They'll waste it on donations to Green Peace anyway!

January 1939. "Funeral ambulance parked under gin shed. Mound Bayou, Mississippi." Photo by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration.

Circa 1919. "Red Cross ambulances at Washington Monument." Courtesy of Yale and Harvard, which had the better letterer. 8x10 glass negative.

Vesuvius, Virginia, 1956. "Sometimes the electricity fails." Gelatin silver print by Ogle Winston Link, pioneer of the photographic genre that might be called rail noir. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Now this is literally a "car boat!"

The first "cozy coupe?"

For a modest thirteen bucks you can grab a copy of Exotic Cars on Amazon: These are the cars so fast and powerful, so superior in design and performance, that they could only be called supercars. Since legendary British motor journalist L. J. K. Setright christened the first, the Lamborghini Miura, in a review, others have followed from the finest automakers in the world: Bugatti, Porsche, McLaren, Maserati, Ferrari, Koenigsegg. And these are the supercars profiled in this book, with over 200 color photographs, detailed descriptions, performance specs, and curious facts about each. From historic classic cars to the latest breakthroughs in design and technology, this exhilarating survey of the supercar should thrill any high-performance auto enthusiast.

http://classiccars.com/listings/view/453291/1

Boston enthusiast Joe Freeman enjoys a spirited run in his Mercer Raceabout. Check out Joe's Racemaker Press for an extensive selection of unique and comprehensive books covering all eras of motorsports, personalities, biographies, and collecting. http://www.racemaker.com/

Hoover-Mobile 1950.

German police on Sunday pulled over four men driving a BMW convertible that had been converted into a motorized swimming pool. Despite their creativity, at least one could be facing charges for being drunk behind the wheel.

A BMW convertible first aroused the suspicions of a motorcycle cop on patrol in the eastern German town of Eibenstock when water sloshed out of it as it drove around a curve. When the officer pulled the car over, he could hardly believe his eyes.

ANZEIGE

In a police report released on Monday, he described encountering an "a convertible of a slightly different kind." The car had been converted into a swimming pool on wheels complete with a wooden railing and cheap floral decoration that could have come out of a chintzy Hawaiian hotel.
In addition to the driver, the officer also found two young men sitting inside in bathing suits and a third sitting on the trunk, dipping his feet in the "pool". The car reportedly only had one functioning gear, but could travel at speeds of up to 25 kilometers per hour (15.5 mph). The vehicle was also lacking a license plate.

Police became suspicious when water began sloshing out as the car rounded a corner.Zoom
DPA/Polizei Chemnitz
Police became suspicious when water began sloshing out as the car rounded a corner.
With the cop in hot pursuit, the men drove into a parking lot, jumped out of the car and fled the scene -- likely, the officer believed, because they were drunk. Police found that the car had been sealed using synthetic material and filled with around 2,000 liters (530 gallons) of water. It attracted so many spectators that the officer had to call for reinforcements.
But Is It Illegal?

A 27-year-old recognized by the police officer as the driver later returned to collect his belongings, but claimed he hadn't been behind the wheel. Police had let the air out of the tires and disconnected the spark plug by then to ensure it couldn't be driven further. The police said they let the man take his shoes and wallet but ordered a blood test to determine whether he had been drinking.
Since then, the men have had second thoughts about the caper. One of them told the tabloid Bild that "the ride was a stupid idea. It was the first time we drove on a street and we just wanted to have a little fun."

Police are currently investigating possible charges for drunk driving and driving without insurance. But there's one question that even police experts have been unable to answer: Is it illegal to drive a swimming pool?

This build has all the markings of a Triumph Bonneville made like today. Prefect setup.

Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrates car art in its wildest form!

Indy driver drops crystal trophy during awards ceremony.

Porsche motor as coffee table, ah, expensive wine table.

Classic car auction in France including John Lennon's Ferrari.

