I was fortunate to participate in a great Birthday bash for drag racing legend, Tom "Mongoo$e" McEwen. There is a great article, pics, and video about it in Drag Racer. I highly recommend it! Here is the article.

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Some things just don't seem right, but they are....

I know this isn't really a car story, but we also know that lots of us eat lots of burgers are car show, bike, boat, and plane shows and more.....so we thought we would comment a bit on the odd..at least to us.

In Dubai (the place with the big building and other things) you can order a one or two pattie Camel Burger.

The folks says it is low fat and good for you.

So next time you go to the Dubai Auto Show...enjoy, I guess.

Read all about it here.

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There's a new Sheriff in town...and he's driving a Mustang GT - 300 HP no less.

Courtesy of the tax payers? No way.

Sheriff William Federspiel of Saginaw County, Michigan took it -- it legally-- from drug dealers in his county and now he is using it to patrol the county.

Interesting story, read all about ithere.

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Some guys you just gotta give a pat on the back to....and Darrell Waltrip is one of them. A driver of immense talent, this guy is a credit to all of us "older" guys. Like Darrell, lots of us raced go-carts around early in life, but he went on to become a multi-million dollar NASCAR circuit racer.

It was always fun to watch is determination and skill on the track. Now that he is retired, we wish him a very happy birthday and thanks for all the great races.

He won over 80 races in his career. That's incredible!

Read morehere.

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Some of my Australian Motortopia friends recently sent me an email about some Rally Sport fun down under. I don't know much about Rally Sport but this story caught my eye.

Apparently, at a recent National Capital Rally race, several of the drivers had Kangaroos accompany them on some part of the trip, bouncing away next to their cars; and some even had to swerve to miss the bouncing roos!

And, I thought a deer in the headlights was wild.

What is the wildest animal near-miss you ever experienced?

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I own a small die-cast one, but not the real thing. A 1955 Chevy.

When I was a SEMA this year and saw that GM had built a 1955 Chevy NEW so they could show off their new crate engine, it turned up the heat on my desire to get one of these cars. So that is what I want for Christmas.

If anyone has an extra one....they don't need ;-).

Have a good one, everyone.

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Ok, we all think of Australia as an exotic place...Crocodile Dundee and all of that...but here is a new one. At a shopping mall the last thing on your mind would be to have your $50,000 Mercedes torn down in the parking lot.

An American Corn Snake slithered its way into a shopper's car while they were out looking for bargains.

Maybe the beginning of a new reality TV series --- Snakes and Shopping, or V is for Viper.

Anyone ever had an experience like this?

You can read more.

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I am interested in the impact of the recession / depression on regular folks (not the greedy class) so this story caught my eye.

The repo man shows up to take a car. The owner, a hair-stylist, at work and trying to work so she could make the payments just didn't like idea. So, she torched it.

It was a Kia Optima. So why do you think she torched it? ;-)

Read more

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I often ask folks what car they wished they had when they were young. Most often I hear the same thing. . . . a Camaro.

Well, you can all at least celebrate today, the day in 1966 when the Camaro was born.

I hope none of them are going in for the clunkers program, because they were all great cars.

Happy Birthday to you . . . . Camaro!

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Ok, while we're on it with Celebrity cars, here is an interesting fact about an interesting Car.

The car that was used in the movie "Driving Miss Daisy" was was auctioned recently.

This beautiful 1948 Hudson was sold in April.

The seller -- Michael Jackson.

That and several other cars auctioned by the late King of Pop.

You can read more about it here.

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In this day and age of Celebrity Everything, here is a bit a trivia that will make you go psychedelic. At least it will make your head spin a bit.

On this day, June 29th, in 1985 Mr. Jim Pattison bought John Lennon's psychedelic limousine for over two million dollars.

It shocked the car collecting world at the time.

But, then again, what is that car worth today?

Your thoughts?

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Satellite Radio Has Nothing over this Road.

An interesting report this morning in the Wall Street Journal about a singing road; and the William Tell Overture no less.

