Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

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Funny you should ask about English in Sweden. I just wrote a PM to Rumblefish360 on this topic yesterday.

Sweden is a country of 9M people and a unique language. Sure, all three Scandinavian countries have a lot in common language wise but still, we are too small to afford dubbing everything foreign. France, Germany, Spain and Italy dub everything, even interviews in news broadcasts. We don't. We use subtitles everywhere. This leads to an automatic learning of English up to a certain level, English being the dominating language of showbiz. On top of that, all school children take compulsory English from age 10 to age 18 (unless you drop out at 16).

Why? Well, Sweden is an export nation. Throughout history, we've depended on trade to supply us with things that can't be grown here. We used to do an enormous amount of business with the Hansa, the German trade organization of the 13th to 17th (corrected - I checked) centuries. In modern time, Germany has always been a large market for us. We even sold ore to the nazis to avoid war ... Not our proudest moment.

But in the last century, the U.K. and the US has snatched the top spot for language influence even if I think exports to Germany (which is in the EU after all) exceed that to the US. I'm no sure about that, though (I checked, Germany alone accounts for 50% more than our US Export and we import more than five times more from Germany than the US. Lots of Audis on the roads here ...).

So no, immigration is not the cause for us knowing English. :)
 
Hickman was a true bad ***,never knew the James Dean connection.

I've read that Hickman and Dean were good friends. He apparently taught Dean a great deal about driving and was pulling the tow trailer for Dean's Porsche ahead of him when Dean had the accident.
 
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I've read that Hickman and Dean were good friends. He apparently taught Dean a great deal about driving and was pulling the tow trailer for Dean's Porsche ahead of him when Dean had the accident.

I heard the name before, never put the two together,John. Supposedly someone has tracked down the actual remains of the wrecked Porsche, in the mid western states...
 
When I was 16 (many yrs. ago Ha Ha) my 1st car was a 67 Cuda fast back Formula S. I sold it about 3 weeks before I turned 20 yrs. of age for $800. and the only thing wrong with it was the drivers seat had a tear in it. Funny how hind sight is always 20/20
 
When I was 16 (many yrs. ago Ha Ha) my 1st car was a 67 Cuda fast back Formula S. I sold it about 3 weeks before I turned 20 yrs. of age for $800. and the only thing wrong with it was the drivers seat had a tear in it. Funny how hind sight is always 20/20

I feel your pain!

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda... Boy, if we only had the foresight back then to know what some of these cars would be worth today. I sold my Hemi Superbird (without the Hemi) for $150 and my '69 440 Sixpack Superbee for $500. I also sold my pristine '64 Polara 2dr hdtp for $500 and my '70 Roadrunner for $150. It may seem like I've still got plenty of Mopars here but I sure managed to give away the cream of the crop.

I guess when I read the car sale ads in the back pages of old HOTROD magazines (from the '60s & '70s) I realize I'm probably not the only one that's kicking themselves now.
 
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I heard the name before, never put the two together,John. Supposedly someone has tracked down the actual remains of the wrecked Porsche, in the mid western states...

This is the article that I read:


The 55-year long hunt for actor James Dean's missing Porsche 550 Spyder might finally be over. Motivated by a $1 million reward offered by the Volo Auto Museum, a tipster has come forward and revealed that he was present when the stolen Porsche was stashed away.

The mystery began in 1955 when Dean was driving his tiny 550 Spyder -- which he had nicknamed Little Bastard -- to Salinas, California, for a race. He hit a much bigger Ford Tudor that turned left in front of him and died from his injuries. His badly damaged car was sold to a fellow racer who used it for parts, and it was eventually acquired by George Barris, the famed builder who designed the Lincoln Futura-based Batmobile used in the 1960s TV show.

Barris' original plan was to rebuild the 550, but the project never started so he loaned it to the National Safety Council. It was displayed all over the United States in order to raise motorists' awareness about highway safety. Often times, the mangled Spyder sat next to a sign that read "this accident could have been avoided."

The Spyder mysteriously disappeared in 1960 while it was being transported from Miami, Florida, to Los Angeles, California. It was declared stolen, but the police was unable to tell exactly what happened to it and where it went. It hasn't been seen out in the open since.

