Vintage shots from days gone by!

Is this one of those wood smoke conversions? [/QUOTE]

 

I've been married to this little girls daughter for 46 years now. (WOW!)

 

5th and Market street in San Francisco, late 60s judging by the '66 Ford cab and the way people are dressed. The green building is the boutique hotel Palomar now

 

Crockett CA, building interstate 80 connectors to the existing Benicia Bridge over the Carquinez straits. The bridge has been replaced by a new cable stayed bridge in the last few years. Crockett was a company town for C and H sugar.

 

This is an interesting body, is it a Mercury or a Vedette or something?

Here is a Mercury for comparison for those who do not recall what the doors and windows look like on them.

What a cool truck, where has the quality of toys gone?

I believe this is a steam conversion.

 

The car is a French made Ford vedette V8, made between 1948-54.

No not steam, this is a wood gasifier, almost every car in trafic in Sweden during WW2 had them. There were many manufacturers of them, their were versions that could be monted front or rear, built in the vehicle, or pulled or pushed on a wagon.

 

Wow great pic Matchbox !!

Great thread I love it !!!!

 

Matchbox Selection!! Shipments would sell out in a couple of days here and a bin like that would only be seen by the first few through the doors, no need for a display.

 

Jay has one in his 55 dodge, sorry.

 

Appears to be a situation with the right front tire!-MIKE

 

Guess I oughta pipe up here, seeing as this pic is of the Four Corners (looking northwest) here in downtown Bennington, Vermont. Pretty much every building you see here still stands, though all their occupants have since changed.

We also see shots of Bennington in posts #29208 and #29212. The bus depot still stands, though there's no more bus service here in town. The photo of 29212 is also of the Four Corners, looking east; that photo was taken not long after the fire that destroyed the theater where the rubble is in the photo.

dan

 

Quote:
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset" class=alt2>Originally Posted by alsancle
Jimi, you do realize that Pete was fired and replaced with Ringo by Brian Epstein at Paul and John's urging?
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Quote:
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset" class=alt2>Originally Posted by chubbie
Pete a better musician ?? better looking?? the only thing BEST about Pete was his name.. Pete missed a lot of gigs, and a replacement drummer was found in Richard Starky, who was already in a successful band. John had said that the band pulled together when Ringo played for them, and something was missing when Pete played for them. after some persuasion Ringo replaced Pete
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


Photo THANKS to AustinChronicle.com.


One of the cool things about this thread is that, often, posts prompt one to go back and either reevaluate or research episodes from one's younger years. This can be eye-opening or just satisfying, from the standpoint of clearing up vague points, mysteries or just little things you, maybe, wondered about but just didn't have the time (or resources) to delve into deeply earlier. Such, for me, was this matter of Pete Best's role in the Beatle saga, and I THANK everybody who provided pieces to the puzzle.

In surfing the 'net, first thing I found is, YES, Pete Best was indeed a Beatle, not only a fill-in, before they became super-stars. However, I also learned that he was neither "the" original drummer, nor was he even one of the original band members, much less one of the founders or "the leader" (though it would seem he tried to exert some dominance at times). The record also seems to show that Pete couldn't always be relied on to show for gigs, and anybody who's ever tried to organize and maintain a band knows THAT is bad Karma. His occasional absences actually necessitated the search for a good fill-in, leading ultimately to Ringo's permanent installation.

'Net writings on the subject touch on various factors possibly contributing to Best's getting the boot -- and obviously, ousting Best was not an easy decision for one or more of the band members. But one thing that I didn't find mentioned is that Pete's personality and personal goals didn't seem to provide cohesion -- meaning, he really wasn't the team player the still-formative group needed. Though Richard Starkey (aka Ringo Starr) was already an established star in his own right, he embraced and supported the group, providing the missing element that finally made The Beatles jell. I'm calling it as I see it, folks. Feel free to offer differing viewpoints.

Most certainly, the "chemistry" of the Beatles during the mid- and later-'60s would have been quite different, had Pete Best remained. Would they have hit it big at all, or just had a somewhat different sound and musical ensemble? Who knows? For me, the bottom line is -- though I do feel some sympathy for Pete -- the episode is another example (though a pretty famous one!) of a plethora of "internal conflicts" that have ALWAYS accompanied the musical-combo scene. Most of us don't have enough fingers to count all of the successful bands broken up by "internal conflicts," am I right?

But, all that said, it's been a great deal of fun to look back into the roots of the struggling (and, may I say, scruffy, in the beginning! ) Liverpool group that started out as the Quarrymen, then became the Silver Beatles, before becoming probably the most influential group of the 1960s. Thanks, everybody!



Pete Best out front on "The peppermint Twist." Photo THANKS to the site, MerseyCats! Yup, looks like Paul
taking a turn at the drums. He COULD play, but he was no Ringo, and probably not as good as Pete, for that
matter.



Grab shot in front of the Cavern, Mathew Street, Liverpool, 1961. As I understand,
Best's mom booked acts at the club. Photo THANKS to BeatleSource.com.