It seems that the Honda Motor company wanted a road to sing so it worked with the city of Lancaster, California to turn black asphalt into, well, a sort of road and track version of a xyzlaphone.

The length of road is not without controversy in this California city, but you gotta say; in these days of social breakdown, financial ruin on Wall Street, and constant acrimony between the politicians; a little music on the road could be a good thing.

Hey, with all the tax dollars we spend, maybe we could get Arrowsmith on I-80? What song would you like to see notched in your local roads?

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The other day my son and I were out and around the lake near our home. He spotted a big snapping turtle lurking about in some "seaweed" {we are 1600 miles from any ocean, but it looks like it} and he exclaimed that this snapper gave him "The Willys."

Of course, I was thinking just where did this phrase come from; which then made me consider the Willys cars and Jeeps. The first car I drove was a Willys jeep at my Dad's farm building construction company. I was about 10. The foreman for the construction crew asked me to jump in and move the Jeep. "Just pop the damn clutch and go," I remember him blaring. Another worker jumped in, helped me out. Fifteen feet later I stopped, grinning over the fear that this little ride had given me, and thought "Wow, that sure gave me the Willys!" ;-).

There is a great Wiilys 1941 coupe on Motortopia. The pic with the law enforcement will give you a fright...the Willys too!

Have a great day! Leave your comments here about some car experience that gave you "The Willys!"

Here are some other WIllys on Motortopia:
http://www.mo...com/cars/1111
http://www.motortopia.com/cars/2991
http://www.mo...om/cars/12857
http://www.motortopia.com/cars/6346
http://www.mo...com/cars/5296
and this one that BigNutty just commeted about:
http://www.mo...photos/289886 (Awesome!)



Goldylocks!

P.S. I had one earlier experience driving when I was about 3, but that is for another story.

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Ford sales increase 100%.

It's true. If the day is July 23, 1903.

That is the day that the first Ford Model A was sold and delivered.

Well, we all know what happened from there. Ford, and all American manufacturers are in a bit of a sales slump now. But, boy oh boy, wouldn't they all like to have a day of 100% sales increase in one day.

This should all make us think what made Detroit great. It was innovation.

We now here of "tax rescue packages" and "Washington support for American Automakers" streaming forth from both presidential candidates.

What we need to remember is that it is good, old-fashioned American ingenuity that made Ford great.

We need to get back to more of that, in my humble opinion, and not so much seeking handouts from Washington. That's what made America great and what will keep us going.

And, by the way. Thank you, Henry, for your innovations!

Anyone out there with a Model A, let's show it off today!

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It didn't take long. A few minutes.

At the end of the burst of machine guns, Bonnie and Clyde were dead, their lives snuffed out in a hail of armor piercing bullets.

Today in history, May 23,1934; in a 1934 Ford, Bonnie and Clyde met their maker.

There are lots of interesting sites about this, but an interesting fact I learned is that Bonnie and Clyde were tracked down with the help of the FBI, because of the National Motor Vehicle Act; so their federal law violation was the transportation of stolen cars and not many banks they robbed and people they killed. An interesting side note to a notorious story.

You can read more here, or get the movie, too.

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After my blog post a few days ago about cops and donuts, I received a lot of great comments and some private messages with similar stories. My Motortopia friend, Frog,, send along an interesting pic of a Tee-Shirt about donuts and cops.

Take a look, it will give you a grin if not a belly laugh; or should I say Jelly (donut) laugh :-).

Have a good one. Now, I gotta get to Dunkin Donuts!!!

.

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Well, I guess I have been writing enough about interesting, odd, and funny car things that folks are beginning to send me pics and so forth about things they have seen.

This pic from a Motortopia friend says it all. Ok, so the dounut shop is safe, but what about the town?

I was thinking of going to the gym this morning, but I think I'll head on over to Krispy Creme!

Any good donut and car stories out there? Oh, and if you have something cool like this, put it up on your blog or send it to me and I'll publish it.

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A friend sent me this picture of what he thought was a good idea for his next car project...and one that would make his wife happy. He said that while most spouses are supportive of their mate's love for cars that sometimes they want you to work on things in the house, you know, like fix the furniture or something.