From Barnfinds. Reader Claudio H. discovered this abandoned warehouse in the Palm Beach area. It and the property around it are littered with old cars. He tried to do some research to see if he could find out who the owner is and what the story is behind this collection. Sadly, he was unsuccessful at finding any information on it and is hoping the BF community can help him learn more about it.

This collection includes a wide variety of cars, from ’60s sports cars to big ’50s luxury sedans. Most are showing the effects of prolonged exposure to the elements and look to be in rough shape. The ones parked indoors look like they are in better shape, but not much.

Claudio has identified a few of the cars, but there are still lots left to identify. His list includes a ’60s Corvette, two ’57 or ’58 Lincoln Town Cars, a ’50s Cadillac Convertible, a Porsche 928, and what he thinks might be a ’70s Buick Skylark. Points go to whoever can identify the most cars. We want to thank Claudio for send in his find and we hope he can track down the story behind this collection. If anyone knows more about it, please share! Let’s hope someone will be able to save at least a few of these cars.

Read more at http://www.barnfinds.com/mystery-palm-beach-collection/#qoVGjPccF02DImEC.99

Road scene 1950s somewhere southwest.

The OKSO'S building on La Cienega had several incarnations before such as the The Gas Light, The Millionaires Club, 1520 A.D. and Climax II during the 1960s. Remember any others?

It was demolished during the early 90s and is now a Loehmann's.

Not what you'd expect on the morning commute.

The machine in this photo was built in 1903. It staples cardboard shipping boxes. Get this: A part broke so the owners read the label on the machine, the Acme company in Chicago, and asked for help. Not only was the right part available, checking their records the machine company found that it had been sold with a lifetime warranty. So they came out and fixed it for less than $5.

Here, 1971 US Grand Prix winner, Francois Cevert listens intently to ELF Team Tyrrell-Ford designer Derek Gardner as they try to find the best compromise for the suspension set-up of the new ELF Team Tyrrell-Ford 005 during the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, NY.

Without sensors or telemetry that are the norm with Formula 1 racecraft today, testing to lower lap times of a Formula One car in 1972 was perilous hands-on trial and error.

To avoid catastrophe, there had to be clear communication, pure honesty and intense trust between driver and race engineer. The most successful drivers of that day needed a strong mechanical background, the ability to observe and report the cornering nuances of a car at speed, and the bravery to stand behind their beliefs.

COPYRIGHT:Richard Kelley Photography

American Peter Revson, seen here during practice for the 1972 United States Grand Prix, seemed to have positioned himself for F1 stardom by the fall of that year. He had surprised everyone with his pole position and 2nd place finish at the Indianapolis 500 in 1971, and went on to also capture that year's Can-Am Championship, both times driving for McLaren.

It was Revson's bad fortune to be linked to a grand fortune...his family was related to the Revlon company, and although he didn't share directly in that wealth, he had to bear the label "playboy racer."

Instead, his rise to racing's highest level was managed with great heartache. He lost his best friend and racing partner, Timmy Mayer, while barnstorming Europe in Formula Junior, and his younger brother Doug, in a Formula 3 race in Denmark.

He had a victory in the 1965 Monaco F3 race in his pocket, but didn't get any offers for race seats until devoting his career to the United States Can-Am series in 1966. He was finally able to demonstrate his abilities and was signed by McLaren in 1971. He promptly won the championship.

He won the 1973 British and Canadian Grands Prix for McLaren, but was replaced in 1974 by former World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi. He found a home with Shadow that season, but was killed in March during testing for the South African Grand Prix when his front suspension failed.

COPYRIGHT:Richard Kelley Photography

Lotus Esprit Turbo with James Bond's Roger Moore. Crans-Montana/ county of Valais/Switzerland.

Having worked as a design sculptor in the styling departments of three American automakers, Ron Konopka values the skill and workmanship that go into creating the models that historically have been used to establish the looks of cars. That’s what motivated him to obtain and restore a deteriorating ¼-scale plaster model of the 1956 Nash Rambler—a rare artifact of the long-defunct American Motors Corporation.

