Pre-Unit

Silver Slipper

Ever since my early 20's I have been fascinated by the fact that our forefathers caused just as much trouble as we did, maybe more. It's neither good or bad, we just didn't invent the "wild life" as is often thought to be the case when you are young. 

I watched a documentary a few years ago about exotic dancers from the 50's and 60's. It fascinated me that everyone involved looked like ordinary senior citizens now. No one would ever know without talking to them a good bit. I don't recall the title and Google was no help. It did however remind me how intrigued I was by an abandoned Albuquerque strip called the Silver Slipper as a kid. There was of course the mystic that it once housed "naked ladies" but there was something else too. Perhaps just the whole counter-culture aspect.

At any rate I decided to search for a photo of the place thinking finding one would be trivial. Oddly it wasn't. I've done a fair amount of asking around and have found damn near nothing. The "Remember When In Albuquerque" Facebook group is about the only success I had so far (thanks all). One of the regular contributors had a car show photo from the Caravan East.You can just barely make out the remnants of the giant slipper shaped sign and the shingled roof.

 The same FB group provided an anecdotal timeline as well.

The building opened as Bob's Drive-in. It was later converted into a dinner theater called The Golden Slipper opening in the summer of 1971. It featured nightly musical entertainment and a melodrama production on the weekends. It went under after about two years and closed and was reopened as The Silver Slipper- which was the strip club I recalled as a kid. The Silver Slipper closed around 1974.

I believe I recall my Dad saying he got dragged into the place by some coworkers once but I could be wrong. I'm struggling to remember if the building eventually partially burned or was just demo'd.

I did find this super creepy mural that someone claimed was inside the club. Obviously I have no way to confirm it (save maybe my Dad).

The only historical reference I was able to find is from a drag performer "Ray Bourbon's" biography "Don't Call Me Madam."  I was completely unaware they featured anything but female dancers prior to this artifact. 

Ultimately, it's all amazingly little for the Internet age. This all started with 10 seconds of curiosity. These damn thing can spiral out of control for obsessive people like myself. If you or anyone you know can provide more information or photos I'd love to hear from you.

Texas Ceegar

 

Texas Ceegar

 

Triumph Metisse

Happy Birthday Vaughn

I wanted to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to my youngest son Vaughn. Vaughn gets mentioned here quite a bit because he shares the "motorhead disease" on par with the absolute best of them. In addition to being an awesome kid he has a knowledge, eye and gearhead taste that genuinely far exceeds all but the most seasoned grown up "car guys." All my kids are genuinely incredible but having one kid who truly shares my motorcycle/car passion has been a blast. Vaughn has been the kind of guy that looks as much under the cars as at cars when at car shows since he was litterally like two years old. No joke, I heard him politely correct a Ferrari collector's Enzo factoid at a super high dollar "Concourse de Excellence" show last year. Pretty funny moment

Vaughn has been completely convinced basically since birth that he will be a professional driver one day (think F1 not chauffeur). Given his drive to race and my inability to fund an F1 campaign Vaughn elected recently to begin racing BMX, a sport I was also very involved in growing up. BMX is fun but it's tough too. Racing is a little scary. The success or failure is all on you and you alone. Modern tracks are pretty hairy. Start hills, berms, jumps, crashing, it can all be a little intimidating. No try doing it as fas as you can. A lot of kids can't hack it and the learning curve is significant for those that can. Vaughn has been racing less than a month and I couldn't be prouder of his progress so far.

Happy Birthday kid! The 11 years so far have been a blast and Mom & I are incredibly lucky to have such a cool kid. I couldn't be prouder of you!

36th Annual Tenino Vintage Motorcycle Swapmeet

Pans, Pans and more Pans

Nate the Pan guy has requested I post more Pans. Odd request but thanks to Flathead Rob I do have an excellent pan tip.

Your friendly neighborhood Costco sells beautiful restaurant grade baking sheets individually, in 6 packs and in 12 packs. They are a fraction of the cost of the "drip pans" they sell at the automotive supply/parts places and might just outlast the 70 year old bike they are sitting under, even if you forget and run them over once in a while like I always do. The pans are like 10X the quality of dedicated drip pans, are super easy to clean, don't rust and cost like $6 each. Seriously, give them a try!

