Save the Manuals!
Car & Driver has launched an ambitious campaign to Save the Manuals! And since I am a proponent of the manual transmission and all it merits, I wholly endorse it.
Sex, Drugs and Rusty Cars
My friend Eric and I are members of the automotive enthusiast fringe. The weirder, harder to find the better. This is an absolutely hilarious text message exchange we had the other day regarding one of my favorite websites, Bring a Trailer.
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Eric: Dude, what have u done? Bringatrailer.com is cocaine. I Keep telling myself I have it under control.
Me: Yes… Yes it is. That Cosworth gave me a redwood.
Eric: Oh yeah! and the 953 Rally! Boing! I can stop any time.. I can stop any time.
Me: Snooort.
Eric: Oh yes… (wipes blood from nostril) thats it right there
Me: Rusty pipe? Been awhile since you thought about buying a 30 year old 25k garage find?
Eric: Apparently. I usually fap to the stuff on hemmings site, but this stuff is more kink… I mean unique
Me: Its kinda like 8mm snuff films, I know. The stuff on Hemmings is so pedestrian and clean. You have to be really out there to like BaT.
Eric: Oh yeah. It makes me feel so dirty.. and I love it. I also love our seemless transition from drug to sex innuendo
Me: Sex, drugs and rusty cars baby!
Import Relics
I’m proud to announce that I have just launched a new website called Import Relics. Most who read this site are surely aware of my near clinical obsession with the automobile and in particular imports. Import Relics is where I intend to collect my photographs, musings and research regarding significant or interesting imports from our past.
Check out the first post on the original ricer, the Datsun 510.
Pioneer One [Entertainment: TV 2.0]
Those that know me and frequently tolerate my futurist rants know that for many years I have mused about the end of television as we know it. That eventually everything will be distributed free online. Yes, I know that you can already go to Hulu or YouTube and watch your favorite sitcom or webisode, but even there, it’s not free. You have the website littered with ads and there are still those annoying commercials. No, the day is nigh where people with an idea, passion and desire will create high quality entertainment for the masses and distribute it freely without the confines of the studio system, advertisers and Nelson ratings.
The most recent in this burgeoning market is Pioneer One. A sci-fi web series that is rather X-Filesesq, but with a much more interesting twist on the extraterrestrial life part.
Not to spoil the whole pilot episode, but basically an unknown object enters the atmosphere over Montana and leaks radiation on it’s way down. The Department of Homeland Security suspects a dirty bomb and investigates only to find it was an old Soviet spacecraft. What is in the spacecraft is the mystery.
This show plays to all my loves. Sci-fi, Cold War intrigue, the possibility of life on other planets (notice, not aliens) and mystery. The quality of the show is good for a totally independent production. And when I say totally independent, I mean totally (stuff it Sundance). The project is completely funded by public donations. They filmed the pilot episode for only $6,000, and its pretty good for that. The picture is high quality, the acting by the main characters is good and they keep the effects to a minimum, letting the lighting, music and dialog carry the show. Something that is so rare in sci-fi today.
If you’re interested in taking a chance on something a little different, I would highly recommend downloading it over at VoDo.
The Indelicates [Entertainment: Music]
There are few bands that just wow me. Early Guster, The Sounds and Tally Hall are the short list. About a month ago I discovered another band that I can add to that list:The Indelicates.
Wonderful guitar rock mixed with brilliant lyrics shared between Simon Indelicate (Clayton) and Julia Indelicate (Clark-Lewis). Simon’s voice is just angry enough to make you feel like perhaps what he has to say is important even though it’s laced with humor and Julia’s dreamy voice takes you back to when female vocalists knew how to do something other than just scream.
Their first album American Demo is one of those perfect albums, where every song can be listened to multiple times without finding it boring. Stand out songs are “Julia, We Don’t Live in the 60′s” and “The Last Signifigant Statement…”.
Their second album Songs for Swinging Lovers is good, but not quite as thoroughly perfect. “Sympathy for the Devil”, a twangy countryesq number, is the standout on that album.
If you want to take a chance, pick up their albums over at Corporate Records where you can pay what you feel like (awesome), you won’t be sorry. Here is a sample of what you can expect:
Parking Lot Car Fixing [When Men Were Men]
I work on cars all the time and I enjoy it right up to the point when you are no longer doing it for fun, but rather out of need.
Today I noticed that my Samurai was having some issues starting, acting like it had a dying battery. That pissed me off because it’s got a new Optima Redtop and I had the alternator tested just a few weeks ago. So everything should be good.