The 48-inch-long scale model of a Rambler Custom four-door sedan now wears a white, black, and red paint job inspired by period advertisements for Nash’s groundbreaking 108-inch-wheelbase compact. But when Konopka brought the model to the basement of his Harper Woods, Michigan, home in October 2011, it was in stained and chipped bare plaster. “It was extensively damaged with water dripping on it,” he said.

Just about a year later—on Halloween 2012—Konopka completed work on the model. He used wood filler to smooth out the chips and pits that had blemished the surface. Then he primed and painted the piece. As a finishing touch, he applied metallic foil to simulate the ’56 Rambler’s chrome trim.

Apart from the absence of details like door handles, badges, and hood ornaments, the plaster model depicts the final accepted body design of the 1956 Rambler Custom. Konopka said such models would have been made for promotional displays or as a way for styling personnel to view prospective paint-color combinations before the start of production. They would have been rare to start with, and the chances of one getting outside the confines of the company would have been extremely slim. “It took a very special person, an executive or someone, to get it out legally,” he said.

Still, they did. Konopka said he has collected a number of plaster, wood, and fiberglass styling models. He secured the ’56 Rambler model in a trade with another collector, and it fits in with three other AMC concept models that he obtained as the result of an ad that he placed while working for the company from 1982 to ’84. (American Motors was born from the 1954 merger of Hudson and Nash. It lasted until 1987, when it was absorbed by Chrysler Corporation.)

Konopka, 69, is retired from General Motors, where he was a clay modeler in advanced-design studios from 1984 to 2001. His career in the auto industry started in 1964 with an office job at the old “Dodge Main” plant in Hamtramck, Michigan. In 1971, he became a sculptor in Chrysler’s former Highland Park, Michigan, design studios and worked there until a wave a layoffs hit the company in the late Seventies.

Now that the Rambler model is finished, it won’t stay hidden. Konopka said he is hoping to display it next summer at the annual national meet of the American Motors Owners Association.

Just an ordinary snapshot of middle America and that's why I like it.

More power than stock!

Ford pavilion 1964 New York World's Fair feature the brandy new Mustang.

If Sheldon Cooper from "The Big Bang Theory" built a car!

Where the term "guitar car" came from.

Art deco inspired bicycle.

1950s roadside assistance from the ADAC.

Carry your dog in style. I don't think this coulc float in today's PC world but the dog would love it.

1965 Brands Hatch, Lotus 40 with Chapman and Clark.

Not what the crowd in the fancy seats expected that day!

Strut you stuff seventies style!

Van digs into the tarmac. Could this be a photoshop trick or just soft pavement?

Evil Knievil's grandfather?

Painting the old fashioned way, who needs a spray booth and what's wrong with a few bugs?

Uprating old iron with new tech: "The Derelicts." Directed/filmed by Nic Jimenez and Paul Nguyen Produced by eGarage
Camera 3/Stills : Ernesto Chetills/Grip: Jorge Payan Edited: Paul Nguyen
Cars: Derelicts by icon4x4.com

America's worst drivers.

Miami bikers 1974.

Early auto built to resemble locomotive. European origin is my guess.

Cafe Racer, a short film featuring Norton.

Gallery of motorcycle engines.

1978 Ford truck dashboard from factory literature.

Grand Prix Suisse racing poster.

June 1940. Washington, D.C. Attendant at truck service station on U.S. 1 (New York Avenue).

"They were headed for a sugar bowl, dust is what they found."

Hot Le mans 24 heures burn out fire pirelli calendar.

Why buy a crappy car when you can have an awesome car? These are your picks for the must-have, most DRIVE-worthy cars going for 1/6 the price of the average new vehicle. With Mike and Zac.

Interior view 1960 Lincoln Continental.

Slush box put to good use.

1980s ad for Honda Civic.

Early racer.

