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M is for her motor gently purring
O is for the oil that it holds
T is for the tappets tippy tapping
H is for her horn of purest gold
E is for her electric starter
R means revved & revved she'll always be
Put them all together they spell MOTHER
A car that means the world to me.
O is for the oil that it holds
T is for the tappets tippy tapping
H is for her horn of purest gold
E is for her electric starter
R means revved & revved she'll always be
Put them all together they spell MOTHER
A car that means the world to me.
Welcome to the #DavesCarIDService Mothers Day Special!
Yes kids, in 1965 sitcom premises included "man buys '1928 Porter' only to discover it's the reincarnation of his own mom." Hey, why not? I mean, talking horses and hot astronaut genies and whatnot.
Yes kids, in 1965 sitcom premises included "man buys '1928 Porter' only to discover it's the reincarnation of his own mom." Hey, why not? I mean, talking horses and hot astronaut genies and whatnot.
As a stickler for automotive accuracy, I must note the "1928 Porter" was actually a 1924 Ford Model T hot rod built by my late great pal Norm Grabowski. Later modified by Norm Breedlove (Craig's dad) for the TV show; George Barris made a replica car for stunts.
Boolah boolah, rah rah rah, and happy graduation season from #DavesCarIDService! Today we salute the humble and venerable campus jalopy - like this 1926 Ford Model T that once roamed Long Beach State U.
You may remember the concept from Archie comics: a beat up old Model T or A on its last gasp, purchased for $10, festooned with comical messages and raccoon tails, ready to putter you and 5-20 of your pals around campus. The antithesis of a hot rod, a lovable junker.
The heyday of the beloved college jalopy, often a fraternity's mechanical mascot, was 1930-55. A few in action:
1. "Muttzie," 28-29 Ford A, George Washington U 1942
2. 28-29 Ford A, UNC 1940
3. "Rosie," 17-24 Ford T, U Oregon 1942
4. 21-24 Ford T, U Louisville 1938
1. "Muttzie," 28-29 Ford A, George Washington U 1942
2. 28-29 Ford A, UNC 1940
3. "Rosie," 17-24 Ford T, U Oregon 1942
4. 21-24 Ford T, U Louisville 1938
A provocative #DavesCarIDService salute to the 100th birthday of the world's greatest pinup, the late Bettie Page, born April 22, 1923. Here demonstrating the impressive cargo capacity of a 1950-51 DeSoto.
I hadn't planned on a car ID session today due to various holy Lonestar Round Up automotive rituals, but inclement weather means my pain = your gain. If you'd like to get an ID on an old family pic or such, please mind the spirit of this thing:
Lucky you, it's a Bettie Page twofer today! It's picnic time for Bettie and her 1947-48 Chevy Fleetmaster sedan. Watch out for fire ants!
A happy #DavesCarIDService 148th birthday to Walter Percy Chrysler (1875-1940), Kansas farm boy turned railroad mechanic turned engineer by correspondence school turned car industry mogul turned builder of (briefly) world's tallest skyscraper. Here with Chrysler #1, 1924.
*might be a surprise that Chrysler brand cars didn't debut until 1924; Chrysler was already a well known exec at GM & Durant, and built his new company on the ailing Maxwell brand and acquiring Dodge Bros. He appeared Time cover 3 times, 1925, 1929, and 1934 Man of Year.
Regarding his iconic deco Chrysler building in NYC (1930), it was never used as HQ or even offices for Chrysler Motors; it was his real estate side hustle. Tallest building for 11 months until ESB completion. Still the tallest steel framed brick building in the world.
A very happy G-Day to all who celebrate from #DavesCarIDService
Owing to my Hawkeye basketball-related hangover late start this morning, I will dispense with the usual car history jibber jabber save for noting the Gremlin was produced until 1978, succeeded by the 4WD AMC Spirit until 1983. Contain your AMX-citement!
Was the April Fools Day intro of the Gremlin deliberate, or just an eerie coincidence? I will leave it to other to conjecture. But for now, please rise to recite the Car ID Requester's Pledge:
A #DavesCarIDService March Madness salute to the all-time juggernaut of women's college basketball, the Hutcherson Flying Queens of tiny Wayland Baptist U in Plainview TX. Here taking a victory lap in a 1957 Ford Fairlane after their 1957 AAU national title (NCAAs of the time).
*In total the Hutcherson Flying Queens (so named for a local rancher & booster who flew the team to away games in his Beechcraft) racked up 19 national titles, including 6 straight 1953-58, and had a 131 game win streak that will likely never be surpassed.
Not to jinx anything, but the Iowa women's b-ballers play Louisville tonight for a spot in this years Final Four. And so may I interject: Go Hawkeyes!
