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Dude clean your windshield. Your content rules, the backstories you have on all this is incredible.
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Mar 6, 2023 23:50
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Just noticed that something in the speedometer chain is broken.
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Mar 7, 2023 03:30
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Well, that breakdown a few weeks ago was a harbinger of things to come.. I got laid off today... here's the upside, I got a severance, and I already have new freelance creeping in - so that means some good stuff for my cars, including a new fuel pump for this doofus rear end wagon Chef Brian posted:Dude clean your windshield. Thanks! I do clean the windows, but with this insane rain LA has been getting, its hard to keep up. Before all that stuff, I had been a bit busy with roadster parts   and! 
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Mar 9, 2023 00:37
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Frank wore jeans, a car tee shirt, slip on vans and a perfect hairdo. I met him when I was a teenager when he was in his mid 70s. He’d come in to the vintage Cadillac parts store I worked at to chew the fat with other old guys… and me. I’d see him at car shows, with his equally as spiffy wife Linda by his side always. He was lost in the 50s and he wore it as a badge of honor. He’d talk about legends in the hot rod world and call them by their first names because he was there, he knew them, and had strong opinions on them. When I started to get close to him, I’d spend hours and hours and hours talking to him at his home, on the phone or at car shows. He loved to see picture of Allen when he was born, and somehow, always, he’d manage to get every last dollar out of my wallet. I didn’t care because he was my friend- from another time. Mutual friends would often kid “hey I saw your grandpa the other day” and I’d always smile. When there was a topic of history that I just needed to know about, like car club rock, or the Ramblers car club or anything, it was a phone call away. When my mom passed, he called me as soon as he heard. He was the real deal. He was my friend, historical encyclopedia and vintage Buick parts dealer. Rest in peace Hubcap Frank, I won’t forget you. I took this pic of him durning the pandemic - when I got my 42 buick he was so excited, he asked me to come up there and grab him and bring him down to see it, covid be damned. We drove my 48 with all the windows down because he "didn't want to "catch that poo poo" even after he beat cancer 2x in the time that I knew him. Near the end he'd slip a bit, but as soon as you'd ask him about a car part, he'd snap to and give you everything you needed to hear about it. He watched my wife and I grow up, he always wanted to see pics of my son, I'd say he was family. The last time I saw him, his son had helped him get his beautiful 1939 Century running and brought it to the All GM car show - I begged and pleaded with the guys running it to give him best in show, which they did... that was the last car show he went to. He was 92 I need to get my 48 running good enough to get to his memorial, its crucial. My heart is broken, on top of the other poo poo I've been going thru, I really didn't need to hear this.
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Mar 9, 2023 03:58
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I'm sorry you're having to deal with a one-two punch like that. Be well and remember the good times and long friendship you had with Frank.
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Mar 9, 2023 05:52
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LobsterboyX posted:I'd say he was family. He was family. He really was. You don't need to be related by blood or marriage to be family. Rest in peace, 'cap Frank.
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Mar 12, 2023 02:08
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Well, dang. Sorry to hear about the double whammy, there.
