Don’t know the story on these beauties except they’re the work of local car guy. Trying for an introduction and interview. Will share here if successful.
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Category Archives: Cars & Trucks
Land Rovers in the wild
Mr. Wolf spotted these beauties on recent trip to Baja California.
1946 Willys CJ2A
My friend Paul shares these photos of a 1946 Willys CJ2A. I don’t know the story that goes with the beauty but there must be one. Watch this space.
Governor Motor Company
I’ve been driving past the Governor Motor Company for decades and always assumed it was just another used car lot. After meeting the owner and getting a look around, I’d call it an art gallery/cultural artifact museum.
More photos here and I’m hoping to persuade the owner, Ricky Mendez, to sit/walk for an interview.
Last of the wood piles
After five long years, the last of wood piles are gone. I finally got up the nerve to take the pickup down into the woods… and get her back out. This opens up lots of possibilities. Instead of hauling bags of mulch in a wheelbarrow, I can drive the entire load to where it’s needed. Same for firewood.
Couldn’t have done it without the pickup and, sadly, it did not come through unscathed. You really can’t see how big the dent is in these photos. And, ironically, the good steel in this older trucks makes is more difficult to remove some dents.
UPDATE: The guys at Xtreme Body managed to fix the dent and put the trim back on… all for $120.
JLTV: Humvee replacement
From New York Times story: “The new truck, which began arriving at military bases in the spring, is faster, smarter and safer. It is powerful enough to bound through rough terrain, despite carrying armor so thick that the truck has to automatically level itself when parked, so that troops can swing open its 400-pound steel doors.”
“And unlike the stripped-down Humvee, the JLTV — which is far costlier than the latest Lamborghini Huracan — comes with a few conveniences, including a backup camera, phone-charging plugs, and not just one cup holder, but two.[…] It has seats designed to fit the bulky body armor and backpacks that soldiers now wear, and unlike the underpowered Humvee, it has air conditioning that actually worked.”
“The truck also comes packed with technology, including electronics that can communicate with fighter jets, drones and other military assets around the globe. In place of a sun visor mounted above the thick blast-resistant windshield, the JLTV has a fold-down night-vision driving system.[…] The JLTV also has a combat override switch that the driver can use to take all control away from the computer.”
Via Henry Domke
1955 Jeep
The nice man driving this beauty told me his 17-year-old son and the young man’s grandfather restored this 1955 Jeep. I’ve never seen a restored vehicle this… flawless. It was almost too perfect. 
Pedal Car Graveyard
Ron Bandelier
In this five minute video Ron Bandelier gives me a peek at a few of his vintage vehicles: Berkeley B65; 1937 LaFayette Nash Twin 8; 1937 Nash Ambassador Cabriolet; 1927 Model T Ford. The video is pretty janky because I wasn’t expecting to meet Ron and wasn’t prepared for his treasures (only a few shown here). I just whipped out the phone and started recording and snapping photos.
Traveling Vintage Bus Mechanic
My friend George has a thing for old buses. He has two, one in better shape than the other. But both need work and they are not the sort of vehicles you can put on a trailer and take to the shop. So George called the “Bus Grease Monkey.“
Scott travels all over the country, working on old buses. Appropriately, he travels in an old bus (below). Don’t miss his “How I got in this business” video.
During the time I watched they were working on a wheel. Lots of phone calls trying to find parts for these ancient beasts. And everything is heavy.
I’m old enough to remember when a Greyhound or Trailways bus was a pretty nice way to get somewhere in a time before every man, woman and child had their own car. There are still a lot of these old buses out there. According to traveling bus mechanic, they built them really well until someone figured out they could sell more buses if they engineered in some planned obsolescence.
Update: Okay, I find this amazing. Scott has a very $ucce$ful YouTube channel. And after working his ass off yesterday in the mid-Missouri heat, he uploaded a couple of videos recounting the work he did on George’s video. And I think he was taking question live while streaming the video! Which is very detail and runs 30 minutes. This, my friends, is how you build a huge YouTube audience.