Tacoma Motorcycle Club 1938

Founded in 1926, Washington State's Tacoma Motocycle Club is still going strong. I believe these shots of prewar Harleys and Indians in action were taken in 1938, the date on the Bob Knox Memorial Day Trophy.

Happy Journey

1962 promotional film of Czech racing champion Jaroslav Pavelka tossing a Tatra 603 around over field and stream, town and hillside in a demonstration for a party official in line for new wheels and his lovely daughter. The shock and awe generated as Buck Rogers' future roars past with a throaty air-cooled V8 throb means that the car's pilot can do pretty much whatever he wants, blowing by lesser vehicles on the highway at three times the speed limit, passing on blind curves, endangering motorcycles, horse carts, old ladies and bikes as he fishtails through the crooked cobblestone streets of the old city. From there we're off to prove the tricky beast's superiority in bad weather, blasting up into the mountains through wet curves that turn into deep snow, with the white stuff caked across the rear in a couple of shots giving a look behind the curtain, as does a patch of rust bubbling in the corner of the door frame seen as the young lady steps carefully into the snow up top. The startling finale is a very neat trick involving a steep grassy slope. Not even the hapless policistů who give chase in their Tatra T201 patrol wagon can resist stepping forward to shake their comrade's hand in the end. YouTube embed courtesy of TopSpeed automagazín.

Elmer's Trip to California 1921

Nebraska farmer Elmer J. Sweet treks to Southern California by Model T to visit his sister and 'wonderful pal' Jane and family, accompanied by one L.E. Cruise. 

Gone Hollywood

Glamour girl at the local park with a dream car realized - '56 Lincoln Premiere in Starmist White over Amethyst. When the photo was taken, it was an icon of an already superseded future and just the sort of extravagant foolishness the old timers in the sturdy Rambler next door had learned to live without. Kodachrome 35mm slide.

Root Beer Injun Head

Part of a roadside 'Indian Village' complex that included a 50 foot tall teepee gas station and motor court of smaller teepee cabins on US 40 in Lawrence, Kansas.

Camarito

People personalize their cars in very personal ways, but this particular impulse is new to me. Seems that Hebron, Ohio's Manny Powell had a tricked out 454 big block that he wanted on permanent display, so he sawed a '69 Z28 shell into 29 pieces and went from there. Honey, I shrunk the Camaro. As for interior accommodations, try to imagine any of the guys on either side, inside. Read all about it.