A happy peak Texas bluebonnet season from #DavesCarIDService! These ladies went out to gambol among the wildflowers in a 1936 Plymouth coupe, and the shorty trunk lid and step plates on the right rear fender says one of them rode in the rumble seat.
Late start today, so I am eschewing my normal stream-of-conscious car history blather, but I will note a surprise in the photo: not Texas at all!
1940 photo from National Geographic, taken in California's San Joaquin Valley. But hey, the flowers are Texas bluebonnets.
1940 photo from National Geographic, taken in California's San Joaquin Valley. But hey, the flowers are Texas bluebonnets.
OK, just one synapse side trip here: Gotta recommend garage rock's Bluebonnets, featuring OG Go-Go and my Austin buddy @Kathy_Valentine. Buy their records!
Kathy is no car slouch either; that's her and her beloved '63 Buick Riviera custom at the Petersen Museum.
Kathy is no car slouch either; that's her and her beloved '63 Buick Riviera custom at the Petersen Museum.
Happy Spring Break season from #DavesCarIDService! Long before Jello shots and wet t-shirt contests, Daytona (well, Ormand) Beach FL lured young thrill seekers with a deserted stretch of beach for racing- Like Joe Tracy & his 70hp Peerless in 1904.
These two 1903 Ormand speed demons are G. Graham (nearest) and the immortal Barney Oldfield in Winton Bullets #2 and #3. Henry Ford (driving his "Sweepstakes" car) famously beat Alex Winton in his Bullet #1 in 1901, which sparked Ford Motor Co; Oldfield later drove Ford's 999.
This "999" is not Ford's, but driven and built by another automotive pioneer: Walter Baker in his Baker Electric "Torpedo Kid." Built of wood & shellacked canvas, it was the fastest electric car in the world, hitting 100 mph on Ormand Beach in 1902.
A happy #DavesCarIDService 100th birthday of Chicago's Andy Granatelli (1923-2013), aka Mister 500. Best known as CEO & tireless promoter of STP oil treatment, whose logo was everywhere in 60s & 70s (and later lifted as logo of Stone Temple Pilots).
The #40 car there is the 1967 STP Parnelli Jones gas turbine Indy car. While "Mr 500," Indy was a bad luck story for Granatelli. His own driving career ended there in 1948 when he crashed his Grancor Special Miller in qualifying. As owner, his cars often lost leads in late laps.
After 2 decades of snake-bitten *almosts*, Granatelli finally got his only win at Indy in 1969 via Mario Andretti. So overjoyed was he at the victory, he beat the trophy girl to Gasoline Alley to famously plant a big fat kiss on Mario.
Today's #DavesCarIDService birthday boy is the Babe Ruth of driving, the incomparable Erwin "Cannon Ball" Baker, born March 12, 1882. In May 1914 he shattered the transcontinental record by nearly 9 days, making it from San Diego to NYC in 11.5 days on this 1914 Indian Powerplus.
The next year Baker broke his own transcontinental record in a 1915 Stutz Bearcat (11d 7h); again in 1916 in a Cadillac 8 (7d 12h); and in 1928 he beat the 20th Century Limited train from NY to Chicago in a modified Franklin, signaling the days of the train were numbered.
His greatest record: 1934, coast to coast in a Graham-Paige Special in a mind-boggling 53.5 hours. That record would stand for nearly 40 years.
Mind you, this was all without the benefit of interstate highways and Buc-ee's
Mind you, this was all without the benefit of interstate highways and Buc-ee's
G'day mates! Time for a #DavesCarIDService salute to Down Unda's gift to motoring style, the ute. Invented by Ford AUS in 1934 after a letter from a Victoria farm wife who aske for a vehicle to be "a car for church on Sunday and a truck to take the pigs to market on Monday.”
Like Australia's platypus, the ute is neither fish nor fowl- obviously not a car, but strictly speaking it's not a pickup because its cargo box isn't separated from its cab. The last true Aussie ute utility coupe was the 2017 Holden Commodore (this is a jazzed up SSV).
Here stateside, we've had our own Aussie-style utes; during WW2 many people added cargo beds to old cars for advantageous gas rations. And custom bodied flower cars for gangster funerals, like this 1935 Packard conversion.
Today's #DavesCarIDService is brought to you by the all new 1927 LaSalle. Visit your local LaSalle dealer and learn why LaSalle is the Favorite in Smart Circles Everywhere!
(and happy birthday to LaSalle, born March 5, 1927; ad illustrated by Edward A. Wilson)
(and happy birthday to LaSalle, born March 5, 1927; ad illustrated by Edward A. Wilson)
As soon as people decipher Archie & Edith sang "gee our old LaSalle ran great" their first question is "what's a LaSalle?"
Basically a spinoff brand of Cadillac. LaSalles had Caddy engines, gave Caddy-LaSalle dealers a low price option without sullying Caddy's elite image.