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Mar 14, 2023 20:07
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So I'm starting to tear down the roadster because I need that thing back on the road for my mental health! I have the best helper too  he's finally come around to loving his pedal car  he parks it right next to my car and whenever I try to move it he says "no thats my parking spot, I like parking nest to you daddy"  I'm pretty sure I'm getting ready to pull the body off, I have to pull the floors out before I make that decision, so getting the interior out is the first step   so now the quick change is done, ready to go. I have the correct bell housing to adapt the T5, now I need to make the decision to either get the overhead going... or......     My friend called me and told me that there was a guy selling a "done" motor - This doesn't look so fresh, but according to the seller, this motor has had all the machine work done, a holy grail of parts and has all the primo stuff. I really have to go check it out and see.. the price is pretty steep, but in actuality i could probably sell most of the other stuff and recoup some money. more soon
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Mar 22, 2023 00:48
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LobsterboyX posted:
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Mar 22, 2023 18:15
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LobsterboyX posted:now I need to make the decision to either get the overhead going... or...... That’s esoteric enough that I’m unclear on what it is. Kinda looks like a blow-through box, but I’m just honestly at a loss. As always: 
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Mar 22, 2023 18:33
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Sorry to hear about your friend Frank. It's always a gut punch to lose people like that from your life 
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Mar 22, 2023 18:47
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Saw this today, thought it seemed relevant to this thread... https://www.bidspotter.com/en-us/auction-catalogues/rabin/catalogue-id-rabin10180 Among other things, there's a '39 Lasalle in there: https://www.bidspotter.com/en-us/auction-catalogues/rabin/catalogue-id-rabin10180/lot-763882e5-36c5-4601-927e-afbe0153bdda
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Mar 22, 2023 18:47
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holy poo poo that auction... I'm registering to bid right the gently caress now - I just had to call them to see if thats in person or not... I can get in some trouble... MrYenko posted:That’s esoteric enough that I’m unclear on what it is. Kinda looks like a blow-through box, but I’m just honestly at a loss. terrible photos, but essentially that engine is the same as what I have, just pictured upside down - according to the seller, all the hard work is... done... but the parts and what he describes is basically the pinnacle of 4banger hot rods. These engines were dipper oiling with partial pressure just to get some oil up top, but this one has been converted to full pressure, you cant be a jerk with a 18v makita drill to do it.. that front cover with the hole in it is ultra rare, its got 2 hot cams, one for an overhead conversion.. hmm... and one for a flathead. A few hot distributors, ultra rare intake manifold, even a *not pictured* liquid filled harmonic balancer for all that 3500 rpm redline stuff these 100 year old engines can pull.... the thing that bugs me is that it looks rather neglected for being basically the holy grail of engines, the price tag questions that as well. I've been off work now for a week and I'm feeling like every day I'm still super busy doing seemingly nothing! I have to schedule time to take a dump, let alone drive up and get my peepers on this engine.
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Mar 22, 2023 23:12
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18% buyers fee that’s crazy
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Mar 24, 2023 01:40
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Well, bidding has already started on that auction and I can see how its going. I noticed something kinda funny about a lot of those engines.. I couldn't quite pinpoint it until last night when I was talking to a friend about this auction... https://www.35pickup.com/FrenchFlathead.html So a lot of those engines are French military built flatheads. Pretty wild stuff. In other news... I fuckin snagged my pants on my freshly painted emblem and broke it  still cruising every Friday.  my buddy somehow managed to get the biggest flatbead trailer I've ever seen in my life  I had a bunch of people over for my birthday!  the garage is super clean right now  my ex-collegues gave me this peice of history I designed - it was a prop for dancers at an auxiliary stage outside the LA super bowl - at one point it had a hood, wheels and 1 side so that the dancers could "assemble" a lowrider - you know... LA super bowl... anyway, this was all that survived, I appropriated it for my office when I still had a job, but shortly before I was laid off, they took it from me and put it near the entry way to the break room - so my boss (who is not happy at the job) grabbed it for me! very thoughtful.  I think I'm going to mount it to the wall and put real headlights in it. we did the annual easter egg hunt at the local airport - theres a squadron of T6's that do memorial/special event flyover missions - they have been hosting this event for well over 50 years. The easter bunny usually arrives in a chopper, then the kids search the eggs that are hidden amongst 10-12 planes parked on the tarmac -  and finally - a very old family friend contacted me and told me that it may be time to get rid of this.. 
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Apr 12, 2023 00:05
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Yeah, you're basically a magnet for cool poo poo. The ambience of your garage at night is pretty hard to beat.
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Apr 12, 2023 02:01
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happy birthday, lbx!
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Apr 12, 2023 06:34
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Happy birthday, LBX! I have a soft spot for the French flathead Fords. The Vedette is such a hilariously proportioned vehicle. Business in the front, virtually nothing in the back. 
