Even with out reading the text, I immediately recognized the throttle quadrant of the cl***ic DC-3 aircraft! That cl***ic aircraft, was and still is one of the best flying machines that was ever created, and Cobb's recognized it with his camera! The man knew what was good in any category on all levels! Thanks @Ryan from Dennis.
Same... it's the least ***uming photo of the batch... and really, the least important. It's also the best.
Makes you feel like you're there. No one posing or anything being done to promote something, just candid shots of the men going about their business. I liked the one with the little Briggs and Stratton generator, with two guys using something plugged into it - maybe a hand drill? Making some last minute fix? The interior shots of the airplane are cool too. The p***enger compartment looks comfy, although I bet it was pretty loud.
Mickey Thompson made the big time, but he paid his dues. About 1963-64 as an elementary school kid I bought Mickey Thompson's book ("Challenger" IIRC). His dad was a cop, so in those days Mickey was on a shoestring to build and race hot rods. One nugget I clearly remember was how stoked he was to obtain a cylinder boring bar - but not just to save money by boring his flathead blocks himself. Nope - it was to bore each cylinder for a specific piston....because he obtained his parts by looting the dumpsters behind the Ford dealerships for usable parts. Hence, the ability to build flathead Ford engines - each engine with perhaps 2 or 3 different cylinder bore diameters....
I love the shape and sound of a DC3. I loved the earlier batch of pics with the crew in the shade under the wing, and now a peek inside the cabin, fantastic. The Challenger I is so complex yet it has a kind of simple down to business profile. How interesting seeing the guys all doing the necessary preparations so MT can chase that 400 mph target. Pretty spectacular stuff, I must say. Thanks for sharing.
The chair! The flatbed truck! The executive interior circa 1959! oh yea, MT's machine. Thanks to Cobbs for his do***entation and to the boss for sharing.
So I put the chair image on a very small but very high resolution OLED monitor and then took a shot of that with my M7 using a 90mm elmarit and a close focus adapter on HP5 film. And now, I have a pretty decent negative that I can clean up and work with... Fun personal project anyway...
Here's the level of nerd I am... I thought it must be a cooler as well, but it's actually a US military issued toolbox... I think? Regardless, notice the shadow... He's taking the image with his hands down near his waist. So, waist level viewfinder... Some kind of a box camera or SLR. But look what's sitting on that chair. That's a black paint Leica M3. You could special order these starting in 1955 or so, but you couldn't go into a store and buy one until 1959. Given that, it was probably brand new to Tom. Today that same camera would set you back more than $25k, give or take a lung... maybe a liver... Really nice examples go for around $80k.
What are you thankful for? Today I am thankful for Ryan sharing his archives with us. The early morning chair shot is epic. There is something about being on the salt flats when nobody is around and you are looking over the vast landscape and seeing the water lines on the mountains. You can hear the people in the distance and hear engines running. If you are early enough, it is almost just dead silent. The other shots are also timeless. I can feel the excitement and anticipation of the run. Hoping everything will be working correctly and you hit the target. 400mph baby!
The Jalopy Journal
