https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=955909296733052&set=a.153003817023608
Saturday, March 08, 2025
Before a paint job and starring role in American Graffiti, Falfa’s '55 Chevy starred in Two Lane Blacktop... and now it's getting restored to make it "movie accurate"
The car made its movie debut a long damn time ago, in a movie I haven't seen since the 80s, Two-Lane Blacktop, 2 years before American Graffiti.
In Two-Lane Blacktop, young James Taylor and Dennis Wilson (has any other half famous movie ever had a couple real musical A lister legends ever play non musician characters?) portray a couple of no-name dudes cruising the southwest in search of drag races at the track and along the nation’s roadways.
‘Tallet’s Gym’, one of the Real Steel filming locations, was a fire-station – the former Detroit Fire Department HQ, in the heart of downtown Detroit. Another filming location "Crash Palace" is the old Model T factory in Highland Park that was building Ts in 1910
From 1929 to 1949 it was the fire dept HQ, and was the city’s first firehouse designed for motorized – rather than horse-drawn – fire equipment. Then it was the MGM Grand casino, but never was put up for sale until 2012.
The firehouse was designed to house more than 500 firefighters on its second through fifth floors
The site was used by the fire dept constantly since 1840, and is across the street from Cobo hall
Other filming sites were the former Belle Isle Nature Zoo, and the Parkway Motel on I 75
What might be a surprise is that the whole movie was filmed in Michigan, and not Texas where the story is set.
A CRV just made this guys day! NSFW
Friday, March 07, 2025
about 17 years ago I saw one of these " on the car " wheel balancers but I can't find where I posted about it, so I'll post about it better this time
The red unit on the ground at the corner of the building, in the middle of the photo
Marc sent me these photos of one that was at this Sunoco station, and it's the first I've even heard of that kind of balancer in all these years. So it's sure time to post about it!
https://autorestorer.com/articles/balance_tires_with_retro_style_pt1-1380#google_vignette
What none of this mentions is WHY balance the wheel on the tire, and that reason is because while on the vehicle, the entire rotating assembly gets balanced, the brakes, bearings, lugs, paint and grease.
Anything that can cause an unbalance gets taken into account.
Hunter came up with this in 1946, and in 1953, GM was getting every Corvette balanced this way.
Thursday, March 06, 2025
On Dec. 7, 1944, Pfc. Dirk Vlug was manning a critical roadblock on a strategically important road in the Philippines when the Japanese launched an assault against his position with 5 tanks
As bullets whizzed by, he singlehandedly loaded the launcher and destroyed the first tank with one round, killing everyone inside. It caused the crew of the second tank to dismount and assault him, but after he shot one of them with his sidearm, the rest of the crew ran back to their tank. Once they were inside, Vlug destroyed it with another shot. Three more tanks tried to move along the road, but as they lumbered ahead, Vlug simply flanked them and took out one more with a single shot.
The remaining tanks concentrated their fire on Vlug in a desperate attempt to survive their encounter with him, but the private just moved in closer to get a better shot. After destroying that fourth tank, he hit the last Japanese tank so hard, it fell into the embankment next to the road. The entire encounter was over in just 30 minutes.
"Through his sustained heroism in the face of superior forces, Private First Class Vlug alone destroyed five enemy tanks and greatly facilitated successful accomplishment of his battalion's mission," according to his Medal of Honor citation.
Vlug survived World War II and was discharged on June 14, 1945, returning to his hometown in Michigan and joining the Michigan National Guard. In 1946, he was notified that he would receive the Medal of Honor for his heroic stand against five Japanese tanks in the Philippines. It was presented to him by President Harry S. Truman on June 7, 1946, at the White House.
Republican California Senator Grove made a bill backed by Jay Leno, SB 772, known as “Leno’s law,” would exempt classic cars, 35 years or older, from being required to do smog checks.
The new bill will help strip away the most problematic hurdle: The requirement for collector vehicles to meet exhaust emissions standards and pass functional and visual inspections.
Under the proposed rules of Leno’s Law (named after famed collector and comedian Jay Leno), vehicles would qualify for exemption by meeting just two straightforward criteria: Being at least 35 years old and having proper collector vehicle insurance.
A crew refreshes lane striping on the Yolo Causeway in 1939
Found in a magazine of Caltrans, online. I had no idea Caltrans has a magazine
Wednesday, March 05, 2025
Saint Paul, mansion (once the largest private residence in Minnesota) was built by railroad magnate James J. Hill and shows what unlimited funding could accomplish in 1891. It is 36,000 ft2 with 13 bathrooms, 22 fireplaces, 16 chandeliers, and a reception hall nearly 100 feet long,
In 1925, four of the daughters purchased the house from the estate and donated it to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The church used it for the next fifty-three years as space for offices, residences, and a teacher’s college for women.
Fortunately, the church preserved it well and did not make any significant alterations, although most of the original furniture was sold during this period.
The Minnesota Historical Society acquired the house in 1978 after the Archdiocese consolidated its offices elsewhere.
(It would be cool to discover that some railroad owner either converted a railroad station for his own home, or had a home made to look like the old Victorian era train station)
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