Kauai is the northern-most island in the Hawaiian Island chain and probably the most remote. Well, as far as mainlanders and haoles go. We’ve been over there working on a project and were inspired to bring you a Product Review Tuesday on what we have to believe is America’s western-most, longitudinally furthest hot dog: Kauai’s own Puka Dog.
“A freakin’ hot dog?” you say. Well, yeah. But it’s different. First, this thing is either a polish sausage or a veggie tube (not sure what’s going on with that, but someone likes them) –– nothing more, nothing less. No lemon-pine nut-cilantro-chicken sausage or free-range-grass-fed-niman-pork link or other craziness. A real good hot dog, folks.
Over the weekend, we were up in Sonoma at Tim Conder’s Valley Speed. It was a good day, since Aaron Von Minden and Coby Gewertz showed up, too. It’s rare that minds like these are all under the same roof at the same time and some good worldwide hot rod takeover scheming got done.
A few pics here, as Aaron gives you a good idea of what it’s like to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, through the Rt. 101 Marin County tunnel, up to Valley Speed in a no-hood custom ‘49 Mercury and sit behind the wheel of Tim’s front-engine dragster.
In the later half of the Sixties, an era ended in folk music and to a large extent, the people closest to it didn’t mind in the least. Work songs had been used mostly by Black prisoners in American prisons to not only endure the long hours of brutal manual labor, but to maintain a cadence that everyone could keep up with as the work progressed.
The work song had come from the days of slavery on Southern plantations –– a way of not only standardizing the work at hand, but to prevent any fellow slaves from falling behind in the task, since lagging behind in the work would usually result in severe punishment.
The songs were a total oral tradition, meaning that none of them were written down and were just passed from generation to generation by word-of-mouth. Not until the Folk movement, starting in the late Thirties, did cultural anthropologists like Alan Lomax and Pete Seeger realize that these songs should be recorded. Upon hearing and recording these songs in the field, Alan said, “The prisoners in those penitentiaries simply had dynamite in their performances. There was more emotional heat, more power, more nobility in what they did than all the Beethovens and Bachs could produce.”
Lomax, with his unique field recording setup in the trunk of his car, was able to record the songs as they were performed –– as far as we can tell, this is one of the only photos of his sedan’s rig:
Seeger and his crew were able to get into some Texas state prisons, too, and some valuable recordings were made in the mid-Sixties. We mention this because, by that time, mechanization had finally found its way to the prison system and a tractor could do the work of several prisoners. It wasn’t long before the sight of roadside chain gangs and prison work details were replaced by backhoes, graders and farm equipment.
On one hand, the era of the prison work song ending meant better living conditions for inmates. On the other hand, the fragile oral tradition of these songs disappeared with the hard labor gangs. The work of Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger and a scant few others has ensured that the songs are still able to be heard in their natural environment –– pick axes, sledge hammers, hoes and other tools providing the rhythm section in the background of every one of them. Movies like the Coen Bros. “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” brought the call-and-response prison work song back into the popular consciousness for a minute, but these unique recordings are worth exploring a little more.
Yesterday, we got a call out of the blue from an old Sucker Free City street racer buddy of ours. He built a bitchin’ ‘51 Henry J gasser that ran on the streets of San Francisco during the late Sixties and early Seventies before stashing it in storage where it sat for a few decades before being rediscovered.
A few months ago, another friend of ours who has a bad habit for ‘55 Chevy gassers found this old Frisco street racer Double-Nickel stashed in a Bayview neighborhood garage. He had known about the car for years, but bided his time till he finally got his hands on it. The “Fifty Dollar Trick” had been in storage for several decades, as well, and when we got to see it in person, we just about fell over:
But one thing he pointed out to us that we thought was neat: the “Paint by Reed and Knight” deal on the right rear quarter panel:
Turns out, Reed and Knight had painted our old street racer buddy’s Henry J, too – and was the place to go for paint in the trippy days of early Seventies racing in San Francisco. We’ve heard that Reed and/or Knight might still be alive and there may be more survivor cars with their, uh, “heavily influenced” paint jobs.
More to come on this as we dig deeper. We’ve already got some good stories that we need to confirm before we unleash them on the unsuspecting public…
We basically dig The Gorillaz. Not everything they do, but for a band of cartoon characters with a car, they’re more hip than, say, The Bugaloos. Mostly. Well, OK –– they might not have the genius of Martha Raye and George Barris and Sid and Marty Krofft behind them, but who can top that, anyway?