1981 Mazda Cosmo.

From the Burt Collection, the 1947 CoachCraft Cadillac.

Not what you think it is. From the Burt Collection.

Futuristic Mercedes Energ-G-Force is a brutal beast.

One way to entice kis to get a haircut!

WORLD'S FASTEST ELECTRIC DRAGSTER. World record ET for an Electric Car Current Eliminator V 7.956 @ 159.85 MPH. Powered by Altairnano batteries. Record since beaten by Killacycle but still the fastest EV car.

It’s a sin to tell a lie but never a sin to wear a watch with the Sinn brand. Take a look at the Sinn 917 GR Rally Chronograph watch and see how wearing this watch can be very sin full indeed.

The Sinn 917 GR Rally Chronograph watch is not really so elaborate as to get everyone’s attention. However, it has this mute elegance look that stems from the fact that it comes in a fully polished stainless steel case measuring 44m in diameter.

The watch comes with a countdown bezel which you can control via the crown located at 4 o’clock. Take note of the red numerals on the bezel which will tell you the most important final 15-seconds during a countdown.

The watch boasts of being durable thanks to the two-way anti-reflective sapphire crystals which protect the dial and the caseback. Say goodbye to fogging as the watch comes with the Ar dehumidifying technology by Sinn.

You will also find chronograpgh minutes at the 6 o’clock sub-dial while the small seconds display can be found at the 3 o’clock sub-dial. The power reserve level of the watch can be found at 9 o’clock. You will see a small date display window at 4 o’clock.

You can tell this youngster is proud of the ride he created. What a neat photo!

On a recent fall morning, business is buzzing at the automotive candy shop that is Canepa Design. Over here, a Ferrari Daytona is having work done on its carbs, over there a vintage Mercedes Benz Gullwing is being stripped of paint. But sandwiched between other familiar sports cars -- a pair of Porsche 356s and a Shelby GT350 -- is a rare bird of a far different feather: The first passenger car to ever wear the name Duesenberg, an important piece of automotive history.

Dave Stoltz, Canepa's one-man restoration crew on this project of a lifetime, is hard at work on this doozy of a car, a 1921 Duesenberg Model A road-rocket that has been in the Castle family -- Hawaiian missionaries turned land and produce magnates -- since new and is being revived by California descendent Jimmy Castle. The car is the first production model of the storied racing-focused brand that later became synonymous with four-wheeled opulence. These visions of American luxury were driven by everyone from Al Capone to William Randolph Hearst, and custom-outfitted cost as much as $25,000 at a time when doctors earned around $3,000 a year.

Canepa Design's mission is to present this one-off car at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, just down Highway One from its Scotts Valley, Calif., headquarters. Although in its present state the car looks humble, restored it could well make a 1962 Ferrari GTO that recently traded hands for $35 million look like a cheap date.

"It's like a Honus Wagner baseball card," says Jay Leno
"Duesenbergs routinely fetch eight figures, so for this one, the very first production car that's stayed in the same family, the price could well be more than $50 million," says Canepa spokesman John Ficarra, who adds that the restoration alone will cost more than a million, most of it in labor as Stoltz sets about either restoring or manufacturing myriad pieces using as a roadmap just four photos of the car in its heyday.

Not that the car's ultimate asking price matters. Castle doesn't appear to be selling. Duesenberg collector and comedian Jay Leno tried to buy the car a few years back but was politely rebuffed. He remains intrigued by the seminal machine.

"The Duesenberg brothers built racing cars, which eventually gave way to making a few production cars," Leno explains. "This car had a straight 8 (cylinder) engine, which was fairly new at the time, and hydraulic brakes. It was big, heavy and reliable. The first of anything is always significant. It's like a Honus Wagner baseball card. And some cars these days really are moving into the realm of kinetic artwork, investments that aren't unlike buying an early (Marc) Chagall or a Picasso."

