I Agree With Throw The Ball Already

I found this over on his blog. It is his and my idea of art.

As I mention in his comment section, if I had any room left on the wall of the Taj Mahal, one of these pieces of art would be on it.

And that old swag lamp in the background? Nah... But that clock may be a Celebrate Life magnet wannabe.

Thanks V.

Wet, Cloudy, and Dreary

That is what the weather has been today down here in the Birthplace of Speed.

Kind of like my mood since I read this about a funny blogger I have been following for quite some time.

F*cking drunk drivers.

RIP TNO.

I Pretty Much Feel This Way About Everything

Thanks

Identity Crisis?

A couple weeks ago as the olepartsrunnerwannabe and I were heading down A1A, I got the inspiration for this post.

As all of my means of transportation have seemed to have an Identity Crisis, I saw this and had to do this silly post.

You see, I saw this taxi cab and got a shot of the rear of it.

Big deal, you say, the olelongrooffan saw just another Dodge Intrepid taxi cab. Even the kid, not the Kid, but the kid in the SUV stopped at that stoplight next to me asked 'Why are you taking a picture of a taxi cab?'

And I related an abbreviated version of this post. When I told him and that I was going to blog it, that kid and the kid's driver started laughing and gave me a thumbs up as we drove away from that stoplight.

Yeah, anything, no matter how silly, to keep my spirits up.

Back in the day when NASCAR raced real cars, the Chrysler Corporation, in an effort to win the aerodynamic war, came up with the Plymouth Road Runner and the Dodge Charger Daytona, shown in the image below.

This line of automobiles derived its name from Daytona Beach, Florida.

Eventually, NASCAR changed its rules and these cars were no longer NASCAR legal.

Later, Dodge produced a smaller version of the Daytona, based on its front wheel drive platform. You can see an image of it below.

I even have one in my collection with IROC (International Race of Champions) badging. That's it, the blue car on the Mobil hook in the following image.

For awhile, Dodge made a Dodge Ram Daytona as shown in the following image.

They currently have a four door sedan, badged as a Dodge Charger Daytona, as shown below.

Now I am confident you Counters out there are wondering what the h*ll does all of this have to do with a pedestrian taxi cab and an Identity Crisis.

Well, as you can see in the following image,

as noted in the upper left corner of this truck lid, this Intrepid really wants to be a Dodge Daytona.

And it is seeing silly stuff like this that gets me to

Celebrate Life.

This Dude Is Really Proud

A couple weeks agoI did a post about my three hour trip down to see that Cards game with the boys and the ensuing 7 1/2 hour trip home.

In the latter post, I included the image taken below of that personalized 'OJOHN' license plate on the back of that Silverado.

Now I believe personalized license plates are cool, if appropriate. Such as the one in the following image I found around these tubes many moons ago.

I even have one on my oleragtop, transferred from the wreckedoleragtop.

And I guess if you wear your ball cap sideways, listen to Rap loud enough to make my mirrors vibrate, and drive a mid 90's Crown Vic, it is appropriate to have a

'POS' personalized tag. Oh, for the uninformed, 'POS'=Piece of Sh*t.

And it is seeing hoons such as this and finding the humor in this situation which allows me to

Celebrate Life.

Just A Quick Note

before I head down to Belaire Plaza.

Since I didn't get the opportunity to meet the Bus in St. Louis, I decided to leave McHenry, Illinois and head back down south to Augusta, Georgia.

Click on that link. Those of you up in the Queen City of the Ozarks might remember that Solo Plant on north Glenstone, just south of Division(??). Is it still there?

Anyway, it is memories of that old Solo Plant with that giant Solo cup as its entryway that lets me

Celebrate Life.

Where Am I Today?

As I mentioned earlier, these tubes find me all over the countryside on any given day.

Today I am in McHenry, Illinios, just northwest of Chicago.

If I had known yesterday where I was going to be today, I could have met the Bus in St. Louis and gotten his new CJ parts to him in person.

