In case you have to send your kitty into mortal combat.
Cat warriors armor,
strikingly handsome and yet
suitably scary.
Monthly Archive for March, 2009
Page 7 of 10
Grandma Henke wrote a post about her first car, a Ford Anglia. At first glance I didn’t remember such a car, but after taking a look at the wiki, I remembered that early 1940′s Anglias were the preferred body for Gassers! Gassers were Anglia bodies put over supercharged V8 engines for quarter-mile drag racing. This was not Grandma Henke’s Ford Anglia!
Ford Anglia
Boomspeak has my recollection of my father’s Oldsmobiles, one of which I raced on the dragstrip and later almost died in… his 1963 Oldsmobile two door Delta 88 was a real sleeper.
1963 Olds Delta 88
I would drag race it on Saturday night at Milan, MI. In those days the class to compete in was horsepower to weight ratio. I raced I/Stock Automatic. I won a very nice trophy one on of my trips.
About that trophy. It was about three feet tall, but of course, I couldn’t take it home for the mantle. A teenage boy isn’t supposed to race the family’s grocery getter. I convinced Nancy that she should keep it at her house. This arrangement worked really well, she even got to put in on top of their stereo (because they didn’t have a mantle.) I got to visit it every Saturday when I picked her up for our date.
Nancy’s mother announced one day that my mother was coming to her house to play bridge and the trophy had to go. Not just put away, she wanted it out of the house. I grabbed the trophy and threw it in the trunk and we left for our date to go neck at the drive-in.
Sometime that week the trophy ended up in our house on the dining room table. I had forgotten all about it and Mother found it when she went to put groceries in the grocery getter.
I was grounded for a couple weeks and told that any repairs as a result of my racing would put a dent in my allowance.
It did answer one question for my father. He always wondered why the left rear tire wore out so much faster than the others. (This car did not have posi-traction as explained by the cutie in My Cousin Vinny.)
Mona Lisa Vito: The car that made these two, equal-length tire marks had positraction. You can’t make those marks without positraction, which was not available on the ’64 Buick Skylark!
Vinny Gambini: And why not? What is positraction?
Mona Lisa Vito: It’s a limited slip differential which distributes power equally to both the right and left tires. The ’64 Skylark had a regular differential, which, anyone who’s been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothing.
Dad took his car to Kyle’s Mobil Station for all his service work. I worked for Kyle. Kyle didn’t let my dad know that there was an exhaust cutout installed on the car (noticeable only when the car was on the rack getting the oil changed.)
Everybody should work for a Kyle if they are racing their Father’s Oldsmobile. Remember that Grandma Henke.
Sunday Stealing: The Random Question Meme
1. How old do you look? I have no idea. I think I look Sixty, but enjoy “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
2. Where do you live? Kentucky
3. Are you waiting for something? Godot (how original is that?)
4. What’s one pet peeve of yours that is not common? TeeVee people that “pop” the B in Billions. As if we would mistake their news story might be referring a million. If anything they should be popping the TR in Trillions.
5. Do you want/have kids? Have two grownups.
6. Have you ever thought about converting your religion? No.
7. Last shocking news you heard? I really don’t recall. I’m pretty hard to shock.
8. What was the last thing you drank? Water
9. Who do you most look like in your family? Dad
10. If you could have something right now, anything, what would it be? Mucho Moola or M & M’s
11. Where does most of your family live? Only two living relatives. Daughters. No parents, no siblings, no aunts, no uncles, no neices, no nephews.
12. Where did you grow up? Allen, Michigan
13. Where do you want to go on vacation? Paris
14. Have you ever had a panic attack? No
15. What can’t you wait for? Retail clerks or if the question is asking “what are you looking forward to…” I would answer, weekends.
16. When’s the last time you told someone you loved him or her and meant it? Week ago?
17. Have your parents ever smoked pot? No – oh, this is a meme for young people isn’t it…
18. Want someone back in your life? Yes, mother
19. What do you order at the bar? Last time was The Sully. Blech. Tasted like the Hudson River. Washed it down with Mick Ultra
20. When was the last time you cried really, really hard? When our son died.
21. Ever licked someone’s cheek? Har. Ha. HaHa ahahhahahahahaa
22. What is your favorite thing to eat with peanut butter? Chocolate
23. Where were you on July 4th, 2008? In my house, it rained.
24. What are your nicknames? None. I mean I don’t have any, wouldn’t None be an awesome nickname? Hey None want some? Did you tell None to meet us?
25. If you could go back in time, how far back would you go? 1984. I loved the fashion.
Despite what Brian asserts: Matt Roloff is not a midget farmer.
[poll id="3"]
