jbwelda

how about driving from sacramento to san diego, middle of august, three people (me and two women) in an MGB with no top no AC and not much else, 105 degrees. oh you said FUN! that definitely wasn't fun. jb

>"Over, Under, SideWays, Down" by the YardBirds indeed it is. kind of strange it took so long to be guessed. heres another: he gets so angry when the teardrops start but he can't be wounded because hes got no heart (sorry for minor imperfections, I recited the lyrics from my head but haven't actually heard the song in a decade probably) >Drawing a square with a pencil in hand, yea............ even though I don't recognize the exact lyrics this sounds like a song from Squeeze. heres another: security's so tight tonite ohh they're ready for a tussle better keep your back stage passes because the promoter has the muscle more lyrics: now up jumps the US representative hes the one with the tired eyes 747 put him in that condition flying back from a peace keeping mission. (extra points for explaining how this song is related to the one I quoted above) jb

>I did a quick copy 'n paste of the "r***j" / "a***l" bids into the wordcounter.com site, and the score is 49 to 48 so far on the bid count between the two. you do realize thought that "rj" has not really been making all those bids, those are automatic bids ebay has placed to counter the actual bids placed by "al". "rj" has only placed four bids: Aug-16-15 09:54:36 PDT 200$Aug-17-15 17:57:07 PDT 300$Aug-17-15 19:09:29 PDT 440$ (could be higher, we do not know at this point what this actual bid was)Aug-18-15 05:17:59 PDT for we do not know how much at this point because he was merely raising his prior bid. note that if there is shill bidding involved, this raising of ones own bid is a flag to the shill to bid some more because the guy obviously has a higher bid than even his current bid was (and at this point you really don't know what that bid was...just that it was >= 440$) and he made that obvious by raising his own bid. this is stuff you learn after you track auctions for a while, itsnot really obvious on the face of it until you realize how things work. this is one bone I have with ebay and its bidding reporting...used to be if you raised your current winning bid it did not show in the bid analysis and thereby kept it a secret that you are raising your own bid. the way it is now, with the bid history showing you upped your own bid, leaves you open to predatory bidding by others just to get your bid up higher if they want...either through malice (just want to see you pay more for the heck of it) or because they are actually shilling for the seller. there are other hints about what a bidders true bid is but I won't bore you with the details now. jb

this appears to be a dream auction for the seller: two bidders with deep pockets bidding on the same item, both with a willingness to bid way more than the kit "usually" goes for. I am interested to see how this pans out. I think it is a 100% legit auction; the only thing I question is whether the challenger, as it were, is really meaning to bid it up this high...but for sure the guy in the lead has placed a massive legit bid on the item. I also did not mean to rule out sniping software on the part of the challenger...the only problem with that is sniping software usually only goes into effect in the last bit of the auction, not days out, or it would not be effective. I just have the picture in my mind of someone sitting at the keyboard hammering away a 10$ bid at a time but it could be he has some sort of auto bid software going on there. and at some point I know you have to state max bid even for sniping software so the guy theoretically at least has stated a very high max for this item. I personally do not see any signs of fraud or cheating in this auction at all, just two people bound and determined to get this kit in this supposed condition...again a sellers dream. we will see today...will the auction complete without being cancelled, will the bids go significantly higher, will the auction be cancelled after it closes and the item get relisted...only to ultimately sell for way less than what is happening here so far...all very good questions. jb

as I mentioned, a trip over to my friends garage, greeted by a black Camaro winking at you: nice Toyota land cruiser FJ40, again I am jealous: and just a look around: ratty Raunchero out in a parking lot: couple of beautiful Austin Healys, we may have seen one of these before: a look inside the shop, looks like an old jaguar, a triumph tr4 and an MGB or Midget: derelict oldsmobile and caddy: VW Type 181 aka The Thing: kustom transporter: T Bird, I believe that would be a 58, outside a place that fits so perfectly. photo of the day if not car of the day: finally, on the road home, spy a chrome bumper MGBGT, best I could do was a butt shot: there is always tomorrow, until there isn't. jb

