43 years since his car was stolen, and he kept looking, and finally found it

photo from AP http://www.hotsr.com/news/2012/07/08/texas-man-recovers-stolen-car-after-42-y-445592.php
Bob Russell never gave up hope that his stolen 1967 Austin-Healey would be found one day.

 He was a graduate student at Temple University in 1970 when he parked the English roadster at an apartment complex after a date with his future wife.

 When he went to the lot the next morning, the car was gone. Because he was a cash-strapped student, it was a double whammy: He had liability coverage, but no theft insurance.

 For more than four decades, Russell searched for the cream-colored convertible. This year, against all odds, he found it. And with the help of the Philadelphia Police Department, he has his Austin-Healey back.

 Russell was scouring eBay, the Internet sales website, when he spotted his hot car listed for auction by a Los Angeles auto dealer.

The listed VIN matched his beloved Austin. Russell, now living near Dallas, still possessed the title and set of keys.

The rest of the story at http://articles.philly.com/2012-07-12/news/32633503_1_austin-healey-hot-car-new-theft

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the 'Ring is bankrupt. Nurburgring filed last Wednesday

The Rhineland Palatinate state government had asked the Commission to pump €13 million into the firm as part of a rescue package which would also seee the firm would defer payment on a €330 million loan from a state-owned bank.

 But European competition authorities refused to approve the plan and the firm which owns the track will now go into administration. Administrators will then soon be responsible for all contracts, whether this be with Bernie Ecclestone for the Formula 1 races or with concert organiser Marek Lieberberg for the Rock am Ring festival.

 European authorities are already in the midst of checking whether more than €500 million has been funnelled into the racetrack and leisure complex in contravention of competition rules.

 The Rhein Zeitung said that tax payers should expect to pay heartily for the situation, as the entire complex is said to be only worth €126 million – according to a study compiled by Ernst & Young for the state.

 The figures show the firm is €413 million in debt, including €330 million borrowed from the state-owned bank and €83 million to share-holders, the paper said. The state could end up sitting on debts of around €287 million.
http://www.thelocal.de/sport/20120718-43811.html

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car museums and collections are getting auctioned off as they go out of business

Vehicles from at least a dozen major private and museum collections have come on the market in the past few years. Cars from the Crawford Auto Aviation Collection at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, and the Pate Museum of Transportation in Cresson, Tex., have turned up in sales run by the Canadian company RM Auctions. In March much of the contents of the Central Texas Museum of Automotive History, in the hamlet of Rosanky, was auctioned.

 On Thursday, Artcurial held a sale of cars from Prince Albert II’s collection, with 1930s roadsters and 1940s Dodge Army trucks, in Monaco. On Saturday in Plymouth, Mich., RM Auctions will hold a sale of 15 cars that the gun-manufacturing magnate William Ruger Jr. kept in a New Hampshire mill, including Rolls-Royce Phantoms from the 1920s and ’30s.

 An online auction through Witherell’s closes on Tuesday, with about 60 horse-drawn buggies and wagons that the California winemaker John Traina, who died last year, parked alongside a driveway. On Aug. 16 Bonhams in Carmel, Calif., will offer 30 motorcycles that hung from the ceiling of the San Francisco restaurant Eddie Rickenbacker’s. In Pebble Beach, Calif., Gooding has an Aug. 18 and 19 sale with a dozen cars from the Pettit family’s Museum of Motoring Memories in Natural Bridge, Va.

excerpted from a New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/arts/design/classic-vehicle-auctions-and-a-lucie-rie-biography.html?_r=1  I learned of on the newsletter from the Vintage Racing League http://www.thevrl.com/

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Grand theft auto, operating a chop shop, and busted with the pieces of an 800 mile 2005 Ford GT

a 30 year old and 48 year old guy got arrested Monday, and arraigned in court today. They plead not guilty to 11 counts.

When is the last time you heard of a stolen car getting recovered? When is the last time you heard of a chop shop and car theft ring getting busted?

All the parts of the GT were recovered, except for the steering wheel, carpet, and seats. Two Porches were also recovered.. the thieves were driving them.

Story and images from http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/aug/02/arrests-made-theft-250k-ford-gt/

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105 year old steam locomotive in nearby Poway is nearing boiler replacement time.. it's only been 75 years since the last one

story from http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/05/old-locomotive-running-out-steam/ 

it gets a tourist run 2wice a month, but the boiler is just OLD and patched for the last time.

the engine is a 1907 Baldwin, and is at the Poway park with the train restoration faciltiy (cool place that I went to in 2007 http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/06/any-day-around-trains-is-good-day.html )

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Did you hear about the Ferrari on the Great Wall Of China? Huge problem when a hot head did a burn out ... so embarrased were Ferrari company officials, they publically apologized that a car they made, not drove, not owned, not endorsing this use of, BUT MADE... was dishonoring the Chinese national monument. That is a respectable thing to do

It was a publicity moment, the 20th anniversary of Ferrari's being allowed to sell in China. A dealership employee, not a Ferrari employee, so disgraced the Ferrari name in making tire tracks on the wall, that Ferrari company reps made an apology for the act of disrespect.

