Ah, the good ole days, of mischief and mayhem, and a lot of phun things to do too!
Needless to say, I was heavily into car racing during my early dating years.
So heading out to the various tracks every weekend was a norm for me.
Many of them were between 50 and 100 miles away for the stock car races.
I switched from stock cars to drag racing after I was pinned in an old car I bought for a figure-8 race.
The rule is never hit a drivers door during one of these races, but accidents do happen.
And I was pinned in the car, on its side, with Allison Fuel dripping down on me.
One spark as they cut me out and I would have been a goner for sure.
I made quite a bit of money doing stock car racing, but that event was it for me.
Drag racing was phun also, and although I did win a lot, it took that much to rebuild the engine each week, and/or beef it up even more. Plus I loved to beef up the cars I used for everyday too. Just not quite as much because I needed them to be reliable too in order to get to work, hi hi.
I had a 1966 Impala SS 396 we bored out to 406 with 13:1 Jahns Pistons, white sheet cam, Muncie gearbox, Hurst shifter, Posi-track rear end with something larger than 4:11 gears like I used in my drag cars so I could drive it to work easily enough.
Later I added a Hendrix Frame under it, and a bit more souping up. But no blower or tunnel ram on a street car, although it did boast a pair of Holly 4-barrels, Hooker headers, etc.
I built up my '68 Camaro in much the same way, still usable on the street. But for the drag races, I picked up a wrecked '69 Camaro and we built it to the hilt. For once I was making more money racing than I was spending on the cars, hi hi.
Although I never made it into the magazines. I beat many of the popular cars of the era, such as Color Me Gone, and the Backup Pickup, and others. I wouldn't travel to other tracks to compete, mainly because they were too far away, or not just like the track I normally raced at. I have numerous trophies in the garage collecting dust, which meant, I didn't get the money, hi hi. But they were nice to look at lined up in my living room for years.
We had tons of places we could go to park and neck-out, and the one most popular I want to was Corrisand Beach by the Meramec River. My mom and dad used to go to Corrisand Beach when it was a popular entertainment place both before and shortly after the war. But then it became abandoned. I guess all the kids my dad's age got married and settled down, hi hi.
I would never have known about the place at all, if it were not for my dad taking us there on a small fishing trip once. He spent the entire night telling me about all the booths and games and foods that were served there. He even pointed out where each building and booth used to be as well, plus a huge dining pavilion, and where the dance floor was. It helped that he had some pictures of it back home for me to look at, and I wish he still had them, as he had hundreds of pictures, but none of that place were in the batch he gave me, and mom said she didn't know what happened to them either.
Servers, Multiple
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Re: Servers, Multiple
I knew a few guys who were automobile nuts and into racing. I don't think any of them raced at a track, but I could be wrong about that. They were all into street racing which, of course, was illegal and dangerous. There were a couple well known 1/4 mile strips of road that they favored because they were not well patrolled. There was one, however, just on the border of the city where part of a forest preserve was the boundary. The big thing there was not who had the biggest and fastest car, but who had the best record of being hauled in by the police. LOL They all met a Skips which was a very popular local drive in that existed well before McDonalds. Wife and I would go there all the time for their beef sandwiches and overhear a lot of the stores told by the kids hanging around. Unfortunately, the method they used to stop the racing was to shut down Skips. It moved to another location but never was as popular there.
I'm curious about your comment, "I had a 1966 Impala SS 396 we bored out to 406 with 13:1"
That can't be a lot of increase in the cylinder bore given (I'm guessing) there were eight cylinders. Was that extra 10 cubic inches really worth the time and expense needed to get there?
I'm curious about your comment, "I had a 1966 Impala SS 396 we bored out to 406 with 13:1"
That can't be a lot of increase in the cylinder bore given (I'm guessing) there were eight cylinders. Was that extra 10 cubic inches really worth the time and expense needed to get there?
Re: Servers, Multiple
It was a MAJOR increase in horsepower when you combine the larger piston diameter, with the higher compression from the dome pistons. Plus there were other things like multiple-angle valves, a white sheet cam, aka high lift cam, and a manifold that held two Holly 4-bbl carbs. Put it all together and you have around 600 horsepower from what was originally around 350 horsepower. But there was more to it than that also. A tuned exhaust system, Hendrix frame to handle that much torque, and super wide rear tires, but not too wide it caused the car to pull a wheelie off the starting line.
My Camaro had a Schaeffer Rev-Lox clutch which meant the drive shaft and other gears had to be stronger than stock too.
Yes it was a lot of money, but it meant I won the Big Bucks which made up for it.
It wasn't until near the end of my racing career that they would start cars at different times, not at the same time on the Xmas Tree. They might let another car have a 1/10th second leadtime, before your light turned green.
But before they did that, cars were put in their own class for the race. So a car with more edge than the one you were racing against, usually meant you were into the money purse.
Also, I found a money class offered in which there was no one in that class. So I built a small rail with a slant-6 Dodge engine on it. It didn't really cost all that much to build, and two races would pay for it easily. I ran a total of four races, against nobody, so naturally I got the purse each time. Then they changed the rules, you have to be running against someone to take a cash prize. So when they started pitting me against other 6-cylinder light cars that were built to the hilt, I couldn't beat them unless I did the same thing, and I didn't want to put more money into that kind of car. I never liked rails to being with.
Down in the city of St. Louis was a long street that was deserted at night, the name Hall Street. In the section we used for racing, there were only like four other entrances to that road, so other guys would block those entrances with their cars just to make sure there was no innocent victims getting plowed into. I rarely if ever did any racing on the street, except for the stop light to stop light mini-races when another hot car was next to you at a stop light.
In fact, that is how I sorta destroyed my 66 Impala. I had sold it to someone and was on my way to deliver it to them, when a Mustang was along side me at the stoplight on Manchester Road at Kirkwood Road. I knew I could beat him to the next mutually agreed on break point, only about 1/16th mile. I knew his car was hot so gave mine more than the normal amount and ended up blowing the whole rear end out from under my car. I literally snapped that Hendrix frame off. So there I am, sitting in a busy intersection, with my back wheels, axle and part of my frame laying in the intersection. My car itself was just beyond the intersection, so a bunch of guys helped roll my rear end over to the back of where my car sat, in the road.
I called Art Meder to come with his flatbed truck, not his normal tow truck, as he will have to crank my car up onto the bed of the truck with a winch, and then use the winch again to get my rear end off the road and up on the truck.