nice one Scott! kind of busy day today, starting with something I never really knew existed, a Porsche 968, cousin or descendent of the 944: kind of nice looking, sort of like a Nissan 180SX: I see this truck parked every so often. its always got a new piece of gear on it, but it is never even dusty. even up in the wheel wells, clean. I call poseur truck. it could be that I am jealous because it is a very very nicely built land cruiser. jaguar under acceleration: its a Gucci!!! kinda kool kolor skeme though, doesn't really come through in the pic couple of nice tuners at the pumps, I really love those Honda S2000s and something kind of unusual, an Apple Maps truck with all kinda GPS stuff on the roof: next up, a field trip to my friends shop to see what he has laying around. jb

I mean this to be a separate post but it will probably get merged with my previous post >Note that a lot of the bids are auto-bids too none of the shown bids are "auto-bids", not unless you click the "show automatic bids" text and then you see the automatic bids, all from the guy with 400 fbs and all resulting in his incrementally raising the current high bid in response to the guy with 13 fbs hammering him. NONE of the 13 fb guy's bids appear to be automatic. also the reason for the reserve price vs a high starting bid is largely psychological. theoretically a high starting bid will stop people from bidding while a low start bid with a high reserve encourages people to bid and often results in a bidding war that causes the price to go over the reserve where it might not if it were stated as a starting bid. I also believe (don't really know because never use reserves myself) using a high starting bid causes the seller to pay higher fees for the auction than if he starts with a low bid with reserve, or has some other less than obvious ramifications. "reserve" is largely something carried over from real live auctions to the virtual auctions of ebay; something that makes more sense in a live auction than its virtual cousin. in a live auction, a high starting bid often guarantees no bids at all, whereas a low starting bid with a secret reserve encourages bidding whether the item ultimately sells or not. jb

so what the majority here seem to be saying is that once this auction is completed, instead of the item disappearing to the high bidder, one of three things will happen: 1) the auction will be cancelled and then restarted, and the item will ultimately sell for a lot less than what it is sitting at right now. because the artificially high price is all the product of one person, the person with 13 feedbacks, who is obviously a shill and will ultimately win the auction, or 2) the auction will end but the high bidder (in this case the guy with 13 feedbacks) will cancel his high bid and the guy with 400 feedbacks will "win" the auction (but one major problem with this case: he DOES NOT HAVE TO BUY the item and of course in that case its pretty obvious he has been had by a shill bidder and would not buy it in that circumstance anyhow). so, presumably, the auction will be resubmitted and will ultimately sell for way less than this auction finished for, or 3) the auction will end with the guy with 400 feedbacks placing the high bid and will be stuck paying an unreasonably high price for the kit (the wished for result from the perspective of the seller/shill bidder)...cheated by the seller who has shill bid him into bidding way more than the kit is worth. and since the guy is presumably not THAT stupid, the auction will be invalidated and the item offered up again, and will ultimately sell for way less than this auction finished at. this, I submit, is pure fantasy. note that the high bidder, with 400+ feedbacks, has since submitted another bid, upping his current high bid of four hundred dollars. actually that is not strictly true because we did not and do not know what his previous high bid actually is, or was, just that he has submitted another bid on top of that one since I pointed out this auction. one might also note that the seller, the purported unfair player who is bidding on his own item here, has been an ebay user for five years, and has 751 feedbacks, the vast vast majority of them positive. I doubt someone with this track record is doing something as obviously against the rules like shill bidding. there is also no indication of his ever cancelling auctions after they closed...something ebay notes on the users page when it happens. also note the high bid is now 430$ due to the guy with 13 fbs coming back and hammering the guys bid up once again. if this is the seller cheating, he certainly is not being subtle about it. so I don't see the scenario described in the three options I described above happening, not at all. once this auction is finished I believe it will stay finished. lets all wait and see...I will post further developments here. meanwhile I will take any and all bets on that not being the outcome. PM me, here is your chance to take this sucker for his money. you people who are so positive you know what is happening, and that what is happening is larceny, be sure to hang around so you can explain how what you predicted did not come to pass. jb

