Big_John

70, geez that's old... Oh wait... I just turned 70 last week. I celebrated by going to my pain management doctors in the morning. The fun just never ends!

https://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/amt-instructions/automotive-cars--pi/studebaker/amt-1953-studebaker/

I drove cars in a couple Krause auctions a bunch of years ago when they were still in business. I was surprised too how rough some of the cars were. Basically used car flips.

A Body Mopars did used to be cheap, but I agree, they aren't cheap anymore. I owned 2 '69 Darts. One was a 383 4 speed car that I owned twice. Long story, ex-race car and I had no $$ the first time. I bought it sight unseen the second time but by now, the car had sat outside and was too far gone for me, so I sold it to a friend that flipped it to a Canadian buyer. That was in the 80's. Had 340 4 speed Dart too.. Drove the snot out of that one! C bodies have been going up in value over the last 5 or so years, but it really has to be something special or a convertible to be worth a lot. Some 300 letter cars too.

I actually owned a '64 Dodge 330 with a slant six. It had a couple more doors though. I had a '63 too. Both cars had red engines. The '63 had a rubber floor mat that destroyed the floor, and I think the '64 had a carpet, but it was around 40 years ago, so I can't be sure on that.

I think an even weirder version would be a wagon version of the Bobcat with woodgrain sides. You could do a Pangra!

Since you guys are talking about Pintos. I saw this at a friend's shop last week. Mercury Bobcat. When's the last time you saw one of those? This one is immaculate. Looks like brand new. The turquoise color doesn't really show in the pic as well as it does in person. I'm told the owner also has a couple Mustang II's. I saw one about a month ago at the same shop and it was pretty nice. The other is supposed to be even better. Those cars aren't my taste, but those "malaise era" cars are starting to become popular with some folks.

I used his STL file to print the 300 Hurst model.

Marcellus, NY. Western suburb of Syracuse.

I've been a Robby the Robot fan since the first time I saw Forbidden Planet. Anne Francis looked pretty good too!

Big dogs need to know their place is really what it amounts to. I'll suggest going to one of those puppy training courses as that gets them used to being around people and other dogs. From there, a good obedience course teaches you (not the dog) how to do some basic commands. Simple things like walking on a leash and laying down are really needed, especially with a large dog. They need to know you're the boss and quite frankly, they will be happier for it. The little dogs that jump on everyone and pull hard on the leash just annoy others. A big dog that does that is a problem on many levels. My youngest son had a girlfriend with a huge Mastiff. He told me the dog had zero manners, didn't listen and was a general pain. Within a couple weeks, he had the dog doing everything for him like it should... Then his girlfriend would wonder why the dog wouldn't do the same for her. As far as the dog was concerned, my son was #1 and he was #2. The girlfriend was #3. I guess it drove her a little nuts. LOL. A couple pics of the Great Danes we used to have. They were great dogs... But not for everyone. The black one in this pic still had some growing to do. This guy was a rescue. He really had a bad life before we got him. Great dog though and yes, he was as happy as he looks in this pic.

Yes they are. King is one of those dogs that doesn't get excited about much, the only thing that bothers him is bad thunderstorms, but if he alerts to something, you want to check out what's going on. I had a Rottie many years ago that was a very friendly, very nice dog. I could take him anywhere. One day, my kids were playing baseball at the school fields. One was in one field and one was in another. So we waked back and forth between the two fields. The dog and I walked past this guy and the dog instantly showed that he disliked him. This dog never did that with anyone. I walked back and told my (now ex) wife and pointed the guy out. She knew who he was... A local guy that had been accused (and later convicted) of being a child molester. The dog knew. Since then, I learned to trust the dog's instinct over mine.

I saw the cat thread and I was wondering if there was a dog thread for us dog people. My dog named King. We got him 4 years ago last month. Our last Great Dane had died and we found him at a local rescue. Lot's of folks were interested but a bit put off by his size. They thought he was a Mastiff/ Great Dane mix so we got moved to the top of the list as we had "big dog experience". As you can see, he's a real killer. LOL. It was really funny, when we first went to see him, we were brought into a room and he was let in. He ran over to us, started to sit before he stopped and I'll swear he skidded to a stop on his butt with his head in the air, looking to get his neck scratched. My wife's heart just melted and we took him home that day. He's been a great dog. He came with the name and we decided not to change it as my first dog was also named King.

