JoJo Christy finally has her 1973 Tradesman van back after three months in the shop. It broke down before the Burbank Textile & Clothing Show, which should not be interpreted as an omen. Reports are that several dealers made it to the show with their cars intact. ”The rear end went out,” she said. The mechanic spent most of the time looking for replacement parts for her old classic.
Category Archives: Mechanical
Patris' '56 T-Bird takes home Best in Class at its first car show since restoration
The leading authority on Mt. Lowe, Michael Patris, has now made a name for himself in the world of classic cars. His recently restored peacock turquoise and Colonial white 1956 Thunderbird won first place in a car show on September 19th.It won First Place, Best in Class, 1950-1959 Modified Vehicles, according to Patris. The car that belonged to his father remained in storage for years. ”There were nearly 500 vehicles total and who know how many in our class,” said Patris. “We had a great time, and it is always nice to be recognized for the immense amount of work that it takes to put a car like this back together.” The car is finished in its original colors, but he did make some improvements in the name of safety and luxury. He upgraded the brakes to front wheel disc instead of drum. Air conditioning has been added as well as a 10 disc CD changer in the trunk. The original 312 V8 engine and automatic transmission were rebuilt. ”Everything has been restored…every nut, bolt, piece of glass and chrome, as well as the upholstery,” he said. Patris is best known for being an advocate for Mt. Lowe and is the president of the Mt. Lowe Preservation Society. In 2007, he completed the first in a three book series dedicated to the now-defunct railway in the San Gabriel Mountains. Entitled
practice bomb takes to the sea
A shark-faced practice bomb cut through the waters of dealer Bobby Campbell’s space at the June Long Beach Show. ”I cut the fins and made a shark out of it,” he said. He hopes the 40-year-old bomb, which persevered through several trial runs, would explode for $200. For more information, contact Campbell at (714) 313-4398. PRACTICE BOMBS Practice bombs are used to simulate the same ballistic properties of service type bombs. They are manufactured as either solid cast metal bodies or thin sheet metal containers. Since pratice bombs contain no explosive filler, a signal (smoke) cartridge is used for visual observation during target impact. Dummy bombs, as they are sometimes called, provide a low cost training device for pilot and ground handling crews. There are two general practice bomb categories: Subcaliber (smaller and lighter than the real thing) and full-scale.
Mt. Lowe collector fixes up father's car
After two years in the shop, the Peacock turquoise and Colonial white 1956 Thunderbird got its first taste of gravel thanks to Mt. Lowe enthusiast Michael Patris.The rubber met the road for the first time in a long time on July 2nd. Patris, founder of the Mt. Lowe Society and an author of a book on the subject, had a special attachment to the one-owner car; the one owner was his father. ”I last drove the car in high school on three or four occasions and after 1978 it sat dormant until I began to look after my father and his affairs three years ago,” he said. Patris left it with the customizations his father had made to it before he was born. ”In one photo, my mom is eight months pregnant with me in December 1959,” he said. “Following my birth not much was done to the car and it was my mom’s driver as well as the car I came home in from the hospital.” The car is finished in its original colors, but he did make some improvements in the name of safety and luxury. He upgraded the brakes to front wheel disc instead of drum. Air conditioning has been added as well as a 10 disc CD changer in the trunk. The original 312 V8 engine and automatic transmission were rebuilt. ”Everything has been restored…every nut, bolt, piece of glass and chrome, as well as the upholstery,” he said. 1956 Ford Thunderbird The 1956 was the rarest of the classic thunderbirds, with a production totaling only 15,631. Patris’ was top of the line, featuring the portholes, which were offered for better visibility, but went on to become one of the more distinctive features of the Thunderbird. Other design changes from 1955 to 1956 included the relocation of the spare tire from the trunk to the exterior of the car right above the newly extended bumper. The most important last minute “improvement” was the addition of the optional 312 CIV V-8 engine, which gave this second edition of the Thunderbird increased performance and more of a sport’s car feel. The 1956 Thunderbird also saw and increase in price with the hardtop now selling for $2,944 and the convertible selling for $3,019. With options, like the ones Patris’ father selected, the price jumped all the way to $3,800. The classic two-seater Thunderbird was only sold for three years, 1955-1957, making this car a true gem indeed. When the rubber meets the rail The car that traveled up the Mt. Lowe Incline Patris’ heart is never far from his true passion: Mt. Lowe. When he wasn’t overseeing the restoration of his father’s 1956 Thunderbird, he was busy acquiring a different type of car for the Mt. Lowe Preservation Society
Apollo astronaut's teaching aids
