Sinkhole Corvette update

All photos from Hot Rod Magazine Dave Freiburger at http://blogs.hotrod.com/photo-update-on-the-sinkhole-corvettes-should-they-be-restored-110327.html#axzz2xmBHJjjY

Buried on his Harley

Billie Leo Standley died last weekend from lung cancer, but before he died, the 82-year-old wished for the world to know he was going to ride off to heaven. To accomplish this wish, Standley and his family made arrangements for him to buried in a Plexiglas casket riding his 1967 Harley-Davidson

Full story at http://blog.motorcycle.com/2014/01/31/manufacturers/harley-davidson/ohio-man-buried-astride-1967-harley-davidson-electra-glide/



Standley had long told people he wanted to be buried on his bike, and he began making arrangements several years ago, long before he was diagnosed with lung cancer this past Christmas. The first step was to purchase three burial plots next to where his late wife Lorna was interred. The space was necessary for the 9 foot by 11 foot casket he needed to hold his Harley.

The casket was completed about five years ago, and it sat in Standley’s garage where he was eager to show it to visitors.

 “If you stopped by his house, he showed you his casket,” Roy Standley tells the Daytona Daily News. “He was proud of it.”

I just heard about the Urals in the Sochi Olympics!

Full story at http://blog.motorcycle.com/2014/02/07/motorcycle-news/urals-parade-sochi-olympic-ceremony/

Good sale from Optima Batteries for the month of April

Consumers who purchase a 12 volt OPTIMA Battery at participating retailers, dealers, approved online retailers and online at OPTIMABatteries.com during the entire month of April their choice of a free Digital 400 Charger or half off the price of a Digital 1200 Charger.

Both the OPTIMA Digital 1200 (12 amp maximum) and OPTIMA Digital 400 (4 amp maximum) battery chargers enhance the performance of OPTIMA and other AGM batteries, recover deeply discharged batteries and extend battery life. They both feature a full text LCD display for charging, maintaining and fault mode indication. Both chargers feature a gauge that displays battery charging and fill rate, along with charger mode and fault messages. Other innovative features include ergonomically designed DC charging clamps and quick set selections that prompt users for quick and easy selection of charge profiles by battery type. The Digital 1200 differs from the Digital 400 by offering a wide range of other features in addition to its higher amperage, including an integrated LED work light, and a USB charging port for iPads®, iPhones® and other devices such as cameras and phones. This offer is available at all participating OPTIMA Batteries retailers including Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Pep Boys, various independent dealers and participating online retailers. It will also be offered online at OPTIMABatteries.com.

Newsflash: subway at O'Hare jumped onto the platform and started up the escalator. Yes, that really happened

Image from http://tribkswb.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/chicago-train-derailment.jpg

above image from http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-commuter-train-derails-chicago-airport-23031269

The eight-car train was wedged near the top of an escalator used by commuters at the Blue Line terminal. CTA spokesman Brian Steele said workers may have to cut up the car and remove it piece by piece, which could take 12 to 24 hours. Then the damage will have to be assessed and repairs made before trains use the station, he said.

In the meantime, shuttle buses will be used between Rosemont and O’Hare.

Steele said the cause of the accident remained under investigation. “We don’t know yet what led to this incident. . .We will be looking at everything — equipment, signals, the human factor, any extenuating circumstances,” he said.

Steele did say the train was “apparently traveling at a higher rate of speed than a train would be” while pulling into the station and officials are trying to determine why. He said the National Transportation Safety Board was also investigating.

The accident happened around 2:50 a.m.

above image from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/25/chicago-train-ohare-speed/6869687/

The NTSB says that the e-brake was activated once it was triggered by the track device, and the train was only moving at 25 mph, the normal, as it entered the station.



And she sounds like Whoopie Goldberg, huh?

Consise reporting and cgi top show what happened

Had you heard that the Natl Highway and Traffic Safety Admin was trying to discourage bikers from attending Bike Week in Fla, and Rolling Thunder in Va? Yes.

the NHTSA‘s Motorcycle Law Enforcement Demonstration Program provides states with federal funding for traffic checkpoints that stop only motorcyclists. The checkpoints allow law enforcement to inspect motorcycles and determine if they meet state standards ranging such as noise levels, tire conditions and handlebar lengths.

