Progress is fine, but it's gone on for too long.
with apologies to Ogden Nash...
Friday, March 27, 2026
We used to make things in this country, #378 Eskiloos boots
How to make a lathe
We were talking about the proliferation of lathe manufacturers at the turn of the last century, this Lindsay books reprint of a 1920 South Bend booklet shows how prevalent machine tools were in society. This is an instruction book to build your own lathe at the school shop. Comprehensive instructions, full drawings and the cheater page at the end, if you can't cast these parts yourself, your implied "substandard" school can't do the process (ok, I exaggerate), South Bend can supply the rough cast parts you need.
Lindsay books used to supply reprints of long gone technical books, he closed the business in 2012.
Bugatti 35C
1928 Bugatti 35C, known as ‘Genie, from the Alan Haworth collection.
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Save wheat, save meat
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Arnstrong Siddeley service card, 1927
A handy chart for the home garage. If I read the chart correctly, the driver did 15,760 miles that year with only a speedo cable failure.
Motorcyclist magazine Feb 1943
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Monday, March 23, 2026
Minidrill
Found in a 1965 British motorcycle magazine, this seems like a variation of the Dremel. The fact that it's being sold by a mail order company probably indicates it was a short-lived product.
Fiat Dino V6 section view
Nicely done section view of a Fiat DOHC V6, a detuned Ferrari engine. The signature seems to read G. Bettl, no luck on that...

