But with their new video, The Gorillaz have entered the three-dimensional world and we’re suckers for a good car chase that involves Bruce Willis and some hardware. And it’s hard to beat a ‘69 Camaro and a ‘68 El Camino. Now, EMI has locked up the video so we can’t show you any more than just the trailer, but you can see the whole thing (here). So, let’s break this video down for you, ACF Style…
The “Y Block” engine was introduced by Ford in 1954 as its first mass-produced overhead-valve deal, replacing the venerable Flathead that had been around since ‘32. The distinct shape of the block casting gave it the “Y” moniker and it was a popular engine, ranging in cubic inch sizes from 239 in the first ‘54 Fords, all the way up to the bitchin’ 312 that showed up in higher-end cars like the Thunderbird in 1956. These motors were finally phased out by the end of 1962, when they were downgraded by Ford to some sort of “economy” status. Still better than a 170c.i.d. inliner, though…
These days, Y Blocks are fairly collectible and they’re finding their way into hot rods and customs all over the place –– especially if you find a 312 with the kinda rare “M260″ kit: a Mercury dealer-installed hop-up goodie bag that included twin four-barrel carbs, cam and heads that boosted the motor to an advertised 260 horsepower.
We tell you all this because Steve Sellers has just released his Sellers Equipped Y Block valley pan cover and it makes us want a motor to go underneath it. Is that wrong?
With a complete installation kit including washers, grommets and gaskets, you can also get yours with a neat filler neck and the first few have been cast without the “San Jose CA” type (the rest of the run will fly the San Josie flag proudly).
Steve does an amazing job with all his sand-cast aluminum parts and these covers are no different. He doesn’t skimp on quality or fit-n-finish, so order with confidence. We’re gonna go down and pick up one of his early Hemi valley pan covers, so let us know if you want us to grab somethin’ for you, too.
You can reach Steve at Sellers Equipped (here) and (here) for more info on pricing, shipping, cheap beers in San Jose, where the pretty latinas hang out, where to get VeeDub Stingers, a good taco, those little turtle family decals for the back window of your minivan, Tijuana Bibles and knockoff sham-wows…
A few of you have asked for an update on Jay’s day in the media boat at the 2010 Mavericks Surf Competition we teased you with (here). Well, we’ve been talking to Dr. Watson and he’s teased us, too, with a fairly epic story of what it’s like to be a surf photographer and document one of the huge-est waves being ridden this century.
Now, we’re not gonna ruin it for you –– Jay’s promised that more images are coming, along with the story of the day, so keep checking back and we’ll do the same (JayBlog)…
Angel Baby is a familiar song at most car shows and cruises. Its sleepy twangy guitars, catchy hook and innocent romantic message make it a perfect soundtrack for a stop at the drive-in or a spot at the submarine race with your girl. The song was recorded by Rosie and the Originals out of San Diego, CA. Rosie originally wrote the lyrics to the song as a poem when she was 14 years old. She later added the melody and sent the song to herself via certified mail. After the song had been well received at the high school dances where they played, Rosie and the Originals decided it was time to record. They finished their primitive recording at an airplane hangar/recording studio in a small desert town about 100 miles east of San Diego. When they didn’t have luck shopping the record to record labels, they convinced a local department store to include it in their music department’s listening booths where it became quite popular. There it was finally discovered by scout for Highland records. Like a lot of artists from the time, Rosie, then 16, was offered a dodgy contract and was convinced her to state the David Ponci as the author of the song. The song became a huge hit, but Rosie never got paid. Rosie entered into litigation over her royalties that lasted decades, only to be resolved with the help of her foresight in sending that certified letter. Rosie and the Originals continue to recocord and perform but never duplicated the magic of that simple song. It was a song so big though, that it mananged to get Rosie and the Originals into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Found this great cheesy video produced by Lowrider on the history of Hydraulics. There are interviews with Ted Wells, Bill Hines and Ron Aguire, plus a lot of great info. The rest of the 10 part series is here I love the sound of those aircraft setups.
A cool little silent film demonstrating the capabilities of Armstead Snow Motors’ aftermarket snow tracks. The film also shows the use of the rig on a 23 Chevy and some minor Equine Abuse. Its a nifty little chain driven screw drive that is pretty impressive when it hauls 20-tons of logs. There’s not much info out there about Armstead, but the the concept obviously never took off, although the screw drive technology has been experimented all the way through WWII and continues to be experimented with by the British and Russians
March 9th, 2010
