November 17, 2015
This bottle green Chevy truck with a custom aluminum camper sitting in its long bed was once owned by Steve McQueen. Towards the end of his life he used it to go cross country and see the USA from the road.
Purchased from a migrant farmer the 1952 V6 engined 3800 was purchased from a migrant farmer from the side of the road.
Big mattress, plenty of storage and a tent-like inner ceiling it would be the perfect thing to scour the back roads and lost towns of the continent. The camper unit is called a dust-tite and was built by Harold van Hoosen.
This was up for auction this year… Unsure if it sold but the anticipated price was $600-800k.
Posted in 50's, 70's, Cars, Steve McQueen, Travel |
Leave a Comment »
June 29, 2015
Italian Triple. “Il Bruto” the mighty Jota in glistening orange. It had a radioactive glow in the midday sun.
Cleveland Cycle Works little quarter liter custom scrambler. U.S. Built small Moto with sweet styling suitable for city flitting. It’s like a new version of my Cub…. We’ll write about CCW another time.
Board tracker blitz: twenties Titan for zooming the banked oval. The pure engineering on these things is as brave as the riders who piloted them.
Muscle Magic! Not a bike but by ‘eck it’s a steroid built machine for rippling the Tarmac and busting licenses. It has a 440 7.8l V8 Magnum engine that took the Hemi-Orange monster to Dodges swan song in the 60’s through 70’s muscle car spacerace.
Posted in 60's, 70's, cafe racer, Cars, Chicago, Design, Film and TV, Photography |
Leave a Comment »
June 14, 2015
Our 2004 Mk4 has a new lease of life with her new brakes and rear struts. Still a zippy ride with enough poke to enjoy zooming about; we’ll see plenty more miles behind her wheel. The new mk7 which we parked next to last week has a nice sleek appearance and I’m sure has a fun aspect to driving it; but I do like the simpler lines of ‘Wor Gertie’.
Posted in Cars |
4 Comments »
June 13, 2015
Spent a good part of the morning putting new pads and rotors onto the VW GTI. She’ll stop like and ships anchors been thrown overboard…
Posted in Cars, Maintenance, Uncategorized |
Leave a Comment »
May 23, 2015
Fabulous day in the saddle taking the Bonnie’s around to Michigan. An early start saw a quiet Riute 12 with naught but the shadows playing across the road ahead. 
This quicksilver toned Porsche Spyder stopped us in our tracks. A race-spec engine growled as the owner sped off from the seasonal grocery store it was parked near.
Also included in the ride was a short drop.-in to the amiable Bob Goodpaster at Expert Motorcycle Works in Hobart Indiana. A glorious racing 650cc Norton sat in the front showroom floor. A serious track iron that sees unobstructed chequered flags across the country at vintage racing meets.
Posted in Cars, Classic Car, Norton, Photography, Racing, Triumph Bonneville |
Leave a Comment »
May 21, 2015
Bobby Stilwell winning the 1958 50 mile Amateur race at Daytona Beach. With that gorgeous red Chevy truck to tote his bike around in he swept the board in the fifties on Triumph Twins.
Posted in 50's, Cars, Racing, Travel, Triumph Motorcycle |
Leave a Comment »
March 16, 2015
After appearing on the cover of the Beach Boys 1963 album “Little Deuce Coupe” Clarence “Chili” Catallo’s glorious ’32 Ford coupe hot rod, nicknamed the “Silver Sapphire”…became the very definition of sixties Hot Rod.
Purchased in Motor City Detroit when he was 15 he completed its muscular yet spare blue and chrome vision whilst working at the great George Barris’ LA suburbs kustom ‘shop in California. After appearing on the cover of HotRod ‘zine the rest is music history.
“Just a little deuce coupe with a flat head mill
But she’ll walk a Thunderbird like it’s standin’ still
She’s ported and relieved and she’s stroked and bored.