I only had him take my car to Probst Welding to put the back end and frame back together. Then it would have to go the Body shop to fix the body, and replace the gas tank, which got a hole in it when he used the winch to pull the car up and onto the back of his flatbed truck.
And would you believe, with all of that going on, not a single cop showed up on the scene of that super busy intersection, hi hi. Well, one did after my car was on the truck and we were ready to pull out. I assume he was there to see why the cars were backed up on Kirkwood Road, hi hi.
We had so many drag strips in and around St. Louis County, there was no real reason to be racing on the streets.
But we LOVED to make our rounds of all the drive-in restaurants. About a 100 mile round trip every single night, from Schneithorsts, to Chain of Rocks area, downtown hitting several as far south as Hampton Steak n Shake, and our local group always ended up the Kirkwood Steak n Shake.
They'll never be another era like our fabulous Muscle Car Era, that's for sure!
My Camaro had a Schaeffer Rev-Lox clutch which meant the drive shaft and other gears had to be stronger than stock too.
Yes it was a lot of money, but it meant I won the Big Bucks which made up for it.
It wasn't until near the end of my racing career that they would start cars at different times, not at the same time on the Xmas Tree. They might let another car have a 1/10th second leadtime, before your light turned green.
But before they did that, cars were put in their own class for the race. So a car with more edge than the one you were racing against, usually meant you were into the money purse.
Also, I found a money class offered in which there was no one in that class. So I built a small rail with a slant-6 Dodge engine on it. It didn't really cost all that much to build, and two races would pay for it easily. I ran a total of four races, against nobody, so naturally I got the purse each time. Then they changed the rules, you have to be running against someone to take a cash prize. So when they started pitting me against other 6-cylinder light cars that were built to the hilt, I couldn't beat them unless I did the same thing, and I didn't want to put more money into that kind of car. I never liked rails to being with.
Down in the city of St. Louis was a long street that was deserted at night, the name Hall Street. In the section we used for racing, there were only like four other entrances to that road, so other guys would block those entrances with their cars just to make sure there was no innocent victims getting plowed into. I rarely if ever did any racing on the street, except for the stop light to stop light mini-races when another hot car was next to you at a stop light.
In fact, that is how I sorta destroyed my 66 Impala. I had sold it to someone and was on my way to deliver it to them, when a Mustang was along side me at the stoplight on Manchester Road at Kirkwood Road. I knew I could beat him to the next mutually agreed on break point, only about 1/16th mile. I knew his car was hot so gave mine more than the normal amount and ended up blowing the whole rear end out from under my car. I literally snapped that Hendrix frame off. So there I am, sitting in a busy intersection, with my back wheels, axle and part of my frame laying in the intersection. My car itself was just beyond the intersection, so a bunch of guys helped roll my rear end over to the back of where my car sat, in the road.
I called Art Meder to come with his flatbed truck, not his normal tow truck, as he will have to crank my car up onto the bed of the truck with a winch, and then use the winch again to get my rear end off the road and up on the truck.
I only had him take my car to Probst Welding to put the back end and frame back together. Then it would have to go the Body shop to fix the body, and replace the gas tank, which got a hole in it when he used the winch to pull the car up and onto the back of his flatbed truck.
And would you believe, with all of that going on, not a single cop showed up on the scene of that super busy intersection, hi hi. Well, one did after my car was on the truck and we were ready to pull out. I assume he was there to see why the cars were backed up on Kirkwood Road, hi hi.
We had so many drag strips in and around St. Louis County, there was no real reason to be racing on the streets.
But we LOVED to make our rounds of all the drive-in restaurants. About a 100 mile round trip every single night, from Schneithorsts, to Chain of Rocks area, downtown hitting several as far south as Hampton Steak n Shake, and our local group always ended up the Kirkwood Steak n Shake.
They'll never be another era like our fabulous Muscle Car Era, that's for sure!
Re: Servers, Multiple
Obviously you were one wild and crazy kid. I got all excited just reading about your adventures. Plus, I would have to agree with your observation that there never was another era like the Muscle Car one. Today those cars would cost something in the range of a small house. There is something going on here around O'Fallon, however. I hear cars with tuned exhausts frequently and just the other day saw a truck with an illuminated undercarriage. That kind of lighting would be illegal in Illinois. I know because I looked into it one year. There are also a lot of classic car shows and several of those old cars can be seen driving down Main Street on a warm summer day. So, people here are into custom cars, but I don't know about the racing or if there is any.
Talking about deserted streets in STL, I was reminded of a trip I had to make to St Charles not too long ago. I had to go there after midnight and was literally shocked at the traffic between here and there. There was none. Zero. Zilch. a few gas stations and convenience stores were open, but I didn't see any patrons. Also, did not see one police vehicle. It was a very creepy experience seeing the streets and roads so empty at that time of the night. I've never seen anything like it near Chicago and I've been on the streets there frequently well after midnight. There always is some traffic, and the police are visible. Strange place this Missouri is.
Talking about deserted streets in STL, I was reminded of a trip I had to make to St Charles not too long ago. I had to go there after midnight and was literally shocked at the traffic between here and there. There was none. Zero. Zilch. a few gas stations and convenience stores were open, but I didn't see any patrons. Also, did not see one police vehicle. It was a very creepy experience seeing the streets and roads so empty at that time of the night. I've never seen anything like it near Chicago and I've been on the streets there frequently well after midnight. There always is some traffic, and the police are visible. Strange place this Missouri is.
Re: Servers, Multiple
Under car lights are not allowed here either, but a lot of show cars have them and turn them on when they are having a parade of cars on an assigned day for same. Tons of antique cars down here, usually out in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg where all the shows are.
Almost all the Drag Strips have closed down, since there are not enough street class cars to keep them in business.
We have three I think it is, monster truck dirt places for them to climb hills, go in the mud, do tricks and stuff.
But car shows, there are a ton of them down here.
Speaking of antique cars, there is a place that sells and services them in St. Charles. I should know the address as they are right across the side street where my brothers warehouses are. Went through there several times when I was back home visiting.
Heck, I remember when Des Peres did not have a police department, and the county Sheriff only came through town about once a week, unless he was called over some incident. And when we did get a combined police/fire department, we only had perhaps two police cars for years. Up until they separated the police from the fire and then we had four cop cars, hi hi.