Take a zip tie and attach the wrench to the cord. Or there's always something like a Texaco rest room key fob... Or this... I'm sure we all have encountered similar men's room keys. I know I have.

That prototype chassis had a rubber torsion suspension that didn't make it into production either. It's interesting history.

I went to a vocational high school, and we learned to use the shaper. I worked as a Tool & Diemaker for 20 years, and then spent the rest of my career doing tool and gauge calibration, often going into machine shops and toolrooms. That shaper that I learned to use in 1970 was the last one I saw that was still in use. For those that want to know what a shaper is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaper

That kustomrama site has about every well known custom from the the 50/60's era, plus some not so well known. I got on their email list and all sorts of interesting stuff comes through.

https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Louis_Banto_and_Sal_Macchia's_1927_Ford

I had a few '69 Roadrunners other cars like that and quite honestly, the cops left me alone. I managed to stay under their radar most of the time. Not that I didn't deserve a ticket or three... LOL! My youngest son had a beat up Ford truck that was several colors and a lot of primer. He kept getting stopped because the cops kept figuring he was someone else that they had been looking for. So, when he was out of town, his brother and I sprayed his truck with some Rustoleum red thinned with acetone and surprised him. That cut the traffic stops way down... It looked good from 20'. The semi truck in the background was my step-sons.

Nope... The best I can do is minimize any damage. I have gotten out of a couple though, but I think that was usually due to not being a jerk to the cop and a bit of luck. My current wife (21 years this summer) had the procedure down... Unbutton the top button or two and generate a tear or two. Until she got stopped by a female sheriff. She got the speeding ticket that time.

This jogged my memory of something from a few years ago. This is an older Brockway truck, sitting in the valet lane at a local hospital. My wife had just had surgery and I was headed up to see her and I used free valet parking instead of the $$$ garage. So... I asked one of the valets about it and he told me that nobody was even going to try to move it. Actually, nobody there could drive it anyway, so they said it was fine right there. They built Brockway trucks just south of here and every year, there's a truck show. I didn't get any details, but the show was that day and that would explain the truck. Why it was parked at the hospital could be for a lot of reasons...

I taught my first wife how to drive a stick and once she got the hang of it, she actually enjoyed driving them. One day she got stopped by a town cop for going through a yellow light. She was driving an '82 Dodge Charger 2.2 we had at the time. When the cop came up to the car, she fumbled around with the shifter and got him convinced that she was still learning how to drive a stick and pushed the light a bit so she didn't have to stop on the incline. She said he laughed a little, gave her a warning to be more careful and let her go. Both my sons learned to drive with a stick shift car. My oldest told me that when his daughter comes of driving age in a couple years, he's going to teach her to drive a stick, jump start the car, and change a tire before she gets a license.

Good for her! That's a better job than the rest of us would have done at that age.

Yep, early Funny Car. I really like the mid 60's funny cars myself. There was a lot more variety and many of the cars were still steel bodied, based on production cars. I'm not sure if the claim about being the first center steer tube chassis is correct or not, but it is one of the first, no doubt.

I have to say that I've had decent luck with USPS. Once in a while, things get rerouted to another town, but that's not the norm. Our usual carrier is a pretty decent guy, very friendly and only once in a while does he make a mistake. The local post office is great too, again, friendly and competent. I got a delivery today... This one was one of those UPS shipping deals where they drop it off at the post office and a USPS carrier delivers it. On Sunday, UPS delivers to the city west of me and a carrier from there delivers to the house. While that all works, I wasn't expecting the carrier to stand out on the sidewalk and throw my package. I saw this and went to the door and he got to his truck, turned around with another package and again, threw it on the porch again, this time with the package hitting a chair, bouncing off and onto the concrete. As I was opening the door as this happened, I yelled at him "you don't have to throw it"... and he turned around and said "Sorry" and went to his truck as I mumbled some words that started with "F" and how one box had some fairly expensive electronics in it. To add insult to injury, the second package wasn't even ours... Belongs to a neighbor. I have this captured on the ring camera.... The mix up doesn't bother me... It's a similar address, one digit different 4787 versus 4487, and I understand that we're all human etc. and I've made a mistake or two. Throwing the package? That's a oh heaven's to Betsy!? moment for me. I'm not naïve and I know packages get tossed around loading and unloading, but don't do it in front of me. It was literally just a couple more steps. So... I'm going to have a chat with the local postmaster tomorrow and show him the ring camera footage.