Thought This Is Pretty Funny, Hope You Do Too

This One Is For thehorsefarmer

thanks jonco

What I Saw Today: 1969-70 Cadillac Coupe Deville*

* not thebarngoddess's coop de ville however

My Hoonmas Score

I suspect those of you who have been Counting Along With Me know this olelongrooffan also does some blogging over in the Hooniverse.

For the past couple Christmas's, a group of us over there have participated in a gift exchange program basically sending some Hoonworthy stuff to total Hoon strangers chosen for us by the Hooniverse Overlords.

Late last week, I received a cool group of stuff from my Secret Santa.  Included was this orange longroof seen on the above shelf along with the busted up bearing standing in front of it.



I also got a framed print of a 66 Chevy longroof that Santa took at a car show a couple years ago and a bottle of R-134 air conditioning recharging solution.

Should I ever install air in my ole beater Jeep Comanche!

Hope your Holidays are as much fun as mine.

This olelongrooffan Got The Kenman's Christmas Card!!

So this olelongrooffan received my annual Christmas card from my buddy the Kenman.   The last time we spoke, he mentioned he had sold, finally, a vintage Mustang Shelby he has owned for 41 years. Yes, that's right Counters. 41 years. Of course, the fact he has bought and sold several hundred other cool cars over the years makes this believable.



The Kenman also related the story of the above Suzuki. It seems he and his gorgeous wife, Blondie....yeah, noone in my life is without a nickname....were heading from Blondie's home in Naples up to the Kenman's place in Door County, Wisconsin last spring. Just outside Chattanooga, Tennessee, they stopped to grab a bite to eat and spend the night, and knowing the Kenman,  in some ultra cheap hotel. After they enjoyed some southern bar-b-que, they adjourned to the elcheapo hotel across the way. As they were checking in, a severe tornado popped on through, wiped out that bbq place and blew this sign down on the Kenman's daily driver Suzuki. He conned persuaded a couple local yokels to give him a 70 mile ride to acquire a U-Haul so he and Blondie could get the hell out of town. He filed an insurance claim with some roving claims adjuster from his insurance company and did beat it the hell out of there, leaving his Suzuki exactly as you Counters see it in that photo! The Kenman's comment was, "What am I going to do with a totalled Suzuki?  Tow it to Wisconsin?"

Did this olelongrooffan also mention "total police state? breaking into an electricity challenged hotel room to spend the night? the long line of tornado refugees heading toward a evacuation required school bus? Well, those of you Counting Along With Me get the idea.



So anyway, back to the Kenman's Christmas card. I know he is a true buddy, and a fellow car guy as well, as he always keeps an eye out on future vehicles for this olelongrooffan. He spotted this vintage Open Road Econoline somewhere in his travels and got this picture of it to forward to me. It just needs a little work to get it into shape and up to speed.



Or this olelongrooffan could get rid of some of my sh*t and just move into it and be done with it.

What I Saw Today: Santa's Sleigh Was Green and Yellow This Year

A Christmas Dinner, Florida Style

I hope all of you Counting Along With Me are having a wonderful Christmas Day wherever you may be. As usual, this olelongrooffan had the opportunity to Celebrate Life a bit differently this holiday and, if interested, you can Count Along With Me as I relate my Christmas celebration 2011, longroofstyle.

I have previously mentioned one of my older brothers, thehorsefarmer (yeah, he prefers that over thebeachbiker) and his lovely wife, thebarngoddess (who still loves the beach) moved from Haven Lee Farm up in the Ozarks to sunny historic St. Augustine, Florida last fall. I believe they truly love it there but miss having an extended family around, but not necessarily the resultant chores associated with a farm and all that family.

I did, in fact, ask thehorsefarmer how he likes St. Augustine  he mentioned it was nice but other than his job, which he loves, there is nothing really holding him there. My response? "No sh*t horsefarmer, your house has wheels under it!"

Anyway, it sure is nice having them close by and they seem to get down here to the Birthplace of Speed every couple weeks for a visit to the Taj Mahal, a pass thru at Sam Walton's big *ssed store or a trip out to the local flea market they love so much.

So, as always happens when they visit, we tend to gather together for a meal in an attempt by thebarngoddess to fatten up this olelongrooffan.



And usually, it is quite good. For my birthday in 2011, thebarngoddess and I tried a little momnpop mexican restaurant down on Beach Street and the proportions were huge and delicious. This olelongrooffan brought half of the burrito I ordered home and enjoyed it for dinner later that day.



And thebarngoddess inadvertantly left a freaking huge container of spring mix in the fridge at the Taj Mahal and I ate salads every day for a week in an attempt to consume all of it prior to its going bad. (didn't work)



Last spring when they were down visiting prior to moving to the Sunshine State, thebarngoddess insisted I have a sammich while visiting them down at the Daytona KOA.