What makes this car unique is that despite its massive size it was, relatively speaking, a spry coupe in its day, says Randy Ema, one of the nation's foremost Duesenberg experts who owns what's left of the manufacturer's records and blueprints and has provided some assistance on the restoration.

"The car could hit 80 mph and rev up to 4,000 rpm, which was really unheard of back then," says Ema. "It was a light, nimble little car when compared to a Packard or Lincoln. It also cost $9,000 when a Ford cost around $280. But what makes this model so special is it's the first and only remaining original-owner car."

While this particular Duesenberg isn't accompanied by much documentation save vintage photos, "Fred Roe's book on Duesenberg indicates that it was built and sold before the end of 1921 and that the original owner's assertion that it was the first car sold is probably correct," says Jon Bill, archivist at the Auburn Cord Automobile Museum in Auburn, Ind. (Auburn Automobiles owner E.L. Cord bought Duesenberg in 1926.)


Dave Stoltz, the Duesy's lone restorer, works on a brass headlight

The first thing that strikes you about the car is the size of its two-passenger cabin, which is framed in wood. The oversized dimensions stem from its first owner's massive size, said to be some seven feet tall and three hundred pounds. But changing that seat position is likely the only thing Stoltz will mess with on this car; his mandate is to spare no expense to make the car look like it did the day it left the Duesenberg factory.

"Not long after the first owner bought the car he shipped it to Hawaii, where the lava roads and farm life were very taxing," says Stoltz. "So he eventually shipped it back to the factory, and they beefed things up a lot, all of which we are getting rid of. I now have these four (original) photos ingrained in my head, and I've been making new parts as we go along."

This rebuild is as complete as they come. Time and the ocean's salt air ate away a good deal of the car's aluminum and steel, and the deterioration was exacerbated by decades of storage in Hawaii and California. So far, Stoltz has hand-fabricated bumpers, parts of fenders, an intricate luggage rack, a brass gas cap, and headlight stands - a part you can barely see once the British-made brass headlamps take up residence on top of them. Stoltz pulls off the stands, two pieces of flowing sculpture that he says could be made using computer technology for around $7,000 but which he crafted from molds for $5,000.

"Besides the cheaper price, I liked the fact that they wouldn't be totally perfect, because no one back in 1921 was using computers to make anything," snickers the pony-tailed Stoltz, whose recently helped restore a 1959 Ferrari Testarossa to its former glory. "This is definitely a dream job for me. This Duesy is like a ghost car, because no one has seen it for years. But in the end a car's a car. If you're willing to put in the hours researching, scouring the Web looking for parts, making parts, starting from scratch when you have to, then anything is possible."

At present, the body of this 1921 Duesenberg is waiting to be joined by its suspension and engine, the latter being worked on by fabled Ed Pink Racing Engines in Los Angeles. We'll be back with more as the car comes together.

Rare 1937 Packard Twelve convertible coupe rescued from Maryland barn.

How to unlock a car door with a potato.

Don Draper's wife Betty from the hit TV series Mad Men. If the era's fashion weren't sufficiently alluring, just the color tones are enough to wanna go back to the days of martini lunches and three-pack-a-day smokes. And wazzit that station wagon?

Nicholas Cage in his Ferrari Enzo.

Olds or Pontiac in distress. Reminds me of those horrid driver ed flicks we were force to watch in high school. Signal 30 anyone?

Actress Ann Margaret brings new meaning to Spirit of America!

Richie Ginther driving for Honda, 1961.

Frazer Nash?

In 1954 Phil Hill dropped out of racing. A doctor had found an ulcer and warned him that he could hemorrhage. He occupied himself that spring by restoring his Aunt Helen's 1931 Pierce-Arrow. Photo by Bernard Cahier for the Fuller Brush Magazine. Courtesy Michael Cannell.

Maserati 250F beautifully captured by Bernd Kamerrer.

Hoss/Dan Blocker was involved in racing and helped NicKey Chevrolet promote and sell Chevys.