Well, here ya go. Anyone else have a good story about a car/house project?

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A friend passed this one along to me. i just sold my boat earlier this year, but I live on a lake. So, I have been thinking about cars and boats a lot.

And, it seems this is a perfect matched pair. A Corvette Boat.

Offered by Mailbu Boats,this could be a dream present. Hey Father's Day is coming up ;-). I'll talk with my kids.

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On May 12, 1957 A.J. Foyt won his first race which was in a midget car.

We all know about his great record, but few folks know about his "midget" car beginnings.

You can read about A J Foyt on many places on the internet, but I think it is fitting to remember that we can all "start small" and go on to great things.

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Most of us think about the movie when someone mentions the name, CannonBall Run. But, like a lot of things, there is a rich and interesting history to this movie and the event.

It ended with cars, but it started with bikes. Let's start with the bike side.

The word "CannonBall" first came from Erwin "Cannonball" Baker. He first started a cross-country motorcycle trip. On V-twin 1000cc Stutz Indian motorcycle, Cannonball Baker drove his bike from the East Coast to Yuma, Arizona, enduring all sorts of weather, including a sandstorm, along the way. Along the way he had to fight off a pack of dogs...a fight he won thanks to his Smith & Wesson.

Cannonball's set the stage for the cross-country runs and the big-bike runs now famous and popular in America.

Now, fast forward to cars.

(from wikipedia.org)

The Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, widely known simply as the Cannonball Baker or Cannonball Run, was an unofficial, if not outlaw, automobile race run four times in the 1970s from New York City and Darien, CT, on the US Atlantic (east) coast, to Redondo Beach, a Los Angeles suburb on the Pacific. Conceived by car magazine writer and auto racer, Brock Yates, and fellow Car and Driver editor, Steve Smith, in 1971, the run was not a real competitive race with high risks, but intended both as a celebration of the United States Interstate Highway System and a protest against strict traffic laws coming into effect at the time.

As it was found out, the newly imposed 55 mph speed limit was actually slower than the quickest average speeds of point-to-point travels of Erwin George "Cannon Ball" Baker in the first half of the 20th century. In 1933, Baker drove coast to coast in a Graham-Paige model 57 Blue Streak 8, averaging greater than 50 mph, setting a 53 hour 30 minute record that stood for nearly 40 years. If this could be done by a single man driving on bad roads and through villages, a team of two or more experienced (and even professional race) drivers, driving a modern car on safer and wider intersection-free highways which by-pass towns, should be able to do it quicker without taking unacceptable risks apart from getting a speeding ticket, by cruising at 90 to 100 mph.

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I started the month with a spoof blog post because it was April Fool's Day, but today I mention some things that are very serious.

It was today in 1789 that our first president, George Washington, took the oath of office. Very important. A great leader.

It was today in 1945 that Hitler shot and killed himself. Very important. Not a great leader. A killer.

Thank god for the freedoms we have and the leaders who helped us secure them. We must keep every vigilant to avoid nuts like Hitler from ever gaining power in any sane nation.

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Today, John McCain announced that he would quit the presidential race and move to the Green Zone and become the Admiral of Iraq.

Replacing McCain will be Mitt Romney, who was running a very strenuous campaign until he quit in favor of McCain earlier this year.

It is reported that Romney, who now drives a Gremlin - retooled with a Hydrogen Fuel Cell, will announce that the Rambler will become the official car of the United States and that production on reproductions will start immediately.

Romeny is confident of victory. He has received the endorsement of the RSL AMC (Retired and Still Living American Motor Company employees) now based in Boca Raton, FL.

P.S. George Romney, Mitt's Father, was President of AMC (American Motor Company) which produced the Rambler, followed by the initial success of the Gremlin. The Gremlin was introduced on April 1, 1970. John McCain's father and grandfather were both admirals.

Today is April Fools Day. !!!! :-)

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One of the main folks behind Motortopia is an F1 racing fan. I'm not too much into that motorsport but I do keep up on it on the F1 group here on Motortopia.