She’ll do a hundred and forty with the top end floored
She’s my little deuce coupe
You don’t know what I got..” Brian Wilson
Posted in Cars, Design, Music |
Leave a Comment »
February 26, 2015
Watching an old TV show from the early eighties. Starring Tom Selleck as the titular private investigator turned Hawaiian gallavanter for thriller writer Robin Masters (voiced by Orson Welles). He gets to blast around in his employers Ferrari 308 GTS. It is the classic mid engined sports car in red.
Posted in Cars, Film and TV |
2 Comments »
February 25, 2015
von Dutch style! My intrepid roving reporter Dean Rennie was in LeClaire IA at the American Pickers store. Owner Mike Wolfe and TV partner Frank Fritz were on the hunt for a rare motorcycle. A cruiser framed item with a Volkswagen flat four engine shoehorned in. They discovered it under a dusty tarp in a barn. The VW badge remarking its provenance. Here a photo of the bike displayed at their location just north of the Quad Cities.
I like the sign hung in the window… Need one for my workshop…
Posted in BSA, Cars, Graphics, Motorcycle Poster |
Leave a Comment »
February 18, 2015
It’s cold cold cold here in Chi-Town. Minus five Fahrenheit tonight. So a venture to the car show down at the vast McCormick Conference Center was in order. Plenty to gawp at. Lots to sit in. Others to shy away from. The all rounder that appealed to me was the 2015 Ford F150 truck. Its aluminum chassis drops a third of a ton of dead weight and the eco-boost 2.6 v6 is meant to be a decent powerplant. Plenty of leg and headroom inside with a spacious back seat crew cab.
The Airstream will be towed ably to destinations galore!
Posted in Cars, Chicago, Travel |
Leave a Comment »
January 20, 2015
Buzz Aldrin turned 85 today. Fighter Pilot, Orbital maneuvering specialist, moonwalker, science advocate and Mars Mission promoter. Here he is in Apollo days arriving to work in his small Corvette Stingray coupe smallblock. Well he’s gotta go slow sometimes!
Gemini 12. Spacewalking selfie. A life lived rich in history.
Posted in Cars, History |
Leave a Comment »
December 12, 2014
Here’s some inspiring stuff! A small European firm is producing an electric motorcycle with a vision departed from the traditional appearance. Not a scooter either: it’ll hit 75mph with a range of 140 miles or so. Front wheel is hub center steering, front and rear shocks sit under the center and a streamlined body/cowl cover the hefty battery.
Foot pegs allow for either a foot forward cruiser stance or leaned over rearset a la café. The deely-bopper-ish mirrors have instrument readouts incorporated. Neat. It’s called the Johammer.
www.johammer.com/en/
Design inspiration comes from the twenties with a hint of the corrugated paneling seen in the utilitarian Citroen deux chevaux van
And that maw-proud form? Another 20’s creation: the Majestic. Here in Bugatti Blue.
Nevertheless, the new moto is a breath of fresh air.
Posted in Cars, Engineering, Vintage |
Leave a Comment »
December 2, 2014
When in San Francisco I HAD to go to a few select locations of one of my favorite Steve McQueen movies: Bullitt.
The iconic car chase shows off the stunt drivers craft as well as this city of inclines all too well. I enjoyed going through the streets on foot, by tram, motorcycle and car. Though none as rapidly of Frank Bullitt.
I wished I could have rented a ’68 fastback ‘stang!
“Look, you work your side of the street, and I’ll work mine.”
Posted in Cars, Movie, Steve McQueen |
2 Comments »
October 20, 2014
Gas stop: usually the ride needs at least one top up, typically at a suburban station where the gallon price is a good quarter less than the city one. Currently prices are 25% lower that earlier in the year. Canada’s oil sands are responsible for this; though OPEC keeps a rein on the global picture.
Its only been the last forty years or so when the barrel as a commodity has dominated world economies. Before then it was cheaper than water and to fill the boat sized automobiles typical of the ‘States was an inexpensive proposition.
Posted in Cars, Chicago, Triumph Motorcycle |
Leave a Comment »
This was up for auction this year… Unsure if it sold but the anticipated price was $600-800k. 
geordiebiker.com 