so does that mean you think the "high bidder" was actually the seller or his shill? and that the game was to run up the price of the item up but not so far they actually "win" it but instead take a gullible bidder, who has in good faith placed a high bid on something he wants enough to pay big money for it, and run the current bid up to his high bid? because that really doesn't make much sense. much more likely they will end up having to relist the item because they just "bought it" from themselves and if they don't challenge the auction ending, they end up paying ebay fees...for nothing. and if they do challenge it and claim non payment or some other excuse, ebay pretty much figures that little scam out pretty quick. so they will get away with challenging a few auctions and then ebay will pull the carpet. not likely that's a very good business plan. or if you have some other scam in mind, I am all ears. I just never have been able to figure out the logic of supposed scams like bidding on your own item without ending up still owning it and having to pay ebay for the pleasure. jb

check it out: http://www.ebay.com/itm/171887681445?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT currently sitting at 400$, 57 bids, and a day and a half to go. for the Aurora 34 Ford kit. wow. check out the bid history...one dude has hit this thing 40+ of those 57 bids. that's crazy. and I rarely truly believe fraudulent, but this one certainly sniffs of it just a little. course, the guy in the lead did have to place a 400$ plus bid. and he has been doing it sensibly, thudding down a sizeable bid, not like the other guy who is nickel and diming him to death. but mr. nickel and dime may be back. the seller is sittin in tall corn counting his money! jb

they were (and are) accused of ripping off the intro to stairway to heaven from the band Spirit, too jb

he was a professional driver, for the palace. her chauffeur in other words. well versed in driving in panic situations I would imagine, including assassination attempts. any driver for an important person, then as now, knows how to handle emergency situations. I was referring to the fact there was no mechanical connection between the throttle pedal and the actual throttle on the engine induction. that was controlled by "wire" which could be hacked into (in those days things were a lot more primitive even for an advanced car like that, and it could be that some hardware had to be installed instead of an actual remote "hack" like the current examples). the fact remains: the car crashed for no evident reason with a trained, seasoned (albeit intoxicated) driver at the wheel. and just coincidentally ms Diana was just about to marry a middle eastern gentleman, bringing that outsider into the royal family...and what a mess that was going to be, politically speaking. very convenient for the problem to be solved so cleanly. considering all that, I think "what we know" is possibly very little about the situation including what could or couldn't be done to an automobile that was presumably in the care of the royal garage. though you might think Scotland yard would find evidence of tampering. oh wait...I think they work for the queen too. its an interesting theory anyway, and I don't think it can be poo-pooed so easily, at least not by innuendo such as "hysterical speculators"...as if they know.. jb

the Mercedes benz that princess Diana was killed in was one of the first fly by wire automobiles. someone beat all these modern day hackers to it. and don't write it off as a conspiracy theory just yet. as you may recall, though the driver was drunk (or at least had illegal BAC), they never found any reason why he should have crashed the vehicle like that. none. and he evidently was a very capable and loyal employee. jb

yeah the body is kind of trashy and "fiberglass hot rod" looking. I don't really like its style, too plain in the front and kinda quasi swoopy in the wrong places, plus the interior is pure pimpmobile so I am not going to use that at all. even the dashboard looks really hokey. right now I am thinking about cutting some Ferrari louvers in the front side panels and doing a rat sort of interior, filling in the side slots for the goofy looking windscreen and instead using a Duvall windscreen I have that fits on the top of the hood very well (but would be pretty impractical in real life). maybe tunneling in some teardrop taillights and maybe some fins on the rear deck. and not that anyone would do it in real life but I was fitting the Fujimi Porsche 356C dashboard last night and it was darn near looking good in there. To be honest, I am proceeding with this body but I am not married to it. almost bought a 34 ford dry lake bed roadster the other day precisely to use on this project instead of this body. but for now I am trying to clean this one up a bit...currently sanding the heck out of the inside shell to make it somewhat consistent all around. lots of dust for not much to show for it. I do think with some creativity it could look nice but to me it just looks like another gussied up deuce, not one of my favorite body styles at all, and done way too many times. jb