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Apr 12, 2023 06:50
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Rectal Placenta posted:Yeah, you're basically a magnet for cool poo poo. Thanks! I often find myself sitting out there just existing, no phone, music, not doing anything. Its not a man cave, its a functional space that is filled with years of memories. I think everyone needs one. the kid loves being out there too. its currently the best part about being fun-employed I'm working on my tiki lounge right now - lighting is so crucial - I have a ton of Phillips Hue bulbs in my shopping cart.. its going to be a cacophony of color in there. heres a taste:  Raluek posted:happy birthday, lbx! Thanks! madeintaipei posted:Happy birthday, LBX! So I've never seen one of these before.. at first I thought this was an AI interpretation of "old car" - then i found that actual car for sale https://dyler.com/cars/ford/vedette-for-sale/1951/84735/ford-vedette-convertible-with-cotal-gearbox-cabriolet-roadster-1951-orange-for-sale and I kinda need it. It's like a 49 Buick and a 49 mercury had a small baby - I've never seen one of these before, but I'm kinda obsessed right now - the ad says that one was chopped in to a convertible.. that has to be small, those wheels look like 12-13" and that little flathead looks MASSIVe in that engine bay, and seeing as how I dont know the history or any gauge of rarity in these euro cars at all, I'd have no issue at all swapping a turbo ecotec or a compact high rpm engine in this thing and just creating a death machine out of it, and I wouldn't even want to do an LS because I feel like a high revving small displacement force fed something or other would be fuckin incredible, and trust me I'd leave it on those sketchy little wheels and tires too. I wonder how much it would be to bring a super lovely one over here...
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Apr 12, 2023 08:09
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Your garage reminds me of an old Italian womans kitchen. It's not designed in any way that am architect, amateur, or shop tech would put it together. It's too small. It's too crowded with things that aren't tools or parts. The lighting isn't powerful enough and it's too darkly colored. Yet it's been molded to your form and your skills, and the product that comes out of there is beautiful.
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Apr 13, 2023 19:58
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LobsterboyX posted:I'm working on my tiki lounge right now - lighting is so crucial - I have a ton of Phillips Hue bulbs in my shopping cart.. its going to be a cacophony of color in there. Goddamn do I want to slam a few rummy umbrella drinks in there. Looks great and I love that neon OFFICE sign. Side note but my dad passed away last year and I'm going to have a lot of vintage poo poo to offload in the near future. Kind of overwhelmed tbh. You have a much bigger web of connoisseurs than I do - you want me to shoot photos your way as stuff comes up? Don't want to bother you if you're job hunting etc.
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Apr 14, 2023 02:46
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StormDrain posted:Your garage reminds me of an old Italian womans kitchen. It's not designed in any way that am architect, amateur, or shop tech would put it together. It's too small. It's too crowded with things that aren't tools or parts. The lighting isn't powerful enough and it's too darkly colored. Yet it's been molded to your form and your skills, and the product that comes out of there is beautiful. You know that I have to much money and need a garage feel some pics have where nothing has a single scratch and the walls are unblemished and the floor is perfect epoxy and there's one neon sign or some poo poo on the wall? Your post captures the feel of how much lbx's garage is the polar opposite of that. I dunno. It's got soul.
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Apr 14, 2023 02:57
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It really does. It looks like the garages of the various friends of LBXs that he has posted already. I love it.