Basically a spinoff brand of Cadillac. LaSalles had Caddy engines, gave Caddy-LaSalle dealers a low price option without sullying Caddy's elite image.
Sadly the LaSalle brand came to an end in 1940, after making some very handsome models.
At one time most GM brands had a lower price companion brand; Cadillac/LaSalle, Oakland/Pontiac, Buick/Marquette, Olds/Viking. Pontiac the only one to survive its parent.
At one time most GM brands had a lower price companion brand; Cadillac/LaSalle, Oakland/Pontiac, Buick/Marquette, Olds/Viking. Pontiac the only one to survive its parent.
Rise & shine my little Rat Finks, and wish a happy #DavesCarIDService birthday to the greatest car customizer - nay, greatest artist - of the 20th Century, the late great Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth. Here is the artist at work in his atelier on his Mona Lisa, the Mysterion.
And here in its final form. Roth's medium was fiberglass, made from hand formed plaster and vermiculite molds; not so much a car customizer as a abstract sculptor.
Sadly the original Mysterion was destroyed in a Kansas trailer accident circa 1971. A few very faithful replicas have been made, including this one by my pal Dave Shuten - via upscaling the 1960s Revelle plastic model kit dimensions.
Crossing streams today on #DavesCarIDService: in tribute to the Heart Attack Hawkeyes who improbably beat Michigan State after trailing by 10 with 40 seconds left, the U of Iowa Hospital's 1919 electric ambulance. Custom built in Iowa City on a Walker electric bus chassis.
*ht for that image to the U of Iowa Special Collections library.
Unlike the many electric car makers of the time, Chicago-based Walker focused on buses and trucks; much of their business was export. You can see a couple of them at famed Iowa 80, the world's largest truck stop.
Unlike the many electric car makers of the time, Chicago-based Walker focused on buses and trucks; much of their business was export. You can see a couple of them at famed Iowa 80, the world's largest truck stop.
Now it's time for me to get to some car detective work (another one from the Iowa Special Collections, a circa 1946 'toon of Iowa mascot Herky by Fred Kent, who produced these for each UIowa college; this one for Journalism)
Today's #DavesCarIDService is brought to you by the all new 1973 AMC Gremlin Levi's Edition! Why wear pants when you drive, when your seats are already wearing them?
Yes, it was real and spectacular. and debuted at the Chicago Auto Show 50 years ago today. The Levi's option was also available on the Hornet and Pacer, and is sort of a collector's item today. As an upholstery material, not quite rich Corinthian leather quality.
The 1973 OPEC embargo and federal emissions laws were a double asteroid strike that killed off the firebreathing muscle car age; car makers could only respond by groovy-ing up their defanged cars with wheel & decal engineering. Some are kind of charming now, in a dopey-goofy way.
A happy (belated) 125th anniversary of the birth of Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari Cavaliere di Gran Croce, aka Enzo Ferrari. Born 2/18/1898, here driving an Alfa Romeo 40/60 Corsa at Targa Floria, 1923. #DavesCarIDService
*Targa FLORIO.
After a stint as a nearly unbeatable driver for Alfa Romeo, in 1933 he took over Alfa's racing division which was christened Scuderia Ferrari. He narrowly escaped the bombings of WW2 and afterwards formed his own company. First true Ferrari: the 1947 125S.
After a stint as a nearly unbeatable driver for Alfa Romeo, in 1933 he took over Alfa's racing division which was christened Scuderia Ferrari. He narrowly escaped the bombings of WW2 and afterwards formed his own company. First true Ferrari: the 1947 125S.
BTW, the Ferrari prancing horse logo began as a badge on Scuderia Ferrari's early Alfa racing cars, an homage to Italian WW1 air ace Count Francesco Baracca.
A fond #DavesCarIDService farewell to Stella Stevens, who departed us this week. Shown here as Gail Hendricks, pouring a little hair of the dog for superspy lush Matt Helm (Dean Martin) in his tricked out 1965 Mercury Colony Park spy station wagon in "The Silencers" (1966)
*I needn't remind you that Dave disapproves of drinking and driving. That said, Dave highly approves of Matt Helm movies, and "The Silencers" is IMO grooviest of the bunch. Behold Helm's glorious louche bachelor pad on wheels, and glorious eyeful Stella S:
On the other side of the epic Martin & Lewis rift, Stella Stevens also co-starred with Deano's former partner Jerry Lewis in "The Nutty Professor" (1963). Here fending off Buddy Love (the louche Mr Hyde alterego of Prof Julius Kelp) in a 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible.
Aw, dang. A very wistful RIP to Raquel Welch, who left an indelible impression on my youth. To follow, a short #DavesCarIDService thread dedicated to her:
Raquel Tejada (her maiden name) regally waving as San Diego County Fair Queen in a 1959 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible.
