, the lower photo enlarged.  What looks to be CF-100 Canucks ("Clunks" or "Lead Sleds" to the RCAF pilots) under construction.  Soon to be replaced by the Avro CF-105 Arrow and Canadian aviation infamy.

Vanished Tool Makers: P&C Tool Company, Portland, Oregon

This is the only P&C tool in my shop:

I love the trademark--"Trustworthy."

The P&C Tool Company was founded in 1920 by two Swedish blacksmiths, John Peterson & Charles Carlborg. Their firm started in Boise, Idaho, but soon moved to Portland Oregon.  In 1941, the company was acquired by Plomb, which then became Proto, and then Pendletoon Tool Industries, until being swallowed by Ingersoll Rand which eventually closed down the P&C division in the late 1960's.  Ingersoll-Rand's Proto division was sucked into the voracious Stanley Tools empire in 1984.

For a thorough look at the company's history and wares, visit P&C Tool Enthusiasts.

1967

Railway suspension bridge at Niagara

Robert F. Legget; Railways of Canada, Douglas &McIntyre 1973

A Great Western train crosses the suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, year unknown. The crossing must have been done slowly. I expect the flexibility of the bridge could start some frightening wave action.

http://guildofstluke.tumblr.com/post/67379736430/advertisement-for-great-western-railways-niagara

Trains across the World; Octopus Books 1972

Train crossing the bridge. 1859

also 1859

MG Magnette Dashboard

Progress sucks: Daisy Vacuum Cleaner

From Michael Williams.  Curiosities of Cornwall.  (Cornwall:  Bossiney Books, 1983).  The vacuum cleaner is on display at the North Cornwall Museum and Gallery in Camelford, north Cornwall, England.  Unlike the Daisy, Booth's machine was a large, gasoline-powered device drawn by horses, using large hoses drawn through the windows of the house being cleaned.

Tiger tank

Egon Kleine & Volkmar Kühn. Translated by David Johnston.   Tiger.  The History of a Legendary Weapon 1942-45.  
Winnipeg, Manitoba:  J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 1989.

If you were on the Allied side, you really didn't want to meet one of these Panzer VI monsters.  The Tiger I weighed in at 56.9 tonnes, the Tiger II (or "King Tiger") at 69.7 tonnes.

Below, from the book:

Below, Tiger victims:

An unusual outcome:  the end of a Tiger:

Sidecar Sunday

A photo from Toronto, no less.  1910.  It's the children of photographer William James on the bike.

Crown Radio Corporation, Tokyo: Top of the World's Sound

The hot items in the late 1960's, early 70's.  I really want the Telephone Valet with the "Voice Induction Device"!

For those interested in seeing the full sales brochure, I've uploaded it here.

Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah Engines 1943

Canadian Aviation, August 1943

Vanished Motorcycle Dealers

Prewar Italy edition

Schooner Nancy Hanks

Thomaston Historical Society; Tall Ships, White Houses and Elms; Courier Gazette, 1976

Four masted schooner Nancy Hanks built at Thomaston Me. in 1917. Although in the Canadian Maritimes wooden sailing shipbuilding was over, in Maine they were built well into the 20th Century.
Painted white, the Nancy Hanks- named either after President Lincoln's mother or for the race horse of the same name, is beautiful- she looks like a seagull alighting on the water. She met her end 9 years later aground on the Florida Reef.

Shipwrecks of Florida: A Comprehensive Listing   By Steven D. Singer

More info at http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/27844

 and a poster here

Trans-Canada Limited 1925

Leslie Armour.  The Idea of Canada and the Crisis of Community.
Ottawa:  Steel Rail Publishing, 1981.

Beginning service in 1919, it was advertised at the time as the fastest train in North America.  The train service was discontinued in 1931, more fallout from the Great Depression.

For more information, visit the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel.

Welcome to Canada: Resolute Bay, North West Territories, 1962

Canada 1962.  The Official Handbook of Present Conditions and Recent Progress.
Ottawa:  Information Services Division, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, 1962.

Since 1999, Resolute Bay has been part of Nunavut.  It's name in Inuktitut is Qausuittuq (ᖃᐅᓱᐃᑦᑐᖅ) literally “place with no dawn.”

They're off to Denmark, 1961

Continental Holiday.  The American Travel Guide to Europe.  New York, 1961.

This is a very bizarre ad.  Still, it was the Sixties.  

The X-1 and mother ship in flight

The Children's Book of Achievement.  London & Glasgow:  Collins Clear-Type Press, 1958.

Kenny Roberts's no dummy!

Scoop Sports Annual 1982.  London, England:
D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.

No information on whether his "double" ever raced for him.

Flying in the Tin Goose

Tim Gross.  Neil Armstrong.  World Almanac Library, 2002.

For views of the outside, see Ford Tri-Motor:  Aloft in Luxury!

Boat Delivery

Boat building in New York City in WW2.

Stonecarvers on the Island of Vinalhaven, 1904

From a postcard. Photo by William H Merridew from the John A. Low collection

Carving granite at the Bodwell Granite Co. for the U.S. Custom House in New York City. 

Merry Christmas!

In 1551, the British parliament passed the Holy Days and Feasting Act, which required that every citizen attend church, and that they shall not travel to that service in any kind of vehicle, presumably to prevent the rich from showing off.  Fortunately, the act was repealed in 1969, so we're good to go now by bike or by car.

Santa's First Sled

Unlikely Survivor, Dodge RamCharger

 

Plymouth for 1956

The British Elvis

Clarkson Rose.  Red Plush and Greasepaint.  A Memory of the
Music-Hall and Life and Times from the Nineties to the Sixties.
London:  Museum Press Ltd., 1964.

Who can forget hits like "Rock with the Caveman,"  "What a Mouth (What a North and South)," "Doomsday Rock" and "Flash Bang Wallop?"

Looking at the photo, it's a wonder that The Fonz wasn't tied up in a lawsuit.