Hot Wheel!!!

PICT0188, originally uploaded by tinsoldier.

At last week's pilgrimage to Sycamore IL's, finest hot rod shop, Marty's and Sons, I found this severely channeled A Coupe. The Halibrand mag wheel with the cheater slick caught my eye. Hot Wheel, Baby!

gasser

gasser, originally uploaded by tinsoldier.

Its a gasser gasser gasser world, baby!

f150 burning out

f150 burning out, originally uploaded by tinsoldier.

This FOMOCO tank was quick. I believe that it was a 10 sec ride. Coolness.

dyno don getting ready to stage

dyno don getting ready to stage, originally uploaded by tinsoldier.

This pass didn't turn out so great before the rain came down on the sandwich session, and necessitated a hasty retreat to IL in the 66 Stang. What a sweet ride. It even has two buckets!

willys gasser

willys gasser, originally uploaded by tinsoldier.

My favorite gasser, the mighty Willys coupe. There were at least three at Great Lakes Dragaway from the Midwest Gasser Association.

smokin!

smokin!, originally uploaded by tinsoldier.

Check out this Yenko Nova SS doing the smoky burnout.

A friend of a friend just bought this...

My buddy says that this is the nicest 60s style survivor that he has ever seen. Viva 1966!!!

WheelStand?

This is what I am talking about. I need to see this:

Byron Dragstrip- Rockford IL area

I want to make it to Byron Dragstrip soon. They have Outlaw racing there, where the object is to do wheelstands.

Look at this Willys pic:

BioDiesel

With gas prices where they are, Bio Diesel seems to make more sense each day. Maybe I could finally get that pick em truck that I have been dreaming about.

Here is a cool link to Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems. When I first heard of Bio Diesel, I thought that it was a joke.

The most recent Patagonia catalog had a surfer/traveler dude in that is using a full size Dodge pick up powered by Bio Diesel.

Apparently it burns clean as well. I would love to drive and have the emissions smell like french fries or Chinese food. restaurants and their used cooking grease are prime sources for fuel with these systems.

Very interesting.

'41 Willys Gasser

This '41 Willys below captures the look and feel pretty well of a 60s Gasser.

Check out the recent Rodders Journal for more Gasser Fun- especially the feature on the John Mazimanian Willys Coupes.

Dad and I had a great time last year at the Vintage Drags at Great Lakes Dragaway- There was at least 6 old Willys burning out and taking names!

Gassers- another type of car that I dig

Check out the '41 Willys to the left... After reading the article in the latest Hot Rod magazine- about 8 times, I might add- I realized how much I dig these 60s straight line killers.

I prefer the '41 Willys when it is sporting a straight axle with the nose in the air- to shift the weight bias to the rear- enhancing traction in the process.

I built a little metal Willys model over the winter... it didn't really capture the Willys Gasser look.

Back From the Depths..

It has been a while since I posted.

I have gotten the 66 Mustang out, most recently in honor of Earth Day. I had to make sure that I burned plenty of dinosaur juice for the occasion.

I went to a record show last week. Before I entered, I suspiciously inquired whether there was any vinyl inside the show. The answer was that there was only cds... What kind of record show is that?

I Raleigh 3 speeded to a garage sale yesterday that had tons of cool old stuff. I picked up a Kingsmen single on East West "Weekend" b/w "Better Believe It." Not sure if this is the Kingsmen that you would think of... Calling this 45 R&B would be a stretch in my book.

I saw a mid 60s ladies Hercules 3 speed in pretty good shape that I had to restrain myself fomr buying... It had stainless steel fenders that would have looked really cool on a future Raleigh build.

I have been keeping my ears filled with cdrs containing ripe 45 sides, like "Looking At You" by The MC5 and a fresh transfer of "Baby Show The World"by The Sons of Adam. My song of the day is definitely "ESP" by The Beaver Patrol done to the tune of "LSD" by The Pretty Things.

1932 Ford Coupe

Here is a 3/4 profile shot. It is crazy what this original tin now costs, but this was the most original, un messed with Deuce that I have ever seen.

It needs a new floor, trunk and door skins, but the original 1932 frame seemed pretty solid.

One could spend a lot of money chopping this coupe, dropping a motor in and cleaning up the body, but I think the end result would out weigh any of the interim costs.

The fact that this car has had nothing done to it (save a filled roof in the 1950's perhaps), lends a huge amount of value to the car in my opinion. View this Deuce as a blank canvas.

