unclescott58

Very nice grocery getter.

Growing up with only 3 kids in 3 bedroom house, my mother also didn't want much excitement. And we played a lot of calm board games around the house. But, that one looks a little too calm. Even boring. At least for me.

Very cool Curt. I like the quad headlights. A tacky aftermarket item seen on a few cars in the late 50's and beyond.

Wow! Very, very nice.

I like the miniature boxes too. And I don't know why?

Your not sure what year it came out? I see the words '64 Thunderbird hardtop right there. And has to be 1964, since the dies to that kit were updated to the '65 Thunderbird for '65. And a '66 after that. I too, love those little extras AMT use to put into there kits back then. Later MPC did a simular thing with their kits. But, where AMT's extras seemed designed for cars on display at a car show. MPC's extras were more for cars out on the road. I also love that Round 2 like restore these parts to their kits whenever possible. I'm waiting for the '70 Bonneville hardtop to come back with the roof racks and the canoe.

McCahill passed in May of 1975. I feel sorry for car guys who have never been exposed to him. Though you didn't have to be a car guy to enjoy McCahill's writing. Speaking of which. I'm no great outdoorsman. I hate both camping and fishing. I'm also not a big fan of hunting, even though I do enjoying shooting guns once in a blue moon. I don't have any ethical problems with hunting or fishing. I just don't really enjoy them. But, a good writer, like McCahill who can make you enjoy a subject you don't really care about can be a great treat. And one my favorites who writes about things like camping, fishing, and hunting, is Patrick McManus. To me, he is the Tom McCahill of outdoor sports. "Poof, No Eyebrows" is one of the funniest short stories I've ever read. I love his tales of growing up rural Idaho. The strange friends and other characters he claimed to grow up with. Including his dog, named Starnge. A great writer. Doesn't make me want to go out and hunt, fish, or go camping. I know better. But, I sure enjoy his adventures doing those things.

I'm sorry. But that thing is just plain ugly. It looks some of the recently designed Hot Wheels Batmobiles. Which I dislike too. I'm kind of thankful that not many people can afford the car.. That means I'm unlikely to ever see one.

Wow! Does that look like one boring game. ? I remember seeing those sticks as a kid. But, I never remember playing that game with them. Give me a chemistry set! I can cause more excitement with that. ?

By the way, my last line, in the last post I made here, should have read, "I probably would have found trouble with those chemicals on my own." I don't know why, but if I quote someone else. Then post with my comments. And then try to edit my part. I run in to trouble were I can not get at my lower lines at a certain point to correct them. With the way I write, I seem to forget words and need to always re-edit after posting. No matter how many times I read it before posting it. But, on my long winded replies using others peoples quotes, I run into this editing problem. So if you read something I wrote, that does make exact sense, feel free to ask me what I ment by what I wrote. Normally it will be only one missing word that makes all the diffence in what I'm really trying to say. I'm not the crazy idiot jerk my writing sometimes makes me out to be. Well... Then again. Maybe I am. ? I sometime will look at things I posted months ago or longer, and find that need to edit them.

Bill had to mention chemistry sets. As a kid I always wanted one. But, my mother always told Me couldn't have one because of what my cousin Phillip had done with his. What Phillip did do? I was never told. A few years back at a family reunion I saw Phillip and told him this story. Then I asked him to tell me what he did. We're sitting at picnic table. I on one side of him, and his small 80 something year old Japanese mother on the other. He looked at her, and turned back to me, and told me he still couldn't tell me. One of his younger brothers sitting across the table just laughed. It was obviously he knew what Phillip did, but wasn't going to spill the beans either. There were some hints over the years that it something with either fire or explosion. Possibly setting the road on fire in front of his house. Or blowing up, or burning a work bench in the basement. I don't know which. So, because of cousin Phillip I never got my chemistry set. And I never invented the new fuels needed to alleviate the gas crisis to come. Or invent the miracle drug to save all of humanity. Or the fuel to gotten us to Mars and beyond. And of course making me rich in the process. So we can all blame Phillip for the problem the world has today, and the fact that I'm not rich! By the way. Two important things. My mother was probably right not getting a chemistry set. And most important, not telling me what Phillip did. Because I kind of like both fire and explosions both. And I had a chemistry set, and knew what Phillip did, I would have probably tried to duplicate his results. Even without Philli's inspiration I probably would have trouble with those chemicals on my own.

The above set was still be sold new in the mid 1980's when I bought one. Long after most metal toys like it had disappeared. I found mine at the time at one those fancy boutique, non-chain toy stores. They had many other odd old fashion toys at that store. By the way, I believe the above set was made in Germany if I remember correctly. I kept it only about a year or two, then sold it. I wonder if they're still available?

Watch, because of this conversation, there is going to be a run on smoking monkeys. Making them popular again. ?

It got some interesting comments at dinner last night. The question came up if I keep the monkey with my candy cigarettes? I said, "Or course. You know I really do still have candy cigarettes." My friends thought that was both funny and interesting. But, were not overly surprised hear that I owned these items.

Interesting link. The red monkey pictured is exactly the one I got. Right down the 5 "cigarettes". Fun to read a little history on them and how they work.

Looks very good. I like it.

What is it?

Got my smoking monkey in the mail today. First time in nearly 50 years since I saw one of these in action. I don't know what the little "cigarettes" really are. Once you light one, they sent a jet of flame that you have immediately put out. Right away, not a good idea for kids. After the flame is blown out, the "cigarette", which is about 1 1/8" long, consume themselves very quickly. Burning themselves all way down in about 1 minute. Then it's done. Now as it was smoking, you do get smoke rings. But it is so fast, it kind of takes the fun out of it. The monkey only comes with 5 "cigarettes". But more can been ordered on eBay. I think somebody is offering just the cigarettes, for about $10 for 40. Is it worth it? I don't know? But, it does make a great conversation piece.

I too would love to see the spaceship model.

Walked into one of the schools I work at this morning, and was immediately was asked to meet with the other subs in the office kitchen area. It turned out that a fairly popular English teacher died Friday afternoon of medical causes. Besides being well liked by a lot of students, her husband is a math teacher at the same school. And her father in law subs there quite frequently. In fact he did today. It was a bit of a tough day. To top it off, the teacher who died was a year younger than I. I didn't know the teacher, Mrs. Young well. But she always seemed friendly to me. In the morning anoucments, they talked and quoted from her favorite book, to Kill a Mockingbird. They read the passage of how it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Mrs. Young taught at Spring Lake Park High School for about 30 years. She and her husband were very involved in many in school and after school activities. She will be missed. One positive or negative, depending on how you looked at it, bothered me a bit early on in the day. Mrs. Young mainly taught the 11th and 12th grade kids. So some of the lower grade kids were really not all that affected by her passing. And several were back to living their lives and talking like nothing had happened. At first I thought this was a little disrespectful. But, they are kids. And life does go on. Which is a good thing.

Who called "scatbacks"? I've never heard that term associated with Fords before. Ford sure did not use the term.

Sure?!

Fun!

One can watch the Prisoner for free on YouTube. I took the some time last night and rewatched the first episode. Still holds up pretty well. Enough to want to watch the other 16 episodes again in the near future.

An automotive writer from the past I always enjoyed was Tom McCahill. Still one of the best. I have quite a collection of Mechanix Illustrateds because of him. Uncle Tom as he was also known, became inspiration for my pen name when I start writing about old cars some 25 years ago.