Although they look like rocket ship bubble gum vendors, the two rockets offered in the space of Farnsworth, were actually teaching tools. According to Farnsworth, they were props from the collection of Dirk Gordon, one of the Apollo astronauts who went to the moon. He used the miniature rockets during his many speaking engagements. ”He had an engineer make these so he could put them up in the lobby of the hotel that he was speaking at,” he explained. The prop rockets launch for $500 (for the pair). Farnsworth can be contacted at (415) 302-2197. Richard F. Gordon walked in space on Gemini XI and orbited the moon on Apollo XII. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the moon. NASA selected Gordon as an astronaut in 1963. He made his first space flight as pilot on the 3-day Gemini XI Mission, launched September 12th, 1966. Gordon was subsequently assigned as back-up command module pilot for Apollo 9, and in November 1969, he flew as command module pilot of Apollo 12, the second manned mission to land on the Moon. While his crewmates Peter Conrad and Alan Bean landed in the Ocean of Storms, Gordon remained in lunar orbit aboard the command module, Yankee Clipper, obtaining desired mapping photographs of tentative landing sites for future missions. In all, Gordon completed two space flights, logging a total of 315 hours and 53 minutes in space, 2 hours and 44 minutes of which were spent in EVA. Captain Gordon retired from NASA in January of 1972. In addition to his outer space achievements, he won the Bendix Trophy Race from Los Angeles to New York in May 1961, in which he established a new speed record in a jet of 869.74 miles per hour and a transcontinental speed record of 2 hours and 47 minutes.
Plant stand weighs in at $4,500
Dealer Pat Trujillo had to stop curious passersby from stepping up to his plant stand and trying to get it to reveal their weight. Shaped much like coin-operated carnival scales and fortune teller machines, this wood and ivory marquetry plant stand has no coin receptacle. Its main purpose was to look good. According to Trujillo, the circa 1850 hand carved Italian piece would likely stand in an entryway as both a plant support and a striking showstopper. He hoped it would weigh in at $4,500.
Forced to take his wife's station wagon
Zac’s Attic owner Dave McPheeters was forced to rough it after his 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan “Town & Country” left him stranded on the way to the Long Beach Special Show on May 31st.”I lost my power steering, the engine lights were going on and it started ringing,” he said. He was only two miles away from his house in San Diego when his van started acting up. But this wasn’t going to stop the determined dealer from making it to the show. He let it cool down for a few minutes and then courageously took surface streets all the way home so that he could swap vehicles. ”I transferred as much merchandise as I could from my van to my wife’s car,” he said. Unfortunately, he was forced to leave about two-thirds of his inventory behind.
Brereton's futuristic illustrations tell tales of travel fantasy
As always, Streamline Illustrations proprietor Leo Brereton dazzled with his futuristic prototype drawings of transportation. However, they were not all fantasy drawings at the Los Angeles Modernism Show.He offered a presentation calendar for the Standard Oil Company that may have actually been printed. Very Deco in style, with streamlined, speeding car, zephyr train, oil tanker, and airplane, only one thing was missing
Evolution of electric clocks
Early electric clocks from the 1920s through the 1950s were the secret display at this year’s Antique Clock and Watch Show, held at the Pasadena Center the same day as the Los Angeles Pottery Show. ”This is the first display in the nation of electric clocks,” said Marshall Knowles. The earliest ones, from the 1920s, used gothic, Colonial Revival and round top wooden frames, according to Knowles. In the 1930s, the style started modernizing. The frames were stepped and streamlined and made out of metals, not strictly wood. The earliest digital clocks appeared in the ’30s, along with chiming versions. In the 1940s, styles changed even more. Foreshadowing the upcoming war in America, one manufacturer made a clock in the form of an airplane in the early 1940s. ”They were already fighting in Europe,” explained Knowles. One of the things that characterized the clocks of the 1950s was the ample use of glass. ”They wanted to show that they were modern and that they were moving away from the past,” explained Knowles. It was during the time that TV clocks appeared, for obvious reasons. FRANK, here are the CAPTIONS The circa 1930 Parker Pens advertising clock is a cross collectible, not only appealing to clock collectors, but advertising collectors as well. The hands on the electric clock are shaped like fountain pens. It has a Mandarin Yellow second hand. Taxi cab clock High end Art Deco chrome clock that functions much like a hotel clock, 1946. The clock would sit in the dispatch office and it would alert the dispatcher when regular customers needed to be picked up at predetermined times. Hall China wall clock Circa 1949. A whole line of ceramic framed clocks were made to complement their china.
salas mini shoeshine polishes for $125
It wasn’t just typical miniature wringer washers and ovens that filled dealer Al Sala’s space at the recent Del Mar Show. He brought some of his more unusual patent models and salesman samples to the show