Oh well, I guess I will just go get the Kid and head out to the roundy round for that swap meet.

And it is spending the day with the Kid that allows me to

Celebrate Life.

What I Saw Today

Well, since thehorsefarmer is going to be okay and I know I will get a chance to do this with him and his family sometime soon as a What I Saw Today blog, I decided to post this blog about What I Saw Today.

I take it to be a 1976 Cadillac Coupe deVille. It is sweet. A buddy of mine in high school, his Dad had one of these and we got to take it out a few times. What a blast!!

About a hundred miles long with black paint shinier than on the oleragtop.

That 2008 Turkey Rod Run show car sticker is evidence of How Sweet It Is. In the image below, that is a Landau Vinyl roof on the back half of that roof. Highly desirable in its time.

Back in the day, 8 high school kids, yeah I was one of them, could sneak into the original Sunset Drive In to watch American Graffiti.

Those dang taillights are over 14 inches tall. I measured them today!! I can only imagine what those teeny boppers on Spring Break, standing in the background by their pedestrian Hyundai, thought of that. I don't foresee that Hyundai being of the same desirability as this old Caddy in 30 plus years.

And this sweet old Coupe de Ville reminds of great times this past summer up on Haven Lee Farm.

And this allows me to

Celebrate Life.

Where Am I Today?

Those of you who Have Been Counting Along With Me possibly might want to know I am in Jacksonville, Florida, just a couple hours up A1A.

Time For A Spring Fling

Ever since thehorsefarmer gave all of us a bit of a scare earlier this week, I have been giving my life and lifestyle some deep consideration.

You see, I am nearly 50 years old and, currently, am unemployed, have blown through my savings, and have no love life at all. Depressing, huh?

Kind of, if you dwell on it, but I don't, something will work out, it always does.

However, in an effort to Celebrate Life, I have decided to have a Spring Fling.

Now, as I have previously mentioned, it is tough to have romance without finance, I am confident you Counters out there are wondering how I am going to have this Spring Fling.

Well, it's like this. I always seem to find something to occupy my time and have fun doing it. thejeepjunkie loves to relate the fact that the longrooffan is the only guy he knows who can turn a 3 hour trip into a 7 hour adventure. I like that.

But, since I don't want to find myself in this situation, I have chosen to find another outlet for my surplus time. I just hope at 81 I still have the ability. I know the desire will be there.

Luckily and just in time, this is happening here this weekend, just down the road a piece at that roundy round track I love so much.

The best part?

I was speaking with my landlord Brad from down in South Florida, he is also a carguy, earlier this week and a buddy of his, Bob, has a booth at this show. Bob and I got in touch with each other and I am going to be able to put some of those Celebrate Life magnets, as well as a bunch of vintage CJ parts in his booth. Maybe a few non-museum pieces of diecast, as well.

In addition, Bob added me to his Vendor employee list so that admission price, Forget It. I am sailing into the Daytona International Speedway gratis all three days.

Plus, as I was cruisin' up A1A earlier this evening, I saw a bunch of street rods and classics in the parking lot of Belaire Plaza, just down the street from the Taj Mahal. I am sure the Kid and his Cj5, thejeepjunkie and his CJ2A, the longrooffan and his olestationbus will be down there at least one night.

While not quite as fun as a six foot blonde with large breasts, these events are a h*ll of a lot cheaper and it is in this way I

Celebrate Life.

Never Done This Before

But I had to do a repost. It is, to me, that touching.

Thanks Vince. You may try to be a tough guy but I love your heart from 3,000 miles away.

John


Old Blog Post First Published 12/6/08


Found a new to me blogger, Throw The Ball Already, via the Knuckledragger and I am enjoying many of their posts. Neither are always SFW, and definitely own firearms, but I think the Kids have probably seen much the same stuff elsewhere. No Nudity, though. Sorry Charlie.

Find both of them on my sidebar but enjoy this post now.

