On The Backroads Of My Home

So I know, it's been a whiles since this olelongrooffan has contributed anything here in the Hooniverse. Just under four years ago upon arriving here in the Music Capital of the World after my Unexpected Road Trip adventure, a series of posts made their way here about some of the automotive goings on around these here Ozarks. After some time, I thought my fellow Hoons may have grown weary of this olelongrooffan and I decided to allocate more of my time cruising the Backroads of My Home and checking out some of the natural beauty of the Ozarks I remembered from my bygone youth.

I've spent a good part of the last couple years wandering the woods and rivers round these here parts evaluating just what this olelongrooffan is gonna do once the big sixoh arrives this fall. Now don't think this olelongrooffan was all Jerimiah Johnson during that time, I also sorted through a bunch of old photos that had arrived in my possession over the years. I thought some of those old school photos may be appreciated by some of my fellow Hoons here in the Hooniverse.

While I was adrift in the wilderness, this olelongrooffan inadvertently forfeited my esteemed position on the Hooniverse Tips email list and, more importantly, my place as a contributor to the New and Improved Hooniverse page. Initially, I thought that Hooniverse had matured beyond this olelongrooffan's ramblings and that the Hooniverse Overlords had determined this was just the case.  However, after seeing the revered Gianni Hirsch has reentered the Hooniverse empire from the bogs near his home, I thought there might still be some room here for some of my discourse. That occurrence, in addition to the abundance of posts around these here webs about recreational vehicles lately, has gotten this olelongrooffan excited about the possibility of contributing, albeit on a guest contributor basis, here in the Hooniverse once again. That and the comments contained within this post provided me the encouragement to get back in my imaginary racing suit and return to that rambling race track that seems to be this olelongrooffan's one claim to fame.

Anyways...

It was the discovery of one of those old school photographs that prompted my thoughts for this post here in the Hooniverse. I hope my fellow Hoons enjoy and won't be all that upset should this olelongrooffan end up wandering around a bit as usual.

Now this olelongrooffan stated outright in my first post here in the Hooniverse (April, 2010) that most of my posts would be of a personal experience nature and most things technical would be like the joke about the roof, you know, over my head. The loverly Amber Rust was so kind as to comment that this would be okie-dokie with her as there are plenty of technical posts to go around and it would be nice to have a change up once in awhile. Still Missing You Amber.

This olelongrooffan has been collecting random images of pretty much anything automotive for a damn long time. In fact, I have 5,000+ images on several thumb drives and crashed laptops in my possession. I have gathered these merely because I found the subject matter intriguing. Luckily for this olelongrooffan, several of my fellow Hoons seem to find them interesting as well. It is amusing to me (it doesn't take much) that I can remember the location and usually the timeframe each of these images was gathered. Don't dare ask this olelongrooffan the last time the 7l0 was changed in my longerroof though. Luckily, there is a sticker affixed to the windscreen that reminds me when that was.

For example, the above image was gathered at the Fall, 2015 Branson Collector Car Auction. That Autorama Corvair longroof was featured at the Detroit 2013 Ridler's Ball and the SEMA show that year as well. Of course, per the usual course of things for this olelongrooffan, I was clueless to that fact prior to capturing this image, I just thought that longroof was cool.

And that classic Cadillac would be a welcome addition to this olelongrooffan's livery every day and night. It would be perfect for shuttling my visiting fellow Hoons up and down the 76 Strip here in the Ozark Mountains I now call home. Or a long Road Trip on nearby Route 66.

Most of the subjects of the images this olelongrooffan gathers lately are of a static nature as I am not as quick on the draw with my elcheapo daily driver image taker as I used to be. However, once in a while an image worthy of V.I.S.I.T. is captured.

This Mercedes Benz SLC was captured at the off/on ramp area of US 65 and Highway 76 here in my newish hometown. I was able to grab this one as I was stopped at a left turn light and saw this wondercar exit that Casey's General Store in time to gather up my image taker and get this shot. I especially like this image as it caught that old Benz in motion. Even the infamous Charles Barrett commented on the coolness of this image when this olelongrooffan posted it in the V.I.S.I.T. section over on that Book about my Face. Hey Charles...glad you are still healthy, wealthy and wise.

