The Magnificent Jalopy by John Tomerlin (1967)... about a 1931 Packard Series 8 phaeton. Great book aimed at teens who think about old cars and barnfinds

I read this in 5th grade, and still have it.

3 guys (Wally, Link and Injun) who jut graduated Alhambra high school in LA, and have an endurance run  contest against some classmates with a '54 Ford hot rod, with a Packard that they pull out of a chicken barn in Lancaster.

The rally is from their high school parking lot, through San Francisco, to Portland. A lot of problems for the 3 guys with the Packard, just to get it running, keep it moving, and make the journey with weather, roads, and old car problems. They only get 150 dollars to make the trip, and when money runs out, they have to get jobs along the way, like golf caddying, to make some cash for tires, repairs, gas, and food.

A person who reads alot will whip through this in one or two sittings, because it's riveting and keeps you fixed on what's next.

get your copy http://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Jalopy-john-tomerlin/dp/B001QLDZDG

John Tomerlin
Disk jockey, sportscaster, race car driver, pilot—John Tomerlin writes from a wide range of experience. While living in the south of France, he wrote Challenge the Wind, a novel of grand prix racing, one of nine he has published, four of which—The Fledgling, Prisoner of the Iroquois, The Nothing Special, and The Magnificent Jalopy—are for younger readers.
He has rafted the Colorado River from Lake Powell, and camped and hiked in Havasu Canyon, the site of his newest novel, The Valley of No Return.
John Tomerlin has published over a hundred short stories and articles in such magazines as Road & Track, Car and Driver, Playboy, Woman’s Day, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Mr. Tomerlin resides in Southern California where he is at work restoring an early model Porsche like the one he drove to a class championship in the 1994 Porsche Club of America regional time trials.

1920 Dayton-Wright RB-1

Dayton-Wright RB-1 was built in 1920, a racing aircraft developed in the United States to participate in the 1920 Gordon Bennett Cup air race. The aircraft was a high-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear undercarriage operated by a hand-crank making it one of the first instances of undercarriage retraction for aerodynamic benefit alone, clearly ahead of his time. With a monocoque fuselage and cantilever wing (built of solid balsa wood covered in plywood and linen) that incorporated a mechanism to vary its camber in flight. Unfortunately he was unable to fully participate in the race, getting off the highway due to technical problems. After that the aircraft was taken to the Henry Ford Museum.
from http://dieselpunk.livejournal.com/
The pilot had no forward visibility, but was provided with side windows. Cockpit access was through a hatch in the top of the fuselage.

Dismantled and shipped to France, the RB-1 was flown by Howard Rinehart in the September 28 race, but was forced to withdraw from the competition due to mechanical failure in flight. It was returned to the United States, where it is preserved at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton-Wright_Racer

Just a gust of wind

This misfortunate pilot landed his vintage tri-plane on its nose. The man had been flying the famous Fokker Dreidecker aircraft at the Flying Legends airshow at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambsridgeshire. But when he landed the WW1 fighter aircraft a sudden gust of wind blew it on its nose. No one was hurt in the incident. (Philip Tyler / Rex) http://news.yahoo.com/photos/snapshots-week-of-june-3-1307133161-slideshow/#crsl=

Best compliment ever, a review by Chris on Cars, who wrote about his favorite 5 car sites

Chris writes:
 I thought it would be a great time to highlight some of the car sites that I am a fan of, and that I read almost every day.  Sure, there are a ton of car sites out there, but these are unique.  They offer the best of the web, and a thoroughly different perspective on all things automotive.

Just A Car Guy – Most auto sites offer the latest news, sprinkled with supercars that we can never afford.  This site, written by Jesse, is one of my favorites.  Just A Car Guy offers daily snippets from the web, as well as some great commentary.  He travels more than anyone I know, looking for car shows, races, and events to give his readers a personal glimpse into all things cool.  His own photos at shows are amazing, though he concedes his girlfriend’s are better.  Jesse also scours the web for the most amazing photos from other sites, including everything from a Nazi turbine train, to forgotten cars like this week’s Bailey, to the coolest crazy auto stuff I’ve ever seen.   He is a human web crawler and his links offer up a never ending list of great sites.