Chop and Hop Up!

yesterday's adventure with Iowa Hawk

I received a couple of voice mails yesterday morning from IowaHawk.

He mentioned that he had something in mind for us to go look at in the afternoon. The picture at right should give the student of classic American hot rods an idea about what he was talking about.

We left el Rancho Norte del Hawk at around 2 PM. We had a bit of a drive ahead of us...

No help to google maps, with its lack of detail in either including street names or exits from 90, it made our expedition more difficult. After overshooting our exit and using advanced math and cartographic deciphering skills, we were able to find our destination in the hilly environs of Northern Illinois.

As you can probably determine, the object of the quest was a 1932 Ford.

Tidal Waves-find of the week

The Tidal Waves "She Left Me All Alone" HBR 482
Here is a moody downbeat number that I have heard on various comp cdrs. I came across it at The Loyola Record Swap. I believe that they later became The Unrelated Segments.

The flip is actually a pretty rockin' take on "Farmer John," not one of my favorite compositions.

To counter a recent conversation on garagepunk.com, the Garage Punk Forum CDs did nothing for me other than make me want the original vinyl discs even more than I did before. Reissues generally suck sound wise, esp. if they are on CD. The forum CDs have better sound as they are "mastered" from original discs.

But to hear a garage punker in its glory requires the original disc in either good or scratchy shape-- hence more digging for discs!

Vestax in action-spinning Bob Seger System

Welcome to Madison

Welcome to Madison WI.
This has to be my favorite sign of my recent visit.

Last Batch

Last Batch:
Patti Smith "Because The Night"
Ike & Tina "Proud Mary"

More juke box fodder

More juke box fodder:

Kingsmen "The Jolly Green Giant"
Blues Magoos "We Aint Got Nothin Yet"
Bob Seger System "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man"
Crickets "Not Fade Away'

Some juke box scores from MadTown

Some juke box scores:

Crazy World of Arthur Brown "Fire"
Yardbirds "For Your Love"
Ohio Express "Roll It Up"
Zombies "Time of The Season"

Freak out in MadTown

I spent some time in Madison over the weekend.

I would have to say that I scored!

I always wanted a copy of Freak Out!
Like the Copy of Joe's Garage, a week back, it spoke to me. $10 later and I am shooting digi photos in Motel 6.

No records today...

I spent the better part of the day going to my favorite record searching spots. I turned up a big fat nothing. I had a chance to drive all over both the South Side and the North Side of Chicago.

Instead enjoy some shots of Chicago in spring.

One more

Here is a shot from the Highland Park area. Notice the arty shaky photo "technique."

Attempted action pics from today's ride

Here are some "action" shots. To the left you can see part of the bike path near Highwood IL.

Bike Ride today

Wow, I just took the longest bike ride of the year so far. Well, it is the midwest. I took last year's best garage sale find- pictured to the right on a 20 mile excursion.

It is a 1982? Schwinn Paramount with a full Campagnolo gruppo. I found it in a garage at a very reasonable price. I had it tuned up and I spent US$50 on some new kevlar tires and tubes from a place on the internet that had them on sale.

My knees and legs are very tired- hey it is my birthday after all. I guess I should be feeling some aches and pains.

Garage sale score!

After a weekend of garage sale searching, I came across some pretty good scores at a loser's house who went by the name of Steve.


Frank Zappa "Joe's Garage"
Buzzcocks "Love Bites"
Jeff Beck "Blow By Blow"
David Bowie "Ziggy Stardust"

The price? $2.00. The condition? Mint for all 4 lps. Not bad at $.50 each...
I was truly suprised as the house itself was one of the biggest pig stys that I have seen in a long time.

Flip that nose!

Here it is- a '53 F100 flip nose. As previously stated, not enough traditional look for me, but still cool. The frame and motor have lots of detail and the nose is extremely low...

I will keep it. I have a major soft spot for 53-56 F100s. Must be the Sanford and Son in me.

How low can you go?

How low can you go? This is more street rod than I like, but it is certainly low. There will be no bumper on this F100. It is way too much of a nose dragger...

MAKE Zine site

I am addicted to the new to me online zine, MAKE. What I like most about this site is that it fosters creativity instead of consumption. Using existing stuff or junk to make some useful, cool or both.

This methodology is right along the cratedigger way of thinking, check out my earlier post about the lard can.

I especially like the Instructables, where step by step instructions for projects are illustrated. It is sort of like flickr as there are comments on the projects and on the project steps.

