Fiat Spyder by Pininfarina

  Nice little car, designed by Pininfarina in 1966, who after Fiat discontinued it in 1982, took up manufacturing it under their own name.  Pininfarina had always produced the bodies which were shipped to Fiat for completion.

  In 1982 the company took the whole assembly in-house and sold them as a Pininfarina Azzurra for the North American market and Pininfarina Spidereuropa for the European market. 

  The very fine print in the top corner of the page credits the turbocharger setup to Legend Industries of New York. That must have only been for the American market.

Monday Mystery, casting number

  One of the good thing about old cast iron is that it seems like every time someone made a casting they used it as an excuse to cover it in text, so we can frequently identify patent dates as well as long-gone foundries and manufacturers. Not exactly the case here but the patternmaker did do a nice raised panel so this ESH-010 number remains clearly marked.  

  I found this while scouting for firewood candidates. I was considering a clump of deteriorating older soft maple trees growing on a rock outcropping in the woods. One tree had broken off at the roots and in among the rocks and rotting roots was this foot-long chunk of iron.  What was it doing there? That outcropping is next to a bit of valley that could possibly have been cleared as a pasture or field in the 19th century so is it a piece of farm machinery? It does vaguely resemble a ploughshare. But that region of Ontario also experienced a minor mica mining industry around the turn of the last century so maybe it's related to that.   

  Anyways, I can't quite get myself to scrap/recycle it just yet.

Taft-Peirce gauge

   This would probably be an adjustable go no-go gauge made for some specific job in a production environment. Taft-Peirce started out making sewing machines in 1875 but as the market became too competitive they moved into making special machinery, jigs and gauges on contract to other manufacturers. The company closed in 1995.

 History at Vintagemachinery.org

 

Sidecar Sunday

1963 Thunderbird

This is a nice rare piece, a friction-powered tin toy made in China back in the eighties.

 

Mk 23 practice bomb

Interesting that these WW2-era things still appear in antique shops.      These practice bombs were made of cast iron and were used for low altitude bombing practice. There was a special charge resembling a shotgun shell that went off when it hit the ground, making a small fireworks explosion. 

More here.

 

Williams knurling tool holder

Vintage machinery

The Splendid Book for Boys

   Jet fighter, aircraft carriers, rockets! What more could a boy desire? This classic British boys' adventure publication,  a staple for young readers during the 1940s and 50s, possibly later? seems to have been available in both magazine and hardcover versions each offering exciting short stories of adventure. Lots of copies available, not so much history online.

One of my vices is vises (another anvil vise)

These combination anvil vises are more common than I thought.

 

Oscillating gas motor

  In 1880 Joseph Ravel,  a French engineer and inventor, built and patented this acetylene-powered two-stroke engine. Patent 236,258.  The design seems to be ahead of its time but was apparently abandoned after a series of accidents culminated in a huge explosion.

  Acetylene was discovered in 1836 but had been rediscovered in France in 1860 by chemist Marcellin Berthelot.

BSA Bantam

  Ad from 1967, a groovy cool couple on a Bantam.

 The bike had been part of the BSA lineup since 1948, from a 1930s DKW design first sold in 1939. It soldiered on till 1971.

Pontiac Parisienne drag car

Shouldn't be sitting outside....

 

Not a cellphone...

 Do guys still shave wherever they are?

Edgley EA-7 Optica .

 

Looks like a bug, but this a British light aircraft designed for low-speed observation work, it first flew in 1979. It was intended as a low-cost alternative to helicopters with a loiter speed of 80 mph and a stall speed of 67 mph. Power is by a flat six with a ducted fan. Only twenty two units have been built.
 

Weeden steam engine # 34

  This toy steam engine model with 8 inch long boiler was introduced in 1898 and produced till 1940.  The boiler jacket of this model was decorated with the star pattern shown here as well as snowflake or round hole patterns.

  Weeden was an American company that began making toy steam engines in 1884 as a promotion for The Youth's Companion magazine. Company history here.

Monday Mystery, tool with knob

  It's easy enough to google the Snap-on part number and find out what this nice little tool is for but before you do can you figure it out? The Snap-on name would indicate automotive... hint, it's used with a socket.

sidecar sunday

 

Ivory Calthorpe

March/April 2020 Motorcycle Classics 

 

CleanCut candle wick trimmer

  At first I thought this was some specialized medical-type pair of scissors, but they seemed too decorative for that use. Google Lens pointed me in the right direction, it's a candle wick trimmer for all that candle maintenance you've been neglecting...

 

Slaymaker lock

   John Slaymaker started his company in 1888 to make locks for the Pennsylvania railway. In 1898, the company started making steam cars, but Mr Slaymaker soon abandoned the now-named Baldwin Automobile Manufacturing Company venture to return to his locks. With the Pennsylvania Railway connection, I wonder if the Baldwin Locomotive company was somehow involved. 

  He purchased the T. Slaight lock company in 1904 and that company was renamed the Slaymaker Lock Manufacturing company, until 1917, when W.E. Fraim of the E.T. Fraim lock company bought in changing the nam e to simply Slaymaker Lock Co. In 1921, John Slaymaker exited, prompting yet another name change. 

 Manufacturing so often seems to be just a game of musical chairs. 

   So quite likely this lock dates to that 17 year period.  And finally, nothing really of note in this cheap lock except the Slaymaker logo.

 

Jaguar XK150

One of my vices is vises. Trojan

A sad old neglected and abused vise.  According to Garage Journal, Trojan was the economy line for Parker. The ones I see online usually have a cast-in model number.

 This one was outside at a local antique market, rusting away with a broken base and seized up, a shame. 

A substantial flange is broken off the base, it should be like the view below.

Flying boats in London

Short Calcutta 1928

Short Solent 1948

Short Sunderland

Every city needs more seaplanes.

Film at British Pathé