Road Trip Ready Raccoon - Missoula, Montana

Seems I’m not alone in my springtime yen for a road trip… Another splendid Montana thing: You never know what kind of kindred spirits you may meet on an afternoon ramble! 

Spring Cleaning Project - 1968 Yamaha YJ60 - Missoula, Montana

This week's vintage chrome photos are courtesy of the combined enthusiasms of The Best Husband Ever, Big Brother #3, and Neighbor Dan. 

Spring cleaning has propelled Neighbor Dan into a fervent offloading of excess possessions, including a 1968 Yamaha Y2J that had belonged to his dad but sat unused long enough to sink into the dirt a fair bit. It needed a new home and a little TLC - and it is one of the grooviest little motorcycles ever to roll off a production line. 

Although admiring, The Best Husband Ever begs off - he has already employed tools and elbow grease and chrome polish and old toothbrushes and endless hours in refurbishing a 1970s vintagey motorcycle - also redeemed from unification with a patch of dirt in Neighbor Dan's side yard.

Enter Big Brother #3, lured by talk of motorcycles and the afternoon sunshine glinting off a (potentially) shiny object. He is charmed by the wee, stylish motorcycle, and succumbs to a strain of spring fever different from that affecting Neighbor  Dan. If BB3 buys motorcycle needing TLC from ND, will TBHE work his obsessive cleaning magic? A deal is struck and grown men grin the optimistic, goofy grins only a motorcycle project can elicit. (Or maybe in your neighborgood it's snowmobiles, model trains, elusive golf scores, motorboats, ham radio, fishing gear, or ______?) 

The camaraderie was a beautiful sight to see - maybe a similar scenario prompted King David to point out, '"Behold , how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity...". Once the bike was finally cleaned up and running well enough, the lads certainly had a good and pleasant time buzzing up and down the (paved) back alley, while Neighbor Dan smiled from the garage door of his simplified life. And I was delighted at new, shiny photo prospects. 
Can anyone say 'win-win situation'?

Spring Chrome - 1968 Yamaha YJ60 - Missoula, Montana

"You do not need a therapist if you own a motorcycle, any kind of motorcycle! " - Dan Akroyd

W Is For Willys - Missoula, Montana

Growing up, my older brothers were often kind enough (hmmm...or perhaps required by our mum?) to let me tag along on errands in their cool cars. And when you're six, any car is pretty cool. So perhaps it's partly childhood nostalgia that draws me to parking lot conversations around the open hoods of noteworthy vehicles.  A sunny lunchtime earlier this week provided opportunity for my education about the Willys Super Hurricane straight six and other fine points of this 1954 Willy's Truck. Freshly - & gorgeously! - refinished, it is probably now exempt from mundane chores of firewood hauling and the like.

Cafe Chairs Near Closing Time - Missoula, Montana

"I'm never bored, never ever bored. If I've got a day off I'll sit in a cafe and watch and observe. I'm a great observer." - David Suchet

Nostalgic Eight - Victor, Montana

"Aching familiar in a way that made me wish I was still eight. Eight was before death or divorce or heartbreak. Eight was just eight. Hot dogs and peanut butter, mosquito bites and splinters, bikes and boogie boards. Tangled hair, sunburned shoulders, Judy Blume, in bed by nine thirty." - Jenny Han, It's Not Summer Without You

Special Chrome - Victor, Montana

The Best Husband Ever spent literal hours over Labour Day weekend shining up the chrome wheels - outer AND inner surfaces - on a spiffy used car we just bought.  Good thing for his obsessive self that our rig doesn't sport the abundance of chrome featured on this classic Buick Eight Special, or he'd still be polishing away. From a practical standpoint, sometimes it's okay that they don't make 'em like they used to.

We espied this Buick beauty yesterday on an open haul trailer spanning several parking lot spaces  at Cowboy Troy's in Victor, Montana. Regretfully, I do not have details or a story on this car - our usually chatty group was very hungry and didn't even think of talking with the car's owner until half a pizza had disappeared - and also the car. (Obviously, it was really good pizza.)

So, if you have any insight on what year Buick Special sported these particularly delightful hooded cherry-on-top* headlights, please enlighten us in a comment below - and then you can update the Wikipedia entry.

(*Sorry, in this angled view you can just see the chrome housing of  little round red topper light on the far headlight.)

Curves, Missoula , Montana

Yes, I said it before, but they really just don’t make ‘em like they used to. I gained a whole new appreciation of this '64 Falcon’s beauty while varying my perspectives as cloud shift altered the lighting. Four-door cars rolling off today’s assembly lines just don’t display the design and detail variety of their counterparts from thirty and forty years ago. And they certainly don’t have hood ornaments that make me think of the Silver Surfer.

Click here to indulge in the best of the stockpiled Chevy beauties sold at this past weekend's landmark auction in Pierce, Nebraska.

Cursive Curves, Missoula, Montana

Two things I learned this past week about a ‘64 Ford Falcon:
1- Only the driver’s side boasts a mirror.
(And thanks to TBHE’s fervent polishing, the reflection in the above mirror back features three siblings in our Falcon family saga.)
 2 - They have a generator that affects the power supply, which can be monkeyed with to finish the last few hundred miles between Missoula, Montana, and Belton, Texas. Well, all but the last eighteen miles. 
 (Full story soon to be released in a video link near you.)

Water Water, Missoula, Montana

Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink….” 

Someone complained today about the unrelenting rain. Possibly someone  who fretted until last week about the ubiquitous forest fire smoke - which, thanks to the rain, is now fully cleared away. 

So, I said, "Quit your whining and be thankful you’re not still sucking ashes." 

KIDDING!  In loving memory of my gracious mother, I defaulted to polite, and merely mentioned the silver lining of no more smoke. 

But he stuck to his story.
So, what to say next? Nothing. Whiners gonna whine. And I have things to do.

Like They Used To, Hamilton, Montana

Whilst trundling about my old neighborhood, what does my meandering eye espy? A 1950s-era International dump truck - still working hard, and looking for a new home. They really don’t make ‘em like they used to. 

 My ever-burning automotive question (please forgive the strong overtones of whine): whyever did they quit making those delightful little triangle vent windows as part of the front door? 
If you know such things, please enlighten via the comment field.

Hi Flyer, Missoula, Montana

Call it cliché, but it’s still true: they don’t make ‘em like they used to. At least it’s true about hood ornaments; the present-day variety are rarely as inspiring as on this seen-better-days 1953 Ford Victoria. Six decades ago, auto makers were apparently a little fixated on futuristic aircraft designs. View a quick image search for “1950s jet hood ornaments” and you’ll be inspired to watch at least one retro episode of the Jetsons!