HG's thread of miscelaneous stuff

[Ta2Don]

HG in your post with the bikes, I was amazed to see the Zundapp...
When I was in the Air Force stationed in Portugal there were 50cc Zundapps everywhere. In the early 90s when Gas there was in the neigborhood of $4 per gallon the locals relied heavily on these mopeds. It was not unusual to see a man with his wife hauling groceries and whatnot on these little motorbikes... The scariest part was they would kill the engine at the top of a hill so they could conserve fuel as they coasted... Unfortunately that meant lights were off too. A friend of mine saw one at night slide under the back of a truck that pulled out in front of the lightless biker. Other than some scratches on the paint, the rider picked himself and the bike up and continued on his way...

Thanks again for sharing, this is an Awesome thread!!!

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Cool! Love me some Trail 70's.

Heck yeah, if they were affordable I'd love to have five of them.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

The only date I could find on it was from 1961. Which makes sense based on this...Originally founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911 as the Chevrolet Motor Car Company.

Wow!! it's as old as I am......it's aged better than me....

[ka_jd7and1]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

I don't know what this is, but I dig the tail lights. Reminds me of Madonna.

'59 Dodge Coronet.

[hgs_notes]

Thanks for ID'ing that.

Today I was back up in the cities but all the cool stuff I saw was just at a motorcycle/snowmobile/atv dealership and guitar center. I took some pics with my phone, but didn't plan on posting them. If you guys wanna see them I will post them up, but it's stuff you can see in any motorsports dealer near you.

But I do want to post this video cuz the song kinda fits me. At least a part of me. And it's the part of what I'm sharing here. So enjoy.

Black Stone Cherry - Like I Roll (Official Lyric...

[hgs_notes]

Been a while since I updated the thread. I put a lot of miles on again this week and looked at some cool stuff. Monday I went to the SE corner of the state again. I had a quick stop on the way in Austin at a little motor sports shop. I've been bouncing the idea of getting a bike again around my head. And I think I've found a candidate or 2 if I buy a new 1. These new Honda CTX bikes are pretty slick. This 700N really caught my eye. A sweet lighter weight cruiser. Not too spendy but looks good, comfy, dependable, fun. Pretty much what I'm looking for.


And the NC700X looks pretty fun too.


Continuing on the days journey I found a collection of cabooses. (insert joke here*)


There were 2 or 3 more out of this pic also. Just don't see these often now.

Then I drove past a corvette in a barn...


This part of the state is amish country. It was below zero here monday with a stiff wind. What I could see of the drivers faces when I passed them was a lot of red skin. These are some hardy people, and hardier horses.


I also stopped to look at my dream house...


Its nice right? But check these pics out then tell me what you think...






The garage and the big 2 story bldg are connected. The only problem? Location, location, location. Just way too far out of my way for my workload.

So the search continues.

Sonic has brought back the classic drive in food joint, which I think is great. Here's one of the old originals though and it's still in business. There used to be 1 in Little Falls when I was a kid and it was always my favorite if we got to go out to eat. It shutdown when I was in Jr High I think.


This Malibu was in the driveway of a farm I drove by. I had to turn around for a closer look. It looked to be pretty solid and like it had just recently been rolled out of storage. Dig the keystone klassics.


This old Chevy Firetruck was pretty cool.



There was an old scout hidden behind it...


And I liked the shape of this truck cab. Looks kinda art deco styled and an attempt at aerodynamics.



Looks like a mid 60's Olds 442 ready for some TLC...



There was also a shortbed Dodge 100 that looked fairly solid for this area of the rust belt...


I think this is a 40 or 41 ford coupe.


The remains of a 68 Chevy were stashed behind it...


This 1 looked like a runner, but was relegated to winter beater status. Which is fine, at least it's being used.


This old Stude has been sitting in this yard for at least a year or 2 now.


And right across the street is an Apache in mid-restoration mode...


I couldn't see enough of this one to ID it, but thought it was odd to be sitting out in the yard because it looked like it was a nicely restored car and not something you would let sit out through our winters.


That was about it for motorama sites that day. So then it was sunset time...

[hgs_notes]

Here's a couple of my goof off time projects. First is some garage decoration. Some halloween prop that needed to be personalized a bit.

Before...


After...


Just a liberal dose of metallic chrome rattle can paint and some cheap googles I had laying around.

This past summer I picked up one of those self propelled tractor looking sprinklers at a garage sale. Looked like this...


That just wasn't gonna due. I think this is much cooler...


Here's another pic from monday. A rather large smoker. Pretty sure you could roast a few hogs at once in this sucker...