Of course, that grew exponentially as the town grew.
Down here is a joke, tons of police, none doing their jobs, and most are busy breaking the law themselves.
It's sad really to see how blatantly the cops disregard the law, and most city officials do as well.
Almost all the Drag Strips have closed down, since there are not enough street class cars to keep them in business.
We have three I think it is, monster truck dirt places for them to climb hills, go in the mud, do tricks and stuff.
But car shows, there are a ton of them down here.
Speaking of antique cars, there is a place that sells and services them in St. Charles. I should know the address as they are right across the side street where my brothers warehouses are. Went through there several times when I was back home visiting.
Heck, I remember when Des Peres did not have a police department, and the county Sheriff only came through town about once a week, unless he was called over some incident. And when we did get a combined police/fire department, we only had perhaps two police cars for years. Up until they separated the police from the fire and then we had four cop cars, hi hi.
Of course, that grew exponentially as the town grew.
Down here is a joke, tons of police, none doing their jobs, and most are busy breaking the law themselves.
It's sad really to see how blatantly the cops disregard the law, and most city officials do as well.
Re: Servers, Multiple
Restoring antique autos is a wonderful endeavor. I think it's something I could wrap my mind around if I had the money and the inclination. I have seen some restored cars that look better than when they came of the assembly line for the first time. The amazing part of it all is that all the materials and parts needed for restoration can still be had. I would never think a business that sells replacement parts for antique autos would be able to stay profitable. After all, how many antiques are still out there? All I know is that the shows around town are well attended so that there is an interest. I did not know there was a dealer in St Charles, but it makes sense if O'Fallon is any indication of the interest in general.
I am happy to report that I only met O'Fallon's best one time when I had to have a crash report issued. I've not seen or heard many stories about corruption in the police department, but there is a ton of news about corruption coming out of St Louis County. Most of it is in the upper ranks, but police brutality does show up in headlines on occasion. I haven't seen any active law breaking police officers here, but that just means I might not be very observant. I think you told me once that they cleaned up things a while ago and all the crooked cops are now living in Tennessee. LOL
I am happy to report that I only met O'Fallon's best one time when I had to have a crash report issued. I've not seen or heard many stories about corruption in the police department, but there is a ton of news about corruption coming out of St Louis County. Most of it is in the upper ranks, but police brutality does show up in headlines on occasion. I haven't seen any active law breaking police officers here, but that just means I might not be very observant. I think you told me once that they cleaned up things a while ago and all the crooked cops are now living in Tennessee. LOL
Re: Servers, Multiple
Down in St. Louis City was a metal fabricating plant. They had molds for every fender on every US made car. Which later they could get rid of the stamping molds as computer technology allowed them to form a fender or door panel for any car foreign or domestic if they had the computer program to do so.
I needed a fender for an older Nova. I was surprised when the guy said, I don't have one in stock, but if you come back in 15 minutes I will have one ready for you. They only charged me 35 bucks for the fender which surprised the daylights out of me. He also asked me how the floor of the car was, since most of them rusted out pretty fast. I told him couldn't take the car apart to put in a new floor. He said no, we have flooring sections for the drivers and passenger side, only 10 bucks each, and they fit right in over the existing floor perfectly. Heck for that price I took one for each side of the front of the car. Glad I did too!
He could make fenders for nearly every Ford model from the Model T and on up. And for many Chevrolet cars from the 1940s on up. They only did the sheet metal work, primed in black. You couldn't buy a hood, but you could buy both the skin and the framework for a hood, or a door for that matter.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s one could go there and order car body parts made of aluminum instead of steel also. So they did a big business on race cars wanting to lighten the body of the car up. But all structural components had to be made of the proper gauge steel for the part.
Most of the cops I knew growing up were honest and fair. Well, except for the City of Marlborough, which got so bad, the state came in and shut down that police department. But like anything else, as the years rolled on, the corruption kept growing. And as you pointed out, most of it was in the higher ups, not the beat cops per se.
Des Peres, Kirkwood, Rock HIll, Webster Groves, Sunset Hills, and other towns all had the three strikes rule for officers. So did Manchester, but not Ballwin, Ellisville or Crestwood, and I don't know about other towns.
But when I moved South, I couldn't believe how corrupt the cops down here were, and it gets worse as you climb the ranks of local governments. I'm sure there are a few good ones mixed in there, I do see one or two who stand out from the crooks.
I needed a fender for an older Nova. I was surprised when the guy said, I don't have one in stock, but if you come back in 15 minutes I will have one ready for you. They only charged me 35 bucks for the fender which surprised the daylights out of me. He also asked me how the floor of the car was, since most of them rusted out pretty fast. I told him couldn't take the car apart to put in a new floor. He said no, we have flooring sections for the drivers and passenger side, only 10 bucks each, and they fit right in over the existing floor perfectly. Heck for that price I took one for each side of the front of the car. Glad I did too!
He could make fenders for nearly every Ford model from the Model T and on up. And for many Chevrolet cars from the 1940s on up. They only did the sheet metal work, primed in black. You couldn't buy a hood, but you could buy both the skin and the framework for a hood, or a door for that matter.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s one could go there and order car body parts made of aluminum instead of steel also. So they did a big business on race cars wanting to lighten the body of the car up. But all structural components had to be made of the proper gauge steel for the part.
Most of the cops I knew growing up were honest and fair. Well, except for the City of Marlborough, which got so bad, the state came in and shut down that police department. But like anything else, as the years rolled on, the corruption kept growing. And as you pointed out, most of it was in the higher ups, not the beat cops per se.
Des Peres, Kirkwood, Rock HIll, Webster Groves, Sunset Hills, and other towns all had the three strikes rule for officers. So did Manchester, but not Ballwin, Ellisville or Crestwood, and I don't know about other towns.
But when I moved South, I couldn't believe how corrupt the cops down here were, and it gets worse as you climb the ranks of local governments. I'm sure there are a few good ones mixed in there, I do see one or two who stand out from the crooks.