Wow, that is a class move by Ferrari. I hope China responded in respect and allowed that a manufacturer is not responsible for the users of a car, just for the quality of it's build. How Chinese citizens use cars is the realm of China's responsibility.Where cars are allowed to operate, how they attain the elevated top of the wall (by a crane) and what elected or appointed person gives the approval for a car on the wall... these are all the problems of a country, not a car maker.

Ferrari... classy way to handle this event
China... I don't know how they responded to Ferrari's PR

Learned about this on http://www.tripsandturns.com/2012/05/ferrari-burning-rubber-in-nanjing/

full story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18006291 but if you watch the video, you'll get all the same info

read more "Did you hear about the Ferrari on the Great Wall Of China? Huge problem when a hot head did a burn out ... so embarrased were Ferrari company officials, they publically apologized that a car they made, not drove, not owned, not endorsing this use of, BUT MADE... was dishonoring the Chinese national monument. That is a respectable thing to do"

1964 Mercury gets retired by it's 93 yr old owner after 576,000 miles

Vietch is fond of noting that the car has outlasted three marriages. Mechanically, it's worn through three sets of shocks, 18 batteries and eight mufflers.

info and photo from http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/93-old-florida-woman-retires-her-64-mercury-204007316.html

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Harley washed out to sea by the tsunami that hit Japan last year found on a beach in Canada

 A container that was apparently swept away from Miyagi Prefecture by the March 2011 tsunami has been found on a British Columbia island, and inside it contained a Harley-Davidson.


The motorcycle, found in the container by a local resident, bears a license plate showing it registered in Miyagi Prefecture, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said Monday. The container may be the first debris from the disaster to arrive in Canada, the report added.

The container with the motorcycle washed up on Graham Island on April 18. Peter Mark found it while he was riding his all-terrain vehicle exploring an isolated beach, the report said. The license plate on the rusted Harley-Davidson motorcycle reads Miyagi So 428.

"I gotta say, the first thing that popped into my mind when I was looking at the scene (was) I really wonder what happened to this person. I really hope this person is OK," Mark was quoted as saying.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120502a6.html

And the bike is set to be reunited with its owner Ikuo Yokoyama after he was traced by its number plate.

“This is unmistakably mine. It’s miraculous,” Yokoyama told Nippon TV when shown photos of the motorcycle.

Ikuo lost three members of his family in the March 11, 2011, tsunami, and is now living in temporary housing

The bike was found by Canadian Peter Mark on Graham Island, off British Columbia on April 18.

Peter said the bike was covered in "a lot of corrosion, a lot of rust."

He added, he "couldn’t believe that something like that would make it across the Pacific."

Reports say the motorcycle would be shipped back to Japan, and that the shop that sold it to Yokoyama would help with paperwork and storage.

this 2nd bit of info, and the photo and video are from http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4292586/Japanese-Tsunami-Harley-washes-up-in-Canada.html

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Update to Ron Pratte post, the Darryl Gwynn Foundation

As has become a common and admirable occurance at Barrett Jackson auctions, Darryl Gwynn auctions off a remakable historic racecar, Ron buys it, offers it at auction again, it was bought by another collector who matched Ron's generosity, and was bought by a third collector who says it'll be for auction again soon.

Why the buy and sell, and the Gwynn connection? All of the money for the sale of Gwynn's vehicles go directly to the Foundation, with no auction fees, and everyone realizes that this astonishing generosity is to be applauded and continued by some who can afford it. Financially it may be a tax thing, but when over a half a million goes to a kids charity, I dare anyone to pick a bone with it. Respect, applaud, repeat.

For the full story and details: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-gwynn-dragster-scores-triple-header/

For the post about the collector and philanthopist Ron Pratte: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/01/ron-pratte-car-collection.html

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You should buy a lotto ticket if you are as lucky as the two guys in the taxi, they dodged a 5 to 25 ton, 50 foot pipe falling from an overpass

images from all over the local San Diego tv stations websites from cell phone photos sent into the news

The trucker was Southbound on the 125 from Santee at 9 am, was taking the exit to the Westbound 8, and was driving TOO FAST! He didn't make the turn, hit the barrier, and the chains that were restraining the pipe snapped, allowing the pipe to fall 75 to 100 feet onto Grossmont Center Dr.

The best coverage was channel 8, and click on the video for a good review of the story: http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11663048 the video has a thumbnail and full screen mode

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