A Barnfind For This olelongrooffan

"This book is for anyone who has ever owned, driven, or yearned for a sublime automobile. It is for the brotherhood of those who are stirred by the beauty of a Grand Marque, by the excellence of an honest design made real in metal, or by the exasperating, exciting individuality of a thoroughbred performer."*

As anyone Counting Along With Me knows this olelongrooffan is Car Crazy.

As I have mentioned numerous times in past blogs, I am confident my brothers and I inherited this passion from my Dad, TheGentlemanFarmer.

I mean with 9 kids, and another on the way, he was able to procure this 1932 Ford Model A while living in a huge *ss house in Shrewsbury, Mo, working at a printing company and driving two VW microbuses.

Later, after a move to the Ozarks, he was able to acquire this super cool longroof along with an Optimist pram sailboat. This 1967 Ford Country Squire, by and away, is the foremost reason my moniker is 'longrooffan'.
And I can remember taking a cross diocese trip, one in which TheGentleManFarmer did not let my schoolwork get in the way of my education, and we spotted this wrecked Chevy Nova on the hook. We were traveling, for whatever reason, in my maternal grandmother's 62 Chevy Bel Air and when this future longrooffan spotted it across from Miller Motors in Mountain View, TheGentlemanFarmer turned around so I could check it out further. By the way, he did, too. I am sure you observant Counters Out There will recognize the long sleeve, button down collar oxford shirt this olelongrooffan is sporting in this photograph as the type of fashion statement I still make.

Of course, a few years later this happened: and the GentlemanFarmer, in his unimitatable way bestowed this wonder of delights
to this olelongrooffan for my participation in the adventures of that Sweptline Series Dodge pickup.

Well, one of the photographs that brings me the fondest photographic memories of my youth is the one shown below. Yeah, me reading The Treasury of the Automobile on the floor of his den at 1822 S. National, Springfield, Missouri.

I even included a reference to it on my first blog over at Hooniverse, 'How This Hoon Became A Hoon'.

By the way Counters, it is 8:15 pm EDT and if you have been following along with me, a huge double prop military helicopter just flew north along my beach.

So, anyway, much speculation has been put forth toward the location of this copywritten in 1961 coffee table sized book, but to no final avail.

Now if any of you Counters have clicked on any of the blogs on the blog list just to the right, you will notice that the vast majority are automobile related (you should see my favorites on my home page).

One of them is one I call "More Car Stuff", although his title is "Tamerlane's Thoughts". It is an excellent, insightful blog, not just obscure cars but food and geopolitics to boot! Anyway, Kashgar216 did a blog a couple weeks ago about Powell's Books up in Portland, Oregon. He mentioned he found a great automotive related book he found there from his youth. He also threw down the gauntlet in that he was headed back up there from Northern Californey and if his followers wanted anything, we had better get there before he did. Turns out Powells.com was having a huge sale and it was liquidation time!

So, this olelongrooffan accepted that challenge and headed over to that site and I am so grateful to Kashgar for directing me that way but especially for a heretofore unknown Steve for doing this in 1967:Seems Steve had bequested his father a copy of 'The Treasury of the Automobile' for his Dad's birthday and now, some 43 years later, Powells wants to sell that copy to me.
Well, Counters, the sale price of that highly desirable book was a belief defying
$5.20 plus a whole $6.98 shipping and handling.
You got it....a total of $12.18 for one of the most formative books of my youth!

Yeah Counters, this olelongrooffan finally got my barn find, even though it is of the print variety.

So, this olelongrooffan ponyed up that $12.18 and today a driver of a Big Brown Truck delivered that book to the Taj Mahal.
And even though a buck or two is nearly impossible to come by these days,
this olelongrooffan is going to have a great time reading the sans-sarif 1961 generated font on this ole book as I continue to

Celebrate Life.

Be back in a couple weeks!

*from the forward of The Treasury of The Automobile.

It's A Doodlebug!

Those of you Counting Along With This olelongrooffan will remember while I was down at the Rods On The Hill 2010 last weekend, while looking at that old Firebird, I spotted something I had never seen before.
Now, I'm sure there are some of you out there who might believe you know what the vehicle in the above image is. I knew I had no idea what it is and contacted Daniel Strohl over at Hemmings for his input. It was necessary.

Way back in the 1940's, long before robots, computers, cell phones and the like were around, my Good Ole USA was involved in this thing called World War II. At the time, rationing was the rule of the day and there was rationing of dang near everything including rubber, gas, nylons and, surprisingly, tractors.

Ever seen a 1942-45 US produced civilian automobile? It is highly unlikely as production ceased on all non military related vehicles in early 1942 to make way for the construction of "War Effort Vehicles" including planes, ships, trucks, Jeeps and more. All of Detroit's production facilities were converted to the war effort.

So, those ingenious farmers needing replacement tractors and located all around our fair country invented what is known as a "DoodleBug". Not one was duplicated as every farmer out there had a different need and a different donor vehicle.

However, an example was spotted, for the first time by this olelongrooffan, at that show down in Holly Hill, Florida.
It is a rare sighting down here in the Southeast portion of these United States. It appears there is a strong representation in the Northeast as noted by Daniel Strohl here on a blog he did a number of years ago on Hemmings.
Apparently, a truck rear end was added to a shortened Model "A" frame and this was the setup for a period correct "DoodleBug". An interesting juxtaposition of body styles, that is for sure.
And, as Daniel pointed out, nice Mother In Law seat in the back.

It was interesting find that day and know I will never forget the DoodleBug but finding something new to me in this automotive hobby this olelongrooffan loves so much allows me to really

Celebrate Life.

Spyker Motorcars

In my last post, I included an image and this link to the newest offering of Spyker Motorcars.

Well, in an effort to keep all of You Counting Along With Me up to date on my Carcaine habit, I found a link over at ritzsite detailing the long and storied history of the Spyker Motorcar Company.

I think you will enjoy it.

And seeing that cool old Opel Manta as their Car of the Month, and remembering my older sister had one of those back in the day, lets me

Celebrate Life