Saturday, June 27, 2026

Moko Lesney #12 Land Rover


These were made between 1955 and 1959.  Originally sold and distributed by Moko (a partnership between Lesney  (Leslie Smith and Rodney Smith) and Moses Kohnstam.
 

Friday, June 26, 2026

Cutaway from How to Keep Your Volkswagen Rabbit Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot.



Not your average cutaway drawing of the VW Rabbit engine and the illustrator is not R. Crumb. This was an illustration Peter Aschwanden did for the book How to Keep Your Volkswagen Rabbit Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot. by Richard Sealey. It followed an earlier book by John Muir called How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive with technical drawings done in the same 60's counterculture style.  His drawings are accurate but not technical in nature, they really make mechanical work seem less intimidating. Anyone in the sixties or seventies trying to keep his VW running would have felt completely at home with the style. 
More here.


 

Thursday, June 25, 2026

1927 McEvoy Special

Peter McManus, Motorcycles, Merlins, and Mosquitos, Breedon Books 2009


 The caption described this as a 1927 McEvoy later fitted with a V twin made up of two JAP alcohol speedway cylinders on a common crankcase making 78 hp. It was apparently raced by George Patchett but no pictures are turning up...

1931 Hupmobile


 

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Diamond wrench

 The wrench seems to be of reasonable quality, the raised panels look familiar but the stamping seems crude and overdone. I don't think it's from the Diamond Calk company. and I suspect it's a product from India or China though the CoO is not marked.


 

Naked Ferrari 1953

Ian Dussek, Sports Cars 1910-1960, Shire Publications, 1987

    The chassis of a 1953 Ferrari 250 Mille Miglia at an unknown exhibition stand. It looks better with its clothes on

Goodell Tools glass cutter #1


 Brothers Albert and Henry Goodell left the Miller Falls company in 1888 to start the Goodell Tool Company. Albert's patents formed the basis for the new company's tools, mostly in the drilling and automatic screwdriver sector. 
Albert soon left the company to pursue other tool manufacturing, but returned to Goodell within a few years to make a newly patented breast drill design. The glass cutter was patented about the same time, starting a new line of tools for the company. The company later merged with William Pratt’s investments to form the Goodell-Pratt Company, which continued producing glass cutters and other tools until the mid-20th century despite the fact that Millers Falls had acquired the company in 1931.
 I'll look for this tool in one man's glass cutter collection.


 

Monday, June 22, 2026

Champion Anti-Rattler Co.


 Interesting name for a company, but the Champion Anti-Rattler Company was an automotive aftermarket parts manufacturer founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1929. It produced window shims for the Model A Ford and is best remembered for manufacturing small, specialized hardware and service parts to fix noise, wear, and suspension issues in older cars. The name was changed to Champ-Items at some point and in 1972 the company was sold to Standard Motor Products. 1947 Washington Ave is no longer an address.