Firestone

Firestone, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A vintage repop Firestone motorcycle tire. It's gum-dipped!

Way Out Of State Plate

Way Out Of State Plate, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

This is the only one of these I've ever seen. I wonder how common overseas forces plates are-I always thought they had to be returned when one left their overseas post, either leaving the car behind or importing it to the States.

Anyway, this one's appended to an old Porsche.

Hemi

Chrysler Fire Power, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Some engines are known by their numbers-289, 350, 427, 3.8 litre (that's a Jaguar). Some by their name-Flathead, Commando, Twin-Spark (that's an Alfa Romeo). But one seems to always tower above all the rest-Hemi.

In the broadest terms, a "hemi engine" is just an internal combustion engine with hemispherical combustion chambers at the top. This puts the intake and exhaust valves on opposite sides, providing a direct path for the gases to flow across the combustion chamber. It's an old design, dating to the early twentieth century, and plenty of illustrious manufacturers used the design. Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Ford, BMW, Bristol, and the wonderful racing engines of Harry Miller all used this design. However, when you say the word "Hemi", one other word usually pops into your head-Chrysler (or maybe Dodge. Or Plymouth. Or DeSoto if you're weird).

Chrysler has been the largest, and arguably most famous, proponent of the hemi-head design. Best known in it's mid sixties 426 version, Chrysler's earliest hemis were introduced in 1951, to power the company's big luxury cruisers. Hot rodders and drag racers soon learned that these engines were quite a bit more powerful than the Ford flathead V-8, and they were easy to tune and able to take serious amounts of forced induction. In fact, these early engines were popular well into the sixties, after they ceased production-plenty of top flight drag racers were using them, running huge blowers and nitromethane on junkyard blocks.

This one's a Fire Power that I saw in a hot rod-I was told it came out of a '54 New Yorker.

Machine Shop Service

Machine Shop Service, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

For a long time neon signs were the preferred way to advertise your business. A nice bright sign with the letters outlined in colorful tubes was just the thing to get people to notice your shop. Everyone, from chain stores to fast food restaurants to independent shops used them, and still do.

However, it's getting increasingly rare to see national chains with original vintage neon signs anymore. They're expensive to make, need more maintenance that a plastic one with fluorescent tubes inside, and the weather tends to really beat them up, especially in places like Chicago, where the winters are harsh and the summers often blazing. Additionally, when the company upgrades or changes their signage or other store design, the neon sign suddenly is outdated, leading to an inconsistent image. So, often times they're taken down, usually if they deteriorate badly enough, or that particular location moves somewhere else.

This Carquest sign is in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Carquest has been in business since the mid-70's, pretty much at the tail end of mass neon sign usage. I've no idea how common these were, but this is the only one I've ever seen-there's some peeling paint down near the bottom, which makes me wonder what it used to look like.

Workin' At The Car Wash Blues

Elgin Car Wash-Elgin, IL, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A non-neon Neon Friday entry. This classic old sign is in Elgin, Illinois. It looks a little beat up but it works pretty well.

Corner Station

Corner Station, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A 1950-ish hot rod Chevrolet pickup truck. It's signwritten for a fake garage (note the "KL5" phone number: it translates to "555"). It's parked in front of an old filling station that now sells vintage gas pumps and other petroliana. The owner parks it out front to draw attention to his business-and it works pretty well.

Wolf Automotive

Wolf Automotive, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

A long established dealer in Belvidere, Illinois. I think this is an older sign that has been modified and updated over the years-the font is distinctly modern. But the trapezoid around "Wolf" is distinctly retro.

Either way, I like it.

Blast Off

Jet and rocket imagery was everywhere in the atomic fifties, and few companies took to it as much as General Motors. For a while their cars had rockets and swept wing jets everywhere, especially at the front. This one's an Oldsmobile Rocket 88. I totally dig the contrails molded into the sheet metal of the hood. You don't see that level of detail anymore.



Olds got an extra rocket at the back, too.



This sporty number's off a Pontiac



This one's a Buick, I think. It also looks more like a torpedo, but whatever.



And finally, a tribute to Northrop's flying wings, courtesy of Pontiac.

Marathon Motor Cars

Marathon Motor Cars, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Having grown out of the Southern Engine and Boiler Works of Jackson, Marathon Motor Cars were built in Nashville, Tennessee for just four years, between 1910 and 1914. Then as now, it was common for auto manufacturers to buy in parts and assemblies, but Southern chose to engineer and make everything in-house.

Initially badged as Southerns, the company changed the name to Marathon and moved to a new factory in Nashville. The cars were well regarded-probably because of the total control the company had over it's engineering-and demand soon outstripped supply. However, like so many other early auto manufacturers, management didn't keep up with engineering, and within a few years the company ceased automobile production.

The factory complex on Clinton Street in Nashville still stands, and has been partially converted to retail and gallery space. In addition to some old signwriting, some old logos have been lovingly recreated on the factory walls, including this beauty.

Out of State Plates

Land of the Midnight Sun, a photo by William 74 on Flickr.

Another one in an occasional series of interesting license plates. Canada's best known for the polar bear shaped plates used in the Northwest Territories (and they're really cool), but this one's from the Yukon. The image of the man panning for gold has been used since the sixties at least.

Neon Friday!

Bear Neon, originally uploaded by William 74.

Something slightly different for this week's Neon Friday. I took this at a classic car auction, which had a nice selection of automobilia going at the same time. This included quite a few excellent, restored signs, all working perfectly.

This one's for Bear Wheel Alignment, which was (and is) a major company specializing in wheel alignment equipment. A sign such as this would have been at a service station that used Bear equipment. I've seen quite a few metal and plastic Bear signs, but this is the only neon one I've seen.

Neon Friday!

"Z" Frank Chevy neon sign-Chicago, IL, originally uploaded by William 74.

Happy Neon Friday! This week's entry is a Chicago classic. "Z" Frank Chevrolet is a well known area dealership, having been in business for what seems like forever (but was really 1936). They were at their Western Avenue location for ages, till they moved in 2009. The old place is (or was) a gold mine of neat old signage-quite a few vintage Chevrolet logos adorned the walls, including the script logo that went out of use in the sixties. But the best bit was the classic neon sign out front, right along the street. It was a beautiful item, a classic slab of Googie signage, and it even worked pretty well at the end (the eye shaped part, with the "available" sign on it, is the street address, 6060). I sorely regret not getting a good shot of this at night.

This sign really should have been saved and moved to the new location.