I was especially into to the pinball machine coffee table and the laptop stencils.

Follow up on Rath's Cedar Valley Pure Lard

Here is a follow up with some historical info on The Rath Packing Company.

I wonder if any friends (or relations) from iowahawk ever had any dealings with this company...

Creation Painter Man Video

One of my favorite blogs "Sonic Pollutions" posted a video of Eddie Phillips et al performing Painter Man.

Check it out.

Rath's Lard Bucket

I found the lovely Rath's Lard bucket pictured above at a house sale for the cost effective price of US$1 yesterday. I did not know why I was buying it at the time.

The previous owners used it for storing hats. Judging on the style and the construction of this tin bucket, I think that it is from the 1940s...

The bucket was in pretty sorry shape when I initially got it home. I had to use carberator cleaner to remove the tape residue and some writing on the lid. I also took a hammer to some dents. The "project" turned out well.

In the picture above, you can see it being used in the Cratedigger Listening Room as a stand for all of my recent Garagepunk.com forum cd comps. Now I need to find a small shelf for the cdrs.

45s at House Sale

Last weekend, I went early to a house sale and scored some killer 45s for a great price of US$.20 each! While not nearly all US garage, there were some cool finds from the wayback machine.

I will leave off the filler and list only the killer:

James Brown and The Fabulous Flames "Good Rockin' Tonight" KING 6100

James Brown and The Fabulous Flames "Cold Sweat Pt 1 and 2" KING 6110 JB- always need more JB. "Good Rockin' Tonight" is in almost a rockabilly style, I would guess this to be quite early in his career. "Cold Sweat Pt 1 and 2" is in the more familiar hard soul style.

The Fantastic Johnny C "Boogaloo Down Broadway" Phil LA of Soul 305 This disc is some unknown (to me) guy doing a lite funk track. It hits me as a direct rip on "clown on Funky Broadway" track on The Sound of Funk V1. The flip contains identical music with a different vocal. Was this a vanity record? Like to see the other records in the jukebox where this one lived way back when...

Little Milton "Sweet Sixteen Pt 1 &2" Checker 1484

Sam & Dave "I Thank You" Stax 242 (With Juke Box tag)

Ohio Express "Soul Struttin" b/w "Try It" Cameo 2001 "Try it" is an excellent fuzz ridden version of the song that I know from the Standells version as well as a freakbeat version from the Rubble series, by a group that I can't remember. "Soul Struttin" is the typical forgettable OE number, this time penned by Tony Orlando- yes that Tony. Look for "Try it" to appear on a Cratedigger comp at some point in the future.

There were other 45s but the ones listed above were the only ones that moved the walls of the Cratedigger Listening Room.

Love Society "Tobacco Road"

This 45 was described as "local garage." Methinks they were actually from northern WI, but Tobacco Road has a preponderance of the fuzz.

Some of the record geeks seemed to remember Love Society from the old days...

Riddles It's One Thing To Say

More Milwaukee crate digging provided this record, description was "Chicago Garage."

Shag Stop and Listen

The Shag-Baby. Finds like this in Milwaukee, make a digger o crates, want to install a turntable in the car.

Major label fuzz from Milwaukee, but still good. For once, "an excellent Milwaukee Fuzz garage" description was apt.

Don't even think of flipping this over, though. "Melissa" could be the worst thing that I have heard in months...

A view from the bottom

Here is a bottom shot. Look at the detail on the front end. I think both the front and rear leaf springs look pretty realistic.

I hate those street rod tires and wheels. This ride would look so much better with some FOMOCO steelies and more normal sized tires.

The chassis is done

Here is a pic from the top. Note the detail on the blower. I am definitely going to build this without the side pipes. Those wicked headers are going to be fender well headers.

New "Build"

Here is the motivation for the latest "build." Obviously, I painted it Ford blue, the mill has a dual quad intake with a huge blower. The headers, I believe will wind up being fender well headers as I don't like the side pipes that came with the kit.

One more

Here is a shot from the other side with the hood sides off. The detail on the FOMOCO small block is pretty amazing. The hoses from the radiator turned out pretty cool. Also, I spent the extra time painting the coilovers and the 9 inch rear end different colors. It seems to make a big difference. By far, the best model that I have assembled.

And Now...

At long last the '32 is done. Here is a pic with the hood and sides on. The hardest part of the model was putting together the front suspension and lever shock on the driver side. The headlights and spreader bar were no picnic, either.

The Page Boys- Does it get better?

