Star One Smart Blog's

This, a lighter offering. Via email...

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Found this video just this morning. The Beach Boys, Shut Down; one of the best street-drag racing tunes ever recorded. Found with the lyrics; here ya go...

Lyrics:

Shut Down

Tach it up
tach it up
Buddy gonna shut you down

It happened on the strip where the road is wide
(Oooo rev it up now)
Two cool shorts standin' side by side
(Oooo rev it up now)
Yeah, my fuel injected Stingray and a four-thirteen
(Oooo rev it up now)
Revvin' up our engines and it sounds real mean
(Oooo rev it up now)

Tach it up
tach it up
tach it up
Buddy gonna shut you down

Declinin' numbers at an even rate
(Oooo movin' out now)
At the count of one we both accelerate
(Oooo movin' out now)
My Stingray is light, the slicks are startin' to spin
(Oooo movin' out now)
But the four-thirteen's really diggin' in
(Oooo movin' out now)

Gotta be cool now power shift here we go

Superstock Dodge is windin' out in low
But my fuel injected Stingray's really startin' to go
To get the traction I'm ridin' the clutch
My pressure plate's burnin' that machine's too much

Pedal's to the floor hear the dual quads drink
(Oooo pump it up now)
And now the four-thirteen's lead is startin' to shrink
(Oooo pump it up now)
He's hot with ram induction but it's understood
(Oooo pump it up now)
I got a fuel injected engine sittin' under my hood
(Oooo pump it up now)

Shut it off
shut it off buddy now I shut you down

[repeat x 4]

The contenders:



'62 Dodge Dart Super-Stock with a 413 Max Wedge mill...

It can be argued that part of the Max Wedge appeal is that they were the fastest cars of their day, but, by most accounts, they didn't look the part. Some people find them downright ugly. Their outward appearance is Plain-Jane; no stripes, no badging. With the exception of the hood scoop on some '63 and '64 models, there is no tip-off to distinguish a Max Wedge from Grandma's slant-six grocery-getter. But make no mistake, Max Wedges can embarrass a brand-new Viper. They are fully capable of 12-second quarter mile times in stock trim. That's fast enough to pick off most motorcycles.

vs.



'63 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray with a 327 fuel-injected engine.

There's no doubt about which vehicle was better looking. The Beach Boys had a slick chick magnet; the Stingray is a fine looking piece of glass.



But I doubt that Stingray could've touched the 413 on the track. A little musician's leeway, I'd say.



A great tune from a long-bygone era.

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You hear these things, but you never know. I won't hold my breath...maybe if he would hold his long enough...

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Reminds me, Cuba does, that I still have a lot of old car photos I still haven't shared. Here's another, from my visit to Gilmore...


Looks somewhat Cuban, dontcha think?

Nash Rambler, of course...

It's nice to have Superfriends...

Here we see Gordon Brown, the newest PM in Great Britain, at Golf in Camp David.

In addition to enjoying the best that America can offer to a visiting nascent World Leader (GW looks like he'd rather be at the Ranch in Texas, 4-wheeling across the semi-arid range in denim and a cowboy hat, and I don't blame him; suited up in a golf cart isn't my idea of a good time...) George and Gordon discuss world issues. Then, take off your hat to Gordon...

Gordon Brown stuns liberals throughout the world by thanking George Bush for his leadership in the fight against Islamic extremism, and his response to international terrorism. And, to really boil the blood of leftists worlwide, Gordon Brown (did I mention he's the new PM for Great Britain, replacing the equally strong-supporter Tony Blair, another hated-by-'bats Bush supporter?) promises to build even stronger cross-Atlantic ties...

But the PM stressed America and Britain will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder.

Here's a good fellow for you.

“America has shown by the resilience and bravery of its people from September 11 that while buildings can be destroyed, values are indestructable.

“We acknowledge the debt the world owes to the US for its leadership in this fight against international terrorism.”

...

“And as Prime Minister I want to do more to strengthen even further our relationship with the US.”

Now the 'bats will have another Bush Supporter to Bash.

Screw 'em...

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h/t to Sondra K (where is this story in our American Media???

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I keep forgetting to add some of these Gilmore Greats, from the autoshow in Michigan earlier this month...

here's a nice '65 Thunderbird.

UPDATE HERE! Iowahawk's Director of the National Handgun Violence Taskforce, speaking...

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It's on, folks, the Midwest's best Carbon-Generating Fuel-Consuming Blog Writer in fine print today, has thrown his wit into the Presidential Race!


And lead us he can! He's solved the Environmental Scientist overbuildup issue, with enough of 'em left over to cure overblown AIDS and, just maybe, get us back to the Moon, with those big Saturn V boosters he's using on his farm equipment...

