People who go to Cruise-Ins!

 Normally when I go to car shows I take photos or the cars. But what about the people who own the cars and bring them to the event? What follows are a few photos of these everyday folks.

The Facts of Life -- The most frequent place where it is taught by parents is inside the car!

 

Undoubtedly, the car serves as an ideal private space. Women apply make-up there, men pick their noses, and according to one radio program I listened to this morning it is inside the car where parents carry on the almost always awkward conversation with children about sex. Is this true? That was the message from this morning!

An Interesting Bulgarian Ride -- What is it?

 What is it? From Ed.

This is a car that I photographed when we were in Bulgaria back in 2017.

It has to be among the saddest vehicles I've ever seen.  The grille was made completely of gray plastic which matched the huge pieces of plastic on the lower sides.  I asked someone who spoke English what it was and the reply, with eyes rolling was: We call it "the shoe."

Perhaps the weirdest automotive dealership advertisement ever?

Perhaps the weirdest dealership advertisement ever?  Dealer wearing a barrel (apparently naked underneath) and saying he will give you the same deal he gave "Baby Judy." (presumably the girl he's engaged to given that she is wearing a diamond ring and joyfully doing a split).-- from ED!!

Friday Night Cruise-In, Greene County Ohio at the Vineyard, April 22, 2022

A great night weather-wise! I didn’t’t see anything spectacular that caught my eye. However, a number of nice automobiles from the 1950s and a few hotrods as well. If you like American Muscle, this is one place you might want to check out on another Friday night. 

The Truth About the MGA

I really liked this video. Perhaps it is because the narrator rebuilt the car himself and it had a family history. Perhaps because it has a wonderful ending during which the car is driven at night. It took me back to my late teenage years and driving my MGA at night. a magical time then and as I remember it now.

Dodge Viper Crashes During Street Race || ViralHog

Not only did he crash, he lost the race! Pretty stupid!

Happy Easter! Vintage Cars and Animals Greeting Cards and Images

 

Pray for Doug!

 Thanks to Ed for the photograph. Probably taken in 2014, when I was President of the SAH, and Doug Leighton was the Chair of an awards committee. Note that Doug is to the right. 

Doug is very sick currently, afflicted with pancreatic cancer. Please pray for Doug and his wonderful family. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Western Ontario, Huron College. He has wide interests in automotive history, including Canadian topics.

Cars and Coffee, Dayton (Austin Landing), April 9, 2022

 You simply cannot stop car folks from coming together, even when the temperature is 37 degrees and it is snowing lightly! This event took place in a car garage, and so the engine noises were greatly amplified and the carbon monoxide levels high! I was most impressed with the number of young people in attendance, their enthusiasm, and the kind of cars that were there. This was not a gray-haired affair. And there were few older cars, although I did see my first Colt in at least 25 years. Not the style of custom the this generation favors -- colors, graphics, butterfly doors, aggressive looks, and creative design.

Flying Through Giga Berlin -- Making the Tesla Y Model

Quite a drone tour! Technological change that is hell-bent. 

Can you find images of people actually working rather than watching? Few and far between.

Richie Rich, Sideshow 1990

 

It's a Saturday night and my girl's lookin’ real pretty
But jack that, I just left Campbell City
Straight lace Zeniths and vogues on a point
On my way to the Town to get a doja joint
Pushed it to the 7 to get some dank
Hit the liquor store to cold get drank
Now I got my doja, my drink is like Nitro
Peace, playboy, I'm on my way to the side show
Down Bancroft, to the light
Let me warm it up, I hit a donut tight
There's a Chevy on my side, windows straight tinted
I think he got hype when he saw me spin it
I'm up outta there, sideways to the next light
Vogues kinda smokin' but Zeniths still tight
I'm at the side show, parlayin' and playin'
Music on hit, head straight swayin'
To the sounds of the 415 and the Locster
Girlie on the corner on jock, so I approached her
Spoke real smooth and said, "Hey, what's happenin'?"
She said, "Double-R, is that you rappin'?"
I said, "Ah nah, baby, that ain't me
You listen to the sounds of the L-O-C
The same clique, the 415, we make paper
But back up, girl, I can see you got the vapors
A lazy, tore up and tore down, yo
She's lookin’ for a trick at the side show

