Merry Christmas All

And wishing all of you a great 2011 and remember to

Celebrate Life.

Yeah, This Year This olelongrooffan Went All Out

If those of you Counting Along With Me remember, a couple years ago I went all out on my Christmas tree.  Even my baby sister Joan, now happily married and living up in the Great White North, had some pretty cool Christmas decorations that year.  Then last year I had another pretty cool tree set up.

Well Counters, this year since this olelongrooffan is going to be in FantasyLand for the holidays, I decided to go all Minimalist for Christmas.

And even that lets this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life.

What I Saw Today

So this olelongrooffan was out and about trying to find a driver's side mirror for a 2005 Chevy Tahoe for a friend of mine.  $410 at a junkyard.  Ouch!!

Anyway next door to that junkyard was an old time Muffler Man and I thought you Counters out there might like to see it.

That's it for today but know seeing this rare sight sure lets this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life!

24H du Mans

Hemmings posted this video on their blog today and this olelongrooffan just had to share it with you Counters.  Enjoy it while I work on my post about Goodyear tire testing today at the Daytona International Speedway on its virgin repaved track.

It is a lap around the 24 Heures de Lemans track in a Jaguar D Type. 

And yes, it really helps this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.

The Merry Christmas CanCan

I got this in an email from a buddy. Not really sure of the source but a cheerful three minutes ensued.

And knowing this Christmas season is upon us and this olelongrooffan is going to get to see my daughter Jessica really lets me

Celebrate Life.

What I Saw Today

In 1964, Sonny's Auto Sales affixed this sticker to the rear of a 1949 Crosley pickup truck. 46 years later, this olelongrooffan spotted it on that truck and here is the story.

In 1965, Rick Delvecchio was living on a farm just outside Vineland, New Jersey when his father gave this compact pickup truck to him for his 14th birthday.

And Rick has kept it to this day. Yesterday while this olelongrooffan was out and about, I saw this behind the RME Automotive building. Of course, you know I had to stop and get a couple images and the story, if I could.

While this olelongrooffan was examining this sweet, rare old beauty Rick came out back and we started chatting it up. I asked him if he was going to restore it. "Nope, just get it puttering around, paint my logo on the side and that's it," was his response. Mine? "Yeah, they're only original once." He gave me an approving grin and took this olelongrooffan into his shop and showed me the one engine, of the three Crosley engines he has, that he is going to install.
It turns out he acquired this motor back in 1983 shortly after moving to Daytona Beach. The man who gave it to him drove up in a Crosley wagon and told Rick the motor in that longroof was his but he had to come get it after the man drove back to New Symrna Beach. Well Rick did and he now, nearly 30 years later, has found the time to put it in his old pickup truck.

I asked why it had taken so long for him to get around to it. Well he took me into the front room of his establishment and pointed out four near concours level Alfa Romeos and his father's 1970 MG Midget, bought new by his dad. "I guess I had a few other things that had a higher priority," he commented. On the way back to the work area, he pointed out a couple other Alfas that were awaiting his attention and a bunch of parts for an original Fiat 500. He mentioned that the body shell was due back from the paint shop anytime now.

" I need to get moving on this Crosley or else it will be another 20 years before I get to it."

Good Luck Rick and I can't wait to share the completed projects with those of you Counting Along With Me.

And know a post about the shiny and not so shiny cars in the interior of that shop will be coming along shortly.

And finding cool old sh*t like this and meeting cool ole dudes such as Rick really allows this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.

Whatcha Been Doing?

Well Counters, this olelongrooffan must submit an apology to all of you Counting Along With Me. I have been a bit AWOL on By The Numbers this past month.

As I have mentioned previously, I Have A Job and it has been keeping me busy.

Plus between Biketoberfest, The Daytona Beach Dream Cruise, talking about my new truck, The Winter Park Concours and this past Thanksgiving weekend, The Turkey Rod Run, this olelongrooffan has been slammed.

Plus hosting Happy Hour for thejeepjunkie and TheGoodAttorney. Oh yeah, I also installed baseboard in a 2,800 square foot lived in home.

Yeah, I've Been Busy.

