Idiots Rule.

Further evidence that not all old cars are cool.

Brand new carpet, new door panels and new back seat with a new chrome chain steering wheel, new chrome dash componets, red skull shifter new seat covers,new dash cover,

this Nova is lowered in the rear for that badd ass look with complete RED NEON underbody kit, brand new $600.00 Jensen CD Stereo with RED sony Explode speakers.

you will need the loud stereo to hear over the lake pipes! I WILL NOT BE RESONSIBLE FOR NEIGHBORS BEING PEEED OFF AT YOU!

and a new 50 differnt sounds horn with PA system! ahoogggaaaaaaaa & "get out a my way" to name a few!

Done up WEST COAST Custom Style with all the decals and CUSTOM CAR CULTURE extras, skulls, wrench cross bones, scroll work, chrome dummy spots, wind deflectors, bullets, maltese crosses... the NOVA SS is step back to the cool days... its just plain SICK!

Custom car culture wind deflectors. Makes me embarassed to be alive.

Everything you love, everything meaningful with depth and history, all passionate authentic experiences will be appropriated, mishandled, watered down, cheapened, repackaged, marketed and sold to the people you hate.

The New Yorker of Obsessive Garages

Would you buy a carburator from this man?

After gut wrenching anticipation, I can report that American Garages (special edition of Garage Life) has arrived and did not disappoint. Sure, I wish the garage was a bit more cogent. And a fresh shave and haircut would have been a good idea. If I had more than an hour notice, I would have cleaned more than I did. Considering what it looks like in the photos, I will leave the reader to wonder how much an hour really helped. Once Kouki (the editor of Garage Life) arrived, he would not let me do so much as pick up a washer from the floor as it might wreck the 'typical American garage' look. (Links 1, 2, 3, 4)

To say I am curious as to what the magazine says would be a dramatic understatement.

Yes, that is a cobweb hanging down. And a sway bar. And the socket organization project was in full swing. And a rare wormy chestnut plant table sitting on the welding table.

Almost more than can be processed, the garage is, admittedly, quite dense. There are layers and layers of stuff packed in to every nook. Almost every day I find something really cool that I forgot I had.

The Ford Country Squire taillight is looking distinctive and fantastic. Not surprisingly, the hood is up on the Mercedes 190b. The photo of the interior of my house looks much better than it actually looks. The miracles of photography and a little Japanese text.

How Things Got Done

I am powerless over buying additional old copies of Science And Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, et al. The shelf gets deeper and deeper of these dusty gems. Flipping through the old issues, you snicker at the ridiculous inventions that look to make life more complicated and wonder what rubes thought that music made corn grow faster, but every time you hit something really cool that makes complete and total sense that was never implemented. Like parachuted escape pods for jet airliners. The best covers from my collection are on my Flickr account.

Following the Garage Life article, my garage was actually looking pretty damn tidy. Packed, not room for a toothpick or postage stamp, but pretty sound. Within just a few short minutes of looking, I could find most anything.

Sweet Mercy!

For about 12 years I have been garage saling every weekend that it is feasible. I have garage saled in Boston and Pinckneyville. I have gone to swapmeets in Dallas and Tokyo. I have shopped the boot sales of London and bought stuff at Florida estate sales. Over the years, I have bought a few cars but never anything really good. And from the look of the 1930 Ford Model A Pickup, some would say I still haven't. But, coming across a treasure chest like this - that is the stuff of dreams. It may as well say "gold doubloons" on top.

Endangered Animals of the San Fernando Valley

Protecting the booty, the backyard was filled with desert tortoises. Residents for over 25 years with a new batch every spring. The only possible reason that the desert tortoise is still considered endangered is there has not been a complete inventory of the illegal San Fernando Valley backyard desert tortoises.

Standard 6750 Square Foot SFV Post-War Tract Home Lot (a few of the square foots did not have Model A parts)

Despite the ugly, homemade space age lamp that looks like a prop for a high school Barbarella production, the rest of this stuff is, you know, real nice stuff. Real grade A junk! A few hoods, a grill shell, an oil pan, a transmission case and a visor! The garage had a ton of stuff as well. Stuff in the side yard. Another shed full of wheels. I brought a pick-up truck load home and there is at least another three loads. All marked from when he bought them at swap meets in the 70's. $1 for motor mounts. $5 for a gas pedal. $3 for a 30/31 front fender. Yeah, prices have hardly changed at all.