Clunkmeister

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I see women putting on makeup, guys reading a novel, the newspaper, working a laptop or iPad, and even once, a big mass of blonde curls bobbing up and down, giving the driver the mother of all hummers, all when behind the wheel.

Rob, that paint modulation looks about perfect. Now with a light application of weathering grime, shell really pop

I’ve heard one or two. Yep. I used to think the place was old fashioned. It had an old downtown and the City Council refused to update the old rundown dark brick retail areas with new modern buildings. They wouldn’t let any freeways come close to the old areas of the city, either. So today, it’s all been restored and is thriving, and I don’t know any mid size cities that have even an eighth as much character as Moose Jaw. Even the old CPR Station is there, at the end of a main drag as you come down a hill. During prohibition it was a major shipping terminal of booze bound for Chicago, because it’s the northern tip of the old Soo Line Railroad that runs straight to Chicago then on to Sault St. Marie, Mi. A cool place to visit.

A guy in Moose Jaw owned it when I was in the Army. We spent more than a few Saturday evenings in that thing and my old red two door cruisin’ looking cool and making the glass packs bark in the underpasses.

Jeff Gordon, But not really. She just wanted a pink hat. It had a 24 on it, but she still wanted it. I bought her a pink John Deere hat too. LOL Jeff, you should recognize that car as a real piece of Canadiana, right down here in sunny Texas. 56 Meteor Rideau four door hardtop. They built 150 of the things. Built and sold only in Canada. I know of two others. One is in Calgary and the other in Northern Ontario with a tree growing through it. There’s plenty of four door sedans around, but the hardtops weren’t popular. Notice the cowl braces under the hood? This is the only body style that required them. It was a very weak body without them, which is one reason they wore out quick. I knew this car in Moose Jaw back in the early 80s. That guy had pulled it out of a garage in Kelowna with a seized engine. I chased this car for years before I got it. Sold my glasstop Crown Vic to get this one.

Dang that thing looks impossible to get into. And if I did, you’d need a van opener to get me out. Once again, I got the car out of storage and avoided getting mice in the thing. We live in the country, so they’re common. Mothballs keep mice away as well. And no, the 56 Country Squire ain’t mine, but I wish it was

Maybe I need to stop babysitting the old cars, and get a fancy new one like y’all. My big project this year was to put a Classic Air system in the Meteor so we could run it the other 9 months of the year. I bought a system for Joy’s anniversary gift, the 55 F-100 I’m building for her that she still doesn’t know about, and I was so impressed with how unobtrusive it is, I’m going to get one for my baby. And the best part about it is that everything simply bolts in. No butchery of the firewall needed, you simply remove the heater blower duct where it goes through the firewall, and save the original parts for conversion back later when you want to show the car in a judged show. Her F-100 is a bit more permanent of an installation because it now has a transplanted 302 in place of the worn out Y-Block 272. She wants to get in, twist the key and go, so she’s got Edelbrock EFI, too. Of course that means a new fuel tank with a pump in it, then disc brake conversion for safety, and where does it all end? The great plan for her farm truck ride is starting to turn into a massive project. But, at least the cost is under control. She’ll love it, I know. As to the Meteor, it’s a bone stock P Code 312 car. 312s were super rare on Fords and Meteors, but standard in the Mercury. In the light Ford body, it makes that thing sit up and dangle... not to Martin’s Mustang’s standard, but for a 1956 vehicle, she ain’t slow. For those who are interested, that Meteor and I have a history going back to when I was 19. 55-56 Fords and Merck’s have always been in my life, right from my very first, a 55 Fairlane two door sedan I dropped a 71 Boss Cleveland into and went looking for Chebbies on Saturday nights. Outside, she looked like a Grannymobile, but once the right foot went down.... So, there’s her F-100 before I started on it, and my Cleveland powered 55 with 20 year old me and three buddies leaving garrison for the weekend. So when you put the 59 T-Bird that’s getting painted beside the Meteor and F-100, that’s almost a mini stash. But that’s all I have room for, and you can only drive one at a time. Plus, they’re increasing in value or at least holding their own. That’s why I still drive my ancient 7.3L diesel powered Ford F-250.

Martin, did the Mustang go for good, or just a small hiatus?

Don’t tempt me, man. I’ll be there, soon enough. Gotta do Mason and Telford as well.