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Apr 14, 2023 16:42
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The Royal Nonesuch posted:Goddamn do I want to slam a few rummy umbrella drinks in there. Looks great and I love that neon OFFICE sign. Dude - I'm really sorry about that. He was OVERWHELMINGLY kind to me the one time I met him - he definitely left a mark on my wife and I - we still talk about your sister telling us about using an over the top vintage trailer as a clubhouse and wish we had more space to do something like that. I'd love to help and honestly I'm afraid that I'll wind up buying a lot of it. Shoot me a text - I'd love to help out where I can, and I'm just in a holding pattern taking little jobs here and there. I know that process all too well, its way overwhelming and really difficult because there's memories attached to every bit of it. StormDrain posted:Your garage reminds me of an old Italian womans kitchen. It's not designed in any way that am architect, amateur, or shop tech would put it together. It's too small. It's too crowded with things that aren't tools or parts. The lighting isn't powerful enough and it's too darkly colored. Yet it's been molded to your form and your skills, and the product that comes out of there is beautiful. honda whisperer posted:You know that I have to much money and need a garage feel some pics have where nothing has a single scratch and the walls are unblemished and the floor is perfect epoxy and there's one neon sign or some poo poo on the wall? PainterofCrap posted:It really does. These are massive compliments, and reassures me that I've "done my job" - to be open and honest, its been curated as a safe space for my soul and I'm really glad that comes thru in the pictures of it - and as mentioned, its an homage to my history. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but this house was purchased by my grandparents in 1949, my mom grew up here, and for the most part I grew up here too - in my head I feel like I spent more time here than I did my childhood home. long winded stories got me here, and the garage has many many stories to tell about my upbringing. I carved my name in to the big shelf in the back, I wrote my name and date in soapstone on the tar paper walls... I learned a lot about life in this space. After my grandfather passed in the 90s - I couldn't bear to even be in there for more than a few minutes. In the early 2000s my grandmother was taking a turn with her health and needed more and more care - being an opportunist, I somehow conned my family in to letting me put a car in the garage here and restore it so that I could be close to my grandmother and keep an eye on the healthcare providers that were coming and going out of the house, going back in to the garage was super difficult and I felt lots of stings of my grandfathers presence there. It started feeling better and better until I lost my grandmother as well. I had to move quickly and wound up selling the car I was working on in there, and again it became more and more difficult to be there and here at my house. I moved away.. did my thing... yadda yadda then in 2015 when I made the ultimate difficult decision to buy out my uncle and take full possession of this house after losing my mom... I thought that the 3rd time is the charm. by this time, the garage was full to capacity - when you opened the door to the garage, it was a wall of stuff with a fridge kinda smushed in to that mass of stuff, no car... just a lot of furniture, paperwork from businesses in massive filing cabinets, 100s of framed wall art... you name it - it was a storage locker. I have photos of it somewhere... This photo was the day I rolled up my sleeves and dove in to it  this is the type of stuff that was in there  4 roll-off dumpsters, and 6 months of nights/weekends cleaning came to this day...  Rolling that car in there was the first time since 2004 that a car had been inside that garage. I started making it my own.     So here's where the curation comes in..  An addition was made to the garage in 2012 to add an ADU, before that, there was a carport - the original north wall of the garage had to be re-enforced and it was sheeted in plywood- the other walls of the garage retained its original 1938 tar paper, full dimension oil treated 2x4's and other cool features. I needed to scenic paint the walls in between the studs to match the black tar paper on the other walls, and I even stained some of the new beams to match the original stuff the 90s fridge that everyone had didn't match what I was going for so it was replaced with a 1936 Hotpoint fridge  the sub panel for the garage and the ADU is obviously new and to code, but I decided to paint it hammertone blue - I found some old glass fuses at an estate sale and bought them specifically to place near the sub panel to give the illusion of it being an original panel...  Annnnd it just keeps going from there - these are the only photos of it that I have in my Imgur at the moment, but its stuff like that that I need to do to keep it feeling like it does. The garage has 3 fluorescent work lights in it that are from the 40s - my grandfather worked at douglas aircraft and when they were throwing stuff out or upgrading, he'd take the remains, so all of the lighting fixtures in there all have douglas factory tags on them.. I had to upgrade them with new ballast and more modern fluorescent tubes to keep them going - the transformers I pulled out of these lights were hilariously heavy, leaking tar and it used some wacky poo poo as ignitors for the tubes - like electrocute the gently caress out of you type stuff - I went way out of my way to find tubes that weren't cool blue because that would look too modern in the space. I can go full bright in there and its usable- I'm a makita fanboy and I have a lot of tools - I hide them all in the workbench so no one sees them, the charger i keep in an old metal strongbox - I have a compound miter saw and a few other homeowner grade wood working tools... I have a full set of the last USA made craftsman... that compliments my vintage set... I have a compressor air tools that are all squirreled away so that it doesn't look too new but I can still do stuff... safe to say, I go above and beyond in there to keep it feeling like it did when I was a kid with my grandfather, and to honor all the amazing spaces that I've been so lucky to see. I have stuff from 4 generations of my family in there, 5 if you count my sons toys.  this car was built there.  