Re: Servers, Multiple
I don't know how a broken police department could be fixed. I do know what they did in Chicago during the 60's and 70's. There were riots and violence in the street up to the point where the mayor had to fire the commissioner, who happened to be a popular white guy. Much of the city had people of color living in it and much like you see today there were a lot of charges about unequal treatment and racism. They finally installed a police commissioner of African American ethnicity and the civil unrest eventually cooled down. I don't know that the police department policies changed very much, but it made a difference with the new boss. Well, that new guy at the top was eventually found to be corrupt and he too had to be replaced. It was quite and peaceful relatively speaking for many years after that. I don't know the percentage of non-white residents in Chicago these days, but I believe it is well over the super majority figure when I left the state. The mayor today is also of African American ethnicity, and also a female. She is one mean lady from what I gather 330 miles out of town. LOL
They had similar problems right down the road in Ferguson just before I moved down here. I believe the same solution of changing management was applied there too. Apparently it's not all settled yet because it wasn't but a few years back they were in the headlines again with riots. Chicago and Ferguson are not aberrations. They claim voting is the way to change the system, but it seems that the only effective pressure that can be applied by the citizens is violence. So, as far as Tennessee goes, I'm guessing you have to be one of them, or you have to shoot them.
The fender making dude is truly a remarkable person. The only experience I've had that even comes close is with my dentist. I needed caps on a few of my teeth and that always involve nasty molds and weeks of waiting for them to be made by an outside lab. The last cap to be installed was different. I had the root canal done by another doctor. My dentist then did a 3-D panoramic x-ray of the area in which the cap would be installed. He diddled with the computer model a bit until it looked exactly the way he thought it should. Then he took me over to another machine that used high pressure water (I think it was water) to carve the cap out of what looked like a toadstool shaped material. It took about an hour and the cap was ready. He snapped it in place and that was that. It only cost about $1000, which he discounted for me since I was his neighbor and one of the first people to try this new technique. I'm guessing implants can be done the same way. 3-D printing is nothing short of amazing.
They had similar problems right down the road in Ferguson just before I moved down here. I believe the same solution of changing management was applied there too. Apparently it's not all settled yet because it wasn't but a few years back they were in the headlines again with riots. Chicago and Ferguson are not aberrations. They claim voting is the way to change the system, but it seems that the only effective pressure that can be applied by the citizens is violence. So, as far as Tennessee goes, I'm guessing you have to be one of them, or you have to shoot them.
The fender making dude is truly a remarkable person. The only experience I've had that even comes close is with my dentist. I needed caps on a few of my teeth and that always involve nasty molds and weeks of waiting for them to be made by an outside lab. The last cap to be installed was different. I had the root canal done by another doctor. My dentist then did a 3-D panoramic x-ray of the area in which the cap would be installed. He diddled with the computer model a bit until it looked exactly the way he thought it should. Then he took me over to another machine that used high pressure water (I think it was water) to carve the cap out of what looked like a toadstool shaped material. It took about an hour and the cap was ready. He snapped it in place and that was that. It only cost about $1000, which he discounted for me since I was his neighbor and one of the first people to try this new technique. I'm guessing implants can be done the same way. 3-D printing is nothing short of amazing.
Re: Servers, Multiple
Well the State came in and fixed Marlborough by shutting down their police department entirely, and two adjoining cities and the county handle that area. But I do think a new police department did get established there, I just don't know when.
There were a lot of race riots around the towns in St. Louis County. But I honestly think it was the insurance companies that caused a lull in a lot of the violence and property destruction. When an area began to turn bad, they would not insure any commercial buildings, especially store fronts. I know down where I had my Wonder Plants building, the insurance company would not cover glass windows, which is why it was decoratively boarded up with cedar planks on angles. That made them a wall that would be covered. We could not insure the contents of offices, but could insure manufacturing equipment. Crazy things like that. Now if you owned a retail store, you had the same problem, couldn't insure the glass nor the merchandise in the store, only the shelving and checkout counters. This made a lot of folks think twice about opening a business in problematic areas. This is also what killed the once very popular Gaslight Square. Most of the GoGo joints became stores of questionable merit to the community, and they all went without any insurance of any kind for well over a decade.
The older cars, the front fenders were usually just bolted on, along with the wheel housing inside. And even the back fenders could be replaced if you knew how, but the back fenders usually required a spot welder, especially around the trunk lip. I never replaced a whole back fender, just a quarter panel with no welding, it was designed to use pop-rivets and then Bondo, hi hi. When I was done, you couldn't tell the quarter panel was replaced at all. I have done a few door skins which isn't too bad to do, but you need that special bending clamp which cost around 89 bucks back then, probably over 300 bucks today.
I watched a company erect a concrete Silo on a farm near here using 3D printing, it was phun to watch, and it was a fairly quick process. Probably cost a lot more than buying large diameter concrete sewer pipes though and stacking them up.
The 3D printed one had an exterior wall and an interior wall with a zig zag pattern between the two walls.
The roof was also 3D printed on the ground, and then lifted up and set on the silo with a crane. The same crane they used to set up the framework for the 3D printer.
I've also seen a wall mural painted with a vertical printer, but it is a really slow process. It was a new restaurant being built, and I just happen to be there when I saw the guy bringing in the wall painting machine, so came back a couple of hours later and saw what it was doing on the wall. Only about 3 feet were done when I came back, and I watched for about a half hour and it only got another foot done, so it was slow. However, the design was in full color and very intricate too. Went back a week later hoping to see the finished product, and only found one window you could peer through. Folks were working but the wouldn't let me in to see the mural not even for a minute. I was told to come back when the restaurant opened for business.
There were a lot of race riots around the towns in St. Louis County. But I honestly think it was the insurance companies that caused a lull in a lot of the violence and property destruction. When an area began to turn bad, they would not insure any commercial buildings, especially store fronts. I know down where I had my Wonder Plants building, the insurance company would not cover glass windows, which is why it was decoratively boarded up with cedar planks on angles. That made them a wall that would be covered. We could not insure the contents of offices, but could insure manufacturing equipment. Crazy things like that. Now if you owned a retail store, you had the same problem, couldn't insure the glass nor the merchandise in the store, only the shelving and checkout counters. This made a lot of folks think twice about opening a business in problematic areas. This is also what killed the once very popular Gaslight Square. Most of the GoGo joints became stores of questionable merit to the community, and they all went without any insurance of any kind for well over a decade.
The older cars, the front fenders were usually just bolted on, along with the wheel housing inside. And even the back fenders could be replaced if you knew how, but the back fenders usually required a spot welder, especially around the trunk lip. I never replaced a whole back fender, just a quarter panel with no welding, it was designed to use pop-rivets and then Bondo, hi hi. When I was done, you couldn't tell the quarter panel was replaced at all. I have done a few door skins which isn't too bad to do, but you need that special bending clamp which cost around 89 bucks back then, probably over 300 bucks today.