[Interlude]
You know what I'm sayin?
In Oakland, California, every Saturday night, brothers be ridin'
Straight lace Zeniths, drop tops, buckets, high performance
We really don't be trippin', you know what I'm sayin?
But now it's like this

[Verse 2]
Police came through, but now they're gone
In other words, the side show's on
Troy's in a 5-point straight up lit
Short's comin through in a Benz with a kit
Oakland's movin' somethin', and that's real
Bruce from the Deuce comin through in a 'Ville
This is a side show, boy, we don't fake it
Police come through on a fluke and try to break it
Up like that with a riot hat
You're gonna need more than a billy club and a gat
To stop the side show, officer, just think
Maybe you should come and hit the spot with a tank
Cause the brothers from the O are gonna keep on ridin'
Yolkin’, hittin’ tight ones, straight sidin’
See, we ain't really trippin' off jail or the tickets
A brother wants to post, make mail and kick it
Now listen, this is the code to the show
For the people out there who just don't know
If your car is real clean, then bring it
If it's high-performance, then swing it
If it's a motorcycle, you better serve it
And if you get a ticket, you better deserve it
As long as you can say, "Man, I let ‘em know"
Then peace, you did it at the side show

[Interlude]
It's a everyday thing
Every Saturday night, brothers be tearin' up cars
Brothers be comin through swingin' ‘em
I don't know what's goin on, I'm juiced
I'm in the Town, I strikes through
I see girls, corner to corner, block to block
You know, basically it's just (Funky)

[Verse 3]
Corner to corner, block to block
Flock Zeuses and EV's that knock
Gold-diggin' women in the City of O
Lookin’ for a brother with a cash flow
That's the type of things that gets ‘em off
Material stuff, at the side show, boss
Brothers get started, and man, don't quit
Kiki's on a ninja, servin’ it
It's about 2 o'clock and the show's still movin’
Girls all at the gas station choosin’
A brother like me never ever spends cash on those
Nah, I need a new set of vogues
Candy paint will make a freak peep
But she'll never get a nickel or a dime out of me
Peace to everybody in the O that I know
Double-R gettin’ wit' ya at the side show[Outro]

Believe that
'Cause it's real

This one goes out to my DJ Daryl-Ski
My homeboy L-O-C
And of course the jigga, the JED

Sideshow Culture Video: Drifting Cars In The Bay Area | High Octane

So making donuts is not just confined to the Bay Area. At the corner of Fieldston and Meadowview -- three houses from mine -- there is a broad intersection where a month ago or more somebody cut a series of donuts! Sideshow culture came to the Heitmann neighborhood. But it took for Randy Hughes to point this topic out to me. The very fact I missed it -- drifting was  mentioned in the 2nd Edition of the Automobile and American Life, but not Sideshow Culture. 

California remains the center of car culture, from which it is spread around the world.

The Sideshow -- Automobile Events and Youth Culture

 Thanks to Randy Hughes from the Bay Area to point this out to me!  How I missed this topic-- it should have been in the 2nd Edition of The Automobile and American Life!

From Wiki: Perhaps a starting point for more studies on my part.

