Friday Pin-up

Friday Pin-up

Words To Live By

"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only in the details of how he lived that distinguish one man from another." -E. Hemingway

2012 Houston Classy Chassis Concours

I had a little time off from work to take my young son Conrad to his first auto show yesterday. You can never start proper indoctrination too early!. The show was great featuring vehicles with Bonneville Salt Flat pedigrees.

The Classy Chassis Concours is organized as a charity event for the Shriner's Hospitals which provide care to children. The vehicles are selected in part by a neurosurgeon I work with and its always a pleasure to discuss the vehicles chosen in the weeks leading up to the concours.

As we descended towards the stadium floor to where the vehicles were exhibited, Conrad started making car noises and he dragged me around the whole show. He definitely has a certain taste and below are some of his favorites!

Hayabusa based salt racer

Chet Herbert's "Beast IV"

Multiple World Speed Record holder

Continuously raced from 1953 to 1991

Body by Barris

Conrad fascinated by Edelbrock heads

Rett Streamliner

Test driving a 1985 Ferrari Salt Flat Special

Definitely a wonderful day hanging out with my little buddy. Looks like he has the bug!

Friday Pin-up

Friday Pin-up

Fernibough, 1933 at Brooklands on 175cc JAP

Memorial Day Thanks

I would like to say thanks to all veterans who have put themselves in harm's way protecting our Freedom especially those who have suffered mental and physical injuries. Thanks isn't enough. Go here and donate a little to help a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine.

Friday Pin-up

thanks to VEETESS

Motorcycles at the Airport

Had to go to a Liver Transplantation meeting in San Francisco last week and remembered that the folks at Return Of The Cafe Racers blog recommended the Moto Bellissima exhibit at the San Francisco Airport. All I can Say is that it definitely was a great way to spend time before a flight.

The exhibit focused on small displacement, Italian motorcycles of the 50'sand 60's. These little works of art benefitted from a change in Italian motor vehicle laws after World War II that allowed for riders as young as 14 to operate a motor vehicle with a displacement of 50cc's and limited to a speed of 28 MPH. The result was phenomenal in that almost 200 manufacturers produced very stylish bikes with low performance at production but were extremely tunable to as much as 70 MPH!

125cc Ducati Mariana

48 cc Record

FB Mondial Racer

The style of these bikes like the 48cc Record above is undeniable especially when today low displacement motorcycles are perhaps regarded with disdain. I have to hand it to the designers of the period who were able to take into account the socio-economic realities of a post-war Europe and created these wonderful bikes. Unfortunately, their demise was at the hands of the Honda multicylinder CB line, an equally iconic line of the 70's. I love these little speedsters and can see why there is a cult following.  If you are flying through San Francisco in the next two weeks, you should definitely stop by the International Terminal and have a look at these gems.

Friday Pin-up