Albuquerque Ice Company - 1935

Miller

Is there any more aesthetically perfect car than a Miller?

Vorhese Van

Who doesn't like motorcycle art?

I'm a pretty big fan for Vorhese's stuff. Here's some big Vorhese's stuff. My wife used to do a lot of design work that wound up on billboards, bus wraps and radio station promotional cars. It shouldn't in theory be any cooler than just say a t-shirt, but it kinda is.

Ran When Parked

1947 Triumph Grand Prix - From the Bobby Sirkegian collection.

 

Estimate

$40,000 - $50,000

Highlights

• From the Bobby Sirkegian Classic Motorcycle Collection
• Less than 200 Grand Prix were made by Triumph and used for racing only. Only 25 were made for AMA class "C" racing and sent to the U.S.A.
• This Grand Prix was one of the 25 used for AMA class "C" racing from 1950 to 1953, flat track and road races.
• Johnson Motors sold these only to Triumph dealers.
• Sirkegian Triumph ordered two Grand Prix, but only received one and a box of spare parts.
• Raced at Daytona Beach FL 200 mile national in 1951 and finished in 4th place with Expert Rider Don Bishop aboard, prepared and maintained by master mechanic Fred Ford and entered by Sirkegian Triumph of Los Angeles CA
• Total restoration done by Bobby Sirkegian to AMA Daytona Beach 1951 specifications.
• Only 3 of these class "C" Grand Prix racer are still in existence, Very Rare.
• Frame #TF27551R
• Engine #47 T100 83990R 

It’s thought between 150 and 200 Triumph Grand Prix racers were delivered between 1948-50, and all were very special machines, each hand-tuned by the factory experimental department. A few – perhaps 25 – were built up for the US, to race in AMA Class C racing, which allowed only catalogued production machines to race, limited to 500cc for OHV motors, and 750cc for sidevalve bikes. They did well too, winning the 1950 Amateur Daytona 100-mile race in 1950, with Rod Coates aboard. This 1948 Triumph Grand Prix is one of those ‘AMA’ machines, and was raced between 1950 and ’53 by Sirkegian Triumph of Los Angeles, one of only two dealers to receive racers from US distributor Johnson Motors. Sirkegian ordered a pair of racers, but got only this machine and a box of spare parts. This Sirkegian bike was raced in flat tracks and road races, and most notably at the 1951 Daytona Beach 200-mile National, where it finished in 4^th place, with Don Bishop riding, and mechanic Fred Ford keeping it together. Bobby Sirkegian totally restored this machine to its 1951 AMA Daytona Beach specifications, and it is one of only 3 known surviving ‘Class C’ Triumph Grand Prix motorcycles. As such, it is an extremely rare version of the most rare and desirable of all postwar Triumphs.

Docklands Tools

Dockland's Tools

Ed Kretz

Ed Kretz on a Triumph Marlboro Maryland 1957.

Porsche 550 Spyder

My petrolhead son has been on a bit of a Porsche 550 kick since spotting a nicely done kit in downtown Seattle. I've always thought they were pretty cool so I'm good with it. He's been trying to convince me we need one but I'm not quite that committed. While searching for something else today I spotted this photo. I can't imagine multiple 550's in a single setting like this is all that common. I love the photo.

My son was speculating they were sitting outside the Porsche factory. The setting actually reminded me of some photos we shot at the old Rainer beer brewery in in Georgetown.

Ed Kretz Sr

Patina Wrap

I'm not normally a huge fan of vinyl automotive wraps but this is pretty cool.

1951 Tiger T100

1951 Triumph Catalog

Featherbed X 4

Norton's radical watercooled four cylinder 500. Word is this recreation will be the subject of a full feature in Classic Bike when completed.

Garage

All a man could need.

Kickin'

Arlington Fly-In 2016

Bob & Rob

Sign Art "Patina"

Cossack Patina - Guess I know why Rob doesn't ran an irreplaceable 1938 plate on his team bike...

Blue Dot

Here kitty kitty

Is that Sasquatch?

Kerry, Liam and Rob

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