Saturday, June 27, 2009

Riverside Cruise Nite 6/27/09


IMG_4088_edited-1
Originally uploaded by Bob Cutlass
I hit the Riverside cruise night tonight. I'm now in process of going through them and I'll be posting them on my Flickr account. The weather was nice with some sun. It was decent turn out but, not as much as the last time I went. Enjoy the pictures.

Friday, June 26, 2009

540,000 miles with same owner and engine

This is an amazing story about Rachel and her 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente. She is 89 years old and is the original owner.She has put over 540,000 miles on her “Chariot”. Every maintenance and service is documented. She treats her Mercury as a child of her own and doesn’t go anywhere without her.

 

This is also a testament to proper maintenance. Rachel made a long term commitment to care for her Mercury. Every service and receipt she has documented and bought items with a lifetime warranty for her stuff when possible. I wish Rachel and her “Chariot” many more happy miles together.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

On the road

On my way to work yesterday I spotted this in front of me. The best I can tell it’s a 1966 Chevrolet Bel Air in primer black. These rough around the edges “heavy” Chevy’s I love. The lower stance, paint and rims is perfect for this car. It gives it a “bad attitude” look.I couldn’t get a good shot of this beast and all I had was my camera phone. Nice to see this one still on the road.1966 Chevrolet Bel Air

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

1950 Chevrolet Club Coupe with 437 original miles

 

I received this story through an email. It’s an amazing story. I’ve found numerous accounts of this across the Internet. I can’t seem to find the original story. If someone could help me with that would be great. Well here it is…

 

1950 Chevrolet Club Coupe 
 
437 original, actual miles
 
Purchased new by Mr. and Mrs. Jessie Trueblood of Modesto. Shortly
after purchasing this car, Mr. Trueblood took a day off to go fishing.
While waiting for the "big one" to bite he witnessed a woman fall out of
her boat. Mr. Trueblood jumped in to help, but he had a fatal heart
attack. Mrs. Trueblood returned the car home and placed it in the garage
for the next 12 years. The odometer reading at that time (1962) was 413
miles.
 
Mrs. Trueblood lived next door to a used car lot owned by Mr. William
E. Wilson (now 81 years old). Mr. Wilson spoke with her frequently and
often told her he would like to buy the car for himself to keep. In 1962
the time had come. Mrs. Trueblood told Mr. Wilson she needed a car for
her bookkeeper who didn't really care for the ole' Chevy and would
prefer a Rambler. No problem. Mr. Wilson went down to the local Rambler
dealer and bought a brand new one for $1,650.00 ($100.00 over cost) and
made the swap.
 
  He then took the car home and parked it with 433 actual miles. And
there it sat for the next 45 years, occasionally being started and moved
in and out of the garage. In 2007 Mr. Wilson decided to sell the car and
started spreading the word around Modesto that the ole' Chevy with 433
miles on it was for sale. Many had heard about the car, but hardly
anyone had ever laid eyes on it. In fact, according to Mr. Wilson he
believes he only showed the car to about 5 people in 45 years. Word
spread quickly about the car and soon a buyer arrived ready and willing
to pay the $60,000 asking price. When Mr. Wilson told me the story of
this car he complained heavily of the "capital gains" tax he was
required to pay and wished he had never sold it. As of this writing, Mr.
Wilson is still alive and well in Modesto and can verify the miles and
originality of this car. Simply put, this is a true 100% factory
original survivor (that includes the air in the tires). This ole' Chevy
now has 437 original miles and is most likely the world's lowest mileage
1950 Chevy. 

 

Monday, June 15, 2009

All-Ford Show

12th Annual All Ford ShowI was able to make it to Tasca Ford in Seekonk Mass. for the 12th Annual All-Ford show on Saturday. For most of the morning before the show we had some decent cloud cover which made me hopeful for a good picture taking weather. Fate was not with me though. It would seem as soon as the show was to begin the clouds cleared with the sun blazing. While that maybe nice for people attending but, its lousy for taking pictures. Producing sun flares and hard shadows. I made the best of it though.

I did meet up with a friend from work and we looked around and took some pictures. Cruisin’ Bruce showed up to host the event and spin the records with golden oldies. I only stayed an hour or so.

1974 Ford Mustang II

A few thoughts came to mind about this event and I hope organizers, vehicle owners and those who attended this event would take it as constructive opinion.

  • Available parking was poor. This being at a dealership during working hours makes this a tough one. Parking for those just wishing view the vehicles were sparse. I didn’t feel comfortable parking in an area for customers of the dealership.
  • Although I didn’t stay for the whole show I thought attendance was sparse. Comparably the Annual All-Chevy show at Diamond Hill park in Cumberland is usually packed by the time Cruisin Bruce shows up. I would think an All-Ford show would be comparable. An hour into the show the allotted space for the show was maybe a third filled. Weather as I said above was clear and sunny so that takes away that excuse for not bring the cars out. I expected to be knee-deep in Mustangs and Thunderbirds but even those popular models were sparsely represented. Maybe someone who stayed until the end can give me a more accurate description.
  • This is more of a pet peeve of mine and one can take it with a grain of salt. I’ve seen an increase using pop up tents at shows. Also at this and other events I’ve seen an increase of owners and other setting up chairs and lounging around in front of there vehicles. This creates a physical and psychological barrier to focus of the show: the vehicles. Yes I will concede that this is a social event along with being a show. Not only that I would imagine that those judging the show would not have to wade through folding chairs, coolers and a pop tent to inspect a vehicle. First impressions count a lot in an inspection. Personally I would leave a few feet behind the vehicle and set up behind it if possible, cause I know space at shows can be limited. Perhaps organizers could set up a tent for those wishing for some shelter from the sun.

1959 Edsel

Please don’t get me wrong. I had a good time and I was glad I went. Many of the vehicles that came were beautiful and well cared for. I know lots of work went into them and that is to be applauded as they are keeping a piece of automotive history alive. These are just things I felt I needed to get off my mind. I’d welcome any commentary about this. Thanks for coming by and have a great day.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Rusty model cars

sadbird2

As a kid I built many model cars. After certain point you wanted to add realism to them. This usually meant some creative uses of paint some non-parent approved uses of a cigarette lighter to add dents or other wreckage. When I came across rustamust’s photo’s on Flickr it brought back memories. He’s taken the modelling a bit further though. Here are some fine examples like the the rusty T-bird above dented and dinged Chevy truck below.

restin2

He’s also got some old favorites like a wrecked General Lee(seen below) from the Dukes of Hazard TV show and “Christine” form the Stephen King movie. He does great work and be sure to check him out.

rough landing. . . .

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Sam’s Club/ Wal-Mart Cruise night

I’ve finally gotten around to going through my picks from the cruise night over in Seekonk in the Wal Mart parking lot. My son and I had fun going through seeing the different cars that shown up. He wants me get a car now to bring into the show. We will someday.

I tried mixing up the camera angles a bit. The weather was a bit cloudy which actually was favorable for photography. Bright sunshine makes for harsh shadows and sun flares on pictures. You can see more pictures at my Flickr account here. I hope you enjoy them.Ford Street Rod

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Gran Turismo 5 Trailer

I’m a big fan of the Gran Turismo series for Sony PLaystation. It was the main reason I bought the first two consoles(Playstation and Playstation 2). Now it looks as if now Sony will finally give me a reason to buy a Playstation 3. Here is a sneak preview of Gran Turismo 5 which was unveiled at E3 Gaming Expo recently. No firm date has been set for release. A version for Sony’s new PSP is due in October though. Enjoy the video!