And this olelongrooffan did not even wish you Counters a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope yours was fun, fulfilling, and plentiful.

But I bet a whole bunch of money I don't have that none of you did what this olelongrooffan considers himself lucky enough to do on Thanksgiving Day, 2010.

I went to the Daytona International Speedway for the largest automotive swap meet in the southeastern part of these great United States of America.

I woke up Thanksgiving morning, Gave a Prayer of Thanks, showered, put on a pair of khaki shortpants, my "Ford" logo clad oxford shirt, sensible walking shoes and packed a cooler with el cheap diet cokes and bottled water acquired from my local Dollar Store, stuffed it in a backpack I own courtesy of the Kid, headed out to my means of transport for the weekend and made the 20 minute trip to The Speedway.

As I am local to the area, I knew how to get to the Daytona International Speedway and park in the nearly vacant parking lot of the NASCAR headquarters building across International Speedway Boulevard without even getting on ISB, fully laden with touristas.
So I parked TheGoodAttorney's classic 69 Ford Bronco in that lot and headed across that boulevard, utilized my "Get In Free" card and got into that facility with my free refreshment bearing backpack in tow.

As this olelongrooffan walked across the plywood layed upon that newly paved tri-oval I got this shot of it to share with all you Counters out there.
I wandered over to the open air garages where all the legendary race cars are and saw a whole bunch of the same cars so I quickly headed out to the swap meet area to see what was to be seen.

This olelongrooffan has been attending this event for many years but this is the first time I recollect
seeing these ALMS series race cars advertising the Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring which occurs in early March down in Sebring, Florida.
I passed by the Hemmings Motor News booth hawking all of their excellent publications.
And got on out to the grass portion of the infield to see all the quirky stuff that was available, should you need it.
Anybody need a $50 light bar to impersonate a cop?

I then spotted a late 40's Morris, one of which I had seen a couple weeks earlier at the Winter Park Concours.


And Counters this is a mere example of what can be seen in the vendor booths out there in the grass infield.
Willys Station Wagons, trim rings, hub caps off the Bus's old Burb, dashboards, consoles and whatnot.

Oh yeah, any body need some old car bodies?
I also spotted this Aerodeck Monte Carlo that NASCAR required in order to get Chevrolet into NASCAR racing in the late 1980's.
This toy and memorabilia possessing booth always captures the attention of this olelongrooffan. By the way, see that ride upon dump/tow truck on the closest corner of that table?
It was in that location last year and sports it again this year. I wonder if the $375 price tag might have something to do with that?

See that sweet little convertible in the following image. How about a Crosley Hot Shot Super Sport ragtop for your driving pleasure?


I don't remember alot about this old speed boat except that it was a 1957 model. But see those rope encased glass balls?Those are what were used as bobbers for submerged crap traps down around these parts before plastic or styrofoam balls were invented.

And a sweet ole El Camino just because I liked it enough to capture an image of it.
One of the last booths I checked out had this cool old "Big Boy" burgers mascot along with a whole bunch of old signs. And know, they were not cheap. In the far left of this image you can make out the *ss end of a coin operated riding horse that was listed at $1,250!
And once this olelongrooffan decided to head out, I was walking down an aisle and spotted, in a partitioned off area, the tools used to repave the Daytona International Speedway.And, Counters, that was my Thanksgiving Day, 2010. Well, this olelongrooffan did head over to Bellair Plaza to meet up with thejeepjunkie later but that is a whole 'nother blog.

And while it may be not your cup of tea, this is how this olelongrooffan can really

Celebrate Life.

In The Parking Lot at The 2010 Winter Park Concours d'Elegance

The following is a blogpost this olelongrooffan did over at Hooniverse and I thought I would post it for those of you Counting Along With Me.

A couple weeks ago, this olelongrooffan attended the 2010 Winter Park Concours d'Elegance and got a couple hundred images to share with my fellow Hoons. Don't worry though, just a few of them will be in my posts here on Hooniverse. The rest can be seen at my flickr account, at least until I can learn how to include a flickr slideshow in a blogpost here on Hooniverse.