The back side to "Sweet Sweet Love" is a monster. Multiple part harmonies, and fuzz guitar from the intro. This is what garage punk is about. "All I want is you..." The distorto guitar break is one that that I would sell my Civic for. I love how the drums come in at the end of the break.

Seriously, anyone want to trade a 2000 Civic for this record?

Like this even better...

See below for context, but the driver of the 56 street rod, must be a fan of all things Ford...
Back in the driveway behind the gold chainer F100, I saw the chopped A coupe that you see above. Some guys have all the fun.

Why am I back in the Midwest?

You have to love a town where a 56 F100 can be your daily driver. While, this example above screams the negative term, "Street Rod," fo me, I am was glad to see it in daily driver use.

The tubbed rear, the glass one piece front end and the robin's egg paint job are problematic... but still.

The Krels

Dammit! It is records like this that keep me alive. No, I don't have a copy of this disc as I am sure that it is at least US$500.00. Obviously way out of the cratedigger budget.

"PsyCHO DEL EEQ Feeeeeling" Yes! After the events of today, I could not agree more. "When you hear the sound, it drives you on." Indeed.

"Way Back in the Jungle, Way back in the Sticks"

Through the sheer generosity of a record collector, I was able to secure a high fidelity digital copy. It sounds top notch on the old AR 2s from 1966.

Friday- Madison WI

I took Friday off and drove to Madison WI in search of garage records.
I made it to only one place, but had a decent score. Here are the records that I got:

2 copies of Music Machine "Talk Talk" Original Sound 61
Tornadoes "Telestar" London 11003
The Fendermen "Muleskinner Blues" Soma 1137
Stillroven "Hey Joe" Roulette 4748
Count Five "Psychotic Reaction" Double Shot 104 (unplayed original copy)
Ohio Express "He's Not Comin' Home" Buddha
Box Tops "The Letter" Mala 565

I am not too sure what made me pick up The Box Tops, the song still makes me laugh.

Starting to look like a hot rod

I assembled the front and rear ends and attached them to the chassis. The front shocks were pretty tough to get in place. I elected to wait to put the rest of the wish bones and stabilizer bars on at a later time. Things are going well and I don't want to screw it up.

Notice the Duvel in a Delirium glass in the upper right of the picture...

Frame is done, so is the front end and rear end

The pic to the left shows the completed frame. The front end is to the right, the rear end is to the left. The origin of the frame should be obvious at this point.

In the foreground, you will notice the rear shocks, the steering box and the drive shaft is to the lower right.

My modeling skills appear to be improving at least over the Mustang model from a while back.

More is unveiled

Other than the fact that I have placed the small block Ford motor into the chassis upside down (the K member needs a chance to dry),
This should be a lot more obvious as to the identity as opposed to the non picture that I posted last night.
As a whole this project is coming together nicely. I am really considering leaving the window(s) off this project as they seem to be my downfall with each kit that I have assembled.

Loos Foos and The Fiberglass Cornflake tonight's song

I got a comp in the mail a while back.
Loos Foos starts out the comp with their track, "Bless Me Father."
The song starts with the line,"Bless me Father For I have Sinned, and these are my sins" with a haunting organ underneath. It then breaks into a mid-tempo stomp.
It contains some pretty warped guitar- very distorted, wah-wah?
The organ drives it along. "This is the reason for my confession" say Loos Foos before the guitar break.
It looks like they are from New England. I don't have any other info on the band. Essential.

Another night, another project

This horrible picture to the right is a clue to what my next model project is. The out of focus object in the project vise is painted a distinctive blue color. This should be a subtle clue for where I am going.

66 Malibu is complete

Finito Tito!
Not sure why the photo is out of focus, but the car is done.
Wait till you see what is on deck!

I have arrived!

Now I can finally staple my TPS reports with an authentic red, Swingline 747 stapler. While the large digi photo to the left suggests an orange tone, please be assured that it is a true red.

I am absolutely sure that Milton would approve.

I would like to dedicate this post to Dr. Pepper. You figure out why.

Here is the real car that I need

All I would need to do is paint this and throw some astro supremes, or torque thrusts...

Above pic from the most awesome Hooptyrides blog.

Malibu- Almost Done

I have completed 95% of the Malibu. I need to add the rest of the chrome trim- rockers, door handles, etc.

It seems as if the wagon has more of a rake, due to my "assembly" of the front suspension. The wheels with the disc brakes behind them look pretty cool.

I think I need to find a mid '60s chevy wagon to drive this summer.