"The scientific debate is over: man-made global warming is real. Finally! This means we can now stop paying for all those expensive redundant research projects to prove global warming. Not only will this save over $2 billion dollars per year in federal spending, we will see significant reductions in CO2 as unemployed global warming scientists sell off their Volvos and move to mud huts.

To further help reduce the nation's carbon footprint, I will order the Environmental Protection Agency to bulldoze the mansions of Al Gore, John Edwards, John Kerry, and Laurie David, and convert them to more eco-friendly use as free public drag strips."

That's just the tip of this melting IceBurge...

Today, our esteemed candidate picked Jeff Goldstein as Veep

"As my Vice President, Jeff will preside over the US Senate, lead policy initiatives, and act as my personal anti-assassination insurance policy."

Indeed, that's insurance better than Lloyds of London, and allows Mr. Burge to forgo any Secret Service protection...of the male sort. There's always room for the ladies, especially those who carry Uzis and and Grenade Launchers!

Get on over there, and read the endorsements from all over the Internet! (well, at least from those who appreciate the best America can offer; Hot Rods, Beautiful Women, and Strong Liquor), and who can resist a party plank like this one:

“Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms” should be a convenience store, not a Federal Agency."

There you go.

It's a movement. Fred, you've sat around long enough to allow some real competition to emerge!

Aren't you sorry you didn't jump sooner?

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Oh, and The Sticker: Dan Collins emailed me with the 'specs for the contest and his design ideas; I just put it together.
What better post than to put in one of the 'Gilmore Greats' I've been sitting on? This one's a real Doozy...

I've just returned from a great mini-vacation in Michigan, where we spent time with family on Fish Lake, near Kalamazoo.

'Get away' is the key phrase...leaving the fast-pace of city life, returning to the country, to watch the corn grow.

There's lots of corn growing in southwest Michigan, to keep up with the Ethanol boom. Corn is worth a couple more bucks a bushel now. It seems every field that can support corn has corn growing, with some occasional soybean plantings, and of course, blueberries.


Check out these pics I grabbed using my Bushnell Northstar 'scope with the digital camera attached...again, I'm not too happy with the thing, but you can see the magnification, from the same deck as the top photo. It's difficult to focus, and with the lack of aperture control (it's wide open, baby, no stopping down this beast) there's only a tiny depth of field.

Oh well...

I took all the womenfolk to Amish Country in Indiana, a quiet place, Shipshewana, but full of quilts, it seems...of course, I was bored beyond tears, and I still don't know a thing about quilts.

The Amish in Indiana have deigned to place warning placards on their rides, and are also stuck with some Indiana Tax Plates that the Tennessee Amish have refused to put on their buggys. I think the Indiana Amish are more open than their Tennessee counterparts, but that's just a casual observation.

We got some return on our Indiana investment, when we took the load of protesting ladies to South Bend to visit Notre Dame.

My goal was to get a shot of 'Touchdown Jesus', from the Stadium, but alas all I got was a few pics of the campus. But, the Notre Dame-South Bend Campus ranks in the top tier of all North American Universities I've visited. Tennessee, you could take a few notes from Notre Dame...

OK, the highlight of this trip (besides, you know, utter relaxation) was the AACA 2007 Annual Gand National Meet, held at the Gilmore Car Museum, just northeast of Kalamazoo. I got so many pictures that I couldn't begin to put them all in one post. So, I'll have to append every post with a picture of an old car, maybe for the next few months! But here's a couple of my faorites...the '59 Cadillac, representing the best of Detroit Steel in that era, IMHO.



And the '48 Tucker, the car that never took off (too much pressure from the big 3 automakers; heck, this thing was marvelous and well ahead of it's time, but couldn't get off the ground...even with it's helicopter engine!)
Enough of this for now. I've got to find a way to get back to work, tomorrow, and find a way to get angry enough about politics to post some scathing commentary about my favorite liberals and their antics. I missed AlGore's bittersweet weekend (jetting about promoting Global Warming, while his son did his part in a Prius, while stoned out of his mind...that's the AlGore I know and remember...)

Look for those old cars to show up in the oddest places, in future posts.

Michigan? Hey, if I had gone there first when I left Arizona, before Tennessee, you know I might have actually wanted to stay there? But, the politics are somewhat blue, and I didn't visit Detroit, so I guess I haven't seen much.

But, I will go back, to visit.

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BTW...
I missed the Cowboy's Photoshop contest. I didn't have (or want) internet access in Michigan, so there was no reading or time-wasting online. So, here's a quick 'chop of a Buick, from Gilmore. Can't wait to get more of these posted... ;D