Saturday, June 30, 2018

Basket Shop

The Basket Shop in Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico in it’s original configuration as a Post Offce.

This was my favorite building in Old Town as a kid 1) Because the rings where still present should you want to tie up your horse 2) The building was a Post Office and my dream as a 1st grader was to be a mail carrier.

Degree Wheel Adapter 2.0

I recently went looking for the Pre-Unit degree wheel adapter blueprint once hosted on GAMBA only to find it had completely vanished from the Internet. Artist extraordinaire Vorhese to the rescue. The blueprint he made from the original adapter my brother cooked up on the lathe is a work of art. Now I need to get busy and make another adapter for him. If you don't happen to have a degree wheel you can make one with this graphic from a blank CD and a CD label (assuming you can still find a CD somewhere).

Thursday, June 28, 2018

1939 Ford Deluxe

Every so often I become fixated on a vehicle I never thought much about before. I've been a '40 Ford fan for as long as I have been car aware (probably about 4 years old). Recently I'm almost more enamored with the 1939 Deluxe. It just needs '40 taillights. 

Trio



Wednesday, June 27, 2018

1972 Triumph Tiger

A family friend is helping her stepfather sell his 1972 Triumph T100R Tiger Daytona. This is an interesting motorcycles for a handful of reasons. First, 1972 was the last year Triumph built a 500cc bike. The 500's preserve the desirable esthetic of the pre-1971 650's built prior to the oil-in-the-frame (OIF) design. In fact the paint scheme is almost identical to the 1970 Bonneville. The '72 has some modern amenities the early bikes don't (like turn signals) but still have the traditional right side shift. Her stepdad is British and this is a UK domestic market motorcycle that was imported to the US.
 I don't have the precise mileage but it's a highly original low mileage bike. Contact me if you know anyone that's interested and I can put you in touch with the seller.

Mind’s Eye

I have no comment on this. 




Saturday, June 23, 2018

Daytona 1952

Daytona 1952. Johnson Motors rider Jimmy Phillips finished 3rd. Puyallup Washington Cliff "Red" Farwell finished 2nd and Dick Klamfoth finished 1st.
 Sadly Cliff "Red" Farwell was killed while leading the 1953 race when an inebriated spectator attempted to cross the course on the beach.

Larry Feaster graciously shared the photo below following one of my other Red Farwell posts. Larry’s Dad, Don Feaster was with Red on the trip to Daytona in 1953. Don had just returned from his stint in Korea. Don rode the same factory Norton that Red finished 2nd on at the 1952 Daytona race. This one of my favorite vintage racing photos. The conclusion was obviously trajic beyond words but this photo captured before the race so well captures the the spirit of most the racers I've known over the years.

Tri-Power



Friday, June 22, 2018

2018 Ferrari Concours d'Elegance

I never cease to be amazed by the depth of collector vehicles owned in the Seattle area. The photo below is from the Ferrari Concours d'Elegance held in Renton a couple of years ago, not one but two Ferrari 250 GTO's. The last one sold publicly reportedly brought $70,000,000.
The 2018 Ferrari Concours d'Elegance will be held in Renton July 8th.

Hoffmantown

Hoffmantown area of Albuquerque New Mexico. Yours for a monthly payment of $40.61!

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Triumph Alloy 500

Admittedly I may lack objectivity but the Triumph Pre-Unit might just be the most attractive motorcycle engine ever built.  The alloy close-pitch fin 500 (not pictured below) is still top of that heap though.

Rayson's Exhaust

Rayson's Exhaust continues to hone the art of motorcycle exhaust, They say a custom car/hot rod is made by the wheel/tire choice. For motorcycles it might just be the exhaust (or possibly the gas tank choice). In any case both are perfect on this bike.

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Setlist

Setlists used by notable Seattle based entertainers:
Jimi Hendrix 1967


Nirvana 1991

Seattle Cossacks 2018



Thursday, June 14, 2018

Civic Auditorium - Albuquerque

Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque NM. Not directly transportation related but tough.

The auditorium was located east of Downtown on Grand Avenue (now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.) West of I-25. It opened in 1957 and had a 6000 person capacity. The Civic was home to the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Return to Forever.  I think I saw one concert there before it was it was demolished in 1987.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

World's Fastest Pre-Unit Triumph Since 1961

 This post was originally published by Franz & Grubb in 2017. I'm primarily reposting it so I can easily search for it if I want to quickly find it again. 
From the 1962 Triumph Baltimore sales catalog
Still, no one has gone faster than Gary Richards did in 1961 with any 650 Triumph motorcycle without a fairing at Bonneville.

His two way average of 159.542 mph still stands as an AMA certified record to this day.
The fact that no one has been able to beat this record in 56 years is amazing in itself, however when you take into account his bike it is even more impressive.
His naturally aspirated stock rigid frame Pre Unit looked like a street bike, with a peanut tank and stock length fork. His father Rich Richards did the tuning, and they managed a 160.272 mph average over one mile, and a return average of 158.812 mph for an official record of 159.542 mph.
Most people don’t realize that the timing trap at Bonneville is one full mile long, and speeding up or slowing down will affect your average speed, which is then averaged with your  return mile speed to reach your qualifying speed.

 Gary Richards currently produces Dixon Cylinder heads, and from 1961 to today is still the Bonneville record holder of the world’s fastest unfaired Triumph 650 of all time.
Photo of Gary in 1962 courtesy of the AMERICAN HOT ROD FOUNDATION.

Monday, June 11, 2018

Brothers Bikes

My 1951 Triumph T100 and Rob’s 1948 Indian Chief. I just got a full set of the new top end gaskets Franz and Grubb developed with Cleveland Gaskets to resolve some of the perpetual leak problems with the early Triumph 500s. I’m pretty anxious to get that bike back on the road. Last time I took it out she blew out the base gasket.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Bird’s Eye

1947 Triumph T100 and a 1936 Triumph 5/2 SS. I think these might belong to Terry Clark.



Saturday, June 9, 2018

LeMay Continued






I wasn’t sure Vaughn was gonna leave Schumacher’s F1 car with out taking it out for a lap. I think he had the fastest lap time for the week in the racing simulator down stairs. He certainly got the guys manning the simulators attention. 





Friday, June 8, 2018

BMW Exhibit - LeMay ACM

My son Vaughn was pretty motivated to get out to the BMW exhibit. Neither of us are major Bimmer fans but he’s about as huge a racing and F1 fan as you could ever find. It was well worth the trip.





I was particularly fond on the grill badge bailing wired to the grill of this savage M1.







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