So while this olelongrooffan was wandering out and about in the countryside and the mountains, one of the things I got to thinking about was my propensity to gather these type of images, almost to the extreme. I spent an inordinate amount of time considering what trait motivated me to gather these type of images. It was no surprise to this olelongrooffan to realize it is in my bloodlines.

After all, most of the males in my immediate family are into cars and trucks in one way or another. My oldest big brother Bob (BBB) doesn't share a lot over these webs but he has a John Deere lawn tractor for his postage stamp lawn. He and my younger brother Ed, thejeepsjunkie, horse traded that go cart formerly belonging to Ed's son, theKid, for God only knows what but this olelongrooffan is certain the conditions of that trade are dubious at best.

And every fall, my older brother Jim, aka Bus_Plunge, gathers up his wife, the PrvtRN, and together they cruise out west with their current tow vehicle of choice, usually a 3/4 ton Suburban, toting their vintage Airstream of choice. During these travels Bus_Plunge also captures images of old cars and trucks just for shits and grins. He used to post them over on his blog but he tired of blogging after ten years or so and now selectively shares them on that Book about his Face. I miss his blog but as this olelongrooffan ages I realize that maintaining a blog on a daily basis can be time consuming and, after all, that Book can substitute the gratification a blog formerly provided.

Bus_Plunge gathered this REO on one of those trips out west. Probably in Utah or Idaho or some such. I have yet to test his ability to quantify the place and time a particular image was captured though. I would suspect his response would be something along the lines of "Hell, longroof, I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, much less where I saw that old truck last fall."

Now my next oldest brother Tom, aka thehorsefarmer, also possesses this trait although not with the same vengeance as does this olelongrooffan and Bus_Plunge. I happen to know he captured this image in Arkansas some years back while on a road trip between his farm in the Ozarks and his summer place in the Sunshine State. He and his better half, thebarngoddess, were cruising pulling one of their fifth wheel campers and spotted this Bentley at Jerry's Auto Sales in Russellville, Arkansas.

Now, this olelongrooffan is certain my fellow Hoons are curious as to how in the hell I was able to determine with certainty the location of this old Bentley. Well, I had stopped by that old car lot on a Road Trip of my own just a few weeks prior to their passing it by and captured images of many of the same vehicles.

Finally the last, but not least of my male siblings, thejeepjunkie, seldom captures random images of roadside vehicles but instead seems to feature vehicles of his own. This image of his and theKid's vintage CJs on the beach in The Birthplace of Speed is one of this olelongrooffan's favorites. I personally don't blame thejeepjunkie for his lack of interest in random vehicles. The dude runs an auto repair facility and his entire career is surrounded by random vehicles. Plus, his wife, thesungoddess, usually travels with him and her interest in vehicles is virtually nonexistent, to say the least. Unless there is a new Cadillac involved. 😎

Well, now that this olelongrooffan has covered all the brothers in my family and our interest in random vehicles, my fellow Hoons may be asking where we got this from? This olelongrooffan respectfully submits the following:

This is an old school black and white photograph my father, the GentlemanFarmer took back in 1969 or 1970 just off the downtown square in the Queen City of the Ozarks, Springfield, Missouri.

Downtown Springfield was going through the phase popular at the time of converting drive through downtowns to pedestrian malls to compete with suburban malls popping up helter skelter and so popular at the time.

A downtown building was razed and thusly exposed this advertising mural painted on the exterior wall of the building adjacent. That debris filled Ford dump truck he captured located just below that delightful advertising mural is just the icing on the cake and demonstrated the eye my Pop had for a photo.

The GentlemanFarmer was the founding editor of the weekly Catholic newspaper for southern Missouri and the diocesan office was located downtown. As he had access to several 35mm Pentax cameras and all of the film he could shoot up, he captured photographs of nearly everything and fortunately lots of those photos were vehicular in nature that I hope to share with my fellow Hoons in the future.

Thanks RGL. Know this olelongrooffan appreciates the motivation. Rest In Peace 2003.