This was just prior to her cooking up a mess of Ozark beef for thejeepjunkie and I for a delicious home on wheels cooked meal.

Now onto Christmas dinner.

A couple weeks ago, my massive communications system at the Taj Mahal lit up and it was thehorsefarmer asking me to make reservations for Christmas Eve day for dinner for thebarngoddess, thehorsefarmer and this olelongrooffan at a restaurant of my choice. "And longroof," he said, "not at Appleby's or Friday's, make it someplace nice."

Well Counters, if you clicked on that Birthplace of Speed link above, you will have noted in the background of that image is a Bonefish Grill restaurant, conveniently located just a couple blocks south of my Taj Mahal on A1A. Now Bonefish is this olelongrooffan's favorite restaurant, even though it is a chain. Back when I had a real social life, as opposed to the viral one I have these days, I used to frequent Bonefish quite often. Yeah, a trio of appetizers, a couple drinks and a beautiful female companion often made that place very special for this olelongrooffan. But alas, real life has intervened and I had not been to Bonefish in over three years. So, of course this was my restaurant of choice. I warned thehorsefarmer about the prices there and he approved the costs and Bonefish Grill was the home of our Christmas dinner, 2011.

And just to show how much of a newby thehorsefarmer is to the Sunshine State, he called prior to leaving his rolling castle and asked if shorts were acceptable attire at this particular restaurant. I silently chuckled at his question and said yes they are. After all Counters, this is Florida, shorts are acceptable everywhere.

So after spending a few hours with Manuel Labor in the morning (yeah, I have a BikeWeek deadline on that remodel so days off are few and far between for this olelongrooffan), I was taking a brief nap sitting at the Taj Mahal waiting for thebarngoddess and thehorsefarmer to show up in their Bull so we could head out to Bonefish for a much anticipated holiday meal and to Celebrate Life with them.

And we did. I am pretty sure they both enjoyed my restaurant of choice as thebarngoddess said the salmon she had was the best she had ever had, and that is saying alot given the restaurants worldwide she has enjoyed. And thehorsefarmer was thrilled Bonefish had traditional Scottish style fish and chips, something he hadn't had since his pub attending days in Scotland while serving our country back in his submarine days in the Navy. This olelongrooffan enjoyed a tilapia filet with pan asian sauce after we had all tasted some of Bonefish's legendary Bang Bang Shrimp. thebarngoddess even disected the shrimp sauce recipe for this olelongrooffan and I'm going to be putting that sauce on d*mn near everything I cook for the next few months!

So, we finished up a lovely, non rushed, leisurely seafood dinner and headed back to the Taj Mahal. Then it was time for Christmas images and thehorsefarmer broke out his trusty Samsung camera that had served them so well over the years.



If you noted the past tense of that previous sentence, you will note thehorsefarmer's Samsung camera failed miserably for the first time ever and no amount of replacement AA batteries sourced from the Taj Mahal would make it operable. But all is good, my trusty el cheapo ebay acquired Polaroid still works well (thanks Bus) and I was able to capture a couple images for all of we Counters to enjoy.



So after those images were gathered, thebarngoddess headed into the Taj Mahal to grab a short snooze while thehorsefarmer and this olelongrooffan headed off to thejeepjunkie's garage to play Santa Claus for that branch of the extended Lee family.

As it turns out, thejeepjunkie, thesungoddess, the Kid and the Kid's sister were nowhere to be found. We erroneously thought they might be enjoying an adventure like this one but they were nowhere to be located.

Well, thehorsefarmer dropped down the chimney (yes, there is a fireplace in thesungoddess's home) and left that gift under their tree and we headed out for points unknown.

As we had left the Taj Mahal and the sleeping beauty just a few moments prior, we decided to head out to that flea market and see if we could get a cool license plate for one of thehorsefarmer's underwater friends. Alas, 4:45 pm on Christmas Eve day is not the most successful time to find the Daytona Farmer's and Flea Market open for business and we left a bit dejected but not totally disappointed.  As thehorsefarmer pointed out, "Just another excuse to come down here again."

We then beat it back to the Taj Mahal and thebarngoddess was her usual bright and cheerful self after her power nap and we all bid adieu to each other. They headed back to their castle on wheels in anticipation of a full Christmas day with some old friends up in Jacksonville and this olelongrooffan reflected on yet another wonderful afternoon spent with some of my family.



Hey barngoddess and horsefarmer, thanks for allowing me to spend some holiday time with ya'll, a visit to a great restaurant and a wonderful time.

Oh yeah, what makes this Christmas Dinner Florida Style? Well, it was seafood and we ate dinner at 3 in the afternoon!

Merry Christmas everyone.

What I Saw Today: Willys Wagon With Barn Doors!

Merry Christmas To All Of You Counting Along With This olelongrooffan

Just a note to wish all my best wishes for this Christmas and New Years Season.  Panoz seems to always come up with some great offerings and this olelongrooffan thought I might share their 2010 greeting image with all y'all.