I watched a company erect a concrete Silo on a farm near here using 3D printing, it was phun to watch, and it was a fairly quick process. Probably cost a lot more than buying large diameter concrete sewer pipes though and stacking them up.
The 3D printed one had an exterior wall and an interior wall with a zig zag pattern between the two walls.
The roof was also 3D printed on the ground, and then lifted up and set on the silo with a crane. The same crane they used to set up the framework for the 3D printer.
I've also seen a wall mural painted with a vertical printer, but it is a really slow process. It was a new restaurant being built, and I just happen to be there when I saw the guy bringing in the wall painting machine, so came back a couple of hours later and saw what it was doing on the wall. Only about 3 feet were done when I came back, and I watched for about a half hour and it only got another foot done, so it was slow. However, the design was in full color and very intricate too. Went back a week later hoping to see the finished product, and only found one window you could peer through. Folks were working but the wouldn't let me in to see the mural not even for a minute. I was told to come back when the restaurant opened for business.
Re: Servers, Multiple
Your observation that insurance companies probably had something to do with cooling off the "hot" summers around big cities rings true. We all know the bottom line is money. Problems arise only when people are desperate and money has no meaning to them. When money has no value there is nothing to lose by attacking the institutions you feel are unjust and working against you.
It seems as if they are 3-D printing just about everything now and days. I've read an article about human skin that can be manufactured that way. I've also read where somebody now thinks is is possible to 3-D print human organs. I guess they were looking for money to advance the project, but the concept has yet to be proven.
I've seen some of those pop rivet fender jobs and they look pretty good head on from a distance. Looking down the side of the body, however, often revealed lumps and bumps that were tell tale clues to what really happened. Always did that kind of inspection when buying used cars. Even turned down a couple because they didn't disclose the repair until I discovered it.
It seems as if they are 3-D printing just about everything now and days. I've read an article about human skin that can be manufactured that way. I've also read where somebody now thinks is is possible to 3-D print human organs. I guess they were looking for money to advance the project, but the concept has yet to be proven.
I've seen some of those pop rivet fender jobs and they look pretty good head on from a distance. Looking down the side of the body, however, often revealed lumps and bumps that were tell tale clues to what really happened. Always did that kind of inspection when buying used cars. Even turned down a couple because they didn't disclose the repair until I discovered it.
Re: Servers, Multiple
I'm sure you don't know this, but as far as all of our greenhouses went. We could either insure the glass on the roof, or the crops inside, not both. Insurance also did not cover the Cypress rails the glass was mounted in either. About the time we were selling out the place, my cousin built some fancy new aluminum and Exolite greenhouses, he knew hail would probably not hurt the greenhouses, so he insured the crop against loss for heating system failure, but there too, he could insure the crop or the heating plant, not both. He knew enough about boiler repairs and maintenance, he took the insurance only on the crops.
Never had a claim though, because the time the boiler did break down, he used supplemental heat to save the crops.
3-D printing is doing a lot of things now, even metal gears. Amazing! And to think what else they could possibly do that way.
I saw a video of a machine make Chain Mail and no two links were stuck together. I'll bet that was one doozie of a computer program to do that.
If it is done properly, you should never see where the rivets were placed. On a quarter panel, if you can't weld and must use pop rivets. The part of the fender left in place is dimpled where the rivets will go, and then the new piece is dimpled in the same places, so the rivets would be below the surface of the skin. The best place to look to see if a quarter panel was replaced, if it was the upper quarter panel is inside the trunk lip. They don't try to hide the rivets there, just place a new rubber bead over the lip is all. But normally, this area could be spot welded easily enough.
I was in an accident in a brand new car on the way home from the dealership. Got hit in the passenger side door. Their insurance company paid to fix it. I wanted a whole new door, and all they paid to get done was the skin stretched and replaced. And the lousy work they did forever left a bump in that door. Made me mad, but they wouldn't redo it. I sold that car about three weeks later and bought another new one exactly like it, and with a couple extra options.
Never had a claim though, because the time the boiler did break down, he used supplemental heat to save the crops.
3-D printing is doing a lot of things now, even metal gears. Amazing! And to think what else they could possibly do that way.
I saw a video of a machine make Chain Mail and no two links were stuck together. I'll bet that was one doozie of a computer program to do that.
If it is done properly, you should never see where the rivets were placed. On a quarter panel, if you can't weld and must use pop rivets. The part of the fender left in place is dimpled where the rivets will go, and then the new piece is dimpled in the same places, so the rivets would be below the surface of the skin. The best place to look to see if a quarter panel was replaced, if it was the upper quarter panel is inside the trunk lip. They don't try to hide the rivets there, just place a new rubber bead over the lip is all. But normally, this area could be spot welded easily enough.
I was in an accident in a brand new car on the way home from the dealership. Got hit in the passenger side door. Their insurance company paid to fix it. I wanted a whole new door, and all they paid to get done was the skin stretched and replaced. And the lousy work they did forever left a bump in that door. Made me mad, but they wouldn't redo it. I sold that car about three weeks later and bought another new one exactly like it, and with a couple extra options.
Re: Servers, Multiple
It's hard to say from where any given used car originates. Early on we would buy new or used from dealers only and that's when I was seeing lumpy panels on the cars. It looked more like seams not being perfectly feathered as opposed to rivet dimples. Another clue was to look under the hood and inside the trunk. It is sometimes possible to see the new layer of paint not exactly matching the existing old layer. After a few purchases and being burned once we never bought another used car from a dealer. We did get a demo or two but all the used cars for the last 25 years or so came from Carmax. They will take repaired cars for trade in, but they don't sell them to their customers. I've been pretty happy with them both here and up in Chicago.
Other than your greenhouse insurance stories all I've heard about was something farmers could buy called crop insurance. The couple farmers I talked to about it said it was a joke because they never paid out the market value of the crop. I think all they did was pay to reseed a new crop, or some such thing. To be honest if I were an insurance company I would not offer policies for glass houses. LOL That seems pretty risky given the kind of crazy weather that could occur just about anywhere in the country. There is insurance that will cover lost business revenues, which may or may not be the same as covering the plants themselves.
