More Movie Cars

 Someone mentioned the Munstermobile, the macabre rumble-seat equipped car of the Munster family.  Man, I bet this thing drove like crap.  But, it's cool and I bet cruising this down your favorite road would make you feel like a movie star.

Another crazy creation by George Barris (Batmobile, Monkeemobile, Munstermobile, etc) was the mean machine from the bad 1977 movie, The Car.  It was actually a 1971 Lincoln Mark III.  I really like this thing.

Speaking of the Batmobile...I feel that this car reigns supreme in all of cardom.  Produced from a 1955 Ford Futura concept car, the Batmobile was just too much for my adolescent mind.  In reality, it weighed nearly 3 tons and was motivated by a pedestrian Ford 390 V8.  That's OK...I'll keep pretending that it was the baddest car ever.  Plus, it had parachutes.

The Monkeemobile, 1967 Pontiac GTO

Ebay can be a wonderful place.  Full of amazing and fantastic buys.  And full of just plain weirdness.  Well here, folks, is your chance to own a piece of all the above.  I give you, the Monkeemobile

Starting life as a 1967 Pontiac GTO, those crazy guys in the band had some killer wheels.  You can bid on this gem, or you can do like I did and gaze endlessly at the folly of the 60's.
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New Brakes for the Mustang

 I've been getting the shudder while braking on the Mustang for a while now.  I have put off changing the rotors because it's a dirty job.  It's not hard, exactly, but it is time consuming and dirty.  These fresh front rotors and new pads went on quite easily, pretty much done in 90 minutes.  The old rotors were certainly toast, but the old pads could have been reused.  But, since I was already in there, out with the old and in with the new.

On the test drive, I noticed still a bit of shudder.  Just as I feared, the rear rotors were warped as well.  Dang, and I HATE doing rear brakes.  The pistons in the rear calipers are always recalcitrant and these were particularly hard.  After a couple of hours of hate, I called Marty and he gave me the 911.  Off to Autozone I went and got a piston tool and the job was finished soon after.

I'm still sore and my fingernails still have dirt under them.

Bed Crashers

Our bed is frequently violated by one or both of the boys.  Pretty much 3 or 4 times a week they come in during the night and eventually push us out of our king sized bed.  This is a photo of them once the sun had come up, well after we had to abandon our normal sleeping positions.  Look how cute they are, all snuggled up together.  Even so, I will use this to blackmail them when they are older.

Kona Hei Hei 29er Part Two

Early in the year I showed you a Hei Hei Supreme.  We ended up using it as a demo at the shop and one of the guys bought it and is going to be racing it.  I started feeling the pains of separation from my favorite full suspension bike.  So I got one for myself and pimped it.  While I left my Felt Nine as an XTR bike, I had to present this one as a Sram bike...complete with the new XX Grip Shift.  I am a twist shift fan, and this stuff blows away my old stuff.  One parts spec that is not in line with the Sram stuff is the XT brake set.  I'm not giving that up, and if I do, it will be for the Hayes Prime Pro's.  Brake feel is a personal thing, and so far I'm a slave to the XT's and the Prime's.  This bad boy is all delicious, all the time.

Man stuff

There must be some caveman-like gene deep in my bones that gets awakened when doing man stuff.  You know, like lifting heavy stuff, working on things with tools, etc.

Today I unclogged two drains that have been giving me trouble.  The kids bathroom sink (surprise, surprise) has been slow to drain and finally just stopped up.  My own sink (part of a double sink, mind you) is the focus of much family action and it just stopped up.  Bucket in hand, I got busy and took the pipes apart.  And now they flow.  Nice.

The Flex has been flashing "Change My Freaking Oil NOW, JERK!" on the dashboard lights.  So I did that, too.  And, completely opposite from the Mustang, which is an oil change nightmare, it was quick and easy and I didn't spill even the smallest drop.  Nice.

So easy, even a Caveman can do it.  Sorry, Geico.

Raleigh Edge Trials Bike...sort of

We were working on this bike earlier in the week at the store.  It's a 1988 or 1989 Raleigh Edge.  It has a 26" front wheel and a 24" rear wheel.  I remember selling them when they were new at TC.  They were meant to mimic trials bikes from the era, but it was really much more of a mountain bike with odd sized wheels.  It did accelerate well, but I never took it off road.

This example was in exceptional shape, still sporting the original tires...which were dry rotted and we replaced them.  Neat blast from the past.

Vipercuda?

Autoblog always has the craziest stuff.  Today, it's the Vipercuda.  Tomorrow?  Who knows.

Easter and Eli's Birthday

 Eli and the Easter Bunny.

 Eli launching into his egg hunt.

 Whoa, he's got his hands on the goods!

 Digging for every last one.

 Tyson was in on the action.  Here, it looks like he is dancing.

 I didn't think Eli had gathered that many eggs, but here is the evidence.

 Glamor shots with Hanna.

 Max and Hanna having a discussion during a hot box game.

 Deanna lifting Tyson up to a tree limb for the hidden eggs.

 Max and Hanna having a moment.

 Everybody ends up playing hot box, even Flannery.  Her birthday is in two days.

 Hey guys, it's my 6th birthday....check out this cake!!

 No, Hanna and Tyson were NOT drinking wine with dinner.

 Aunt Denise just had a birthday, Eli's birthday is today, and Flannery's birthday is Tuesday.

Eli was making fishy faces waiting for his turn to open presents.

Behold, the Rabbit Pick-Up Big Rig Combo

Folks, I can't make this up.  This gem was parked in front of the Mobil On-The-Go (On-The-Run to those who are sane) Gas station. 

Look closely.  Take in all of the subtleties of this baby.  It may take a few passes for your eyes to fully appreciate the wonder and frivolity that is the Rabbit Pick-Up......MODIFIED to mimic the big rigs.