Category: Uncategorized

Living here in the backwater affords few opportunities for encounters in the flesh, up close & personal, of even mildly exotic equipment like the new generation C-7.  I was photographing her Stingray when the grandmotherly Zola came upon me, introduced herself and proceeded to regale me with facts and figures and stories about her three-month-old machine.  So I learn that hers is one of the “lesser” variants, at a mere 455 horsepower and 460 foot-pounds of torque, that a design parameter for the rear luggage compartment was the capacity to hold exactly two golf bags, that it has five computerized driving modes from Wet to Track, that Track mode provides a stiff ride but amazing handling and responsiveness with five levels of further adjustment, that the interior glows in soft blue, and much more.  And she did open the passenger door to point out the “oh-sh#t” grab rail.  The harsh midday sunlight made photographing a real challenge, but I did try to get a few images:

Whoops.  This was supposed to go in my car blog, not the family journal.  Oh, well …

Too hot.  Again.  Finally made it outside the house at 8pm, still under heavy sun.  Tried to get the Hulking Beast to run a bit, while we watch Kim spot-water in the back yard.

 

 

See video at:  

http://aeon.co/video/philosophy/the-power-of-outrospection-trading-introspection-for-empathy/

The last several days — and it isn’t really over yet — have been consumed by the huge yard/estate sale managed and operated by Ivi, Marina, Sandy and Lauren, with volunteer assists from some parents and friends.  (Yours truly was on hard for some some input here and there, but mostly in the background, especially due to my accidental attempts to sever a thumb and finger — which has also impaired the ability to do much camera work or computer keyboarding.)   Officially underway for only two days, people are still appearing to try to make the odd bargain purchase.  Over 40 people were queued up, started an hour early, for the opening bell.  The free ice water, iced tea and, especially, lemonade were consumed at prodigious rates.  As luck would have it,  Saturday’s temp hit 102 F. and today — still sorting the residual items for donation, craigslisting, ebay-ing, whatever — is forecast to hit 106.  

 

 

My post of the other day, showing the Farmall H tractor from the Elgin car show, has inspired an email exchange with my brother.  He furnishes this picture of another tractor we had, an Allis-Chalmers WD, somewhat advanced compared to the H.  Dennis recalls that it was, however, slower than the H in “road gear”.

This dialog also inspired my memories of the contemptible F12 and F20 series of Farmalls. These were produced in the 30s and were quite primitive — the metal steering wheel and seat, combined with lack of good muffler and extreme engine heat, made them very uncomfortable.  (And if the front wheels hit a rock or ditch, wrenching them at an angle, the spinning metal steering wheel could literally break your arm or wrist.  You learned to never grip the wheel by the spokes, just the outer rim.) I recall having to stand and brace myself against the axle housing to gain the leverage to move the steering wheel a full turn. I believe these tractors were owned by my grandfather and my uncle, but I often drove them. The worst duty was to try to maintain a straight line down corn rows with the frame-mounted cultivator on the beast of a tractor. The ones I knew were blackened and covered with rust, but you can get an idea from this restored example.

And Dennis finds an example that is a bit more representative (although this one is pictured with a muffler!):

Views from the back yard, seeking out Charlie’s secret and not-so-secret places, and spying on Ivi as she toils in the kitchen …

 

 

After what seemed like weeks (actually a day or so in Corvallis, then nearly a week in Portland), Ivi drives in at about 8:30pm.    She arrives with Trader Joe bounty and regales us (minor abridged version) with tales of her adventures, deferring major regaling until tomorrow.  And she reminds us that this could be a watershed event, as it is the first time that she has made an almost all-day road trip completely solo where she alone could make the decisions about where and when to take rest stops.

 

 

And as Ivi advises that she is needing new backgrounds for her desktop —  she usually does Charlie portraits for that purpose — here are some more choices.

In the back yard, around 8:30pm, an hour or two after the rain …

 

 

It’s a 1928 Mack logging truck.  

I’ve passed by it a couple of times on the way to Bi-Mart, but today Kim was happy to stop and read the New York Times Review of Books (always at hand in the PF for just such delays) while I jumped out to take a few quick snaps.  The lighting conditions were at their very worst, and I only had the old point-and-shoot along, but I was  soon engrossed in inspecting & documenting.  And the owner, identifying himself as Jerry, soon appeared and proceeded to unwind a lengthy dissertation on the truck’s history, features, provenance and his adventures bringing it back to life.

Jerry found the thing up to its axles in mud, where it had been since 1947, the last time it was started.  Amazingly, with just new belts, hoses, spark plugs, wiring, and oil; cleaning of carburetor and felt oil filters; and radiator repair, it started up and ran.  Cranking the four-banger quickly started it and it ran quite smoothly in my presence.  Jerry pointed out a number of unique features including a large inspection port providing access directly to the crankshaft.  The original tires had become hard as rock with missing chunks, but were replaced with new ones, readily found to fit.  Rated top speed for the torquey, geared-down four-cylinder was 27 mph.  Rear axle ratio was something like 9.3:1.   The radiator and oil pan are aluminum.  Electric lights, but manual crank starter.  And on and on.

Jerry has the original factory build sheet, with part numbers for every component, which he has been inspecting to confirm for authenticity and possible replacement, if needed.  It turns out be a numbers-matching classic (!), for those who were wondering.

Jerry says he has been around the block a few times with it, and down the street to Bi-Mart, and invited me back for a ride (after a few more tweaks that are in progress) and when a better photographic set of conditions exist.