I pulled into my parking spot at work and shut the engine off and I thought I would make sure it would start again. Nope. Needless to say I was pissed. Car wouldn’t start, I was already late for work (not that really mattered) and it was raining.
I popped the hood and took a quick look around, jiggled some wires and tried to start it again, but to no avail. Not much I could do at the moment so I locked everything down and headed into work.
First think I did when I got into work was call into the knowledge database (Dad) to see what he thought. He thought the same as I, no power equals either a dead battery or a short somewhere. Both were not exciting propositions, but I was hoping for the former just for ease.
As I sat at work contemplating the problem my thoughts turned to a problem I had had before I left for a trip to the Arizona Strip several weeks ago. There had been some corrosion on the back side of the weather pack coming off the batteries accessory wire. The first opportunity that I could take a break at work I headed out into the soaking parking lot and popped the hood on the Samurai again.
So there I am, hood up, rain pouring down in the middle of the parking lot and I’m rooting around the engine compartment for wires. I had several guys look at me oddly as they drove by, of course none of them stopping to offer help.
After the offending weather pack was located I found that the corrosion and eaten away at the wire heading into it. I pulled the tool box out and clipped the weather pack off and stripped the wire down. Then I reconnected everything for a quick fix and sure enough, it started right up. Sweet. I closed everything up and headed back into work still within my 15 minute break limit.
You may be asking why I would want to post such a tale up. I remember as a kid seeing people working on cars in parking lots all the time. My Dad and I have replaced a clutch in a hotel parking lot. You don’t see that anymore.
That is for several reasons, but paramount is that vehicles are too complex now, which I have complained about before, and the gear head lifestyle is dying as a result. Fathers and son’s no longer bond over working on cars. People never learn how to change a tire, let alone diagnosis wiring problems. It’s sad.
So I posted this little tale as an example of ‘When Men Were Men’ and not afraid to get their hands dirty and stand in the rain just to get their car back on the road. I feel privileged that I was blessed with a father who thought it was important enough to teach me that I can fix practically anything myself.
Some People Say I Have a Nice Rack
Having chosen to build my Samurai for expedition use one of the most pressing issues I had to deal with was that of storage space. The obvious solution to this dilemma was to get a roof rack. After looking at the available racks on the market for the Samurai I decided to have one custom built.
The man I turned to for this project was the venerable Carl Whitmore. I envisioned a very simple rack made out of 1″ DOM tubing. The only thing special that I wanted was a way to secure two Scepter cans. Carl’s imagination led him to build a much more exciting rack than I had hoped. With dimpled side braces and a raked front it reminds me of an updated Con-Ferr rack.
For mounting the rack we picked up some Kargo Master gutter mounts for Cherokee’s rather than trying to build custom gutter mounts for the Samurai. They are a little big, but I think that they look fine.
The most unique aspect of the whole rack is the Scepter can holder. It’s basically just a box, but with the dimpled bottom and the way that it mounts with the two hooks on the back and tabbed mounts on the front it is pretty clever.
I’m very pleased with it and can’t wait to use it on my trip to the Arizona Strip next week. If you want to check it out up close and personal it will be at the Expedition Utah booth during the TeraFlex show at Miller Motorsports Park this Saturday.
More pictures:
I’m an Apple Whore
So Tomi and I have had iBook G4′s for the past four years. Today we decided to go down to the Apple Store to get a new mouse for our iMac (yes, the venerable Mighty Mouse scroll wheel finally ate it). We walked in the front door and started looking at the iPads when an old friend and his wife happened to bump into us. After guiding them through selecting a new MacBook, Tomi and I wandered back over to the iPads.
Now we had no intention of buying an iPad. In fact, I kind of thought that the iPad was a joke. Really just a big iPod touch, nothing more. Well we played with them for a bit and discussed how we used our current laptops, which was basically as Internet terminals.
After little debate (I had no say. It was all Tomi I swear) we decided not to get an iPad… But rather to get two iPad’s. If you include my iPhone, the iPads make seven Apple computers in the house. Yes, we are Apple whores.
So what are my first impressions of it? Well, as you can imagine, I am typing this post on it right now. The keyboard is just like a big iPhone one. But it surprisingly easy to type with two hands. Being used to a nice full sized keyboard, you make a few mistakes, but not nearly as many as I would have expected. The interface is just a big iPhone interface, which means it is really easy to navigate. The only thing I have to complain about is that my iPhone is hacked, the iPad is not (yet) so I lack some of the functionality that I have become accustom too.
So far the iPad is pretty cool. The main reason that we decided to get them was that the way we used our iBooks was so limited that the iPad was a fairly cheap and clean way to upgrade to some newer technology. I am disappointed that I can’t easily connect to my server, but I’m sure that I will find a way soon enough.