Volo Auto Museum's tipster claims he was six-years old when he saw his father and a few other men hide the Spyder behind a fake wall in a building located in Whatcom County, Washington. Museum employees say that his story sounded too good to be true at first, but he provided precise details that only an eyewitness would know, and he passed a polygraph test.

The issue is that the museum will only give the $1 million reward if it's able to legally take possession of the Spyder. The tipster doesn't own the building so he has no claim on the car, but he won't reveal its location unless he's certain he can get at least a chunk of the reward. George Barris -- who is presumably the 550's last legal owner -- hasn't weighed in on the matter, and it sounds like the building's current owner doesn't know what's hiding in the walls.

Museum officials say talks with the tipster are on-going, and they're confident they'll uncover the 550 in the near future.
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I survived another Halloween. We set a new record for ourselves with just over 200 trick-or-treaters this year. We ran out of treats and turned 19 kids away before deciding to raid the pantry of 'Lil Debbie Honey Buns, Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies, and cans of Mountain Dew. Kids started showing up a little after 5p.m. It was way too light outside for any of our holographic projections that soon but the folks that came later seemed to really enjoy the special effects.

The animated witch had a tendency to spook the smaller kids. It lights up, wiggles it's hips, nods it's head and talks. The cauldron has a fan in it that makes the lit up cloth flames look like fire.

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The zombie butler doesn't do much but the candelabra flickers along with his eyes.

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The undead in the graveyard moan as their heads turn back & forth. I doubt that most folks payed much attention to the tombstones, but gearheads would understand.

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These 3 pumpkins seem to come to life when we project the imge of singing jack'0 Lanterns on them. They're pretty mundane before dark.

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One of the 3 projectors we set up.

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Big inflatable spider:

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The witch hanging from the porch soffit lost her hat in the winds we've had this last week.

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I forgot to buy new batteries for the camera this year so we were only able to take pictures of a few dozen trick-or-treaters.

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Not shown is our front window display that had the shadowed animated images of trick-or-treaters being chased by monsters. Also not shown are the curtains hanging in our front yard that we projected images of skeletons rising from the ground onto.


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great story on "Little Bastard".

Keep us posted on the 550 (that I called a 356).

I'm not sure how much more we'll ever hear about it. As I understand it, there have been fictitious claims in the past of it's discovery. This may turn out to be another. I picture a scene similar to the one where Geraldo claimed to have found Capone's secret vault.

From the accident photo the car doesn't appear to have been much of a candidate for rebuilding 'back in the day'. I figure that it was likely stolen for parts and then destroyed or taken by someone wealthy enough to have hidden it away in some private collection.

With the talk of million dollar rewards for it's recovery I imagine there are people out there willing to make forgeries. Hearing that Barris knows secret details to distinguish the real car from a fake, the person claiming to know the whereabouts of this particular car may back down from revealing more info if it is a fake. If it is the real deal, they may never reveal it's location if they don't think they'll get a reward. I wonder if the courts could make them talk. - After all, it is a stolen vehicle.
 
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Very nice John. How many people asked you about (parents) the Charger when they came by.

Despite the large turnout we had, no one asked about the cars. We did have a lot of questions about our displays though. At night the pumpkins truly seemed to come to life and most people didn't realize it was a projected image on them. The display shone on the curtains in the middle of our yard had people stopping to stare for 5 minutes at a time. The sight of skeletons rising from the ground, playing musical instruments, and dancing seemed to mesmerize them. Even the front window shadow display had people chuckling.

The Charger was the only car we left in the driveway. With it's black hotrod primer it almost disappeared in the dark of night.
 
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3 days back I thought the worst of the tooth pain was over, but out of the blue the side of my mouth opposite the extractions flared up really nasty. I had made it through Halloween and was ready to dig into one of the projects that have been on hold for SO-O-O long. I'm back to piddling around the garage trying to clean some of the mess that had accumulated.

Some of the problem was caused by storing the materials for the house we'd been working on. That used washer/dryer pair made it impossible to get a car inside. Well..., the washer in our house started leaking water all over the floor so I decided to use the fancy ones rather than repair or purchase a replacement.