Many comments could accrue about big drug companies but this video just got to me. Grab a Hankie and,God, am I old!

If You Remember

this, check out this.

Next time I will try to do better for you Counters.

But still, I had this idea way back in mid February and it shows up on Jalopnik in mid March.

Although, I must say this about that, I have never been one to blow my own horn.

I love the ways I can

Celebrate Life.

Where Am I Today?

Last week, while down in Fantasy Land, I did a post about how these tubes thought I was in scenic Hoboken, New Jersey.

Well today, these tubes think I am in the sprawling metropolis of Fort Wayne, Indiana. If I see Gomer Pyle, I'll tell him you all said 'Hello'.

And it is starting a new category, "Where Am I Today" on this blog that lets me

Celebrate Life.

The Lawyer and The Cigars

Got this via these tubes from a friend down near MickeyMouseLand.

BEST LAWYER/INSURANCE STORY OF THE YEAR, DECADE, AND POSSIBLY THE CENTURY.

This took place in Charlotte North Carolina .

A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against, among other things, fire.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires.'

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued and WON! (Stay with me.)

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous.. The judge stated, nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the 'fires'.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This true story won First Place in last year's Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

While this is funny, it, unfortunately, is not true. Over at snopes.com, an urban legend website, they debunked this story with references as early at 1965, even including the lyrics to a Brad Paisley song about a similar incident.

But it is funny stories from good friends who think of me with this kind stuff that lets me

Celebrate Life.

thanks Alice in Wonderland MickeyMouseLand

I Love New Jersey

Well, I have to tell you Counters that, while I am currently down in Fantasy Land, it is great, to simultaneously, be up here in Hoboken, New Jersey.

You see, I have cellular access to these tubes and the olelongrooffan's access is decided on whatever cell tower Sprint decides to send me through.

Now last June, I first realized this and did this post.

Today, I was checking out various blogs and they all, even the Bus's blog, recognized this oleragtop as being from Hobeken, New Jersey.

But, having said that, Hoboken is a beautiful place, I love the City Hall. And, trust me, if there were cooler images of Hoboken on Google Images, I would have posted them.

But even finding this vintage old image of these parade watchers allows me to

Celebrate Life.

Multi Tasking Vehicles

A few posts back, I did one about the dual personalities my rides have.

Well, if you clicked on the "rides" link, you will know I have been selling a bunch of Jeep parts on ebay for thejeepjunkie.

This weekend I am headed down to Fantasy Land to see my daughter, replace a hot water heater for my friend Carri's sister and see a longtime friend, who I am picking up on Thursday evening at the airport in either Port Charlotte or Punta Gorda.

Now I am confident those of you who are Counting Along With Me are trying to figure out how this oleunemployedconstructionworker can afford to go out of town so often. Well, with gas hovering around $1.80 a gallon, and pretty much everywhere in the Sunshine State less than 250 miles away, and with the oleragtop getting 28 miles per gallon, I can go lots of places for less than $40 round trip.

Once I arrive at a destination, with the few odd jobs I do around their home, my food is usually provided by my host/hostess and, thus, saves me money on food spent at home.

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah, so I sold a bunch of those parts. On Ebay, you have to include the shipping costs and without an inhouse scale, I estimated the price on shipping, trying to weigh in on the heavy side. Successful, for the most part.

However, on the front driveshaft I missed it totally. The cheapest cost to ship that driveshaft from The Birthplace of Speed to Land O Lakes, Florida was over $15 and I had quoted a price of $10.

Land O Lakes is located just north of Tampa, and on the way, if I travel an alternate route through Sl-Ocala, down to the west coast of South Florida.

So rather than ask the buyer to cough up 1/2 again as much as I quoted on the shipping cost, I am going to personally drop this off at his front door.

And the $10 he included as shipping will make this excursion less than $30. Plus I know I will get a blog or two out of it.

Yes, it is all about you Counters.