Mom loved to be the first to have anything. She was the first kid on the block to own a Pacer automobile. It looked like an upside down bathtub and was very roomy up front. The back seats however barely could accommodate two normal size adults. She bought one just a few days after they were made available to the public and parked it in our garage. The next day she was going to go shopping and got crashed into right in front of the house. It wasn't driveable but it was repairable. Unfortunately it had to sit in the shop for a couple weeks because the model was so new that replacement parts were not in the supply chain yet. The insurance people paid for everything, but there too some delay was needed due to not knowing the cost of parts not in the system yet.
Other than your greenhouse insurance stories all I've heard about was something farmers could buy called crop insurance. The couple farmers I talked to about it said it was a joke because they never paid out the market value of the crop. I think all they did was pay to reseed a new crop, or some such thing. To be honest if I were an insurance company I would not offer policies for glass houses. LOL That seems pretty risky given the kind of crazy weather that could occur just about anywhere in the country. There is insurance that will cover lost business revenues, which may or may not be the same as covering the plants themselves.
Mom loved to be the first to have anything. She was the first kid on the block to own a Pacer automobile. It looked like an upside down bathtub and was very roomy up front. The back seats however barely could accommodate two normal size adults. She bought one just a few days after they were made available to the public and parked it in our garage. The next day she was going to go shopping and got crashed into right in front of the house. It wasn't driveable but it was repairable. Unfortunately it had to sit in the shop for a couple weeks because the model was so new that replacement parts were not in the supply chain yet. The insurance people paid for everything, but there too some delay was needed due to not knowing the cost of parts not in the system yet.
Re: Servers, Multiple
Up until I gave Debi's son her car after his was stolen, and bought her another car, that was the first time I ever bought a used car for personal use that I did know everything about that car, or truck as the case may be.
I have bought a lot of used cars over the years, but normally from the original owner.
All the rest were either new or dealer demo cars with around 100 miles on them is all.
That is until I moved down here. I bought Debi a used GMC Jimmy, like a Blazer, with a new motor for a fair price. It was a good car, traded it in on the 2002 Blazer she has now, from the shop that put a new motor in it and the customer never came to pick it back up again. It was a one owner vehicle also.
After I wrecked my 97 Blazer, I spent a year hunting for another one. Finally found one in Jefferson City and got it for only 1600 bucks. It previously had three owners, the original purchaser traded it in for a new one after one year. The person who had it after that kept it for like three or four years and sold it at 85,000 miles to the guy who then drove it another 100,000 miles, and after trying to sell it for more than it was worth, it sat for over a year, then he sold it to a used car dealership. I took it for a test drive and it ran like a top, so I couldn't pass it up for only 1,600 bucks, not when the blue book value on it was still 3 grand. I figured something had to be wrong with it, but if there was, it has never given me a problem. So far I've only had to replace the battery a couple of times, the brakes once, and of course new tires all the way around. I did have to have the serpentine belt replaced once, and a major tune up after I had it for like 3 years. But knock in simulated woodgrain, their has been no major repairs needed. It now has over 212,000 miles on it.
In over 71 years in business, after grandpa incorporated, we were only hailed out twice. And technically greenhouse glass is cheap. It is not perfect like window glass, doesn't need to be, since we spray whiting on it anyhow. And of course we provided the labor to reinstall the glass. The hard part was getting all the glass shards out of the planting beds and potted plants so no one got cut on them. Usually this meant repotting every single potted plant, and filtering the dirt in the beds used for raising indoor crops. Plus you cut the damaged leaves off of the plants that got cut up from falling glass. Unless it is below freezing, which it usually isn't during hailstorm season, most plants will recover, which is why crop insurance didn't make sense for our business.
I sorta had the same problem with parts by buying new cars. Things that shouldn't break yet, like the parking brake cable, or speedometer cable, you couldn't get right away. I always use my parking brake, and having to wait for a new brake cable, meant the rest of the brake cables all got froze in place from corrosion.
I've seen a lot of cars move every so slowly by folks who didn't use the parking brake. Usually on older cars where the engines were losing compression, so the engine could turn enough to let the car move a couple of feet when parked on a small incline. And then folks with automatics who don't use their parking brake, I've seen their cars take off down a hill, sounding like someone was stripping the gears. There was only a little V-shaped tab that rested on the gears when you put the car in park, so a slight bump or good gust of wind could get them rolling and clicking away as that pawl slid across the gear.
Almost all of our big straight trucks had two parking brakes, on the same handle. One locked the back brakes like on a car, and the other cable pulled a strap tight around the driveshaft. A few of the largest straight trucks had pin drop locks, like a nail in a hole so to speak. This type of setup meant it didn't matter how hard you pulled the brake handle, as long as it was far enough for that pin to drop into place. It wouldn't drop if you were moving, so you could still use the emergency brake to stop the vehicle.
Temperature here dropped down to 45 from 55 in only three hours yesterday. This morning when I got to my office it was 45 again, but it has since dropped down to 35, Brrrr.
I have bought a lot of used cars over the years, but normally from the original owner.
All the rest were either new or dealer demo cars with around 100 miles on them is all.
That is until I moved down here. I bought Debi a used GMC Jimmy, like a Blazer, with a new motor for a fair price. It was a good car, traded it in on the 2002 Blazer she has now, from the shop that put a new motor in it and the customer never came to pick it back up again. It was a one owner vehicle also.
After I wrecked my 97 Blazer, I spent a year hunting for another one. Finally found one in Jefferson City and got it for only 1600 bucks. It previously had three owners, the original purchaser traded it in for a new one after one year. The person who had it after that kept it for like three or four years and sold it at 85,000 miles to the guy who then drove it another 100,000 miles, and after trying to sell it for more than it was worth, it sat for over a year, then he sold it to a used car dealership. I took it for a test drive and it ran like a top, so I couldn't pass it up for only 1,600 bucks, not when the blue book value on it was still 3 grand. I figured something had to be wrong with it, but if there was, it has never given me a problem. So far I've only had to replace the battery a couple of times, the brakes once, and of course new tires all the way around. I did have to have the serpentine belt replaced once, and a major tune up after I had it for like 3 years. But knock in simulated woodgrain, their has been no major repairs needed. It now has over 212,000 miles on it.