But, when it is the birthday of the all time winner in the sport, Formula 1 racing, we here at Motrotopia just have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Alain Prost. This is one frenchman who can really drive!

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Growing up in the 60's in a small Midwestern town, I thought that tailfins on cars were like streamers on my bike --- cool, very cool.

It was on February 4, 1948 that Cadillac started putting tailfins on their productions cars. This continued through the 50's and into the 60's when folks, I guess, thought they maybe a little to much.

Hey, I'd take those days back. And, when I get some time in years ahead for something other than work, look out, I'll be ridin my bike around with streamers and looking for Motortopians who can give me a ride in their tailfin Caddy's!

Wow, the kids will love that! :-).

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I wanted to do more. I wanted to help.

But, I could only stand back as our brilliant engineers worked to find the cyberproblem that was keeping Motortopia from loading up for many of you around the world. I just had to stand back and let them work.

We did a lot this week to upgrade the Motortopia data center. In our new world class location, we are getting ready for new developments at Motortopia. But, the last week, well, gave us all a cyberheadache.

The new data center is working great! But the gettin' there was a bit of a challenge.

My usual approach is NOT to blame other. We should all look at our own actions first, and take responsible action to fix the problems. But, I must say, that our team did a great job. Upgraded a data center in record time, and got things all hooked up with multiple backbone providers. And most things worked, but may of you could still not get to Motortopia.

We discovered some problems with a large upstream internet backbone provider. Someone there finally cared and we go this fixed.

We're back, but, oh what cyberheadache.

Thank you all for being online, sending in reports worldwide, and encouraging us all along this week.

Ok, back to bed to get some rest. Just checking to make sure the routes are working.

Motortopia is still here and goin strong.

Thank you, all my Motortopia friends!

David

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I lived a few years in Germany as a student. I didn't own a car but once and awhile I could hitch a ride with someone who was making a trip on the Autobahn.

Wow. Nothing like our Interstate system, this concrete ribbon is built for speed.

Driver Rudolf Caracciola thought so too. On this day in 1938
he set the and-speed record by driving 268.496 mph on the German Autobah.

1939 - 268 mph. Wow.

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If you watched M*A*S*H like I did growing up, you remember how they bumped and bounced around in a Jeep in Korea. And in, addition, for me Jeep is important because it is the first vehicle that I ever drove. My Dad had a construction company and they had a utility vehicle that hauled around tools and stuff in the back of an old Army Jeep. It was a bumpy and jerky first go, but I got the feel for gas powered vehicles and that was that. I have that as a clear memory :-).

Well, after WWII started the Army already had Jeeps from Willy's ( I think what my Dad had was an old Willy's Jeep ), but they couldn't produce them fast enough for the Army, so the Army went to Ford.

Ford said yes, and signed a deal on January 10, 1942 to build Jeeps for the Army. They started rolling off the production line very soon after that.

The rest is History!

Have a great day, and salute every Jeep you see on the road!

David

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I am constantly interested in the innovation that has happened in the auto industry. In fact, that is the core of the industry and this hobby that Motortopians are involved in...so it is nice to identify the innovators.

There was a guy names Chrysler behind the Chrysler line of cars. Walter Chrysler, that is. And, he sure was an innovator.

First at General Motors he helped to innovate and pioneer the all-steel body. Yep, that was a big innovation because cars used to include a fair amount of weed in the frames and bodies.

Well, then he went on to help revive Maxwell car company and he put is first Chrysler car on display in New York City on this day, January 5, 1924.

Hey everyone, keep on innovating.

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Some folks have birthdays right around Christmas. But, do they get a Rolls - Royce for their birthday, just because it is so close to Christmas?

Well, it helps if you are president of the United States.

When Woodrow Wilson turned 67 on December 23, 1923, his friends left a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Pall Mall touring car on his front yard as an anonymous gift.

And, interestingly, this car had been modified so the president could wear his top hat.

Hey, now suggest this to your friends, for Christmas this year!

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