It is my belief, along with Daniel Strohl over at Hemmings and many others, that often times the cars seen in the parking lot are as cool as the cars in the show itself. This theory proved itself true on that Sunday afternoon at that Concours.

I totally was unprepared to capture the image of the Bugeye Sprite, chrome bumper MGB GT and the Volvo 1800 parked on the street in a row as this olelongrooffan was arriving at the show but I was able to recover quickly enough to gather this one. Yeah, let's start with a Porsche SUV, a Ford GT and a couple beige sedans!

On a side street about 1/2 through the show, I spotted these three,

a rare vintage GTO Judge ragtop, a BOSS Mustang and a Lamborghini bringing up the rear.

I am fairly certain that, at least the Goat Judge and the Boss belong to show workers as this is the image of that same side street I got at the 2009 Concours.

Maybe the Cobra guy bought a Lambo?

On another side street, this olelongrooffan spotted this Unimog, one of the few I have ever seen in person and it was parked behind a Jaguar E type roadster, a 911 and a bubble shaped Volvo sedan.

After the show, I spotted this Audi, not the one Ben reviewed but its older brother.

And a vintage Alfa sedan.

On the rear bumper of this Samari was a bumper sticker stating that it proudly serves as a tag-along vehicle for a GMC Motorhome.

And as I was almost back to my Indian, I spotted this Challenger

a Lotus, one like it was in the show.

And, of course the trailer queens carriage.

Check over at my flickr account here to view the rest of the cars seen in the lot. I especially like the previously published image of the Volvo 240, the 50's T-Bird and the 90's era Ferrari. Yeah, it takes all kinds of Hoons to make a car show successful.

This olelongrooffan Needs To Update My Resume

Another Cool Ad

thanks to funny bits and pieces

Hey jeepjunkie

HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY!

It's great being a part of your life!!

Glad you still remember how to Celebrate Life!

Required For All Car Guys

Thanks to TheKenMan for this link courtesy of CarCraft. Click on the image to embiggen and then click one more time on it.

Personally Seen Vintage Door Art

So my brother, the Bus, now that the 2010 midterms are over, decided to get back to doing some blogs about trucks. He did one about a super cool robins egg blue one ton Chevy he rebodied a week or two ago. You Counters can check that blogpost out here and be sure to click on through for his history of it.

Then yesterday he provided us with a link to vintage door art. You can check that one out here. In that post, he provided we Busriders with the following image

and the link to where he found it.

Upon seeing those cool images of vintage door art, this olelongrooffan thought I would include a couple I have seen over the past couple of years.

I spotted this one somewhere in north central Florida (maybe Waldo?) during one of my On The Road adventures. I happened to be driving by a car lot and spotted it. That's what happens when you stay off the Eisenhour Highway System! The main reason it was recorded is the fact that Carthage, Mo is located less than 40 miles from Haven Lee Farm, Halltown Edition.
Now, the following one I got in between Marionville, Mo and Halltown, Mo during another On The Road trip this olelongrooffan took way back in 2008. I had spent another wonderful Day On The Farm with thehorsefarmer, thebarngoddess and their family. I was headed back to the Queen City of the Ozarks preparing to return to the Birthplace of Speed. I now forget the burg I was in but remember this old truck and its Vintage Door Art.

Incidentally horsefarmer, both of these trucks are Internationals!

And still, at this olelongrooffan's advance age, remembering these two moments in time, and having the Bus jog my memory of them, absolutely provides this olelongrooffan the ability to

Celebrate Life.

A Couple Cool Ones At SEMA

SEMA=Specialty Equipment Manufacturors Association

Every year SEMA holds their annual convention and show out in Las Vegas. It is always held this time of year and is open only to SEMA members.

The stuff they have out there runs the gammet from super custom muscle car related stuff to billetproof related items. And virtually everything in between.

Over at Autoholics.com, this olelongrooffan spotted a couple pretty cool creations by Jonathon Ward.

One was this vintage custom four door Toyota FJ Landcruiser.

And the other was this olelongroof.
Go ahead and click here to see more images of them.

And seeing that olelongroof really lets this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life.

A Cool Old Truck

Bringing a whole new meaning to "single cab".

Thanks to Jesse for finding this and helping this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life.