In over 71 years in business, after grandpa incorporated, we were only hailed out twice. And technically greenhouse glass is cheap. It is not perfect like window glass, doesn't need to be, since we spray whiting on it anyhow. And of course we provided the labor to reinstall the glass. The hard part was getting all the glass shards out of the planting beds and potted plants so no one got cut on them. Usually this meant repotting every single potted plant, and filtering the dirt in the beds used for raising indoor crops. Plus you cut the damaged leaves off of the plants that got cut up from falling glass. Unless it is below freezing, which it usually isn't during hailstorm season, most plants will recover, which is why crop insurance didn't make sense for our business.
I sorta had the same problem with parts by buying new cars. Things that shouldn't break yet, like the parking brake cable, or speedometer cable, you couldn't get right away. I always use my parking brake, and having to wait for a new brake cable, meant the rest of the brake cables all got froze in place from corrosion.
I've seen a lot of cars move every so slowly by folks who didn't use the parking brake. Usually on older cars where the engines were losing compression, so the engine could turn enough to let the car move a couple of feet when parked on a small incline. And then folks with automatics who don't use their parking brake, I've seen their cars take off down a hill, sounding like someone was stripping the gears. There was only a little V-shaped tab that rested on the gears when you put the car in park, so a slight bump or good gust of wind could get them rolling and clicking away as that pawl slid across the gear.
Almost all of our big straight trucks had two parking brakes, on the same handle. One locked the back brakes like on a car, and the other cable pulled a strap tight around the driveshaft. A few of the largest straight trucks had pin drop locks, like a nail in a hole so to speak. This type of setup meant it didn't matter how hard you pulled the brake handle, as long as it was far enough for that pin to drop into place. It wouldn't drop if you were moving, so you could still use the emergency brake to stop the vehicle.
Temperature here dropped down to 45 from 55 in only three hours yesterday. This morning when I got to my office it was 45 again, but it has since dropped down to 35, Brrrr.
Re: Servers, Multiple
I can't recall the last time I used the parking brake on any car I owned. That has something to do with all my cars being kept in a garage. When I traveled and had to park on an incline I always turned the wheel to the right or the left depending if I were facing uphill or downhill. That way if the brake failed the car would not roll down hill very much, if at all. In the city doing that bumped the tired against the curbing, and that car was going nowhere even if the transmission was in neutral. There are hills in Missouri but I've not yet had to leave the car unattended and parked on an incline. Everybody seems to have a level parking lot which makes parking quite easy. Cars with hand levers to pull the brake could be slowed down by using that mechanism. Many cars I've owned have a foot pedal for the parking brake and I don't see how that would do anything in an emergency situation. Shifting to a low gear would work a lot better.
I never drove a car much beyond 100k miles. I hear stories about those that well exceed 200k, and I guess modern cars are built to do that. The pre 1980 cars maxed out around 100k at which time rebuilding the engine became necessary. Now most cars don't even need a tuneup before that. Until I found Carmax I used to dispose of my old cars myself. Never had a dissatisfied customer, but I never felt totally comfortable buying used cars. I was not as good with automobiles as you were and always feared buying a lemon from a private party. When I bought the lemon from a dealer, I learned my lesson. Carmax has been very trustworthy and reliable; I don't hesitate buying anything from them.
I never drove a car much beyond 100k miles. I hear stories about those that well exceed 200k, and I guess modern cars are built to do that. The pre 1980 cars maxed out around 100k at which time rebuilding the engine became necessary. Now most cars don't even need a tuneup before that. Until I found Carmax I used to dispose of my old cars myself. Never had a dissatisfied customer, but I never felt totally comfortable buying used cars. I was not as good with automobiles as you were and always feared buying a lemon from a private party. When I bought the lemon from a dealer, I learned my lesson. Carmax has been very trustworthy and reliable; I don't hesitate buying anything from them.
Re: Servers, Multiple
It used to be, if your car rolled and caused an accident or property damage, and your parking brake was not on, the insurance company could get you to reimburse what they paid out on your behalf. I do know in later years, cars had a better parking gear in the automatics than they had in the early years of just the V-shaped pawl that dropped down over the gears.
All of our trucks had positive locking parking brakes, especially the diesel trucks, because those motors were rarely shut off during the day.
The old three on a tree column shifter cars, were easy to pop out of gear and roll away, so the parking brake was a must.
When my brake pedal hit the floor, I did downshift, but it was an automatic, and I did hit the parking brake pedal which locked up the rear tires. But it didn't do much as far as slowing the car down. Totaled my cared for baby! What caused the failure was NOT the Master Cylinder, which is a twin cylinder to start with, it was working perfectly. But the computer controlled ABS system failed during the release mode and didn't kick back in. So the computer caused my accident!
Both of my little Chevy LUV Pick-ups I ran to over 200k miles, and those were just 4-cylinders, sometimes with two or three different drivers using them. The first one I bought new, the second was given to me with only like 20 to 30k miles on it. The man's son had his drivers license taken away, and he didn't want to risk his son taking it out with no insurance on it anymore.
I offered to pay him like 750 bucks for it, and he turned it down, just told me to get the truck outta there, and we went to the title office to get the title change made. That's when I paid him 1 dollar for it, to make it a legal sale. Else we would have required getting it appraised so I knew the sales taxes I had too pay on it. I still had personal property tax, and license plate tax, and city sticker tax to get. But technically, it was free to me. I drove it until it had 207k miles and gave it away to someone else for free. Actually, I gave both of those trucks and my van away for free, just so I didn't have to keep plates on them, as I was taking care of Ruth and no longer going out to work anymore.
All of our trucks had positive locking parking brakes, especially the diesel trucks, because those motors were rarely shut off during the day.
The old three on a tree column shifter cars, were easy to pop out of gear and roll away, so the parking brake was a must.
When my brake pedal hit the floor, I did downshift, but it was an automatic, and I did hit the parking brake pedal which locked up the rear tires. But it didn't do much as far as slowing the car down. Totaled my cared for baby! What caused the failure was NOT the Master Cylinder, which is a twin cylinder to start with, it was working perfectly. But the computer controlled ABS system failed during the release mode and didn't kick back in. So the computer caused my accident!
Both of my little Chevy LUV Pick-ups I ran to over 200k miles, and those were just 4-cylinders, sometimes with two or three different drivers using them. The first one I bought new, the second was given to me with only like 20 to 30k miles on it. The man's son had his drivers license taken away, and he didn't want to risk his son taking it out with no insurance on it anymore.
