Grand Diversions and Titillations: The Blog is taking a long weekend but don't go away

           

             Yessss, The Blog is taking off for the weekend with a hot tomato named Carmen. Won't be back until Tuesday.

 
          In the meantime there's a ton of goodies here. Yesterday's Blog, for example, if you missed Frank Lloyd Wright's last private house and his big mistake.

           And scroll down for the beauty of a blizzard in New York City the wacky wonderful Coneheads at Silverstone. Or the flip side of that madness to the days of dope and meditation in The Volvo Years.
         if you missed the all-time-record-breaking-hit- monster blog, The Real Allard Story:give it a click.  No, I lied; the tribute to the women who are as"sweet as honey and smile at you like you're made of money," attracted even more hits. And If you missed the 1979 Polish Grand Prix now's your chance.

Or, click on bob judd on the top of this page or slip down the right hand column to click on such gems as  my favorite, How You Look at the Sky.   Or The Kythera Chronicles to shake hands with Barbarossa.

Or just cruise through the links on the lower right hand side of this page, maybe come upon some unexpected little gem like  an excerpt from The Candle,  In Praise of the Belleville Midgets,  The Midgets of Belleville. Part II,  Truth in Grass: a Kansas adventure, The Story of the Larned Eagle Optic, Hollywood Calls, You Pick up the Phone, Hollywood Calls, you pick up the phone part 2 maybe my favorite My Short Happy War in Afghanistan or no, wait, wait, Fangio and the Maserati 250 F for the priceless video of Fangio in a polo shirt and helmet, absolutely relaxed driving a Maserati 250F around a beat up old race track with no run off, no barriers, no safety nothing.  My lunch with Rob Walkeris a good one even though it leaves out the Betty Grable stories. 

       You wouldn't want to miss My Short Happy War in Afghanistan

 

             Then there's Erno Goldfingers house-and-mine, which throws in Ian Flemming, no extra charge. Riding around Laguna Seca with Jackie Stewart was picked up by Jalopnik.com.

              Or Uncle John's Prayer.

               Or Clarence Judd Head-Butts a Truck.  Truck dies. That's a good one. 

             And, of course, the one that started it all, Truck Story.

               Then Virgin calls, and Forrest goes to Hollywood to star with an Electric car. And Forrest does a shoot in bed with Virgin. That one is a lot of fun. 

                Although, you might want to take a look at Pheromone Dreams to see what they are doing in bed in front of a film crew. While you're there it's just a short hop to Nurse Pelvis. 

            Or take a dip in the world's largest concrete freshwater free municipal swimming pool.

           And for a fine rainy afternoon divertimento, click on my dance with a prima ballerina.

 

              For a tasty bite with bon mots check out my friend, Gerry Freeman's foodie blog as  Hungry Gerald globe trots from spa to boites.

             Or go visit Elif Batumen, San Francisco's brightest and funniest writer, a fine lady to curl up with for a good read.  Here's Elif's homepage.

             Enjoy, Have a ball.  See you Monday, January 3.

The Blog is Taking the Weekend Off

The blog is off for the weekend, but don't go away.          

                                            

Click on bob judd on the top of this page or click on such gems as  my favorite, How You Look at the Sky. Or just cruise through, maybe come upon some unexpected little gem like an excerpt from The Candle,  In Praise of the Belleville Midgets,  The Midgets of Belleville. Part II,  Truth in Grass: a Kansas adventure, The Story of the Larned Eagle Optic, Hollywood Calls, You Pick up the Phone,
Hollywood Calls, you pick up the phone part 2 maybe my favorite My Short Happy War in Afghanistan or no, wait, wait, Fangio and the Maserati 250 F for the priceless video of Fangio in a polo shirt and helmet, absolutely relaxed driving a Maserati 250F around a beat up old race track with no run off, no barriers, no safety nothing.  My lunch with Rob Walkeris a good one even though it leaves out the Betty Grable stories. Then there's Erno Goldfingers house-and-mine, which throws in Ian Flemming, no extra charge. Riding around Laguna Seca with Jackie Stewart was picked up by Jalopnik.com.
              Or Uncle John's Prayer
             And, of course, the one that started it all, Truck Story 
             Or go visit Elif Batumen, San Francisco's brightest and funniest writer, a fine lady to curl up with for a good read.  Here's Elif's homepage.
             Enjoy, Have a ball.  Bob 

Wait, wait, there's more

You may have missed yesterday's story about newlyweds Jackie and Helen Stewart in Monaco because Facebook would not print the pic on the left, but insisted on a dopey pic of a racing car.  