Just A Car Guy is more than a car site, it is a lesson in culture.  His archives, some of which are posted here http://justacarguy.tumblr.com include everything…hood ornaments, car pin striping, Prius humor, hearses, motorcycles, belly tankers, tracked vehicles, hot rods, Ferrari, billboards, old photographs, schooners, and anything from aircraft to Zora Duntov.  The sheer volume is amazing.  This is why he is continually voted one of the top blogs on the web.  If I were allowed only one site to read, this is the one.

But something else sets him apart from everyone else.  When I started out, I sent out emails to every blog known to man.  I asked for advice and for them to review my site.  Only one person answered, and that was Jesse.  He became a sort of mentor for me, and is still the only person I would ask or accept advice from.  He told me my photos sucked, and that I was writing the same crap as everyone else.  He said I should take my own photos, and credit the ones I found.  He told me to write from the heart about stuff that interested me, and not to just regurgitate auto news.  It wasn’t easy advice, but it was the best I ever got.  Read this site…you won’t be able to stop.

the other 4 sites are Just A Car Gal  The Breakdown Lane   The Automotive Philosopher  and  You Are What You Drive

from http://chrisoncars.com/?p=2493

Interiors of the rare luxury Pullman Palace, Parlor, sleeper and observation cars

 From http://csrrm.crewnoble.com/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?AC=NEXT_BLOCK&XC=/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll&BU=http%3A%2F%2Fcsrrm.crewnoble.com%2FSearchPullmanAll_Images.htm&TN=Pullman&SN=AUTO9939&SE=807&RN=30&MR=30&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=1&XP=&RF=WebDisplay&EF=&DF=&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=1&ID=&MF=&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=0&NR=0&NB=1&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1

The space saving turntable (moves side to side, doesn't turn) at the Pullman factory in 1911

I've posted photos of it moving railcars around in this post, the 3rd and 4th photos : http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/07/pullman-baggage-and-mail-cars-1889-1909.html

photos found on http://csrrm.crewnoble.com/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?AC=NEXT_BLOCK&XC=/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll&BU=http%3A%2F%2Fcsrrm.crewnoble.com%2FSearchPullmanAll_Images.htm&TN=Pullman&SN=AUTO9939&SE=807&RN=30&MR=30&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=1&XP=&RF=WebDisplay&EF=&DF=&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=1&ID=&MF=&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=0&NR=0&NB=1&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS=&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1

Vintage photos of the Clara B Stocker railcar, compared to the gallery I took this March

for the gallery I just took: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/05/private-pullman-palace-railcar-century.html
and for the gallery Tere (JustaCarGal) took:
http://justacargal-s.blogspot.com/2011/03/nethercutt-museum-train.html

Pullman baggage and mail cars, 1889 - 1909

Just some of the Pullman photos from http://csrrm.crewnoble.com/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?BU=http%3A%2F%2Fcsrrm.crewnoble.com%2FSearchPullmanAll_Images.htm&QF0=ImageName&QI0=*&MR=30&TN=Pullman&RF=WebDisplay&AC=QBE_QUERY
thanks to Mary D who is writing a book about a young woman and her escapades running away from home with her families Pullman palace car (if I recall correctly) and doing a ton of research to get her Pullman info straight

What do you make of this? 1910 Memphis Tennessee street photo caught a Model T Town Car... rare. Steve dug into the research for the ID and numbers

clipped from a much bigger photo http://www.shorpy.com/node/9647?size=_original

1909-1910 Ford towncar compared to landaulet - the only difference is that the landaulet ($1,100) does not have a covered drivers compartment and the towncar ($1,200) does. 

1909 -  236 produced; 284 sold .  1910 -  377 produced; 304 sold

The grids in the sidewalk on the top of the photo are glass blocks in the sidewalk that let light into the building basement under the sidewalk

Suede and chrome at the 2011 Beatnik Blowout

 

Tikis and beer

Pit passes are a great way to accentuate the dragsters dashboard

I photographed all these interesting parts of the car at the Beatnik Blowout, but didn't think to get an overall exterior shot so you can see what the car is.