I offered to pay him like 750 bucks for it, and he turned it down, just told me to get the truck outta there, and we went to the title office to get the title change made. That's when I paid him 1 dollar for it, to make it a legal sale. Else we would have required getting it appraised so I knew the sales taxes I had too pay on it. I still had personal property tax, and license plate tax, and city sticker tax to get. But technically, it was free to me. I drove it until it had 207k miles and gave it away to someone else for free. Actually, I gave both of those trucks and my van away for free, just so I didn't have to keep plates on them, as I was taking care of Ruth and no longer going out to work anymore.
Re: Servers, Multiple
I don't recall an insurance clause that required the parking brake to be engaged while parking. I suppose they could argue the resultant damages were due to negligence and not pay on that account. But then just about every car crash is due to negligence in one way or another. I don't know about that ABS failure, however. The negligence there seems to be on the part of the manufacturer. Sounds like a good case for a law suit.
That $1 payment for buying the give away car was an excellent idea. When mom died the title to her car was already signed over to me. All I had to do was go to the DMV to get the title changed. That went pretty smoothly probably because I was not the first kid to bring in a previously signed title. They knew exactly what to do to make it all legal. They also gave me a form to send to the Secretary of State so that they could assess a tax of some kind on the transaction. I think it was a standard fee to cover cases just like mine. If I recall correctly it was in the amount of $100 or something close. I believe they called it a sales tax and not an inheritance tax. The people at the DMV didn't seem to care what the relationship was. They just wanted a signed title. But, if mom sold it to me outright before her passing, I'm sure I could have avoided the tax.
They are predicting some snow for tomorrow morning. That first snow is always nice and it seems to be arriving earlier and earlier these days. One year up north it snowed for Halloween. That didn't stop the kids much. LOL
That $1 payment for buying the give away car was an excellent idea. When mom died the title to her car was already signed over to me. All I had to do was go to the DMV to get the title changed. That went pretty smoothly probably because I was not the first kid to bring in a previously signed title. They knew exactly what to do to make it all legal. They also gave me a form to send to the Secretary of State so that they could assess a tax of some kind on the transaction. I think it was a standard fee to cover cases just like mine. If I recall correctly it was in the amount of $100 or something close. I believe they called it a sales tax and not an inheritance tax. The people at the DMV didn't seem to care what the relationship was. They just wanted a signed title. But, if mom sold it to me outright before her passing, I'm sure I could have avoided the tax.
They are predicting some snow for tomorrow morning. That first snow is always nice and it seems to be arriving earlier and earlier these days. One year up north it snowed for Halloween. That didn't stop the kids much. LOL
Re: Servers, Multiple
All of our floral delivery trucks were licensed for drivers over 25 years of age, which made the fleet insurance a lot cheaper. But then we had to have two extra delivery trucks, not part of the fleet, with insurance for any age driver. Dad did this so us kids could borrow one of those two trucks for moving furniture and such when we needed to. And for making deliveries on holidays.
Grandpa sold like 5 acres to the church to build a new church, it was a donation, but to make it legal, he charged them one dollar for the property. In fact, almost all the old cars and trucks we got from the back barn, we would give grandma one dollar as the sale amount to avoid getting charged the tax based on the red book value.
It dropped down to below freezing here over the weekend, but comes up just enough during the day that it might cause it to snow. It's only 41 degrees here right now, but was 30 or below that last night again.
Grandpa sold like 5 acres to the church to build a new church, it was a donation, but to make it legal, he charged them one dollar for the property. In fact, almost all the old cars and trucks we got from the back barn, we would give grandma one dollar as the sale amount to avoid getting charged the tax based on the red book value.
It dropped down to below freezing here over the weekend, but comes up just enough during the day that it might cause it to snow. It's only 41 degrees here right now, but was 30 or below that last night again.
Re: Servers, Multiple
I just read a comment by Jeff Bezos. You know, the guy who runs Amazon and is worth about 125 BILLION dollars. Oddly enough he is not the richest kid on the block. LOL Anyway, good old Jeff said he is going to give all of his money away before he dies. All, as in 125 billion dollars worth of assets. Right now I'm thinking life would be a lot better if I had that much money, but obviously it doesn't mean a lot to Jeff. Oh, he does enjoy being wealthy, I'm sure, but he seems to think he doesn't need all those billions of dollars once he is gone. It makes me wonder if he would be selling Amazon at some time for $1, just to make it legal. 
We had just about an inch of snow fall upon us, but the temps in my back yard never went below 32℉. It all melted by lunch time when the temps were sitting around 39. This snow wasn't as nice as I recall the first snow up north being. It was wet snow and not the light powdery stuff. Wet just doesn't have the same aesthetic appeal.
We had just about an inch of snow fall upon us, but the temps in my back yard never went below 32℉. It all melted by lunch time when the temps were sitting around 39. This snow wasn't as nice as I recall the first snow up north being. It was wet snow and not the light powdery stuff. Wet just doesn't have the same aesthetic appeal.
Re: Servers, Multiple
I think they key here is in his statement "All of HIS Money," which by necessity would exclude his assets.
He could not sell Amazon per se as it is a publicly traded company, which means it is owned by the stockholders.
Now if he is the primary stockholder, he could sell his share of the company, or sell the company, but this would not affect the operations of the company nor the other shareholders.
Just wait, you are going to get more snow than you bargained for this year.
Unfortunately, so are us southerners going to get close to record snowfalls.
He could not sell Amazon per se as it is a publicly traded company, which means it is owned by the stockholders.
Now if he is the primary stockholder, he could sell his share of the company, or sell the company, but this would not affect the operations of the company nor the other shareholders.
Just wait, you are going to get more snow than you bargained for this year.
Unfortunately, so are us southerners going to get close to record snowfalls.
Re: Servers, Multiple
To be clear, I don't know how they came up with the $125 Billion net worth assigned to Jeff Bezos. And, it goes without saying that regardless of his philanthropic instincts Jeff can only control his own personal assets. He invented Amazon so to speak and that is why people say he owns it, but you and I know it's a publicly owned entity. I have no doubt Jeff is the principle stock holder, but he is only one of many. Thus if he holds true to form, and unless he does it first, his executor would need to sell his stocks and donate the proceeds to the designated party or parties. FWIW, Amazon, the company, is currently valued at $987 Billion. My comment about him selling Amazon for $1 was facetious.