And the fact my oleragtop, in addition to being an oledeliveryvan

also gets to be an olepartsrunner allows me to

Celebrate Life.

Stay tuned.

Citroen Happy Days

If you have been Counting Along With Me, you know I have more than a passing interest in the Citroen automobile. If fact, with the museum pieces forwarded to me by the Bus earlier this year, I have more Citroen diecast or tin cars than any other make in my collection, including Volkswagon.

So, I was surfing around these tubes and found a blog I don't often visit and found this video. Coming from a Happy Days childhood, I find it pretty cool.



To think those dudes are still making royalties off that show!!

And finding stuff humorous stuff like this helps me

Celebrate Life.

thanks

Obligatory Irish Joke

It seems every blog I have visited today has an obligatory Irish joke. Here is the best one I found.

Three Irishmen are sitting around in a tavern, debating which is the best pub.

The first says, "Aye, this is a nice bar, but where I come from, there's a better one. At MacDougal's, you buy a drink, then you buy another drink and then MacDougal himself will buy your third drink!"

The second then starts, "That sounds like a nice pub but, where I come from, there's a better one called Quinn's. At Quinn's, you buy a drink, Quinn buys you a drink. You buy another drink, Quinn buys you another drink."

Then the third pipes up, "You think that's good? Where I come from, there's this place called Murphy's. At Murphy's, they buy you your first drink, they buy you your second drink, they buy you your third drink and then, they take you in the back and get you laid!"

"Wow!" exclaim the other two. "That sounds fantastic! Did that actually happen to ye?"

"No," replies their friend, "But it happened to me sister!"

It is through funny stuff like this that we can

Celebrate Life.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

thanks Joe Sherlock.

On The Road, In The oleragtop

thejeepjunkie, derisively, will tell you that the olelongrooffan is the only person he knows who can make 3 hour trip into a 5 hour trip. I told him, when he mentioned this to me prior to my leaving for the Cards game with the boys, "H*ll yes, I don't deny it." But as I have previously told the Bus, I am doing it for you Counters.

Well, last week, I took just minutes over 3 hours to hotfoot it down to see my nephews to attend a Spring Training game. The ride home? 7 hours, 25 minutes. Beat that jeepjunkie!

Ater attending that victorious Cards game on Thursday and, the next morning, dropping those boys over at that high-faluting golf course, I headed over to A1A, the United State's easternmost highway, and turned north. South Beach was inviting but just not in the budget. The beachside highway down

there in Jupiter, Florida is pretty scenic with its limited beach access and some nice landscaping to boot! Although this image does not show it, there were tons of folks out for their morning walk in this balmy 65 degree weather.

I then had to head over to the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, just for the CDM. Are you at the end of the Rainbow?

And, I just have to wonder, if God loves John at 3 and 16, does God still love John at 49?

I then was heading through Fort Pierce, Florida, an active port town and saw this cool 1973

Chevrolet Impala Station Wagon.

I remember when I was a kid, living on Haven Lee Farm, Halltown edition, a friend of my folks, John Dattola, had a similar longroof. He sold pharmacueticals and based on what those dudes earn these days, I guess he did alright by his family. But the Dattola family is another blog in its entirety.

Oh yeah,

Thanks again National City Bank. We did 'Perk Up With $100' worth of food and drink at the Cards game. Those are the details.

It was funny, when I stopped and got this shot, as I was walking back to the oleragtop, these two cute National Bank Employees came out and the really cute one asked, in kind of a semi hostile way, if she could be of assistance.

Well, I walked over to those babes, or is that babies as they were probably less than half my age?

I mentioned to them I had spent the previous day at the Cards game with my nephews from Boston and Washington state and that your company hosted a party there.

They both nodded and said yes.

I then confided with them the fact we had snuck into that party and ate and drank for free all afternoon.

They started smiling and giggling.

I then finished my conversation with them by stating I had to stop and get a shot of their sign as I was going to blog the whole thing.