Well, time to dust off the old clunker and get her running. Covid kind of put a damper on everything, but I’m sick and tired of watching the summer go by. Had two tires low, but were only flat on the bottom. Everytime we take this thing out, we hear people laughing for blocks around Salmon, White, and black ain’t the most masculine color scheme in the world

Happy Birthday, Old Bean! I hope you had a joyous one and got spoiled rotten! Šťastné narodeniny

The death of the three and four engine airliner is here for good now. Fanjets are incredibly reliable now and much, much more powerful. But no matter how good they are, I still can't imagine flying to Australia onboard anything with less than three functional engines.

I had flown the DC-10 fsairly locally. Caribbean mostly, but to Germany as well. I did some research and found out that their DC-10s were the -30 series and were put in service for the long, long, LONG intercontinental flights. They served the Company extremely well through the years. Like other airlines in the world, a new guy comes and brings in new blood, he suddenly drastically expands, places a multitude of new orders, and before you know it, they go broke. But Canadian Airlines paid way too much for the Wardair name, and that spelled their doom.

I spent some premium time on Wardair’s DC-10s. I agree, it was the absolute best service I’ve ever received on any airline, anywhere, anytime. But if I had to go widebody, I always tried to book a DC-10. I loved that big ol’ bird that got such an undeserved bad rap. They were big, smooth, quiet, and reliable. They had everything the 747 had, except the upper deck.

I remember Boeing’s three holer as well. Air Canada flew the heck out of them, but my favorite scheme? OK, a better pic...

I remember those when I was flying. They were everywhere. YTH, YYQ, everywhere. I logged a few miles in the back as self loading freight, too. They were mighty loud when sitting in the bac third of the cabin, but in front of the wings, they gave you that oh so sweet twin turbine whine that would make any cold heart beat hard and fast. And yeah, they’d climb out like Apollo 11.... Back when a 737 was a 737, not like today’s universal tin can.

The HPH B-36 or B-52 work really well, too.

My all too real fear is that Joy sells my model stash and my gun collection for what she THINKS I paid for them. She cottoned on to my very first ZM Skyraider and when she saw the invoice, she took it out, laid it on the kitchen counter, and said we could eat for a month for what I paid for it. I only made it worse when I couldn’t eat Rahman noodles that long and started to explain that $200.00 doesn’t buy much food these days. I don’t remember much after that...... My advice from living that one out? Don’t be like me. Just hang dog and slink away into your doghouse. It’s much less painful. But these days I get my kit fix, she gets western boots and furniture. She likes Western frontier furniture must live me I do so it suits me fine. If she was in to flower patterns I’d have to re-examine my priorities.

Haha. I kept mine, too. Since back in my kid days hauling grain to the elevators after harvest. Doubles, triples, tank, but since I haven’t used it since 09, my hazmat lapsed. Drove for real from 98 till very early 09. Sold out and never, ever looked back. Ok, a quick peek on occasion, but that’s it.

Just the thought of that gravel flying makes my bottom get all tight and all. And Ron, what’s with that 233” WB? Stretch that baby out. W9s look best at about 275”. Add a few dozen chicken lights while you’re at it and a set of locomotive air horns on the roof. This guy’s gotta be a real highway hero. A left lane lead foot flier. But I’m more a Peterbilt guy, as in stretched 359 with a Cat 425 and twin stick 6 and 4.

I was looking in my stash and I keep coming back to the original Fokker built boxing. I see two schemes I like, which, Co- Incidentally (that’s how we say it in Texas, two words, both with a big ol’ drawl) I just happen to have two of that boxing. I like Willi Gabriel’s mount, a VERY early production Fokker machine which has the Dr1 style streaky camo, which is also the box art, and the second is Gotthard Sochsenberg’s mount, a very late production ship with the high mounted guns of a BMW equipped aircraft, but still sporting a Mercedes. His is the yellow and black chequerboard scheme. Building one of these will be an adventure. A little secret. I’ve always relied on my mono line structural rigging to actually rig the aircraft for me. In other words, just like the real riggers: use rigging tension to keep it all plumb. I hope it's strong enough to withstand handling without rigging.

I honk my biggest hesitation with the DVll is the absolute multitude of schemes out there, and guaranteed, I’ll build a wrong version for the scheme I chose. DVlls are sort of like 109s and Spitfires. They are incredibly studied, and there are still one or two original unrestored birds out there. So there’s no “hey, nobody’s here to tell me it ain’t right” like I can get away with on a Pfalz DXll or Gotha.

Once, when he was in a good mood, he had posted stash pics. He had a decent enough stash. But what’s the use if you don’t build them? I really enjoy the builds. I tend to more of the mega rigging projects, so a D.Vll will be different.

I actually use the fuselage halves as a jig in all the builds with a tube frame, so I’ll probably be ok.