A frame display of leather jacket patches seen by our correspondent Dean Rennie on his trip to Iowa. Each to display the wearers allegiance to the British marque. The oak leaf is perfect: an English Oak Quercus robur.
Live Long & Prosper
Magnum PI
Watching an old TV show from the early eighties. Starring Tom Selleck as the titular private investigator turned Hawaiian gallavanter for thriller writer Robin Masters (voiced by Orson Welles). He gets to blast around in his employers Ferrari 308 GTS. It is the classic mid engined sports car in red.
America Pickers
von Dutch style! My intrepid roving reporter Dean Rennie was in LeClaire IA at the American Pickers store. Owner Mike Wolfe and TV partner Frank Fritz were on the hunt for a rare motorcycle. A cruiser framed item with a Volkswagen flat four engine shoehorned in. They discovered it under a dusty tarp in a barn. The VW badge remarking its provenance. Here a photo of the bike displayed at their location just north of the Quad Cities.
I like the sign hung in the window… Need one for my workshop…
La Moto au Feminin
“Rouler à moto, c’est comme écouter de la musique en stéréo, vous faites vraiment partie de l’environnement”.
That’s the words of fast femme Marianne Weber, Belgian reporter speedster who was as comfortable going rapide on a motorcycle as most of us are in a lounge chair.
Her racing steed from 1947 a Triumph 3T 350cc. One of Triumphs first post war racers.
“Riding a bike, it’s like listening to music in stereo, you are really part of the environment”. Good words.
Dem’s da Brakes.
There is a fairly straightforward brake upgrade for the seventies disc stoppers that my Bonnie has. A 12″ floating disc with cooling holes and a mount adapter for tge extra inch of lever provided. With stainless steel clad lines and a freshened up master cylinder this will certainly give superior anchoring.
Grin & Bear it.
Black Bonnie
Ramp? What Ramp!
Chicago Auto Show
It’s cold cold cold here in Chi-Town. Minus five Fahrenheit tonight. So a venture to the car show down at the vast McCormick Conference Center was in order. Plenty to gawp at. Lots to sit in. Others to shy away from. The all rounder that appealed to me was the 2015 Ford F150 truck. Its aluminum chassis drops a third of a ton of dead weight and the eco-boost 2.6 v6 is meant to be a decent powerplant. Plenty of leg and headroom inside with a spacious back seat crew cab.
The Airstream will be towed ably to destinations galore!
Ideal
Tiny tiny Tamiya
Model Kits. Growing up I couldn’t get enough of them! Aircraft, tanks, cars, ships. Assembly kits or scratch built. I’ll have a little dabble into this world of polystyrene glue and plastic. There’s a 1/35th BSA M20 with rider and arm waving military policeman that I’d like to acquire.
Nowadays there are upgrade detail kits that are finely laser-cut sheets of metal that add fine sparkle. Spokes, buckles, foot pegs.
Perhaps some sharp tweezers will help….
I’d better get an illuminated magnifying glass too!