Latest Posts

Tinkering With A Dream

Drive Time

As one who detests the wind-tunnel design of modern cars, and one who truly loves older cars, I have to admit to a secret desire:  to take a favorite older car, and somehow get it up to modern standards of build and reliability.  To mention but two, I want an electrical system that will work pretty much all the time and not only if it’s not raining, and a body that doesn’t rust after a single rainstorm or, for that matter, having been just garaged next to a damp chamois cloth.

A couple of people have done that, of course, most notably the guys at Eagle Motors in England, who took the basic E-type and turned it into what Jeremy Clarkson once called “absolute perfection”, featuring a 4.7-liter straight-8 12-pack instead of the original 3.8-liter 6.

Basically, it’s the E-type that Jaguar could have built back in 1961, had they had access to modern technology and not been constrained by wanting to price it far below the Ferraris of the time.  They are now, of course, filthy expensive — Russian oligarchs, American tech billionaires and Arab oil magnates only need apply;  but man, I’d love to own one.

Speaking of Ferrari, Longtime Readers will know of my fondness for the brilliant Dino 246GT of the late 1960s, because it is one of the most beautiful cars ever built — my #1, and pretty much in everyone’s top 5, for sure.

As much as I have always loved the look of the Dino, I’ve actually driven one and it’s a bit of a pig:  the clutch is stiffer than a teenage boy reading a nudie magazine, and the gearbox is kinda clunky.  The engine is still wondrous, though:  Fiat’s original 2.4-liter V6 creation (history is here, and Iain’s followup Dino exposition is here) was perfectly tuned at Maranello, and its power and top end quite acceptable…

…for the time.  Nowadays, it might need a little more poke, and Jay Leno shows how it’s done, courtesy of Ferrari fanatic David Lee (“This is the car that Ferrari should have built” — a paraphrase of the opinion I have about the Eagle E-type, above.)

And I want this car as much or more than I want one of those Eagle Speedsters.  (Just in red, not on that horrible David Lee black, and without the “flares”.  The above pic says it all.)  A bored-out 3.6-liter F40 engine?  Have mercy.

Thus, in the “Dream Cars” pantheon of my “When That Powerball Comes In” fantasy, the above two beauties are #1 and #1a (depending on my mood).

Any others?

Silly rabbits;  of course I have one:

1956 Mercedes 300 SC 

That’s my tourer.  Frankly, apart from putting in better electricals (lights, wiring, soft-top motor etc.), I may not mess with anything else beyond perhaps the suspension or steering if needed, because the mid-1950s 300s were built with only the best engineering, not just for the time but for any time.  I would never put in a modern Merc engine because computers.

There may be more I could add as I think about the topic a bit longer, but for now, these three are absolutely perfect.

What would you pick to resto-mod?  Remember:  you get to keep the shape, but other than that, it’s an open field.

Dept. Of Righteous Shootings

Righteous Shootings

From NE Austin (TX) — not to be confused with the City of Austin — comes this cheery news:

According to the Austin Police Department, at around 5:31 a.m., officers responded to a call in the 7600 block of Bethune Avenue, where a female resident reported a man attempting to break into her home through the door and a window. The caller then stated that the male suspect had entered the home, followed by the sound of gunshots.

Upon arrival at the scene, the APD officers and EMS medics found the male suspect dead. APD says the preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect was shot by one of the residents in self-defense.

The interesting part of the story to me is that the dead goblin is not, as one might think, a teenage choirboy, but a sixty-something asshole.  Whatever.  Asshole is asshole, regardless of age, and dead is dead.  (Thankee, Reader Brad for the alert.)

News Roundup

Bad News

Canadians:  the old enemy.


...I’ll believe Canucki “experts” when it comes to hockey, snow removal or maple syrup.  Otherwise, not.

And in more Global Cooling Climate Warming Change news:


...as if we needed any more proof that climatism is a religion.  Also, keywords:  New York professors.


...expect “frozen Germans” to become a thing.


...climate change:  is there anything it can’t do?


...wait, weren’t temperatures supposed to be rising because of SUVs etc.?  I’m SO confused.

From the Department of Health Alarmism:


...everybody panic!!!!!!  Or not.

In the “I Did Not Know That!” department:


…I’m just amazed that the Belgies actually import any American beer, let alone that Miller piss.

From the Dept. of Criminal Assholes:


...but the shooter is Black, didn’t use an assault rifle, and shot only other Black people.  Annnnd down the memory hole she goes.


...as the Great Cultural Assimilation Project continues.


...yup, blame all those White Christian “teenagers” shooting people in Chicago, St. Louis, East L.A. and the Bronx.

...if those things are a “reader favorite”, then Insty’s demographics must have changed.  A LOT.

And from the bowels of INSIGNIFICA:

And finally, some news that actually matters:


...oh no, have mercy:

Seriously?  56?  I give up.

Protecting Kids

Anarchist thugs, Law and Order

Well now, this is interesting:

Law enforcement officials with the Fort Worth Police Department shut down Antifa agitators over the weekend who counter-protested a small group of demonstrators from “Protect Texas Kids” who were protesting a drag show event.

One would think:  why?  Surely, if someone protests, and another counter-protests, then both are protected?

Well yes, except that this was Pantifa, and their “counter-protest” was anything but peaceful:

During the event, “officers observed a member of the counter-protest group, later identified as 20-year-old Samuel Fowlkes, approach the ‘Protect Texas Kids’ protesters and spray them with pepper spray.” 

And, even better, there’s video of all of it.  Note the paramilitary outfits of the Pantifas, complete with guns.

The FWPD are to be commended for not shooting these little fascist assholes dead.