Thursday, November 28, 2019

Mysterious Sea Monster, Old Men in Old Cars and other Arizonan leftovers

The 1966 Holman & Moody No. 4 Ford GT40 Mk II with its Arch Nemesis, the N.A.R.T. Ferrari 250LM that won the 1965 24 Heurs du Mans on Display at the IMS Museum, circa 2012. (The Tomaso Collection)


And Y'all thought Arizona was Land Locked, Righto? As this No Fenders yarn will give Yuhs Somme-thun' to Knaw upon over Turkey Lurkey Dinner...

Lounging about over a lazy weekend whilst on Holiday in Thee Valley of The Sun with Artiste Dave, creator of thou Bitchin' No Fenders website logo! He casually inquired how Ye Blog was doing? And what stories I was working upon. To which I mentioned I had two stories in Thy Hopper related to Howard Hughes I was hoping to Roll-out Justin-time' for Ye Turkey Holiday, which I should really be working on right now...

As I'm still reveling in thoust fading Afterglow of my most wonderful Debutante outing to visit the infamous Spruce goose in nearby McMinnville, Oregon.

Mentioning how the H4 Hercules, it's latter official name sported then the world's largest wingspan at  a whopping 320-feet length, longer than an NFL Football field, until the flight of the late Paul Allen's Stratolaunch earlier this year.

Dave looked up the Mega Behemoth Stratolaunch, which sports a ridiculous 385-foot long wing anchored to its twin 747 fuselages!

He ran across an image of what he deemed the Oddest looking Aeroplane, simply known as the Caspian Sea Monster, Huh? As this Russian flying contraption was part plane, part boat and really, really B-I-G!


As it was built during the legendous Cold War in the early 1960's by Thee Rooskies' and utilized a total of 10 engines on short, stubby wings as Thee ultimate Ground Effects Flying Brick!

Then as many things go, a further Military application was designed, deemed the Lun, a slightly smaller rendition of the Caspian Sea Monster weighing in at 286 Tons!

As the Caspian Sea Monster's Successor which entered service in 1987 was equipped with 6 Anti Ship missiles and sported only eight of the powerful Kuznetsov NK-87 Turbofan engines; subtracting the extra two on the Sea Monster's tail from this flying oddity that literally Skimmed the water at 20-feet!


The 24 Hour War
Then having spent the previous evening clambering on 'N on 'bout the Mega Ford v Ferrari movie being released that same Friday, Dave scanned thru his NetFlix service and turned on a wonderful 2016 Documentary I'd never heard of before simply titled The 24 Hour War.

as this Awesome Documentary produced by Nate Adams and Adam Carolla is Chock 'Oh Block with interviews from the likes of 'Ol Hobbo, nee HobbsCap', aka David Hobbs. The late Dan Gurney, SuperMario', nee Mario Andretti and Bondo', aka bob Bondurant to name just a few.

Along  with lots 'N lots of snippets from 'Ol Shel' himself. The Best 'Ol Texas Snake Oil Salesman, 1959 24 Heurs du Mans winner and legendary Car Builder Carroll Shelby!

As the Documentary features an in-depth view upon the very same subject, the 1966 24 Heurs du Mans and the Ford Motor Company's epic Duel against Ferrari and seems to serve as a template for the actual Ford v Ferrari Film in my view.

As it's totally worth watching if you get the chance, which for Mwah was great since I Don't have NetFlix myself...


Hypercars'
After watching The 24 Hour War Documentary, No Fenders Artiste Dave next selected another Automotive Documentary Treat for Mwah, also on NetFlix titled Apex: Story of The Hypercar - which I got to watch; err listen to approximately 65% of. Featuring a Quartet of Stunning Super Cars, for which the modern era's technological cutting edge machinery are now known as Hypercars.

Having previously heard of the McLaren P1, the Porsche 918 and Ferrari La Ferrari. And although I know of the Swedish marque Koenigsegg's name, I'd never heard of its then tour de force Mega Watt car, simply known as the 1:1!

as the small, specialty Swedish Car Company routinely runs circles round much larger Automotive Manufacturers has managed to eak out an astounding 1,341 Horsepower in a vehicle weighing 1,341kg! The first to accomplish the always elusive goal of 1-to-1 power to weight ratio!

With the 2016 Documentary chronicling the Design, Development and production of each of these four amazing Hypercars, along with their Quest for the Fastest lap time at the famed Nordschleife, aka Nurburgring!


Since like I said above, I've just learned of it five years after its Debut. I find the Koenigsegg 1:1 Hypercar to be a thoroughly impressive Piece 'O Kit' as thou Bloody Brits' would say; Yah, Sure, Yuh Betcha!


More Snake Oil lore...
Now totally aware of All things Ford v Ferrari, which I've just seen over the weekend, I've also recently learned about another Documentary now available from the same producers of The 24 Hour War. This time chronicling the legendary Band leader Carroll Shelby and his Merry men at Shelby American Inc. during the Glory Years...


Alice's Restaurant
As we're just ah-waitin', Yuhs know, for I-T to come back round. When we'll All sing It in Four-part Harmony. As I'm Not Proud for makin' uze wait to find out what I'm Ah-typin' about; Hya!

Since it used to be a Thanksgiving tradition when some of the local Seattle Radio Stations would play Arlo Guthrie's majestic Alice's Restaurant Massacree' in it's entirety. All 18+ minutes of it at High Noon to Celebrate Turkey-Lurkey Day...

Y'all know, where You can Get Anything You Want, 'cept Alice, at Alice's Restaurant. As Sing It Arlo!


(Photo c/o No Fenders ‘Offical Photographer CARPETS')