Raquel Tejada (her maiden name) regally waving as San Diego County Fair Queen in a 1959 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible.
*she married (and quickly divorced) her high school sweetheart James Welch, but kept the name for the rest of her life.
Pre-film fame, as a trophy queen at Southern California race tracks, congratulating a very luck Bob O'Leary and his victorious Kurtis Offy sprint car.
Happy Super Bowl Sunday from #DavesCarIDService! Len Dawson celebrates the Chiefs' upset win in SB IV by buying his missus a fur coat and taking her out to Mamma Leone's Pizza KC in his new 1970 Dodge Challenger RT/SE, his reward for winning game MVP.
Sport Magazine once gave a new car to Super Bowl MVP, starting with Bart Starr's snazzy 67 Corvette in SB I. The Packers routed the Chiefs in that game, and Len Dawson famously sat in halftime locker room contemplation with a lung dart and Fresca.
A new car was a sizeable incentive back before 8-figure salaries and when most NFL players had off season jobs. Other prizewinners included Terry Bradshaw (1979 Pontiac Trans-Am) and the unfortunate Fred Biletnikoff (velour upholstered 1977 Ford Mustang II)
Vacation over, time to get back to the future with #DavesCarIDService!
I usually don’t ID 1980s cars, but I thought this custom 1982 DMC DeLorean I saw at the car wash was kinda cool.
I usually don’t ID 1980s cars, but I thought this custom 1982 DMC DeLorean I saw at the car wash was kinda cool.
OK, not the car wash, but the Petersen Museum LA, and the real deal "star" car from Back To The Future. The movie used 3 different DeLoreans; 1 for stunts, 1 for special FX, this one used for regular scenes. Customization designed by Lawrence Paull, and built by Michael Fink.
My weekend off means a big inbox of ID requests, so time to get right at it - but with a gentle reminder of the the ID request guidelines:
tag your request #DavesCarIDService
old family album photos, history archives, street & wilderness finds only
remain patient...
tag your request #DavesCarIDService
old family album photos, history archives, street & wilderness finds only
remain patient...
Sorry folks, no #DavesCarIDService this weekend, you can complain to me in person at the the Grand National Roadster Show
Have time to share a few hangover pics from the hot rod party last night tho… “Tweety Pie” style T bucket project, my pal Harrison’s Grabowski style flatty T RPU
30-31 A coupe, Winfield head & Meyer slingshot with dual 37s. Probably could’ve chopped it another 1/2”
Now boarding at Gate 1, it's time to fly the friendly skies of #DavesCarIDService!
And you all should immediately recognize a 1963 Chevy Corvette Sting Ray split window coupe, and the real life Jetsonian LAX Theme Building by Pereira & Luckman (1957-61).
And you all should immediately recognize a 1963 Chevy Corvette Sting Ray split window coupe, and the real life Jetsonian LAX Theme Building by Pereira & Luckman (1957-61).
*Speaking of LAX, I will be in SoCal next weekend (but via the much more human-friendly Burbank airport) & taking a break from ID duties. This I will dispense with the normal jibber jabber and get right to the IDs.
But first let's all recite the car ID pledge:
I will tag my ID requests #DavesCarIDService
I will use the tag only for my old family pics or wilderness & street sightings, and refrain from stupid LOL crap
I will remain patient
I will STFU about politics in Dave's car ID threads
I will tag my ID requests #DavesCarIDService
I will use the tag only for my old family pics or wilderness & street sightings, and refrain from stupid LOL crap
I will remain patient
I will STFU about politics in Dave's car ID threads
A happy belated Paul Newman Birthday from #DavesCarIDService. Born 1/26/1926, shown here in 1953 at the dawn of his stage acting career in "Picnic," atop the hood of a 1953 Dodge Coronet. Yep, it has a Hemi (the small cube Dodge Red Ram hemi, but a hemi nonetheless).
Newman is on the Mount Rushmore (along with McQueen, Garner, and Dean) of Hollywood actor / racing drivers, and the only one to have a win at LeMans. Took 1st the IMSA GTX class and 2nd overall in 1979, with teammates Dick Barbour & Rolf Stommelen, in a Porsche 935.
Yep, he was 53 at the time, ancient for a LeMans driver. Newman got into racing comparatively late in life, and threw himself into it with passion and dedication. No mere racing hobbyist, he worked his way up the class ladder, earning the respect of fellow drivers.
Those are chrome 7" King Bees
Further inspection indicates 1932 Ford coupe, 3"-4" chop, engine is a 1952-56 Lincoln Y block V8, hubcaps are Hollywood single bar flippers
I assume people come to me for car info, not for anatomy lectures
