Waterproofing the spark plug, 1949

 

 

Champion waterproof spark plug cap

Bugatti Type 53 cutaway

 

Artist Yoshihiro Inomoto, Classic Cars June / July 1986

Avon motorcycle tires, 1969

 I don't know what to say...

Farmers Ever-ready Multi-tool

These multi-things just keep cropping up! 

Winner, winner, winner!

 I love everything about this, as does the 1979 version of myself. 

Evans tape measure

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We've done a post on the Canadian branch of the Evans Rule company, this American-made 100 ft tape showed up in Scotland recently, There doesn't seem to be a connection between the companies but the round tapes from the two companies very much resemble each other. (bottom - Lufkin)

Thanks, Derek!

 

Union Pacific, 1955

 Union Pacific with its head office in Omaha Nebraska, was always a western railway, this ad touts their Portland, Oregon connection. In 2025 the company has acquired the Norfolk Southern, which was the result of the 1986 amalgamation of the coal-carrying Norfolk and Western and the Southern Railway. Early mergers with the Virginian Railway, and later Wabash and Nickel Plate lines. Union Pacific is now a coast to coast freight carrier.

Thomas Motor Company

A price tag of $5150 in 1912, for comparison, a Model T started at $690. By 1912 the company was on its last legs and had been sold by its founder, the financial company that bought it couldn't turn it around and closed it down a year later.

The Thomas company had started out as a bicycle manufacturer, in 1899 they produced a successful one cylinder car and in 1908 gained great fame when their Thomas Flyer (the only American entry) won the 24,000 mile New York to Paris race. Despite high quality and innovative ideas like the hill holder shown below, sales plummeted as the Model T took over the market.
 

80th anniversary! B-25 hits Empire State Building, July 28, 1945

 On Saturday, July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber, piloted in thick fog by Lieutenant Colonel William Franklin Smith, Jr., crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building, between the 79th and 80th floors.

One engine shot through the side opposite the impact and flew as far as the next block where it landed on the roof of a nearby building, starting a fire that destroyed a penthouse. The other engine and part of the landing gear plummeted down an elevator shaft. The resulting fire was extinguished in 40 minutes. 14 people were killed in the accident.

Despite the damage and loss of life, the building was open for business on many floors on the following Monday. A year later, another aircraft narrowly missed striking the building.

One elevator fell from the seventy-fifth floor with a woman Betty Lou Oliver aboard—an elevator operator. (The operator of the other one had stepped out for a cigarette.) By the time the car survived a plunge of 75 stories and crashed into the buffer in the pit (a hydraulic truncheon designed to be a cushion of last resort), a thousand feet of cable had piled up beneath it, serving as a kind of spring. A pillow of air pressure, as the speeding car compressed the air in the shaft, may have helped ease the impact as well. Still, the landing was not soft. The car’s walls buckled, and steel debris tore up through the floor. It was the woman’s good fortune to be cowering in a corner when the car hit. She was severely injured but alive. That still stands as the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall recorded.

Harley Davidson BA (Peashooter)

 When the AMA proposed a new 21 cu. in. Lightweight racing class in 1925, Harley Davidson didn't even have a motorcycle to enter, but they got busy designing two 350cc  ( 21 cu in) singles, the A  sidevalve and the AA OHV single (called the BA if fitted with electric lighting). That would be the machine above.

  The class was jokingly referred to as the peashooter class, compared to the big Vtwin racers. The AA engine was immediately competitive against the Indian and Excelsior racers and in 1926 won 6 of 14 races. The arrival of the HD Peashooter coincided with the growing popularity of dirt track racing in New Zealand and Australia and when those riders appeared in England it was with short wheelbase racers powered by the HD engine. Those machines were the basis of the first speedway races in England.

 Harley discontinued the model in 1930, some said it was too competitive against their new 45 inch side valve750 V twin.

Sidecar Sunday

 Safety pic.

S. C. Wright lathe

 
I think I found this lathe on Marketplace some time ago, it was described as having been built in 1883 and looks like a good simple solid machine. I was hoping to find more information on the company, there seems to have been different Massachusetts companies using the Wright name in the late 19th century. Vintage Machinery is always a good place to start. Thanks to JP we have a lathe clutch patent granted to Sylvester C Wright in 1867. US 63977

 

  And from Fitchburgma.gov,   1863-1864 Sylvester C. Wright leaves Putnam's, establishes-Fitchburg Machine Works James L. Chapman joins 1864. S C. Wright and Co. (1863-1867); (1863-1924) Fitchburg Machine Co. (1867-1877); Fitchburg Machine Works (1877-1924).

Killinger and Freund

 

Late '30s Killinger and Freund: It’s hard to find images of this motorcycle online as it’s so rare. Contributions welcome! Looks like this picture was taken in maybe 1945?

Like the Megola, its engine is mounted in the front wheel (actually its described as 3 separate 2 stroke singles). This one is apparently 600cc and the styling is obviously art deco influenced. More here plus comments and a slide show.

Friction powered police car

Tin toy from Japan, The box is nicer than the toy.

Bultaco Travesty

 

Norton Manx

 I recently read a report on an auction that noted that Manx racers seem to be coming down in price, seems the guys that lusted after them are aging out. 

Modern Fruit Ship (for 1959)

Doesn't specify what sort of fruit it carried, but I guess it's not a banana boat. There seems to be a lot of space devoted to cabins.

Braniff Airlines meets Alexander Calder

Roger Bilstein and Jay Miller, Aviation in Texas, Texas Monthly Press, 1985

 

Cars in the 'hood... Ok it's a truck...

 

Racing in France

In an unknown postwar sports car race in France, a Delahaye duels with a Delage. Below, a better view of a 3.0 litre OHV Delage. Both makes are virtually unknown on this side of the Atlantic...

 

W. Boddy, Continental Sports Cars,  G.T. Foulis, 1951

Unboxing your 1982 Katana 1100

Posted as we will probably never have the experience of unboxing a new Katana...

In about 1987 we stopped at the Suzuki dealer in Amarillo to see if they had a new speedo drive, mine had failed on a cross country trip. " Have to order" he said, "but why don't you just buy a new bike, I have 4 of those in crates in the back."

That counts as one of my many lost opportunities...

A few years later I passed through Amarillo again, the dealer was gone. 

 

The original Ford Bronco

 

Sidecar Sunday

Found here with no explanation

 

First US stamp to feature a motorcycle

 This stamp was issued in 1922, replacing an earlier stamp (issued in 1902) with a bicyclist making the delivery. 

 More than you ever knew or wanted to know about the creation of the stamp at https://sdproofs.wordpress.com/

One of my vises is vices, Homemade anvil vise

 

 Ebay

This one, seen on Ebay, looks like someone made it from a section of rail, but nicely done.