one for the barge fans: pinstriping on a new gen TBird, and as I and homie dawg Shaka were finishing up our morning walk, what should pull up alongside photo of the moto (how many "incorrect" things can you find?): jb

about time for an update on this one: frame is finished, has been narrowed, smoothed, some crossmembers and suspension mounts added, move the wheelbase forward about 3" and whittled out a perch in front, filled the original notch, some other stuff. heres some photos showing original frame and what I ended up with. ready for testors deep pearlescent purple over the silver you currently see, going to be interesting to see how it turns out. lot of work went into that (even though you can't really see it!) got the axles done and prepared for mounting tires and wheels: and the tires and wheels, with buick finned drums and ford backing plates: also been working on getting the hood to fit properly, compare to earlier photos and you can see its getting better, but not there quite yet. probably try to take care of that this evening. oh and "Zipper", its the name the manufacturer of the resin kit gave it, maybe its modeled after a real world kustom. jb

thanks brad, nice job on the pics and looks like it was a great show! I would guess that would be Kurt Wilsons bucket T? jb

on going slow motion train wreck jb

no takers eh? >two is four >and square is round big hit, all over the radio even today on classic rock stations, a group that spawned some super groups... further hint: eric Clapton, jimmy page, jeff beck heres one for my bredda johnny dangerous: man I went to a dance in Clarendon me and a big fat thing name pam but as we reach at the dance gate the gate man hold on to my woman hand one box me just give him nine blasted fist pure money scatter all over the place Babylon box me with 'im big thirty eight hear me now dread. -more time- me sleep down in a cellar when me live in Papine everything me eats it haffe ites gold and green me beet juice me ackee me cabbage and me green lawd you love brag and you love show off man you mouth long like a shovel mouth shark put me neck on a block and even chop it off put it in a wheel barrow fling it down a wharf me duppy come back and still a laugh jb

PLEASE post some photos for those of us who could not attend. thanks! jb

still, those might be a bit excessive. right next to a church too...I took the photo from the church parking lot. jb

notice Paul has flip flops on:

mo rust... clean primer truck: OG cruiser: clean shiny truck: stanced tuner of the day: next train to rustville: then I saw a barn sale and had to stop: very clean international pickup: mild kustom "rat" truck (not really a rat at all, just as it is and was and has been): old kushman: rubber bumper B with a spoiler: shortened, narrowed model A for use in the vineyards during the war: note the 32 for V8 hubcaps C Cab: kool old farm truck: another old truck: yet another kool old truck: old fuel pump: a kushman or tote gote or something: this has to be a sculpture, don't think it ever ran: and finally, on my way home, 14 ft ganga plants: that's my report for today jb

I used to buy distressed dinky and corgi toys and redo them. but that wasn't to bust any slump, it was just to do something different. jb

been kind of quiet the past couple of days but today I went to two roadside attractions of sorts and took some pictures that may interest some here. first though, road sights: you don't see many Mercedes sports sedans these days: little red corvette: another Nissan 300Z?: triumph and some scooter, neither of these guys seemed all that comfortable on their rides: truck repair shop with lots of interesting stuff around: I have noticed these sitting in a small town along the river but never ventured down to look close. appears to be a farm equipment museum of some sort. first though, international truck pressed into fire dept service: pink tractor, for the "womenfolk"? that was about it...tomorrow is the weekend so the street ought to be full of interesting cars jb