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.

Not For The Faint Of Heart

I found this over here. It is a pretty cool site and full of off road videos.

And finding this site sure helps this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life.

What I Did Today

well, Wednesday anyway.

thejeepjunkie has sold the Kid's CJ5 and has been driving TheGoodAttorney's classic, restored, 69 Ford Bronco until the Kid's next ride is found.

That ole4x4 is a sweet ride but with the 302 under the hood, it has too much power for this olelongrooffan to drive. I did drive it once and, much like that Mustang 5.0convertible I rented back in the early 90's, once was enough for me.

Well, while restored, that ole4x4 still has a couple outstanding issues. One of them is the replacement of the rod in the upper clamshell tailgate connecting the handle to the plunger holding the latch locked.

The other is the need for a spare tire wagon wheel to match that slightly used tire thejeepjunkie had located.

The upside, at least for TheGoodAttorney, is that while this ole4x4 is in thejeepjunkie's possession, those issues are going to get resolved.

Well, on that morning, this olelongrooffan gets a call from thejeepjunkie at the crack of dawn thirty to get over to B&B Fastners to see if they have that highly desired rod for that clamshell.

You Counters out there know what I did.

Actually, the first thing this olelongrooffan did was drop the top on my oleragtop as the temperature down here in the Birthplace of Speed was in the mid 60's, no breeze and bright Florida Sunshine.

Then this olelongrooffan headed over to the mainland to get to that rod selling shop.

On the way, I spotted this ole safety bumper on the rear of that Ram. It even had the Dodge dealer's name stamped into it. I am confident many of you Counters out there see this type of thing on a near daily basis but it was the first time this olelongrooffan had seen one since I don't know when. But know it has been a long, long time.

As this olelongrooffan was leaving the rod selling place, this beast was arriving.

My first thought was of this other hoon ride based on the 50's era Chevrolets.

But instead of using Corvette as the basis for this ride,

a late model F body Camaro was the donor for this exercise in stupidity.

So, anyway, this olelongrooffan gets down the thejeepjunkie's shop and delivers that newly purchased rod so thejeepjunkie can custom fabricate it into what is needed to repair that clam shell.

As this olelongrooffan is watching said fabrication, thejeepjunkie looks up and, quickly, makes a phone call.

He then asks me if I would mind going over to The Toy Box and picking up a used wagon wheel for TheGoodAttorney's rear mounted spare tire carrier.

"Heck no jeepjunkie."

"I told the owner that it was for the Kid's Jeep so don't bring up this Bronco or he will get 'all retail' on me."

So, this olelongrooffan showed up at The Toy Box and acted dumb.

Yeah, it was a stretch.

But as a result, that ole wagon wheel got picked up and thrown in the backseat of my oleragtop and back to thejeepjunkie.

Gratis.

So, in addition to the black and tan, blue light equipped, State of Florida owned cars and those belonging to Daytona Beach's finest, thejeepjunkie has also been successful in recruiting the drivers of those similarly situated vehicles from just down the beach from the Taj Mahal.

This olelongrooffan had to get a shot of this lighthouse displaying vehicle just for the Complaint Department Manager.

So, while thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan were examining the swing away spare tire carrier on that ole4x4, we realize a rubber bumper, called an isolator by the way, was needed to keep that tire from rubbing against that carrier. Plus a 6" carriage bolt and corresponding washer and nut.

So, this olelongrooffan was promptly dispatched to find the required items.

A 6" carriage bolt. Easy.

The required isolator?

Nearly impossible.

B&B Fastners? Go to Graingers. Across town!

Graingers? Go to that, you know that auto fabric supply place on Ridgewood. Yep, just a block from thejeepjunkie's shop.

That auto fabric supply place? Well that youngster told me to head to AutoZone. Three blocks from B&B Fastners.

AutoZone? Forget about it. This olelongrooffan should have known better. If it is not in their computer, those dudes have no idea!

