English Things

Why is it that everything from england sucks but

their Bulldogs?? (Well add their beer and their motorcycles

to the good list, but thats a different blog).

What is it about Bulldogs that makes them so great??

They are stubborn, bullheaded, they slobber everywhere,

they can't go 10 minutes without a nap and the list goes on.

I don't know what it is but I love them ugly face and all.

Rufus has taken over my house and I could care less.

He is more spoiled then any kid I have ever seen.

I guess you just have to love them...

What I read

A post on a popular hot rod forum got me thinking

about what I read and the impact it has on my life.

As you can probably guess I read a ton of hot rod

and custom car related books and magazines.

Most of my reading consists of old hot rod and custom

magazines. Stacks of these relics are scattered across

my house. They range from the early 1950's through

the early 1960's. In my opinion these are the magazines

that most traditionally minded rodders should be reading.

Why would one want to read a 50 year old magazine you

might ask?? Well, this was a time long before the mail order

catalog took over the rodding industry. Guys were savaging the

wrecking yards for speed parts and if they couldn't find what

they needed they would make them. I'm serious. They would

design and make the parts in their own garages. High school kids

and ,just home from the ,were building an industry with little

more than a dream and their bare hands.

These old magazines and book show this progress in action.

This is why I love them.

Below is a list of essential books and magazines for anybody

interested in Hot Rodding or Kustom cars. These are the ones

I refer to and in my opinion so should you.

Magazines:

The Rodders Journal -Any

Hot Rod Magazine - Late 1940's- the 1960's

Rod and Custom Magazine - Early 1950's- the 1960's

Hop Up Magazine - Early 1950's

Car Craft Magazine - Early 1950's- the 1960's

Car Speed and Style Magazine - Early 1950's- the early 1960's

Rodding and Re-styling Magazine - Early 1950's- the early 1960's

Speed and Custom Magazine- Early 1950's- the early 1960's

Custom Craft Magazine - Early 1950's

Custom Rodder Magazine - Early 1950's- the early 1960's

Any of the Hot Rod Magazine Technical Library - Early 1950's- the early 1960's

Books

'The American Hot Rod' By Dean Batchelor

'The Birth of Hot Rodding' - The Story of the Dry Lakes Era' by Genat & Cox

'50 Years of Rod & Custom' by Thom Taylor

'Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth: His Life, Times, Cars, and Art' by Pat Ganahl

'Muroc, The day the hot rods ran' by William Caroll

'Hot Rod Roots: A tribute to the Pioneers' by Dangerous Dain Gingerelli

'The Legendary Custom Cars and Hot Rods of Gene Winfield' by David Grant and Spence Murray

'Kustomland The Custom Car Photography of James Potter 1955- 1959' by Thom Taylor

'50 Years of Hot Rod' by The Editors of Hot Rod Magazine

'The Hot Rod and Custom Chronicle' by Thom Taylor

These are just a few. The list grown with every passing year. Enjoy!

Sorrow is a Sage

I love winter. Not so much cause its cold
(all though I do love breaking out the
winter clothes. Scarves rule!) but more because
of what it means. A chance to start anew.
A chance for the old to die and for the new to be
raised up. I heard a small voice inside me say grace
grows in winter these words have never been
more true. Cherish your winter. be glad in the
newness of life that it brings. And in the mean
while enjoy the chance for a new beginning.


praise is truly sacrifice
sorrow is a sage
so now i wait
i never dreamed that i'd be here as a sacrament
to be raised and then broken
its never to be spoken
still swallows my only breath of hope
incinerating words have never fallen so short
hands raised in submission
still your sanctuary burns
still burning
no one told me that this grief would feel so much like fear tears
without protest
a soul seeking solace
she's dying to wake
but late is the daybreak gasping and groaning
the silence breaks for seething
i hear a still small voice inside me say grace grows in winter
how i long to believe that it speaks the truth
is this not my lot life
all is not comprehendible
and all is not beautiful
however all has meaning
all can create beauty
let me see the meaning in this
let me find the beauty in this life
is learning what cannot break
you can only be a catalyst for growth
creation groans for completion
truth wakes understandingand
the morning comes yielding peace
oh how i long for this to be truth

"Lost Soul Adrift In Life"

I call this picture
"Lost Soul Adrift In Life"
It was taken on my recent trip to Seattle.
It's amazing what you will find floating
in the water in the Seattle bay......
I wonder what beautifull stories this book has
in it or if it is a diary and someones life is
scattered across the pages.

The vulnerable 235

What is it about this engine that fascinates me?

I don’t know if is the simplistic nature of it or the
fact that if it will turn over it will run. Could it be
the endless amounts of early, and very rare,
speed equipment that make them so pleasing?

Starting at the beginning of the automotive age
when most were using a valve in block design,
GM went for a daring new way to make the gas
explode. Over head valves. While they were not
the first, in 1929 they introduced the 194 CI over
head valve inline 6 and a love affair was born.

This breakthrough led way in 1937 for the
216 Stovebolt and again in 1941 with the 235.
While the 235 was only produced in large trucks
for some time, it was introduced into
passenger cars in 1950, but only for the Powerglide
transmission. In 1954 we saw it become the
standard in Chevrolet cars till 1962.

Why do I love it so? It might be for the same
reasons that guys that made products like Wayne,
Howard, Edmunds, Fenton, McGurk, Niscon,
Tatersfield, and my favorite, Sharp loved them so much.


They are just cool.