he learns there.  theres things that should probably be in museums there.  I build a lot of poo poo there..  I still find stuff I didn't know was there...  I do weird stuff there. Having my "normie" co-workers over was a stretch for me - I didn't know how they would react - not a single one of them knew anything like this - but they all had the same reaction to it - I saw how they were looking at this stuff, I watched them look around and then look at each other then look at me.. one of them said "it makes total sense now..." anyway - I'm proud of it and I love being in there. If I ever moved from here (not selling the house) I'd just board it up as it is and rent the house around it, I'd rather re-create a space like that than disturb the magic that it has now. I have to show you guys the Tiki bar next.. and then I have to equally curate the back outdoor shop.
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Apr 15, 2023 09:28
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Amen brother, amen.
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Apr 15, 2023 12:10
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From what peeks I’ve seen elsewhere of the tiki bar, it rocks.
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Apr 15, 2023 18:19
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I would absolutely bring all the rums transcontinental for a tikiwrench evening in LBX’s garage. Gawddamn.
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Apr 15, 2023 18:24
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Great post again, you have a great sense of personal style and aesthetic. I'm glad the intended tone came though on my post, it's truly a magnificent and unique place that many of us have followed along with for a decade or more. It's yours and it's you. My garage space is also mine and reflects me, practical, organized to what projects are driving me, but it doesn't have the same inertia of 70 years of history to it. I'll check back in another 65 and we'll see.
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Apr 15, 2023 22:01
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I'm sure I speak for a lot of us when I say many of us would do terrible things to have such an awesome house, an awesome garage, an awesome collection of everything, and the stories that go with it. I feel safe in saying your grandparents would be extremely proud of what you've done with the place (and your life), as well as your mother.
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Apr 16, 2023 03:27
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Great stuff man. Ever notice that no one is "lightly" in to Tiki bars? Either you don't know or don't mind, or you have your own in house Tiki bar. No inbetween haha.
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Apr 16, 2023 03:49
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PainterofCrap posted:From what peeks I’ve seen elsewhere of the tiki bar, it rocks. that room has had a storied past as well - it was originally designed to be a home studio for my mother when she took possession of the house, but it never truly came to light for her - it too became a catch-all and even a hideaway for me at times if I wanted to come stay with her. After my wife and I moved back here, we cleaned it out and got a roommate, which was absolutely amazing. He was a friend and was an ideal roomie, put a bit of money in our pockets too - he moved on to bigger and better things after about 2.5 years. We entertained getting another tenant, but the thought of having someone we didn't know back there didn't sound too appealing. It then became a catchall again - when covid broke out it became my home office and it still serves that purpose to this day, like everything else I have an amazing arts and crafts era desk that is just ideal I spent about a week disolving and throwing a ton of stuff away out of there and now its usable, but nowhere near done. MrYenko posted:I would absolutely bring all the rums transcontinental for a tikiwrench evening in LBX’s garage. Gawddamn. just one bottle will do - if your ever in los Angeles, come thru! STR posted:I feel safe in saying your grandparents would be extremely proud of what you've done with the place (and your life), as well as your mother. I'd give it all up to have them back. they left tremendous shoes to fill, and I do my best daily as a human, man, husband & father to fill them. Hearing that from internet strangers is sobering. Thank you. StormDrain posted:Great post again, you have a great sense of personal style and aesthetic. I'm glad the intended tone came though on my post, it's truly a magnificent and unique place that many of us have followed along with for a decade or more. It's yours and it's you. My garage space is also mine and reflects me, practical, organized to what projects are driving me, but it doesn't have the same inertia of 70 years of history to it. I'll check back in another 65 and we'll see. which is why the term "man cave" has come to bother me lately, I don't think a lot of these spaces have anything more to them than a store bought escape from your family or a place to watch sports... I'm very glad that people can see this as more than that. Incredible how time has past too. BuckyDoneGun posted:Great stuff man. Ever notice that no one is "lightly" in to Tiki bars? Either you don't know or don't mind, or you have your own in house Tiki bar. No inbetween haha. I quickly glance to my left and see display cabinets with over 300 tiki mugs in them, plus 2 closets full... post coming on that soon. in the meantime - I've got my animatronic Parrot Jose working again (a replica of the one from the the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland)  I've programmed him to sing a few songs and do a few comedy bits...
