The Junkman

I guess that jibes with my original post. I last recall buying my latest issue in late August/Sept and haven't seen any new ones since. I'll keep looking and hoping.

OK, impatience bubbling to the top. I think I may have blended memory of RJ and Vintage Motorsport, which does print every 2 months and likewise is inspirational.

Just a question: has The Rodder's Journal gone away? I had a subscription a long time ago and still pick up issues that interest me but I've not seen it in the bookstores for months. Real great for inspiration

Why am I flashing back to that old Bill Cosby sketch about his new Cobra and George Wallace?

Slixx has done that on several of their quarter panel/number sheets. Look closely enough and you can see the makings for Skoal. http://www.slixx.com/1327.htm?id=811

Owned: nothing dangerous. Wouldn't have kept it if it was. Drove? Oh, heck yes! Remember those 5.0 Mustangs all the police agencies had in the 80s and 90s. Great in a straight line and off the line but it had seats like sitting on a plywood plank (no lateral support-at least in stock form). But it was the Stone age suspension design, especially the rear, that stood out. I had to be particularly careful on surfaces with unequal traction. If one rear tire was on a wet patch and the other on a dry one, any quick application of power would make that thing swap ends faster than you could believe. And uneven surfaces..... I was once responding to help another officer fighting with a DV suspect. Entered a gentle right hand curve on an overpass (at the speed of heat I'll admit) but the concrete pavement/bridge sections had a light rise every place they abutted-a condition not noted at normal speeds. Traversing them started an oscillation where the rear end started walking/rotating clockwise and pushing me toward the median, where undoubtedly it would have rolled like a ball. Luckily I had enough room in the lanes to gently relax the turn and recovered without further drama. A fun car but one that could bite you if you weren't careful. And, believe it or not, the CHP experimented with 1979 Dodge Aspen station wagons. 318 ci engines (140-160 hp I believe) and overhead light bars which enhanced the brick-like aerodynamics. The no doubt, downhill, hurricane wind at your back speed of 75 mph. Took the best part of 200-300 yards to accelerate off the shoulder to merge into traffic. Which meant you had to back up a station wagon 200-300 yards on an LA freeway shoulder from every single broken down car that you checked on. Eventually, the sgts had to order guys to take them out. More eventually, even the powers-that-be had to admit they were dangerous.

Looks like a Delorean that drove through the JC Whitney warehouse while covered in Elmer's Glue. Never was a fan of '80s folded paper design studies, most Lotuses excepted. Hard pass.

Harry Bentley Bradley. Widely published, imaginative, but every design seemed rooted in reality and possibility.

"If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it"? That looked like SO much fun. They get all twitchy (every one) and then they catch.

Maybe someone with a bigger library than I can answer a question. I have Comer's "Shelby Mustang: Fifty Years" already. Is there enough/new info to justify buying this one in addition to what I already have? I already have 4 books fully dedicated to the Shelby Mustang and sections in another 5-6 books. Can you have too much?

I grew up in Westchester and returned to that area when I had a job related relocation. I remember when there was actual berry farms across the road from Knotts Berry Farm, that an "E Ticket Ride" at Disneyland was worth something, when there was a tunnel on Sepulveda Blvd rather than I-405 and when there were horse and chicken ranches in the San Fernando Valley. Yes, I am old. OTOH, I met my wife at Dockweiler Beach but otherwise you couldn't drag me back there.

Mentioned twice in the first page. All the Mercury muscle cars are severely underserved.

I regularly get gas for a $1 less in NorCal (Costco though). Just remember the picture was taken #1 right off I-5 (convenience) #2 its Chevron which in my experience always runs higher than the prevailing rate #3 its in Silverlake in LA, a bit more affluent than other parts of LA so residents don't balk as much about the prices (ever notice where they put Whole Food stores?) and #4 its California gas so the exhaust emits rainbows and smells of orange blossoms.

Everyone has a different opinion but mine is that the Aurora nose incorporated some but not all the changes made by Shelby et al. You'll want to take a look at the canard (?) spoilers at the front corners and the brake ducting under the nose inlet. You may need to look at the radiator outlet on the hood but I thought the shape was pretty close. The wheels are a really bad representation of wire wheels which, after the engines were "breathed on" by Shelby American, tended to fail due to the increased horsepower and they were heavy. Thus the change to Halibrands before the racing season began. The engine, such as it is, is distinctly undersized. Source another 289 or button the body down. I've got some photos I can post to illustrate the points on the 1 to 1. Like I said its a basis for a GT40 of a limited time frame and after that the changes were numerous and noticeable.

Honestly, I'm not sure the effort is worth it given the wide availability of the various Fujimi kits. The Aurora kit body is a pretty good basis for the early 1965 races (Daytona, Sebring) so I've got a Fred Cady sheet for those. After that the variations abound.

I've got pretty much every commonly released book on that era, including Cobra-Ferrari Wars. Don't poo-poo The Ford that Beat Ferrari , amazingly enough being re-issued 3rd edition next month.

Ask my wife, she'd be glad to show you. With commentary.

On US101 south of Cloverdale, CA. 3 (three) Duesenberg Model J's. Traveling together. 2 sedans and a roadster. I was driving and my wife is tech phobic as far a camera phones are concerned so no photos I'd never seen one outside of a museum but to see 3 in the wild.... Figure it had to be some event or a magazine article or something. Still only about $4-5 million worth of cars in 100 yards of space.

Then there was the time Animaniacs covered "Little Old Lady from Pasadena"

And then you have this, which at the end of the process gives you a trunk where a trunk ought to be. https://jalopnik.com/volkswagen-will-now-convert-classic-beetles-to-electric-1837900039

In Sonoma Ca, (affluent town with big tourist scene) among all the late model Corvettes, a teal blue Porsche GT3, and an absolutely sanitary 55-57 black T-bird convertible-there was a classic Lotus Ford Cortina in the equally classic white with green side spear. Haven't seen one in probably 25-30 years. Oh, and a partial white vinyl over blue 75-76 Chevy Monte Carlo. All in all a good day.

Looks Ferrari-like. I do hope Ford decides to play again. Natural competition

There they bite, here they appear to be magnetically attracted. So much so that they always seem to burn rubber until the point of contact.

Am I the only one who thinks the 1st iteration of the Countach was a revelation, then every change they made to it was a subtraction. Compare and contrast to the one above. Still can't hold a candle to the Miura though.

You sure that isn't a Fiero in drag?