I'm starting to see more fish houses getting set up on the lakes. This cold weather is thickening the ice fast. There will be villages of these on just about every descent fishing lake in the state over the next 3 months.


Not much else new today, so after an hour and a half of editing, uploading and posting I'll sign off with these pics from the end of my road tripping for this week.




If you don't like the sunset pics, tough t%^^$. I'm happy to see every one of them I survive to watch. There is something amazing and different about the winter sunsets. They seem to last forever. The colors are more vibrant. The dry air is clearer. Everything on the horizon is shaded black and the details seen in the leafless trees make them beautiful in their own way. They come way to damn early and our shortest day of the year is just a week away. When I see those colors in the sky I want to stare and burn that incredible image into my soul. The sky was on fire tonight.

Good night my friends.

[Low Elco]

Bring on the sunsets! I used to work at a place out in the country with a big vista, and made a point of stepping out to see the sunrise. If they were really good I'd make my guys stop and come out and have a smoke and see it.

We have similar taste in houses, if one or the other of them had a big covered porch.

Thanks for the pics- greatly enjoy them.

[Low Elco]

Ain't you back to work yet?

[alsriv2]

I am really enjoying everything you are posting. Including those sunset pics!
Keep the pictures coming please...

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Ain't you back to work yet?

Started again today, but really haven't been out and about much. I have a few pics on my cell phone I can share though.

Here's a little "What did you do on your Christmas vacation?" story...

Here's a Harley sitting in a backyard here in in town. Doesn't look like the owner gives a crap about it. I should make an offer. I like the color.


For Christmas, we just hung out as a family, wife included. She got me something unexpected. I have no idea what prompted it. And I'm not even sure it wasn't meant as a gag gift. Not being the type to ever turn down tools as a gift, including kitchen tools, or in this case, butchering...


I asked her if had been used as a murder weapon and she gave it too me to frame me and get me locked up til the end of my days. She replied with "Drat". It was in pretty rough shape, so I cleaned it up, filed the back edge which looked like it had been used as a hammer, and the cutting edge that looked like it had been used to cut steel cable. Sanded the handle a bit too. I told her they would never be able to pin anything on me with it cuz I completely changed it to screw up the forensics.

BTW, we are getting along pretty good, for those of you aware of the situation.

She also got me some new garage decorations. Hobby Lobby has a bunch of great stuff for anyone looking to add crap to your garage walls.




Saturday after Christmas we were experiencing a shortlived heat wave. All the way up to 40ish. I know that doesn't sound like much but consider that we have had below zero for at least part of most days in December, and our high today is supposed to be right around -2F. Anywho, enough of the weather report. Suffice it to say it was relatively toasty, so I got my trucks out for a little cruising. Shameless self promotion pics...


My son got to drive the Jimmy in the snow. I drove it til the engine warmed up a bit, went into a parking lot that doesn't get plowed so he could pound some drifts. He gets in, and drives straight out of the lot and cruises the streets.



The lake is froze over solid now and thick enough for vehicles. There must have been 40-50 fish houses out there, the most I can remember seeing on this tiny lake. After I cruised the frozen neighborhood I stopped for a few pics. Then did some donuts for a few minutes...






The next morning we had a -40F windchill. Basically an 80F swing in about 12 hours.

For New Years Day I took the kids up north to visit my mom. Along the way I stopped to look at this 68. It's been there for many years, but I'm looking for 67-68 side trim for someone else and couldn't remember if this one had it. As you can see, it doesn't. Will keep looking.

Originally Posted by alsriv2

I am really enjoying everything you are posting. Including those sunset pics!
Keep the pictures coming please...

Thanks for saying so. A grainy cell phone sunset.

[Ol Blue K20]

Yeah!!!! your back I was missing the pics and stories....

[TennesseeZ]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Yeah!!!! your back I was missing the pics and stories....

Ain't that the truth! I was going thru withdrawals, quitting was easier!

[Low Elco]

Ah, fresh news from the frozen tundra! Glad to hear you're having fun with the new truck. More glad to hear your news. Glad the holidays were good to you. Nice cleaver!

[hgs_notes]

The other day I was out and about with my oldest girl. She was going to be heading back to college so we spent the day with her out shopping. She's not into the new fancy stuff so it was thrift stores and antique shops, etc. Two things stood out. First was this...


5 lbs should keep things moving for a while. Yikes!

Then this thing...


Yeah, that's a coffin. A wicker coffin. They got it from a funeral home estate sale. Said it was used for viewings only. Which means several corpses have been laid in it over the years of it's use. Can you say heebie jeebies?

