Our Gang / Little Rascals made this terrific taxi... donkey powered, a pusher really, with innovation in everything it does

 the license plate is a 1917 New York

  the below plate is a 1927 California plate

 

 The driver heard a yell for a taxi, and he reaches up to activate the brake to slow down

 below are the many different controls the driver has, you can see he pulls the choke (this was a real thing before advanced carbuerators, it allowed the carb to run better by adjusting the amount of air running through it "Choking" the air supply, creating a vacuum that made the fuel metereing circuit run richer )

 and here you can see how the mule power is stopped... they close off the food that mule eats. No food, and the mule stops walking toward it. When the lid is lifted, the food is available, and the mule walks toward it, moving the taxi

the fuel level indicator was a float on the water supply of the mule.

Meanwhile in the engine bay, Farina (the black kid before Buckwheat) is making engine noise by rolling a cam against the "ingine" stick

 Here you can see Farina in the engine bay... with a pump, starter, that ingine, and the radio

 When they pulled the radio string, Farina started singing, saying he was Tony Wons... I happen to have a donzen books by Tony Wons... and was surprised to hear this. It places the movie from 1929 to 1943 I think, as that is the last year of Tony Wons' scrapbook I have. They are very good

 After singing he played the kazoo

 You can almost make out the paddle that smacked the mules butt, and made him walk faster. It's hinged at the top of the spare tire pile on his back, at the upper left corner of this photo

 Above is the "Fare Master" that indicated how many pennies they were charging to go to a destination

Hungarian made cars, the difficult struggle against political turmoil, lack of manufacturing, and frequent bureaucratic red tape... all they want is to build cars!

Hungarian car enthusiasts Pal Negyesi and Csaba Hajdu have researched the Hungarian car history thoroughly, and made a 35 page PDF that exemplifies the spirit of perseverance to surmount obstacles in the way of progress.

Their focus is the Hungarian cars made between the years 1945 - 1990, but the inventors, craftsman, and innovators often began before 1945... and so did the national and intenational conflicts and restrictions that created a one of a kind unique situation that resulted in the USSR organization COMECON ruling of 1949 that of all the allied countries, only Hungary would not be allowed to build cars. Busses and trucks, yes... but not cars that the people could use for personal enjoyment, business travel, and product distribution (flowers, parcel delivery, etc etc)

Just as important as the automobile enthusiasts informative look, is the historian enthusiasts understanding of the myriad problems that were brought about by WW2, the USSR governing bureaucracy regulations, lack of car parts manufacturing (no car tire makers for example led to using airplane tail tires), political refusal to allow foreign investors, the revolution of 1956, the oil crisis of 1973, the fall of the USSR in 1990 dissolving all the previous infrastructure that was just beginning to make progress in loosening govt owned company restrictions in involvement in cooperative ventures to produce car and parts... all complicated the Hungarian auto enthusiasts ability to make cars.

But read about the many one off cars that were prototyped, microcars that were made and attempted during this time, the 3 wheelers that were declared "motorbike and sidecar" etc etc in order to bring mobility to the people.


Price is EUR 1 or USD 1.4

There are two ways to pay:

- Either someone sends the amount via PayPal to npaul@hu.inter.net and then Pal will send him/her the link
- You can buy an e-book version at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LOVR02

Ingenious luggage or storage accessory... the Tire Trunk by Wohlfeld

Found on http://theoldmotor.com/?p=15096

1904 air filled tires were barely more than balloons, so traction aiding, tire covering hides were innovated and tested

found while browsing through the Automotor Journal on Google books

the dreams and drawings of the early balloonists (pilots were called professors)

 pretty good idea for early balloonists... an escape parachute for the basket and passengers. Early on there was no idea what to do once you got it off the gorund, just go for the ride and hope you had a soft landing

all found on http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?trg=1&word=Balloons%20%2D%2D%20Pictorial%20works&s=3&notword=&d=&c=&f=2&k=0&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&num=100&imgs=20&pNum=

Steampunkvehicles.tumblr is on a mission to post enormous amounts of railroad inspection cars. bravo!

the above gets my vote for most elegant inspection car... those couches look comfortable

 the above is the 1876 balloon car from Larkin st to Woodward's gardens, built by Henry Casebolt

get a look at the front windows, I think there are 6 tilting panels

 1910 or earlier is my guess, one big old tourer, comfortable too I bet.

portable turn table, because as I just recently learned from Steampunkvehicles, the darn cars only cool properly when the air is rushing in through the radiator in the proper direction

  I think the above and below are the same vehicle

 Above a Buick, below a Dodge

for more: http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com/

Von Dutch work you may not have seen

 According to the book "Von Dutch: The Art, The Myth, The Legend" the first airbrushed "monster" shirts were done by Von Dutch, and I've posted earlier that a lot of others got into that business, Ed Roth, Jeffries, and Mouse were selling them http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/monster%20shirts

 This is the dash of the Hirohota Merc

Chrismans famous "Old 25" http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/05/oldest-surviving-dragster-and-it-was.html the oldest known hot rod

this is a very sought after piece of racing car history. No one knows where it is, but everyone knows that is was on the front of the Chavaliers club race car

 I like the louvered fenders with flames, it's very unique, and I doubt anyone ever copied it

 This was the first I'd learned that Reventon had Vond Dutch pinstripe and number the scarabs

 The above Corvette was the daily drive of Eric Rickman, best known of all the Hot Rod photographers

 I'm sure this van has to have went to a junkyard long ago, but if it ever turns up it will be a treasure of Von Dutch's work... hell, what an eyeball on the nose!

and Von Dutch's Kenford, and the adjustment levers are just damn terrific. Not shown is "Le Dump Tube" that Von Dutch put into through the floor so he could get rid of beer cans before cops found them in his truck...

He didn't think a door handle was cool, because anyoen could use it to get in... so he made his own wrench to open the door from the outside. This is a cool custom idea.

 Stan Betz was a louver puncher and body man, and possibly Von Dutch's best friend, and beneficiary of a ton of free work, and knives and guns

 the above flame jopb is comical and ingenious, the yellow flame telling the sperm following him to turn back, it's a blow job. Yup, right on Stans business truck fender. Von Dutch was in such high demand for so much of his life that it made him bitter, obnoxious, and he offended many people just to get breathing room, the rest he bacame a hermit to get away from.