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Apr 17, 2023 22:51
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LobsterboyX posted:Dude - I'm really sorry about that. He was OVERWHELMINGLY kind to me the one time I met him - he definitely left a mark on my wife and I - we still talk about your sister telling us about using an over the top vintage trailer as a clubhouse and wish we had more space to do something like that. I'd love to help and honestly I'm afraid that I'll wind up buying a lot of it. Shoot me a text - I'd love to help out where I can, and I'm just in a holding pattern taking little jobs here and there. I know that process all too well, its way overwhelming and really difficult because there's memories attached to every bit of it. Thanks. He lived a long life of collecting and adored anyone who did the same, so it adds right up that he took to you and your wife. He loved getting guys like you to his shows who had cars more interesting than the usual boattail corvette or candy 56 chevy. My sister's 40' (?) Vagabond Lucy & Desi Long, Long Trailer clubhouse is still pristine in the backyard, although between work and bittersweet memories she doesn't really spend time in it these days. I'll get some pics of the interior for the thread next time I'm over there; it fits nicely.
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Apr 19, 2023 02:50
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So my wife is having a early midlife crisis after selling her beloved 56 dodge. She currently drives a '18 JK Wrangler which I absolutely despise - She's been in to the wranglers for years and while it was fine when we were younger, life with a child has exposed its flaws. She doesn't drive anywhere so the drat thing has less than 30k on the clock. When I was working I was urging her to look for a better/newer daily driver - She loved the new Wagoneer but at 5' tall, when we went to go look at them, and the sticker shock of a $100k vehicle hit her, she realized thats not for her. She's been going thru some family stuff lately and she's really looking to get back in to vintage vehicle ownership. For too many years we both daily drove our classics, she doesn't want to let that go and she's taken a liking to the 60/62 series land cruiser. The other day I was coming home from a side gig and I came across this great lady, Sherry, who has been daily driving her land cruiser since 89  I happened to be driving my wagon and she said "cool car!" to me and I said "right back atcha" - we had a lovely conversation and I told her how much my wife wants an old cruiser and she was so thrilled to talk about it - I called her and they actually chatted on the phone for a good 10 minutes - it was a great interaction, something I havent had in so long. So now I'm trawling for one of these fuckin things... This past weekend we were looking for something different on sunday and decided to take the kid to watch airplanes at the santa monica airport and check out the museum - we had taken him there before, but it was awhile back and I dont think it quite sunk in with him, but this time it did, in a huge way.  they have a great observation area for the airport too  we didn't take too many pics inside the museum shy of family photo stuff thats boring for here, but I did find this to be incredible  One of the most heavy duty artifacts at this little museum is the Douglas board room table - This table hosted pretty much the fathers of aviation and defense.. Including my grandfather at some points in his career. The table was built in 1953 and served until Douglas' demise in the late 70s when my grandfather was forced in to retirement.   its usually kept behind a locked door, but in having a great conversation with the museum director, he opened it up for us and another young couple to check out -  The table was covered with airplane models made by their in house model making shop (I have a few of these "DFM" Douglas factory models), the table was even crafted in house. This really got me thinking - this moment was so special to me that I could share it with my family - my wife, never even knowing my grandfather, was getting misty eyed right there with me. Earlier on that day she had taken this photo of me and my kid  which hit me even harder because this picture came up in my "memories"  total coincidence, right? Anyway. A friend said "come buy this hunk of poo poo"   looks... decent...ish... Needs a timing gear and other stuff, all which I have - I did see this engine running long ago - it had a knock, but I think it was the fact that the guy never gave clearance to the head for the piston pop-up - I think this thing has a mild cam as well. maybe I just go put that thing in the car and run it until that one explodes... ---- More interestingly - I'm plotting something...  