Happy Holiday my friends.

What I Saw Today: The Silent Edition: Mugs Root Beer VW

What I Saw Today, The Silent Edition: Ford Raptor SVT

So, yesterday I was surfing around and found a fairly popular, well at least well linked, blog that showed nothing but cars with no text.  Well, this olelongrooffan realized that I had seen a whole sh*tload of similar cars and nobody seems to have linked to By The Numbers.  Maybe it is the verbage.  So, for the new year 2012, I'm gonna post a bunch of textless images of cars seen around and we'll just have to see what happens.

Merry Christmas To All

Well Counters, this olelongrooffan finally got out of the Turkey Day duldrums and got my Christmas decorations set up for the 2011 Holiday Season.



But I have this to say about that. Painting that twelve foot tall ceiling next week is going to be a real b*tch using a couple milk crates and an extension pole on that paint roller.

Anyway, wishing all of those of you Counting Along With Me a continued pleasant Christmas and Holiday Season.

Just Another Afternoon Stroll, But With A Mission

So, a couple weeks ago this olelongrooffan lightly tapped the rear bumper of a newish Range Rover with the front bumper of my Commanche. (Green means go, dammit! But, yeah, ultimately, I'm the dumbass who smashed into a 50K vehicle with my $800 Jeep.) Anyway, the upshot of it was no damage to the pissed off dude's fancy SUV but the front bumper and bumper brackets on my beater pickup truck were mangled. And those Counting Along With Me know what that means?

Why a trip to my local U-Pull-It, of course.



As I usually try to do, this olelongrooffan searches out the coolest old shit in that junkyard which seems to turn inventory every few months or so. Last spring, there were a bunch of pretty cool older imports but they have gone to that great junkyard in the sky and there was a whole bunch of new stuff for my viewing pleasure. That motorhome in the first image is the first of its type I had seen at this place and can anyone tell me a better place for an Aztek than in a location such as this?



This truck cracked me up the moment I saw it. The owner basically took a one ton GM truck, cut the frame at the cab, welded in a couple sections of 4 inch box tubing to extend it, and then welded in some angle iron to rest the plywood deck on. Absolutely no idea why and the quality of the build was sketchy, at best. Might be from Gib-Town over Tampa way but who knows.



This orange Riv was at the end of the row farthest from this olelongrooffan but I had to go check it out based on the color alone. Now down here in the Sunshine State, red cars tend to fade but this one is in no way a faded paint job. A Gator fan maybe?



And just to pay kudos to the Hooniverse Asks Truck Thursday over on hooniverse.com question earlier this week about pickup trucks.



Based on this picked over new Bug, I'm guessing spare used parts for one of these are somewhat difficult to come by.



And while I have owned several Volvos in my lifetime, it sure appears to me this one is fairly new to be resting in a U-Pull-It yard. But then again, I am the olelongrooffan not the newishvolvofan.



It seems to me that one of my compatriots on hooniverse did a post recently about a 525 in his homeland. Just wondering how scarce parts for these things over there are. Can I send you a few bits and pieces? Hell, a couple years ago I parted out a junkyard attained World War II era Ford Jeep and sent more than a few parts to Europe.



I'm pretty sure this is the last year of this generation Nissan 300 ZX before this body style was retired and the newer, and more desirable to me, 300's came along. God, I would do almost anything for an early 90's 300ZX 2+2 in mint condition.



And since I have owned 3, count them 3, 325's in my life, I had to capture this one. It was identified as a 323 though. Can that be correct?



And there is nothing like a vintage Town Cow to make my day.

But hey longroof!! We are looking for a front bumper for a Commanche, get the hell out of the other sections and head over to the Chrysler area to see about a bumper, and don't forget, look at the Cherokees also.



I can tell you, finding a Commanche still around in a U-Pull-It these days is quite a task but today I found not just one



not just two



but three different Commanche pickups in various states of pickedoverness. And there was not a good front bumper on any of them. But this olelongrooffan has this to say about that, in the last one I looked I found a pair of, as I later found out, operable interior lights my old beater truck was missing. A couple snips of the yellow handled wire cutters I had in my tool pouch and those lights are now installed in the truck parked curbside here in the Birthplace of Speed.



A look see at all of the similarly bodied Cherokees turned up a couple possibles but the bumper I ended up grabbing was this morning attached to this Wagoneer. And know this, if this olelongrooffan could figure out how to wire that Wagoneer grill and headlight/turn signal assembly to my old Commanche, I would be out there grabbing it tomorrow.



But, as it stands, that flashy chrome bumper has now replaced that crumpled, rusty old painted bumper and all is cool in my world this evening.



But hey, I got a bunch of cool swag for the Taj Mahal and that, along with that shiny new bumper, really helps this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.