The 16 Craziest and Coolest Custom Trucks of the 2017 SEMA Show
Custom trucks at 2017 SEMA
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Category Archives: Art/Style/Culture
Dashboards
As automobiles got smarter and smarter, dashboards got more complex. My MINI dash can show stuff I still haven’t discovered, six years in. Better to have that kind of data than not (I guess), but I rarely look at most of it. Really old cars didn’t tell you much. So you had to be looking under the hood (And everywhere else, I suppose) with some regularity. But I found this simplicity refreshing. Hard to see in this photos because the museum was pretty stingy with the lighting.
Originally, the word dashboard applied to a barrier of wood or leather fixed at the front of a horse-drawn carriage or sleigh to protect the driver from mud or other debris “dashed up” (thrown up) by the horses’ hooves. (Wikipedia)
Auto World Museum
I’ve been driving past the Auto World Museum (Fulton, MO) for years. Just wasn’t interested in old cars. Spent a couple of hours there yesterday with my friend Henry and it was pretty amazing. Way more interesting than the automotive museum I visited in San Diego earlier this year. I’m still trying to ID some of the cars (more photos) but will take notes on my next visit.
1946 Willys Jeep
Spotted this sweetie as I left the coffee shop this morning. The owner said it’s a 1946 Willys Jeep. The first non-military Jeep made after WWII.
Old Trucks
How cars went from boxy to curvy
I confess I’ve spent more time thinking about cars/trucks in the last six months than in the rest of my adult life combined. No idea why. But when my Land Rover fixation took hold back in May, it was the look of the trucks that grabbed me. And if there is a more boxy vehicle than the Land Rover, I haven’t seen it yet.
These days I’m more apt to notice other vehicles and I’m struck by the similarity… and the “roundness” of the designs. This short video explains how this came to be and why it isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
Teens love iMessage
Every iPhone user I know relies on iMessage heavily. It’s the app I use more than any other on my phone. Is iMessage a form of social media? I never considered it to be but the stats below make wonder if it might be.
“US youth between the ages of 10 and 19 average 25 iMessages each day. That’s compared to 14 messages over Facebook Messenger, and 8 snaps on Snapchat. The estimates propose that while Apple is often left out of the chat app ecosystem, it could be the most used platform and one of the best for brands and developers to reach US consumers.” (Business Insider)
The iPhone continues to be the most popular smartphone among teens, according to data gathered by investment firm Piper Jaffray in its most recent semiannual U.S. teen survey. 76 percent of teens surveyed own an iPhone, up from 69 percent in the spring of 2016, and the highest ownership level seen in the teen survey. A record 81 percent of teens surveyed said they expect their next phone to be an iPhone, up from 75 percent a year ago. (MacRumors)
Apple is making iMessage more functional with features like Peer-to-peer (P2P) payments via iMessage with Apple Pay. And they want it to be the go-to interface for business-consumer interaction. An upcoming update to iMessage includes iOS Business Chat, a “powerful new way for businesses to connect with customers directly from within Messages,” according to Apple.
Marketing vintage Land Rovers
While I wait (patiently) for the restoration of my truck, I’m feeding my jones with YouTube videos. There is a lot of Land Rover porn on YouTube. Loving (amateur) restoration videos that bring a tear to the eye. Some are commercial in nature. But nobody matches the quality and creativity of the guys at Cool & Vintage. These are the folks in Lisbon, Portugal that first hooked me on Land Rovers. I’ll never know how good they are at restoration but they’re damned good at marketing. Whoever shot and edited this video knows what she/he is doing. You can see some of their photos here.
1979 Series III Land Rover
[Updates at bottom of post]
Before I tell you about my new Land Rover, let’s recap how we got here. I’ve been admiring vintage Land Rovers for years but the idea of owning one never occurred to me. In May I spotted another one on the Cool & Vintage website. A beautiful frame-off restoration of a Defender 90 Land Rover. I clicked the “more information” link and, following a brief email exchange, learned I could buy the vehicle for about $60,000. I decided I had to have it and spent a week or two begging the folks in Lisbon, Portugal (where the company is located) to take my money. They were too busy with their latest photo shoot.
