Garage Built B17

We all have tinkered with something in the garage before but this is impressive. Look what he started with. Impressive.

Mucho Wu

Sergio Leone - LE BON, LA BRUTE, LE TRUAND and some killer glasses.

Smokestack Lightning

The golden era - fiberglass, little slicks, big motors and balls of iron.

The Unkown Ranger

On a wander this past weekend I stumbled across this cherry little Ford pick-up. I believe it's a '70 because of the center spear and split grille. That muted yellow paint is spot on and those moon discs and rear box spats are a neat twist. Although I never spoke with the owner, people in town seemed to know the truck. They said she has less then 10K ORIGINAL miles on her. She's a peach.

The Good Doctor circa '72

"Alright let's get down to brass tacks, how much for the monkey?"

The '39

I love this bike. Still a lot of work to do but the bones are good.

Perfect Lines

The Hughes H1. One of my all-time favorite prop driven aircraft. It has nearly perfect lines, forms and proportions. You can trace many others designs back to this one; the Zero, Thunderbolt and even the German Focke-Wulf Fw 90. Innovative as hell to boot - first flush rivets and retractable landing gear. The plane set a non-stop cross country record in 1937 - LA to the Big Apple in 7 hours 28 minutes. The plane now resides in DC at the Smithsonian, it's worth the trip.

On a sad side note the replica H1 in the color photos was destroyed in a crash in August 2003 near Yellowstone that took the life of it's owner and builder Jim Wright.

The Real Deal.

My buddy Tom Fritz can paint. I mean really paint. He can put colors on the canvas in ways that take you back to the moment the subject matter was breathing. He finds the coolest blues in the warmest reds. He can bend a pallet around backwards, re-invent the color wheel and make you believe it all. A true genius. He can tell a story in ten brush strokes. I think he is our modern day Fredrick Remington. Just for fun I'll post a Remington above and you can judge for yourself. Keep in mind you could retire right now, buy that pre-war knuckelhead and send your children's children to collage if you sold your Remington. If you can, buy some of Tom's work right now, his stuff is miles in front of everyone elses's. Fritz is the real deal.

Last seen in Cambodia 1970.

Sean Flynn (son of actor Errol Flynn) and Dana Stone a few minutes before they went missing near the border of Cambodia in 1970. Both were well respected photo journalists working in country. It is said Sean would disappear into the jungle for weeks only to return with photos of the war no one else could get. Spooky stuff. Google it.

Daytona 2008 - part 1

Although it is HUGE, in my opinion it is not the best bike event on the calender. Having said that you can still find some good stuff. You just have to go through many MILES of catalog chrome and store bought badasses. This year I spent some time at the vintage races held at the Daytona International Speedway. I hit pay dirt lurking around the paddock. Here is a small sample of what I found.

Making it slippery.

In Maryland there is an old WWII era wind tunnel that we occasionally use if needed. Recently such an occasion occurred and I was sent over there with a clay model. I've always liked this tunnel a little more than the new modern jobs found elsewhere around the states because this one has some history. The place is littered with old scale models of prop driven fighters and bombers. Things companies tried out but ultimately never made it into production. There is also a library with WWI era texts on aerodynamics, engineering, metal working and others cool stuff normal folk would throw into the trash. But the coolest part of all is the tunnel itself. It's considered small by today's standards but it's got loads of character. The screw pushing the air through the tunnel is an ex-B-29 prop. They cut the last 10" of the blades off square. This allows it to fit snug to the floor. It's powered by electric motors that look like giant Lionel train transformers - you know the ones that look like they have breasts on the ends. Very cool way to spend a day and yes people have skated the main prop room - 8'/10' transitions with plenty of vert.

The Original Innovaters - Jay & Dora

Style is everything. The Zen of Neato will focus on style a lot. These two guys inspired me more than anyone else growing up and I found that you could apply the idea of form, flow and attitude (they both had this in spades) to almost everything in life. It can't be taught really, it has to come from somewhere much deeper ,the soul maybe. Look at Jay's left hand just skimming the black top or the subtle arch in Dora's back. Both of them are picking up on something, either caught in their own moment of zen or just feeling the energy coming from the situation at hand. Whatever the case these guys had the flow.

If the garage is quiet...

The '39 ULH.

I've been working on a 1939 ULH for a few months now. I found it in Ohio this past winter and have been working on it ever since. The deal was typical biker legend - large wad of cash, snow storm, abandoned house and a Winchester lever action rifle. A few days after the deal was done the seller told me the bike had introduced a few of it's owners to their maker. In fact it has history in this department. I can't say the bike is cursed because so far it's treated me very well but then I have been treating it very well. Anyway you can follow the slow transformation from the first night to it's current state (at top of post). Of course it's still not "done".