Look for future updates on my life with iPad (and pictures) in the future!
I Built Tomi a Bike, So Now I Needed One
While I was building Tomi a bike I realized that this would mean that I needed a bike too. Tomi would want to ride to the store together, the park, ect. Unlike Tomi’s bike, I didn’t need to go searching for one, I knew what one I would fix up. My Dad’s 1962 Raleigh Sprite:
As you can see from the above picture, it had been sitting for awhile. Probably 12 years or more. A little history on the bike is that my Dad got this in 1962 when he was 13 years old. It is a 10 speed using a Campagnolo Gran Sport friction derailer system. It has a 22.5 inch frame, which is a little short for me, but not bad. The saddle is a Lycett B15 Sparrow.
I remember my Dad riding it with my sister, Mom and I when I was a kid. Of course, once I got my drivers license, bike riding was out. So the bike languished at first in the garage, then in the old playhouse in the backyard. Once I knew I needed a bike, this is the first one that popped in my head. Not only because of my long standing mantra of never buying new vehicle’s, but also for the history.
There was nothing mechanically wrong with the bike, it just needed a really good cleaning and a tune up. So I set myself upon it, the results of which will be detailed in pictures later. I really wanted to keep the bike as original as possible, but a few things had to be swapped. First were the consumables. Tires, brake pads, handle bar grips. The tires I replaced with Continental Ultra Sport’s, the pads with Shimano R50t’s and white Bontrager handlebar wraps to match the original brake cable housings. I was lucky enough to be able to recover the brake cable housings, which I was afraid would be too brittle.
I wavered back and forth on whether or not to try and restore the extremely rusty original wheels. Finally I decided to just replace them when new steel ones. A consequence of this decision was that I needed to get the five speed free wheel gear cluster off the old wheel. I was unable to and none of the bike shops I took it to could either, even resulting in one shop rounding off their tool! So I had to get a new gear cluster, which was disappointing.
To clean the bike I striped it down to just the frame and crank. I went over the whole thing with Brake Kleen and got all the dirt and grime off of it. And there was a lot! It took two whole cans of Brake Kleen. Next I used rubbing compound on all the chrome and polished the frame. Finally I waxed everything. Doesn’t sound like too hard of a task, but it took me a couple of days to really get it good and clean. The results speak for themselves though.
The saddle was another item that I wondered if I should replace. It was 50 years old, dry and cracking. I went online to see if I could find a replacement, only to find that Lycett had been bought out by Brooks decades ago and a replacement Brooks saddle of the same design was nearly $300! Even good used ones on eBay fetch over $100. That was a bit out of my budget. So I spent a few hours really rubbing in saddle soap on both the top and bottom and polishing the rails. The result is a very supple saddle. I’m not sure how comfortable it is, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.
It was a very enjoyable experience to bring the bike back to something of it’s former glory. So now, onto the pictures!
Cleaned and ready to ride!
Really cool, and shiny, badge on the fork.
I’ve Got Your “Slow Media” Right Here!
Thats right! A typewriter! Amazing, huh? So here’s the story. As many of you know I do a lot of 4-wheeling. One of the trips that I take is called the Relic Run. This is a multi-day expedition done only with vehicles aged 1979 or older and camping gear that is in the spirit of the 1970′s or older. Last year, 2009, was the inaugural run of this event. We circumnavigated the Great Salt Lake and had a blast. This year we are heading to the High Unita’s.
So what does the typewriter have to do with this? We’ll I’ve been tasked with trying to stir up some media interest. One of the ideas that I had was to contact these various outlets with an authentic, type written letter in conjunction with our more modern techniques. Strange, perhaps, but also make us seem like a fun group.
So I asked my mom if I could borrow her old electric typewriter. What we have here is a Smith-Corona Coronet Automatic 12.
This is original ’70′s. My mom got it for her high school graduation in 1971 and took it with her to college and business school. It is mint, not a scratch or dent on it. Perfect working order. The only thing I had to replace is the ribbon. Even the carrying case is perfect. And it needs a carrying case, because it weighs a solid ton!
I haven’t typed too much on it yet, but all I can say is that it is satisfying. The weight that you have to use to push down the keys. The reverberation you feel as the arm strikes the paper. And of course, that sound. The wonderful typewriter sound. It makes typing on my Apple Slim Keyboard just feel, well, fake.
Part of me wishes that I could use a typewriter all the time to write. But it’s just not practical in todays world. It will be fun to use for this project, and probably future Relic Run‘s. As with so many things, I just have a problem with nostalgia. A typewriter is just so simple and reflects a simpler time.