A friend of a friend told me about a UK company called Arkonik that specializes in frame-off restorations of Land Rovers. I called and learned they’d be happy to build me one for $100,000 but there was a 13 month waiting list. I strongly considered it.
At this point a friend put me in touch with a “concierge buyer” in the Bay Area. I call him Mr. Wolf and he’s an expert in vintage Land Rovers. For a finder’s fee of 10%, he agreed to find the Land Rover of my dreams. And he did. It took him a bit more than a month.
We started searching for a Defender 90 but along the way Mr. Wolf suggested I consider a Land Rover Series (I,II,III) model. These are more truck-like (loud and slow). I loved the look so we expanded the search. Last week Mr. Wolf located a 1979 Series 3 Land Rover in San Diego. The restoration was still underway and the vehicle hadn’t been spoken for.
Mr. Wolf looked at a few hundred photos and talked at length with Luke Richards, the man in charge of the restoration. He was impressed. This was it. I wired the deposit and the Land Rover was mine.
When the restoration is complete, probably by August September October. Mr. Wolf will take it back to his facility in the Bay Area and drive it for 1,000 miles to find and fix any problems (that can occur with the most perfect restoration). Then he’ll put it on a truck and send it to me. I plan to visit Mr. Wolf during the shakeout period.
I love the idea of frame-off restoration. I love the look and charm of the older Land Rover… but I want it to be “new.” In the absence of time travel, that means taking the old car apart and rebuilding it bolt-by-bolt, nut-by-nut. I find it amazing anyone can do this, for any amount of money. Clearly a labor of love.
I don’t know the full story behind Luke Richards but at one time (perhaps still) he designed and built high-performance cars. Watch the video on his website. Somewhere along the way he and his team started restoring vintage Land Rovers.
I’ll have more photos of my Land Rover as it nears completion and I’ll share them here. The color (Stone Gray) is not a Land Rover color, it’s by Mercedes. I love it.
If you had asked me yesterday how long I’ve been working on this I would have said six months. It’s been less than two. Some serious time distortion at work. I’m eager to climb in this rascal and chug up my hill but I’m enjoying the anticipation, too. Watch this space for updates.
UPDATE (August 21, 2017): The pieces that make up the hardtop have been painted. In the home stretch.
UPDATE (August 12, 2017): Back from visit to Lucra Cars in San Marcos, CA. Met Luke Richards and some of this staff. Got to put my hands on The Truck.
UPDATE: (July 19, 2017): Starting to get a few more photos of the restoration. Will update this gallery as more come in.
UPDATE (July 17, 2017): Best estimate now October 1 on the short side; November 1 on the long side. Looks like an early Christmas present.
UPDATE (July 7, 2017): We’re sticking with the new drum brakes. This truck is small and light enough that front-wheel discs won’t be necessary. The restoration was going to be a soft top but they have a hardtop in stock so that’s the plan. Will had some dollars and time to the project and I can always order a soft top down the road.
UPDATE (July 1, 2017): Brief chat with Mr. Wolf as we enter what I believe is the final phase of the restoration. I had a question about the gearbox in my truck. Some of the older Series trucks did not have synchro in all gears and that is not a good thing. I believe the Series III gearbox is synchronized. He suggested converting the front wheels from drum brakes to disc, adding that drum brakes probably wouldn’t be a problem since the truck goes so slow. I like the idea of disc brakes up front.
Fez pics from Gnomedex 2008
The Order of the Fez was in full blossom in 2008 so my pal Jamie Nelson and I agreed to bring the sacred headgear to the Gnomedex geekfest that year. One of the attendees was a professional photographer and we have him to thank for these fine image.