Then, this olelongrooffan remembers Fastenal, the place that holds onto an old school telephone book sized catalog for AUVECO, Automobile Vehicle Company. It contains the most obscure auto parts known to man.

I mean they had the plastic piece needed to fix the driver's side window on my olestationbus!

So, that is where this oleragtop driving hoon headed.

And, yes, across town.

Entered that spot, mentioned what was needed and Shelley pulled out that catalog.

I looked on, expectantly, knowing this needed isolator would be found.

Well Counters, she looked and she looked and that isolator was still elusive.

While she was looking at that catalog, I spotted an old school hood bumper, you know the kind that screws up and down to align the hood of an automobile.

An idea germinates in the mind of this oleman and I inquired as to the availability of that item.

She looks at the clock and says, "I can get it here tomorrow."

I mentioned this olelongrooffan would keep that in mind but I was going over to the company that sponsors Mikey Waltrip and see if they might have one, but I would let her know.

So, this olelongrooffan heads over to that #55 sponsor and Eileen asks what it was I needed.

I mention it to her and she pulls out her phone book sized catalog and starts leafing through it.

We were unsuccessful until we got to the "Hard To Find" section of that parts catalog and Eureka!, that isolator was found.

Now for availability?

"Yes, there are 10 of them in our warehouse in Detroit."

"What is thejeepjunkie's price for one of them?"

She looks at me again and says, "You must be Ed's brother."

And as often happens around these here parts, I could only respond, "Yes Maam, I am."

"Well, they are packaged as a unit of ten and priced at $1.49 for all of them, plus shipping."

I have got to tell you Counters Out There, since only one of these rare parts was needed, this olelongrooffan knew that if we purchased ten of them, the Kid's great grandchildren would inherit the remaining nine of these rare isolators.

This olelongrooffan mentioned to the Pretty Lady Behind The Counter, no not that Counter, my idea of the hood bumper and she thought that was a good one.

"Got any?"

"No, I'm sorry those are a special order item."

Well, Eileen, I am going to head out to the U-Pull-It just beyond that north-south Eisenhour derived highway and see what can be found.

And this olelongrooffan did just that.

Paid the two dollar admission charge and headed into that automobile scrap containing wonderland and found exactly what this olelongrooffan was looking for on the third machine I came to.

Now what?

Just head on back to thejeepjunkie's shop or look around in candyland.

Guess what this olelongrooffan did?

Yeah, I stayed there about an hour!

The last time out there, I spotted a bunch of Cash for Clunkers and I thought I would check out some of those.

By now, the Cash for Clunkers were out of isolation and into the mainstream of this u-pull-it.

The first one seen was this early 90's Cadillac Seville. At one time in my life, h*ll I still do, desired one of these mid-sized luxo barges.

But, alas, thejeepjunkie won't approve this purchase.

But, this olelongrooffan did, in fact, once own the sedan version of this ole Caddy. Yeap, a 1988 Cadillac Fleetwood d'Elegance.

Sans the canvas roof.

And this one is a super size Suburban.

And a mid sized Chevy Astro of a similar vintage to the one the Bus used to own.

And know there were a whole bunch of big vans.

Even the cars the local yokels drive were represented.

This one is an example of thesungoddess's daily driver.

See jeepjunkie, this olelongrooffan told ya to get a Flex.

The most troublesome one I saw was this classic second gen Acura Legend.

Even an Isuzu Trooper made its presence known.

As did a Montero

and several Durangos were present.

And a whole swaggle of Chrysler mini vans.

And in the background of this image is a pile of ready to be scrapped C4C's.

But know this Counters, even though this olelongrooffan saw the depressing sight of all those formerly affordable automobiles effectively destroyed at a cost of over $20,000 each, just being able to figure out how to keep the spare tire from rubbing on the spare tire frame of TheGoodAttorney's ole4x4, at a cost of one afternoon of hoon time, $2 admission to the U-Pull-It and a buck on the way out allows this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.