Very focused on discriminating against bikers. Yes, their bikes are too damn loud. Agreed. But so is my 69 R/T. I know it, so do they, yet we still thumbs up each other on the freeway over how damn loud each other are. Yup, I haven't grown up yet.

Good news, a couple senators and house of reps congressmen have gotten bills in place to see if this NHTSA nonsense can be made illegal

http://blog.motorcycle.com/2014/03/07/industry-news/new-bipartisan-senate-bill-ban-funding-motorcycle-checkpoints/

B 24 being restored in Australia for 19 years is now taking longer to restore than it's hanger building will last, and needs a new hanger to finish restoration

Full story at http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/b-24-liberator-restoration-australia-home.html

Quirky fact, it was being used as a chicken coop in Moe Victoria in 1995 when found 

Russian tank graveyard found by a young guy with a camera

once a tank repair facility, then it became redundant and the tanks became obsolete, and the broken tanks were never moved

Story at http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/462850/Amazing-pictures-of-hidden-Soviet-tank-graveyard-in-Ukraine-taken-by-plucky-teenager

Perfect Isetta's selling for 40 thou at auction

more about them, and photos from http://mycarquest.com/2014/03/all-three-bmw-isettas-sold-at-the-gooding-auction-at-amelia-island.html

American LaFrance is done. Closed the doors, turned off the lights.

The company's roots go back to 1832 as a firefighting equipment maker. It began building steam-powered, horse-drawn fire engines in the era before the internal combustion engine and merged with LaFrance in 1903 to become one of America's leading fire engine builders. Unfortunately, the 21st century was not been so kind to the company. Freightliner bought it in 1995 and production was moved from North Carolina to South Carolina, but it was sold again in December 2005. After declaring and emerging from bankruptcy in 2008, American LaFrance moved to a smaller factory in Moncks Corner, SC, in 2013

info from http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/07/american-lafrance-fire-engines-closed/
and  http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2014/02/farewell-to-american-lafrance.html

Once the colossus of the American fire apparatus industry, American LaFrance LLC (ALF) abruptly closed its South Carolina plant on January 17 --the sad end of a storied dynasty extending back 114 years (182 years if you include predecessor companies that trace their roots back to 1832). The American-LaFrance Fire Engine Company of Elmira, New York, was founded in 1904.

The legendary nameplate now joins other once-revered names like Maxim, Pirsch and Ahrens-Fox in the pantheon of U.S. motor fire apparatus history.

The Corvettes are getting pulled out of the sinkhole

found on, and all the info, videos, and more photos at http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/03/04/recovery-crews-lift-1962-corvette-from-national-corvette-museum-sinkhole/

Fiat declares 93 Vipers must be crushed, they aren't street legal, and donated to schools for educational programs (never heard of a race car being give to a school before!)

those hoods are roughly a 18 thousand dollar part. Carbon fiber... true fact



Automotive professors and students at South Puget Sound Community College were in shock Tuesday after being notified their $250,000 pre-production Dodge Viper SRT must be destroyed within two weeks.

Steven Glasco, vehicle donations coordinator at Chrysler, confirmed that the complete collection of the educational donation Vipers nationwide must be crushed. He would not comment further on the numbers of vehicles or why the decision was made.

Chapman said he was told by a company official that the destruction of 93 vehicles is the result of two educational Vipers that “got loose” and were involved in accidents, costing parent company Fiat millions of dollars.

Car companies regularly donate damaged, non-street-legal, or unsellable vehicles to high schools, colleges and tech schools to be used for training students. SPSCC has about 20 donated vehicles in its auto shop.

Part of the contract with the donated Viper reads that it will be destroyed if the company orders it to be.

The 1992 Dodge Viper is the fourth produced by the company.

Chapman admits the Viper has limited educational value — few mechanics will ever have to work on such a specialized vehicle. But it is a prized promotional tool for the auto program, which displays the car at high schools and auto shows around the state.

“Everybody wants their picture taken with the Viper,” professor Bob Riggin said. He said visiting teachers and dignitaries often get to actually drive the car when it’s strapped down to the shop’s dynamometer. “This car belongs in a museum, not in a crusher,” he said, adding that Jay Leno had unsuccessfully tried to purchase the Viper for his personal collection.

