This was posted on the Warbird Information Exchange forum: Clem Gibson in his F-6D or F-6K (photo recon version of the P-51) cockpit on a Ford chassis. Taken in McLean County, IL in 1947, titled "Gibson Car". Source: http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/p16614coll63/id/7969 (I was going to post this on the regular H.A.M.B. page, but if I titled the thread "The First Ford Mustang" I'd get booted out before anyone saw it )
The Mouse Miles Melius, The Cat Billy Johnson, The Hound Fussy Fassbender. If you lived in the Milwaukee Wi. 50's-60's these 3 plus many other talented drivers raced their Modifieds up to 5 nights a week all summer long. I was lucky, aside from Dad owning a Midget racer, he was a big modified fan, I got to go to many races with him.
later 4-8-4 niagara. with a selkirk smokebox. (front end where headlight is) i was thinking syracuse at first, but the new station on erie blvd opened in 1937(got off the streets thru armory sq), and the niagaras were built in 1945. 27 total. this is post ww2. any info on location? NYC didn't run in the streets much with passenger trains. considered by some to the ultimate steam loco design. cheaper that diesels by a fair bit on drawbar horsepower cost. $58 vs $98 on emd e-7s. the firebox wrapper was the achilles heal. as these failed they were scrapped. last run was 7/2/56. it bailed out a broken diesel, left 34 min late from indy to cinncinati, and arrived 6 min late. they all went under the torch. UP 844 is the closest thing left running.
nyc locos are often considered some of the best looking. because of low clearances, the cab is the same height as the boiler, no lumpy protuberances on top like the steam dome, sanding dome, bells etc. low slung, and fast. the bent rod shows what 6000 hp can do. the bottom is an alco builder photo in front of the Alco schenectady erecting hall. Alco went out in 1968-69. the site got demo'd for a shitty casino. the works shot shows the erie canal bisecting the site, and the mohawk river on bottom/right(may be good, i'm unlucky in em, and all the noisy machines blurting out stupid sounds is maddening). That erecting hall was the backdrop for thousands of locos(built well 0ver 75,000 in its life, as well as tanks, sub engines etc in ww2). the UP bigboys are the most amazing shots. last shot is the first made, #4000, on the front someone scrawled bigboy in chalk, life magazine caught it before the number boards were put on. the name stuck union pacific grabbed 4014 out of pomona california and restored it. now it hauls excursions and the occasional freight. It is rumored to be coming back to schenectady at some point.
alco built cars and trucks for a bit. was at first indy race,DNF due to bearings, first 2x winner of vanderbilt cup. was called bete noir, black beast. #8 still exists. speed shot of it winning cup. harry grant driver. number 1 with some starwars goggled fellas, near the drivers foot you can see bete noir painted on (barely). #18 with the NY tag they had to hang on it for vanderbilt cup when it was run on long island motor parkway. before 1910 you got your own plate, after that the state issued them. m denotes a manufacturer, 1000-2999 were exclusively for companies who made cars (if you ever run across one). #18's mechanic hanging grimly onto the spare. cars competed in the 461-600 cu inch category, and made 100hp in 1910.
The Jalopy Journal
