Progress is fine, but it's gone on for too long.
with apologies to Ogden Nash...
Friday, April 3, 2026
DOT race bike
Here's a 125cc racer from the DOT marque with an usual layout. No technical details given but for some reason, the Villiers engine is tilted forward 90°, possibly to lower the center of gravity? In any case, the whole bike seems much lower than usual. Wish I had a better view, it's rather unique. They entered this motorcycle in the IoM TT in 1951 and appear to be have been successful on some level, DOT won the team award that year but did not continue the program. This layout was also not used for production bikes.
The company was founded in 1906. They produced motorcycles until the mid thirties when they settled into making three wheel delivery vehicles. In 1949, they were sufficiently back on their feet to restart motorcycle production, producing a utilitarian two stroke motorcycle that could be modified for trials and scrambles. With the end of Villiers as an engine supplier, they eventually stopped motorcycle production again. More here.
Thursday, April 2, 2026
Dellow Automobiles
Dellow was a niche automobile company near Birmingham, England, in business between 1950 and 1957. The ads above show the final model, all the images I see are of the earlier vertical grill and separate fenders-type bodies. The cars were originally based on a Austin Seven chassis and were intended as a competitive trials car or sporty little road car. The Austin Seven-based cars were not strong enough for the rough world of trials and there was soon a new chassis with 1200 cc Ford engine and Ford axles, each car produced was different than the one before as improvements were incorporated.
More here
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| Hagerty |
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| Mark V |
Chisels and Chipping
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Radical Software #2
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Seems like a hippie new media project. At the time, the term radical software referred to the content of information rather than to a computer program. The cover image was computer-generated, a novelty at the time.
Tatra V8
A rather unique Czech car built from 1936 to 1950, with a break for WW2. The rear mounted 3 litre air-cooled V8 could push the car to nearly 160 kph. 3056 units were made.
Monday, March 30, 2026
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Renovation solutions
Here's a hard one. A heritage house comes up for sale and you want it. Price is right but it's rough, nothing is near code... 2nd floor is a bit spongy, etc etc.. and you really don't like the seven foot ceilings. Hmmm So you bite the bullet... and realize its going to need a roof... and floor joists etc. Eight foot ceiling height requires raising the roof. This of course is going to affect the overall aethetic of the building. you do it.
So, was this a successful solution?


















