Mayhem | This is what can happen if you drive around with a cat on your head. It may startle, dug it’s claws into your scalp, causing you to careen across the road and the ongoing calamity spreads to all other roadway and path users. Remember: don’t drive around with a cat on your head, no matter how cool you might think it seems!
Double Oh Seven | The latest offering in the long running James Bond franchise had its first trailer released yesterday. No Time To Die stars Daniel Craig in his fifth and final outing as the MI6 agent. Of course action will ensue with amazing stunts which include a couple of Triumph motorcycles. A Scrambler 1200 and the all new Tiger 900 are given a run for their money is chase sequences. The DB5 gets a healthy nod in the action too of course.
Cars: Accelerating the Modern World “Over its short 130-year history, the car has become one of the most loved, contested and influential innovations in the world. It has revolutionised manufacturing, transformed how we move, forever changing our cities, environment and economies.” The Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Mini in Red | my cousins project is coming along a treat. Classic Mini in rally colours here showing off the Sir Alec Issigonis inspired engineering to achieve compactness before it was chic.
Racer, metal fabricator, mechanic, TV personality Jessi Combs was killed while trying to push the envelope for a women’s speed record. She died tearing across a dry lake bed in Oregon in her rocket powered car at over 400mph. A strong talented person, she was an encouraging inspiration to girls and women nationwide. RIP Jessi Combs (1980-2019)
Sixty Mini Years | Today marks the 60th Birthday of the classic small car. Designer Sir Alec Issigonis introduced the Mark I compact runabout which always seem larger on the inside. One of the most fun cars to drive.
Usonian | On our weeklong trip around Wisconsin we have visited a number of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. Today we stopped by the Herbert Jacobs house which was built in 1937. A very early version of his ‘everyman’ Usonian home its carport was complete with a classic 60’s Swedish sports-tourer Volvo P1800. The red car works superbly with the red brick and Cherokee red paving.
Antique on Four Wheels | A select offering from yesterday’s car show under the June sky. Beautiful and well cared for there was something for everyone be it German Italian or British. A red XKE was sublime; the early model orange Porsche 911 pure deutsche ingenieurwissenschaften; mint green VW Beetle German efficiency; MK 2 Jags in detail; and a sturdy canvas roofed SWB Landy. So much more was enjoyed.
SoCal Villa | Summer is upon us here in the Midwest, though the cooler days with a foggy fret off the Lake would make you think otherwise. Here’s Steve McQueen maintaining a cool look, as always, in the courtyard of his Beverly Hills home on a Triumph Matisse runabout’. His ’57 Jaguar XKSS which he called The Green Rat is parked in the background. He makes that faded denim shirt and jeans ensemble with Turkish slippers look stylish.
Niki Lauder | He won the F1 world championship in 1975, 1977 & 1984 racing for both Ferrari and Maclaren. He had a horrific accident at the Nurburgring in ’76 where a fiery crash severely burned his head and toxic fumes damaged his lungs. His rivalry with James Hunt is legendary. He died earlier today aged 70.
Senna | A quarter of a century ago today we lost one of the greats: Ayrton Senna fatally crashed his Formula One car at the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. Let’s enjoy this simple image of him getting the shopping in at Monaco on his moped. The distinctive helmet is an icon of the racing world, his racing record up to his untimely death unparalleled. A record six victories at the Monte Carlo circuit is still unbeaten. His native Brazil consider him a national hero.
Abarth | I was scootering between site visits today and when I was filling the Tigers tank up I spied this little pearl of a racer. Red Scorpion on its hood and a little extra oomph in its diminutive engine. Standing next to it I couldn’t imagine being able to get in it without my head poking through the sun roof and elbows sticking out of the windows.
No. 1 Corinthian Arch – this year is the 60th birthday of the classic small British car: the Mini. So the blog will periodically dip into the history of the coolest vehicle ever devised. It beats the Beetle, dashes the Deux Chevaux, sinks the Cinquecento. I like this photo for the black and white photojournalist look as well as the Arch at Stowe where my wife live IN for a summer back in the mid-nineties.
Mini Me – latest update from my cousin Keith Wallace and his Mini project. Engine in, wheels on, steering and suspension fitted. I’m recommending red body with white roof like a mid-sixties Monte Carlo rally in Cooper regalia.
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