Can you smell this picture? The security guard at my boys school works at the griffith park trains on the weekend, thru him, I've had a few conversations with the owner who wants to talk about some ideas with me to revitalize the trains in the park - knowing my background in entertainment, and the history I have with the trains... dont know if ive shared this before, but here's 8mm footage that my grandparents took of my mom and uncle riding the trains that still operate in the park today (the small ones, not the big one) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4HL28Sd9XY I showed this to the owner who called the other workers over to see it - as far as they know, this may be the only footage of the trains known. I don't know anything, but I'm going to push them to really dig deep and see what kind of cool history we can get on this stuff so it can inform choices moving forward - This kind of work is what I yearn to do even though there probably isnt much money in it. Its a passion project and I'm thrilled to even be considered in to helping preserve a really cool, quaint fun time for families. speaking of research and the want to preserve.... I decided to reach out to a few new people I follow on IG about the legitimacy of this...  Story developing.
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Apr 27, 2023 08:31
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Dang, what an update!
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May 1, 2023 22:13
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LobsterboyX posted:Can you smell this picture? I can but it's not my childhood - it's my wife's. If we ever end up at a place that has any of these we usually still end up buying at least one from every machine
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May 2, 2023 00:23
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Best thread on AI.
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May 2, 2023 17:18
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LobsterboyX posted:More interestingly - I'm plotting something...
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May 3, 2023 12:40
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Slugworth posted:The Chicago-land versions were all sold by a company called Mold-A-Rama, though the machines look similar enough they all may have come from the same company somewhere. Huge staple of my childhood, but unfortunately I only have one left (the submarine from the Field Museum). I still have a few of my original molds! Believe it or not, there's a guy out there that has amassed a giant collection of the Mold-A-Ramas - I found him a few years back and was starting to go down a very dark path of wanting to get a machine for myself.. but I really did come to my senses and decided that it was really a silly thing to keep in my house, that is, unless I was going to operate one in a location.... but all that came after I had befriended the guy Because of what I'm plotting with the railway, I gave him a ring and we talked for about an hour about this. He reminded me that all the attractions in Griffith park did have a mold-a-rama at one point - the zoo, the gene autry, the train rides and even the observatory. They were all pulled at some point in the early 90s after maintaining them became a bit difficult for the individual operators of these attractions - he then proceeded to send me this haunting image:  so anyway, he has the original machine that from the picture that I posted, but has explained to me that he has been working on upgrading them and developing new systems for them - sure enough, he's starting to make new machines that require less maintenance and have some tech in them to keep them up to date (credit card readers and other maintenance related tech) all while using the original cases and visible mechanisms.. I started getting a bit buck wild and thinking that I may give up my career and become a operator of vintage mold-a-rama machines - while its somewhat viable to do, I'd rather "choke up" on this topic and see if getting these machines back to griffith park is viable - I can literally see the LA times article about the machines returning... if it is going to happen, I plan on having a foot in the door or maybe even starting the ball rolling on it. Seeing these things do their thing was so magical, I can imagine how it would gently caress with the kids of today to actually get something tangible out of a machine that MADE it - hell, play up the "original 3d printer" aspect of it. Anyway - I'm having another meeting with the train guys next week to get some ideas on paper and see about next steps, these old attractions are so neglected mostly because they aren't known to an entire generation of transplant