Harold

I'll take "As Long As We Have An Uninformed Electorate" for a thousand, Alec. When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.' The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H. L. Mencken, Baltimore Sun (26 July 1920)

That's an incredible piece of work there, Jairus. The long gestation and professional help (no, not that kind) really puts it in a league of it's own. Killer stuff.

I remember years ago Gordon Baxter relating in his Car and Driver column about living way outside of Silsbee, Texas. The sheriff told him that if he ever shot someone on his front porch to "just drag him inside before we get there".

All I want to say is....congrats to the Red Wings. Pittsburgh fought the good fight, but Detroit prevailed .

Gorgeous. Gotta love them old Buicks!

Cool- it's not every day you see a Graham, especially the Hollywood. Did you base it on the Cord (the real one used the old 810-812 body dies with a shortened front end)? Love it. Trivia- the first years production of Frazers carried Graham- Paige serial number plates, and the ads mentioned they were products of Graham-Paige.

I've been plugging away at this for the past month- odd, because this is probably one of the few projects I've done that hasn't been sidelined by other stuff. Anyway, the paint is on and I've just about completed the foiling- I just need to do the door handles and wheel arch moldings and she'll be ready for the clearcoat. The paint is Dupli-Color Red Cherry Pearl, a Nissan color in their Import Colors line. The engine compartment is almost finished- I just need to add the oil cap and do a few paint touchups. The MEL 430 really fills up the engine bay. Now I have to turn my attention to the interior. I hope to have this one done within the next fortnight.

Hmmmm................. Crosstown Traffic- Jimi Hendrix Experience Feats Don't Fail Me Now- Little Feat Brand New Cadillac- Liquorice John Death (Procol Harum under an assumed name) Had My Hopes Up High Johnny's Blues Road Hawg Boxcars Lord of the Highway Drivin' To The Poorhouse In A Limousine- all by Joe Ely Hang On St. Christopher- a Tom Waits tune covered by the Bulletboys Highway Star- Deep Purple No Money Down- Chuck Berry And I'm sure there's more, but these are off the top of my head.

They should have been driving a Ford Five- Hundred. Or, seeing how they were German, may I suggest an SS396?

Sweet looking Ford. Nice to see a flathead under the hood. Love the color.

A German businessman has to travel to Paris to meet a client. Upon landing at Orly, he's greeted by a French customs agent. After asking the gentleman's name and citizenship, the officer asks, "Occupation'? "No", responds the German, "I'm just here on business."

Yeah, the new F***us is another stylistic mess- I laugh at that chrome 'scoop' on the front fender that ends at the door line- an afterthought that goes nowhere and looks cheap and incomplete. Maybe someone should drill a series of holes along the upper character line to make it look like the rest of the trim came off. Personally, I think the styling heads at all the car companies should be taken out back and shot. The CTS is origami on acid ugly, the 300 and Charger are bloated, ill- proportioned pigs and the Ford line is a nightmare. When Chevy restyled the Impala two years ago, it was a serious backward step- can someone tell me why all the cars now have these idiotic taillights that are triangular in shape and end at the trunk opening? Are focus groups deciding this ######? If so, companies need to quit relying on the opinions of retirees with nothing better to do and go with their gut instincts.

This points up the same dilemma that killed the Plymouth and Olds- years of badge engineering with no discernable differences with the other vehicles in a manufacturer's product line. When you can't give the public any impression that your product is unique and there is no direction of any kind, its sayonara. It's like I keep carping about, though- Billy Ford is running the car company as well as his dad runs the Detroit Lions.

Nice Merc. Really dig the flames, and the flathead is sweet.

And the Saudis named W employee of the month.....

Yup, them's decals. I, too have mixed flocking to match whatever paint I'm using. I have a door speaker grill that I use to mix the flocking- I pour my colors on top and sift them onto a piece of white paper. Works every time.

Nice Ford, and would love to see it cleaned. You are tricky...what I assumed to be the custom grilles from the '53 Stude are the Canadian Meteor grill bars from two '56 kits. Great touch.

Great job on the Roller so far. To post pics, you need an outside photo hosting site such as photobucket- you place your pics there, and to post them here, hit the image icon, select 'temporarily allow scripted windows', hit the image icon again. A dialog box will appear in the upper left corner. Paste in the direct link to the pic and hit OK. You'll need to have two windows open- the forum and your photobucket album. Hope this helps.

Yeah, all these wacky conspiracies- the gummint's weather machine, blah blah blah. I really became disgusted with all the conspiracy nonsense after the Michigan Militia's peripheral involvement with McVeigh and the Nichol's brothers (Terry was in my graduating class at Lapeer West, and both he and James were -and still are- idiots). Conspiracies are, for the most part, examples of lazy thought- anyone can connect dots and come up with what they want to believe.

In a nutshell, you've totally nailed it. I have to agree- this is one of the finest Chargers I've ever seen. The Arrest-Me-Red paint, the wheels and the tires complete a killer package.

My younger brother recently got married to a gal from Oz, and he says he's not coming back 'til Bush is gone- and he's a conservative (I am, sort of- I don't believe in the anti- gun sentiment, yet on most other domestic issues, I'm more open minded).

Rats! I finally find the perfect car for my mid-life crisis, and guess what- I can't afford to have a mid-life crisis (young blonds and red convertibles cost way too much money). Hmmm....maybe I can trade my ex-wife for one (or sell a kidney).

It looks like the kind of car you'd expect to see grandma driving- pastel paint, dog dish hubcaps, but that ain't no straight six under the hood! Gotta love the Q-ships.

Fish are very tranquil. Although I have none, I enjoy watching them- I can sit for hours and watch the plot unfold. Quite a nice setup you have there, evilone. My other hobbies are my college career, GT4, Command and Conquer and my dog, Roxy.

But a lot of these people lease these things and use them for status symbols- it's nothing to see one of these things parked in front of a run-down dump in the bad part of town. Kinda like automotive costume jewelry.