Scot Keller, chief curator at LeMay-America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, said he would love to have a prototype Viper at the museum “These are magnificent cars,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want a Viper?”

But, having been a GM executive himself for many years, Keller said he knows that trying to rescue this one would almost certainly be pointless.

“I’m an enthusiast but also a realist,” he said. “In this case, I feel somewhat obligated to protect the industry. It’s easy to say, ‘Those doggone people in the industry.’ But having sat in a number of meetings on issues like this, I see the other side.

“It’s heartbreaking if you love cars,” Keller said, “but it’s the only thing companies can do to keep the cars from getting out there and people potentially being harmed in them because they are not up to standards.”

Found on http://www.theolympian.com/2014/03/04/3016193/rare-sports-car-at-spscc-must.html thanks to Dave!

Christmas delivery intercepted by cops for some unknown reason. 40 boxes in xmas wrapping paper containing pot, 20 pounds total

A Miami man was caught trying to bring a green Christmas up to the folks of Pennsylvania. Randy Jesus Valdivia, a 38-year-old resident of Surfside, wasn't driving a sleigh, but instead a 2014 Dodge Caravan. On Thursday afternoon, police pulled over the vehicle for displaying "criminal activity indicators" in a small town near the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

According to the Centre Daily Times, police were suspicious of the several wrapped Christmas presents in the car. Valdivia gave the permission to search the car. The police just couldn't wait until Christmas and opened the present early.

Inside the wrapped boxes they found sealed plastic bags of marijuana. Forty of them in fact. All in all Valdivia had about 20 pounds of pot wrapped as Christmas presents. The street value was estimated to be about $160,000.

Valdivia was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver.

Valdivia had previously been charged with possession of marijuana in Miami-Dade back in 2003, but those charges were ultimately dismissed. Charges of grand theft and assaults back in the '90s were similarly dismissed.

info from http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2013/12/miami_man_caught_with_160k_of.php

My question, what tips cops off that a 2014 Caravan on a freeway is suspicious?

Valdivia is not white, is it possible that Pennsylvania cops are trained to consider Spanish heritage a “criminal indicator?"

After running a check on Valdivia’s license and registration, the police came up empty handed -- he was clean.

Yet, before letting him go, officers asked him for permission to search his vehicle. Unfortunately, the man consented to the search, which led to officers ripping open the Christmas presents where they discovered 40 vacuum-sealed bricks of weed -- valued at $160,000. http://www.hightimes.com/read/pot-smuggling-jesus-busted-pa

So, nothing in the report says erratic driving or breaking ANY traffic law, and the license plate checked out legal. So why pull him over? Even his drivers license came up clean. 

Comeback Motors in Argentina is making exact replicas of the 1916 Indian board track racer

for more: https://www.facebook.com/carlosfabian.macinskas

investigation in New Orleans finds traffic court judge seasoned traffic law violator (surprise!)

An investigation by WWLTV in New Orleans found that several traffic court judges and clerks were using illegal license plates and lights on their taxpayer funded cars. Yes, they get free cars.

 According to the report, five taxpayer-funded cars had been outfitted with blue emergency dashboard lights, which is a violation of state law.

 Judge Jones III also had another piece of equipment on his car that was a potential traffic violation: A plastic cover over his license plate that reflects flash cameras like those used to collect tickets for driving violations. Using the plastic cover is another violation of state law.

Found on http://autos.aol.com/article/traffic-officials-illegal-plates/

New Hampshire city attorney sues parking meter feeders, they are cutting into city revenue by preventing the meter maids from writing tickets

The city of Keene, N.H., has sued a group that feeds change into parking meters that are about to expire, saying members are harassing parking enforcement officers.

The group calls itself "Robin Hood of Keene." Members walk city streets with rolls of dimes and quarters to feed the meters. WMUR-TV reports the city accuses the group of interfering with officers' work. It asks them to stay at least 50 feet away.

The group records its time outside and posts videos online, sometimes showing members following the officers.

The city says one officer suffered stress, anxiety and heart palpitations from the group's actions. Group member Garret Ean says he's not trying to cause any medical problems. He says he tries to keep a good demeanor with all the parking meter enforcers.

Found on http://autos.aol.com/article/parking-meter-new-hampshire-keene-police-robin-hood/