kids and parents alike - the merry go round that Walt Disney based his off of is sitting closed because the owner passed away and no one wants to step up and run it... its criminal, the kids of LA need this kind of fun, I see how much this stuff thrills my kid, and how little it all costs.... - anyway - I'll get off my soap box Last weekend I did something super fun   BEFORE I GET SAFETY POLICED - I had my neighbor who is a highway patrol captain come inspect my work - When I told him about what I wanted to do, I asked him to be extremely critical and really let me know if he thought this was safe - he was honest and he said that this would fly by him legally, and he'd let his children ride in that setup, so it was good enough for me. He had an absolute blast, we went to cars and coffee then on the train rides   he looks un-impressed in this photo, but he was so happy to tell people about his Daddy's Buick wagon with a big v8.  we had such a great day that was capped with a trip with da bois to a mini cruise night.  its not an every day thing, I put in some super heavy duty eye-bolts that I used to anchor the seat with 3000lb rated ratchet strap - I also added a tie down anchor in the rear load floor for the 3rd leg of support (for reference a standard seatbelt is 3000 lb rated as well) and bought that engine  and this for when he's older 
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May 5, 2023 07:03
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the last loving one.  its always the last one... "call a machine shop your going to gently caress it up" - Doubting Thomas friend of mine challenge accepted! first I had to get the other one one off the stand and on to the new (old) Lowkey stand I got at the swap meet  and I wonder why I always have back pain.. at least I had my apprentice to spot me  I'm really mad at myself, I'm a collector of these dumb engines now, I have 4 and only 2 have the possibility to run the setup  I have to say, I watched some project farm videos before I went out to buy these extractors- I did it all right, got the exact drill size from my good drill-dex - this is the first time in my life that I really paid close attention to the max pressure I could put on one of these dumb things the only casualty was I bent the buhjeezus out of that big beautiful tap handle - kinda bummed about that because its a massive one - but its nothing special, older offshore model.. and doing a job it probably wasn't designed to do - I kinda knocked it back in to place and it still works, but the moving anvil par of it weeble wobbles and you have to use a vicegrip to tighten it - oh wellll!!!! Anyway after a mixture of drill, extractor, punch and heavy hammer - plus an hour of work with a buddy and my kid, and our pet squirrel Rosey...     Shockingly... It didnt do any damage that couldn't be cleaned up with a thread chaser, which I did shortly after.. honestly this is one of the few times I've ever had successful removal of anything like this - I usually get wacky with the drill or lose my temper - I think being a parent has honed my tolerance levels. while we were at it we pulled the cam gear, which also fought every step of the way. no pics! BONUS! this past weekend we went to the Orange Empire railway museum in Perris Ca (about 100 miles or 2.5 hours away) - got to ride on a real redcar that ran here in the valley   Coincidentally - this particular unit is the nicest of 5 of these left in existence - it was used in Roger Rabbit, and it was copied for the streetcar at Disneyland. on the way out of there we stopped at the March AFB air museum  and no visit to that museum is complete without a visit to one of my favorite pieces of military equipment...  The SR-71 "Start-Cart" that is powered by twin 425 Buick Nailhead engines. - one of the docents saw me oozling over it and came over and told me that they had it running about 10 years ago, and "it sounded like a gate to hell opened up" which really made me smile. heres some dumb poo poo side work I do: I made a technical drawing of this 39 Merc gauge cluster...  so that we could use the water jet to cut it out  pretty proud of myself for nailing this one on the first try - I did it with a mixture of using a scan I took of the cluster, then double checked my work with calipers and then made some slight tolerance changes..
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May 9, 2023 07:04
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 13:49 |
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LobsterboyX posted:the last loving one. That's the perfect application for the "weld a washer and nut" technique. That gauge cluster looks amazing.
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May 9, 2023 12:43
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