DAMN, them things were heavy! Rather than bug others for a hand moving them I decided to do it on my own. I actually considered using the cherry picker to get them off of their storage stands. Instead I filled some cardboard boxes with Styrofoam packing material and used them as a platform to walk the machines onto. It's amazing how much weight they can support without crushing. I figured that if everything went badly I'd probably end up with a broken foot or leg. It'd help to distract me from whatever misery my teeth were causing me.

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Everything went OK with no new injuries. I fired them up and they seem to work fine. They make a lot of beeps and have flashy lights, etc. It was sort of mesmerizing watching them. If I'd have known I was going to be so entertained watching them, I'd have cancelled the cable long ago.

But to every Ying there's a Yang. Our water heater stopped working. It's chosen to pee all over our basement floor and it's time to put it out to pasture.

Although I'm not progressing on the projects, I guess I'm forced to stay busy anyway.


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I can not believe your gums still hurt, they have to be infected.
Get some prescription antibiotics in the morning.
I have a very good friend that had every tooth pulled at once, and she was eating steak in 2 weeks.
 
Yeah, John I agree your teeth (Gum's) should not have been hurting you this long you better get something for them. I had Wisdom teeth pulled some years back, I ended up getting dry sockets, man did that hurt.
 
I can not believe your gums still hurt, they have to be infected.
Get some prescription antibiotics in the morning.
I have a very good friend that had every tooth pulled at once, and she was eating steak in 2 weeks.


STEAK?? STEAK??? Man do I miss steak! Once I've got everything settled down I think I'll search out some place that sells the biggest steak I can find.

I'm fairly certain you're right about the infection. I've been battling tooth/sinus infections for years. I was hoping that things would not flare back up once they started extracting the teeth. I've never had the best luck with antibiotics in the past. Although they tended to reduce inflammation, headaches, and pain - the symptoms never completely went away. My old dentist always thought my sinus infections were spreading to my teeth and my doctor always thought it was my tooth infections spreading to my sinuses. Every six months or so things would flare up. I have found that rinsing with Listerine several times per day reduced inflammation.

 
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HOLY CRAP!!!!!!

(note to self) - make sure you attache the discharge hose to the back of a washing machine when you install it.

:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:
 
So true, I had one tooth pulled, just looked at the antibiotic prescription and it was filled on 9/30/2015 I still have 5 days left taking the pills.

The dentist made me sign a form that he was not responsible for infection, he must of had his *** sued off one time for somebody getting a bad infection.
 
HOLY CRAP!!!!!!

(note to self) - make sure you attache the discharge hose to the back of a washing machine when you install it.

:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:


Fun times, the machine out smarted you this time.
 
Yeah, John I agree your teeth (Gum's) should not have been hurting you this long you better get something for them. I had Wisdom teeth pulled some years back, I ended up getting dry sockets, man did that hurt.

I vaguely remember having my wisdom teeth pulled. I know I actually was sent to a dental surgeon because my own dentist had tried removing them and couldn't get them to break off. I think I was 19 and my Dad drove me to Lincoln because they said I shouldn't drive. I wasn't sure if there was concern about the anesthesia or if they'd been collaborating with law enforcement to keep me off the road.
 
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Dang John, you are having a rough spell with your dental issues and home appliances! On the bright side the new washer/dryer and water heater should be more efficient and save you some money to which can be applied to car parts:D. Appliances have always been a bane of my existence - currntly trying to work on a dryer duct that keeps clogging with lint. Rant- why cant they make a dryer that filters out ALL the lint?
 
Dang John, you are having a rough spell with your dental issues and home appliances! On the bright side the new washer/dryer and water heater should be more efficient and save you some money to which can be applied to car parts:D. Appliances have always been a bane of my existence - currntly trying to work on a dryer duct that keeps clogging with lint. Rant- why cant they make a dryer that filters out ALL the lint?

I sometimes ponder why things go wrong....

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Song of the day while cleaning the garage.




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Slowly making progress on the garage cleanup. I can't quite get a vehicle inside yet.

During my down time I've been helping a few Mopar guys round up parts for their projects. Friday there's a few guys coming from Omaha. I dug up parts for their '66 Satellites that we're going to check out. My buddy from Seward is coming for more parts for his '69 Coronet also. Looks like the weather is going to cooperate. According to the forecast there's about as much chance for rain as there is a chance of Nebraska's football team going to a bowl game this season.

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