Yesterday I had some work in Springfield, which is just 13 miles west of home. That was nice cuz it was a bit chilly yesterday. The cold doesn't really bother me. The car has a heater. But the suspension and tires get rock hard. The shocks don't want to dampen much at -20F, so shorter drives are easier on the back. Anyway, a couple years ago I had entered my C-10 in it's first show in St. Peter. We stayed to see the awards given out. I didn't get anything, but a guy in Springfield did, but he wasn't there to collect his plague. They asked if anyone was going that way so I volunteered to take it to him. It sat on my work bench ever since and I kept forgetting to grab it so I could drop it off for him on my way through. Yesterday I finally remembered. So I stopped at Stellas Body Shop.


I didn't know Stella, but knew of him. I think there are a couple picks of his place earlier in this thread. I introduced myself and we spent the next hour or so BSing. Nice guy. He's got some cool stuff decorating the shop too.




I always get charged the highest rate.





This pic he had on the wall was really cool. It's all pedal cars...


One of the current projects. Got it out of Texas. Just lowering it and doing wheels and tires, clean up the interior, etc. to flip it. Minimal rust. Late 50's Ranchero.



Stella said he came across a guy he knows last week from various car shows and that guy told him he had 1 of his trophys also. He got a laugh out of me showing up with 1.

Later in the day I had to go to Mountain Lake, MN. There's no mountain. Not even a mole hill really. And barely a lake. I have no idea how it got that name. Inside joke maybe. I was there to get my new car.


The first GM in several years I've had as a company car. Last 1 was an impala from back around 2003 I think. I liked it, but the later models we had to choose from either didn't have a GM product or the choice just wasn't a good car, like the Malibu from 2 years ago. I test drove 1 and turned around after 1 block and dropped it off. Didn't like it at all. This year we could choose between the fusion and malibu. I test drove both and the Chevy won out. The ride was similar for both cars. But the Chevy has more power, better gas mileage, less road noise, 6 speakers rather than 4, and the center console had more room by my knee. When you're in a car for as much as 8-10 hours a day these things are important. So far I like it. We'll see how it is on my next trip to Waterloo or Omaha or some other long drive.

While I waited for the shop to get the snow tires off the fusion I cruised the city of Mountain lake a bit. Don't see these very often...


This house was designed by someone that was a chronic user of herb I think...



At least there's a garage.


Almost forgot, don't see these everyday in our little prairie towns...



The Chevy dealer was doing some work to it.

On my way home I went through Darfur and spotted a couple old cars in the alley. A pretty solid Galaxie 500.


And pretty nice original Maverick...



Enjoy.

[Ol Blue K20]

Thanks HG, cool as usual.....

[alsriv2]

Nice pics again.

[Low Elco]

Thanks! Cool bodyshop!

[hgs_notes]

Not much from todays travels. I was heading to Red Wing, where the boots were made, but not to the boot plant, to another plant, one that does the flooring for the semi trailers. Anyway, for a change, how about a sunrise?


It was looking to be a promising day. First day in I don't know how long that it was above zero when I went out to hit the road. The cold that blanketed the US earlier this week wasn't any record breaker for us. Hell, it was only about 10F cooler than the previous days, but the jokes and memes were hitting their peak on the topic. Here's the ones I liked ...




Sticking with the cold theme, remember the waterfall pics from this summer in Hastings? By the flour mill? I stopped in today to see what it looked like. I really wish I had the time to get down there for some better shots, but these will have to do. And sorry, but they are just cell phone pics.










Later, on my trip towards home, I was driving through Lonsdale. There was a body shop with a bunch of cars for sale and as I was rolling by I saw this...


I'm thinking, that looks odd, but then kept rolling by and got a better view.


I'm not a fan, but to each their own.

That's it for today. Have a good night.

[Low Elco]

Sunrise shot looks exactly like the ones I used to see workin in the country. Thanks!

[boatpuller]

all them snow pictures make me think it's gettin close to time to get the pool ready. Cool pics HG

[hgs_notes]

The meme is funny, but wrong. Look at the plug ins. Those are not US style, they are probably european. Look at the bottles. That is not what you would find on any true american rednecks table. We are actually in a bit of a thaw here for a few days. It was nice going out to the car for once with temps above zero.

Couple interesting things today. I'm still getting used to my new car. It takes a little while to adjust when you have as much seat time as me. Everything just feels a little off. Anyway, I noticed today that my speedo doesn't have kph on it. Other than my trucks I can't remember driving anything in a long loooong time that didn't have both mph and kph on it.

I like it.