         Anyway, click on bob judd in the title above then scroll down for yesterday's blog on the story of the newlyweds in Monaco.

The blog is off for the weekend, but don't go away.

Click on bob judd on the top of this page or click on such gems as  my favorite,  How You Look at the Sky Or just cruise through, maybe come upon some unexpected little gem like an excerpt from The Candle ,  In Praise of the Belleville Midgets,  The Midgets of Belleville. Part II,  Truth in Grass: a Kansas adventure, The Story of the Larned Eagle Optic, Hollywood Calls, You Pick up the Phone,
Hollywood Calls, you pick up the phone part 2 maybe my favorite My Short Happy War in Afghanistan or no, wait, wait, Fangio and the Maserati 250 F for the priceless video of Fangio in a polo shirt and helmet, absolutely relaxed driving a Maserati 250F around a beat up old race track with no run off, no barriers, no safety nothing.  My lunch with Rob Walker is a good one even though it leaves out the Betty Grable stories. Then there's Erno Goldfingers house-and-mine, which throws in Ian Flemming, no extra charge. Riding around Laguna Seca with Jackie Stewart was picked up by Jalopnik.com.
              Or Uncle John's Prayer
             And, of course, the one that started it all, Truck Story 
             Or go visit Elif Batumen, San Francisco's brightest and funniest writer, a fine lady to curl up with for a good read.  Here's Elif's homepage.
             Enjoy, Have a ball.  Bob

Fangio and the Maserati 250F

Stirling Moss gives a Maserati 250F a run in 2006

A couple of days ago I put up a piece on a lovely little Stanguellini I used to own but never saw.  It was a half scale copy (with a 1 liter Fiat engine) of one of the great race cars of all time, the Maserati 250 F from the era when drivers sat bolt upright behind the engine.  Here's a wonderful video of Juan Manuel Fangio driving a Maserati 250F. 
        Tom Wheatcroft who owned the Donnington Circuit  thought they were so much fun to watch, he built a bunch of replicas and raced them in a championship series all their own.  Nobody cared. 
          Which may have proved Jackie Stewart's theory that people "don't pay good money to watch the cars.  They pay good money to watch people drive them with exceptional skill.  You'd have a hard time getting someone to pay a dollar to watch you drive, Bob"  

Fangio at Reims 1957 accelerating flat out, staring down the competition.
a fuzzy photo of Jesse Alexander's great photo, hanging on my wall. 

                  True.  But if Tom Wheatcroft had been able to find a bunch of Fangio replicas to drive his replica Maserati 250Fs, he'd have drawn millions to his track.   
                  The greatest F1 drive of all time was probably Fangio and the 250F at the Nurburgring in 1957.  Tom Wheatcroft bought that car and you can pay good money (7 quid) see it in the world's largest Formula One racing car museum, based on Tom Wheatcroft's collection.
                           

A Letter to My Stanguellini

This is how I thought you'd look if I ever got my hands on you. 

Darling,
     You were just bits in a box. A wannabe perfect half sized repilca of Juan Manuel Fangio's Maserati 250 F.  Even now, all these years later I wish, oh how I wish, we had at least an hour together at the track.
Call me. 

 Love, Bob

The whole story came back to me when my friend Wright sent me a picture of three Formula Juniors at this year's Monterey Historic Races (aka Rolex-Monterey Motorsports Reunion.)

Wright's pic of 3 Formula Jr. hotties at Monterey last month

       Here's the story.  Years ago author and English Lit. Prof. Dave Ward called me from his  motorsports museum in Watkins Glen.  I was in London, and he wanted to sell me a car.  "How about Jim Clark's Indy car with no engine? $3,000? (this you will appreciate was a long time ago) 
No.

OK, how about a Briggs Cunningham LeMans Cadillac, $2,500? You could fix it up easy.

No.
We went through his list until he got to the Stanguellini.  In a box.  All it needed was assembly.  Including the Weber carbs.  The Webers too were in bits.
How much?
$1,500 and I'll put it together.
So I bought the car and Dave put it together and displayed it in museum.  It was fun to think of owning a car on display in a museum.  
A few years passed and Dave called again.  Somebody wants to buy your Stanguellini.
How much?
Ten grand.
Sold.
So I never drove it, never saw it.  Always longed for just one drive around a race track.  I probably couldn't even fit in it, but still, I know we could have worked it out

Ten  years ago I got a picture from my Stanguellini's current owner.  He'd taken the car all apart and put it back together so she was brand new again.  I still have the picture. She's not the same, she's changed.  But then, neither am I. I don't know where she is now.  She never calls, never writes.  Somebody else pays her bills.