A sideshow is an informal demonstration of automotive  stunts now often held in vacant lots, and public intersections, originally seen in the East Bay  region.  Sideshows first appeared in Oakland, California in the 1980s as informal social gatherings of Bay Area youth. Sideshows were made even more popular throughout the 1990s with such songs as Bay Area rapper Richie Rich's "Sideshow" anthem. "Down Bancroft / To the light / Let me warm it up, I hit a donut tight / Chevy on my side / Windows straight tinted / He got hype when he saw me spinnin’ / I’m up outta there, sideways to the next light"^[2]

 

Sideshows first emerged on the streets of Oakland, California during the mid 1980s. The first sideshows were originally ad hoc carshows where people would congregate in the Eastmont Mall or Foothill Square parking lot. The original intent of the sideshows at this time was for people to show off their cars, usually  muscle cars from the 1960s and 1970s. These cars were often highly customized with elaborate paint jobs, all leather interiors, wire rims and modified high performance engines. Around the early 1990s, sideshows grew so popular that they had outgrown the parking lots of Eastmont Mall and Foothill Square. By the mid '90s, the sideshow became the alternative hot spot for those too young to gain entrance into 21 and over nightclubs.

 

Common activities at sideshows include doughnuts and ghostriding. The latter involves driving a car, opening the door and climbing out, blasting off,^] sometimes onto the hood, sometimes standing or dancing next to the car while the car continues to roll. Violent incidents, including fights and shootings, sometimes occur at the events.

 

To crack down on the illegal sideshows, the Oakland Police Department opened a police substation at Eastmont Mall and set up "No Cruising Zones" along International Boulevard. In efforts to keep the events from spreading west to Downtown Oakland, an additional no cruising law was established along Grand Avenue and Lakeshore Avenue in 1996. The phenomenon is most strongly associated with the city of Oakland (the birthplace of the sideshow), with the events there often being attended by those in the hip hop community. Such events are promoted in local rap by artists including E-40.^[4]: 256

On June 8, 2005, the Oakland City Council narrowly defeated a measure (pushed by then-mayor Jerry Brown) which would have subjected spectators at sideshows to criminal sanctions, such as fines and even jail terms. Drivers face various penalties, including having their cars impounded.^[7] On April 30, 2019, the San Jose City Council passed an ordinance making spectators punishable with a fine of up to $1,000 and 6 months in jail. 

I just bought a Mercedes-Benz 300 Sl!

 

April Fools!

Mercedes-Benz R 107 (450 Sl and 380 Sl) Advertising

How true about the size of the door! I have a 1982 380 Sl and thus have a personal interest in looking at these advertisements. After 1973 the car was crippled with adrenal bumper regulations, but its overall design somehow overcame a deficit that would have ruined the look of most cars of that day. The color is stunning on this car. The horse obviously is a natural beauty, as is the woman owner of the car. It is a woman’s car, but not any woman!

Yes, it is engineered like no other car in he world. Ad while it is a sporty car, it is not a high strung sports car.  Note the ad emphasis on the seats. Few cars are so over-engineered on seats alone! Take one apart and you will see what I mean. For its day, the car did handle well. And it was incredibly safe for that day also. Its flexibility is remarkable -- soft top, hard top, no top. and its lean lines -- like the owners featured in the ads. No fatty owners!

This ad here starts out with a lie. For the original 380 Sl in 1981 had only a single row timing chain. that was scandalous, and was later remedied, although there are still cars with that single row chain. Buyer beware. The company did agree to a two chain modification, but not everyone did that, and I doubt they would agree to continue to honor the original repair. It was a weak link in what was an underpowered car with an 85 mph speedometer. The car still had a top speed of 128 mph. But it was a car from the Malaise Era. Even Mercedes-Benz could not escape that millieu.

Without doubt, the R 107 was one of the most beautiful and safe cars of its day. You can thank Bela Barenyi!

Well, it certainly wan’t a sports car -- but a sporty personal car. Perfect for a status-conscious woman with impeccable tase or an old man on the road to the heavenly realms.

Yep, there are many obvious technological carryovers from one decade to another in M-B cars. This was a company that was very conservative when it came to its engineering and design. You can see vestiges of a 300 Sl, 230/250/280 sl in a 450 sl and 380 sl. Change comes quite deliberately in these cars.

RR might havesoemthing to say about the claim in this advertisement!

What do you think of Phil Hill’s comment?

 What is more desirable -- the car of the woman driver?