We all started laughing heartily and I gave them a big wave and said "Thanks for the great time".

The really cute one said, through her ear to ear grin, "Glad you guys had fun, wish we had been there."

We do too.

It is through times like this I can Celebrate Life.

A ways up US 1, I spotted the winter sleeping spot for this show.

And, after consulting my old fashioned, tree sacrificing road atlas, I thought it only fitting I head over to cruise along the River via Midway Road.

Now Indian River Drive follows closely along the Indian River for the most part. Once, when I was not riverfront, I saw a road off to the right with the name, Rocky Point Road. I passed it by once, whipped a Ueee and got to see those coquina rocks along to coast of that river.

And in all my 49 years, I am still thankful that

Slow Children still get to Play outdoors.

And the following image, well, let's just say that "OJOHN" is the reaction I get from telling a corny joke more times than I get from someone of the opposite sex these days.

But a little further up the road, I did get to see this Corvair Sedan alongside US1.

I whipped a Ueee and got these images, just for you. Love those louvres in the rear window.

I saw this old Willy's down in front of an antique shop in, I think, Titusville.

A cool old piece, but it is two wheel drive?

I had originally seen this, and had not noticed the Willys in the preceeding images until I cut around the block in this downtown area. NASCAR teams have similar modes of transport, usually for tool boxes and the like.

While I was shooting these images at this location, a friendly afternoon walking elderly, although, again, probably only 10 years my senior!! woman stopped to chat. "Taking pictures of unusual things," she inquired. I mentioned that it seemed to be my life these days and proceeded to tell her about the By The Numbers blog, at which point her eyes glazed over, having no comprehension as to what I was speaking of. I then stopped and asked her if she had seen any unusual things lately. "Just down the street I saw a blue convertible with a Michigan license plate but had an Ohio State University bumper sticker." Well, Counters, if you know of the rivalry between the universities in those two states, you know this is unusual, but not unusual enough to get the olelongroof to go back and get an image of it. Try Google.

Now the vehicle in the following image? That I will whip a Ueee for. Although, in this particular case, I had the opportunity to see it from a distance and no Ueee was necessary. Due to my job search and ebay duties this week, I have not yet had the chance to determine what it is, although I have seen one before. Stay tuned, this mystery will be solved!!

Less than an hour's drive south of the Taj Mahal, I saw this chrome bumpered MG GT parked alongside US1 and had to stop and get a couple shots of it.



These images are headed right over to my favorite, still in print publication, Classic Motorsports for their "Ran When Parked" section. The placement of the outside rear view mirrors on this sports car are interesting. The driver's side is on the door while the passenger's is on the fender, although, most of the ones I have googleimaged are similarly situated.

I, subsequently, passed by the AMVET's location down in Port Orange and saw these two beauties.

A 55 or 56 Ford Sunliner.

It is an absolutely stunning piece of history.

Aqua green and white and just as desirable at that oleragtop in the background.

With a dashboard possessing more gauges than the olestationbus.

In the same parking lot was this sweet Oldsmobile 88.

I have a jet similar to this one on a shelf in the Taj Mahal. Always wondered what that emblem was original equipment on.


Yeah, a sweet olecoupe

with the 88 numbers on the rear

and dig that tri split window in the rear.

Well, Counters, that was the end of the ride for me.

I got home to a freaking ton of job search, kitchen cabinet remodeling, ebay, and blogging.

I have to, once again, thank Shawn and Eric for inviting me along on this adventure and thanks to thehorsefarmer for his particular involvement in this matter.

Got an email from Shawn, this evening, mentioning they had fun with his Aunt Reenie, Uncle Rick and Cousin Jessica on Saturday and that Jessica was "to smart for her own good". Ahhhh...Family. Gotta Love Them.

And, By The Way, Best Wishes to Kristin, Lil Mom and Jim, NotSoLilJim, on their upcoming addition to the Lee Family.

And it is these ways, we can

Celebrate Life.