I was on my way up to Minneapolis again. It's where the majority of my workload is. One of the places I worked at today was a recycling center. Now you may say to yourself, Self? Why the heck would he think a recycling center is interesting enough to take pics, post them up and for me to waste my time looking at them?

This isn't your everyday recycling center where you drop your empty beer cans at. I mean you could do that, if you have like a semi trailer load of them. But then you would probably be too inebriated to understand what all these letters and numbers on the tv looking thing in front of you mean.

We'll start with this...


That is a 5000 HP electric motor. Powered by 4160V 3 phase AC. It has it's own power transformer. It drives a ginormous shredder. And it pains me to say it but I don't have pics of that. Wish I did, but that area is kinda restricted and basically the only part you see is a giant steel box with gearboxes and stuff. The shredding action is watched on a tv monitor.

So what will this thing shred you ask? Just about anything.




Yes. Even whole cars...




This was on the top of the pile. I didn't think a hubcap was worth the climb, nor life and limb to collect.


The discharge pile...


Here's a closer look at what the output is...


After shredding the stuff is run through various sorting machines to separate ferrous from non-ferrous and rubber/plastic etc is removed. They can sort the non-ferrous further to and sell the material in bulk based on the grade and type of material. It's pretty incredible really.

A short time later I was on the right side of da fuzz.


Better to have them in front of you than behind you.

On the way home I had some free time so I stopped by Sport Wheels again. It's the bike place I was at a while ago. I was checking prices on parts for a friend. I never knew how extensive this place really is. They have a pull your own part yard and if you dig old bikes, or new bikes or any freakin kind of bike at all you're gonna love this place. My new playground. I just need a bike to get started with. I think I should be able to find something...






Cool tank...


Sweet!


Daayumm!


Looks like a fun project, CBR600 I think...


Never heard of this one...


I'd ride this around the neighborhood...


I like the gauge in the headlight bucket. I wonder why that design idea went away.


Another one I've never heard of...


Interceptor. I like the name. I could see myself on one. Not this one. Or this type of bike, but something I can name Interceptor. Like Mad Max.


Cool old rusty stuff...




That was my day in a nut shell. I hope you enjoyed yours.

[Low Elco]

Mini-trail 70's look good in the back of the truck!

I loved The Goose's "Kwaka" from Mad Max 1. "Don't count The Goose out 'til ya see the box go in the ground!" Love me some 900 Z-1 goodness!

[hgs_notes]

This weeks travels were hit and miss as far as site seeing goes. The other day it was a bit blowy outside.




The pics are not blurry. It's just the snow.

Good thing all my driving that day wasn't like that. The next day was slightly better but I just didn't stop and look around much. Too far to go in a limited amount of time. Yesterday was bad enough that I didn't leave town.

Today was cold but it was a good day out in the sunshine. And I found lots of things worth taking a pic of. Well, some of these are worth a look anyway.

As if anyone ever needed anymore awesome reasons to visit MN...


Pretty solid 67 truck being put to use as a dumpster.


Here is a couple other good old work trucks. Both are for sale I think...




A very visible mustang...


Tractors...

This little hut in Dassel is pretty cool. Got the old gas pump, but I've never seen another gas station like it.


Some old flamer truck...


I stopped at a ford dealership and here's some pics of non-fords so I don't annoy the haters too much. Is this considered a classic yet? Is it old enough? I really don't care for the styling of the newer BMW's. They look like hondas and camrys to me.


The story on this Merc is that the owner bought it as a black car for around $80-90k, drove it some, damaged the front bumper, decided he wanted to personalize it a bit and proceeded to throw crazy $$$$ at it. $14k for the body kit. Color change to matte white, which looked pretty sweet in my opinion, wheels and tires, probably some performance mods too. $42k later he has this...




I'd drive it.

I also stopped at a body shop today. Not your typical collision center. This is 1 of only 4 body shops I have been to that do pretty much all custom/hot rod/restoration work. The owner is a great guy and proud to show off their work. I only get to stop in every 2 years for work but it's a treat every time.


This goat is a 64 vert with a full custom chassis and LS swap. Perfect paint. The owner will have something really special when it's done.




First cars I saw when I walked into the shop was a pair of 396 SS chevelles. Different owners.


A pair of engines in a glass enclosure between the offices and shop.


More stuff...














That be some bright n shiny paint...




The bone yard behind the shop. The red fastback is a customer car for sure. Don't know about the rest.






I might be going to a motorcycle show tomorrow. I will share some if I do. Have a great weekend.

[meatwagon83]

the truck with the flames on it has ohio historical tags on it