Jaguar XJS by Banham

The XJS was not a satisfactory replacement for the XKE. It was too big, less that beautiful, and a GT rather than a sports car.

But the styling of the Jaguar XJS begins to make sense when you see it after modification by Banham. The unnecessary buttresses are removed, and the side glass enlarged to reveal the beauty that was hidden. The car is now visually lighter, and I can fully appreciate the front styling without the distracting rear buttresses. It looks muscular, purposeful, and almost practical. This is the car Jaguar should have made. My only criticism is the tail lights. I would have used tail lights from the series III XJ6.

SD Card FAT16 Format using OS X

I have a MacBook running OS X Leopard that will only format an SD memory card as FAT32. I have a toy camera that will only work with an SD card formatted as FAT16. So I've been using Lani's old Sony VAIO to do the formatting. But now I know how to format the SD card using my MacBook, and I'd better document the instructions here before I lose them.

In finder, open the Terminal application which is in the Applications folder under Utilities. Then enter this:

diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk1 1 MBRFormat "MS-DOS FAT16" "TIM" 1000M

where "TIM" is the name I give this SD card.


7/12/13 Update:
The major limitation of the FAT16 format is that the partition size is limited to 2 GB.

Giddyup Rocking Horse

For that real horse smell, designer Tim Wigmore makes the Giddyup Rocking Stool from a used saddle.

Traveling in a Group

Part of an advertising campaign by the Duval Guillaume Agency for the Flemish (Belgium) bus company De Lijn, illustrating that it's better to travel in a group.

Thanks AdverBlog
Categories:Movies

Cameras at The Container Store

The young woman who cleans our apartment called to see if she could clean today at Five. So while she was cleaning up after us, I went to The Container Store to look for the perfect travel mug. No luck. But I did buy a Swiss+Tech Utili-Key to replace the one I broke on Monday. And The Container Store had these nice old large format cameras as props in the shelving section.

The First IROC

A.J. Foyt, Roger McCluskey, Bobby Allison, Denis (Denny) Hulme, Emerson Fittipaldi, Gordon Johncock, Richard Petty, Peter Revson, George Follmer, David Pearson, Mark Donohue and Bobby Unser.

This photo from the LA Times shows drivers the day before the first IROC at Riverside International Raceway, California which was on October 27, 1973. The event was 30 laps of the 2.5 mile road course.

IROC ("International" Race of Champions) was an American spec car racing series for invited drivers that used the Porsche Carrera RSR in its first year. The series went on to use the Camaro from 1975 to 1989. Over the years competition moved from road circuits to ovals, until the last IROC series in 2006. RIR closed in 1989.

Categories:Cars

Cadillac Fleetwood Station Wagon

"Station Wagon" comes from the vehicle's original purpose, which was to carry passengers and their luggage from the train station to their home or hotel.

Early station wagons were trucks modified for this purpose. Then coach builders began making wooden bodies for car frames, and by the late 1920s car companies began to build their own wooden bodied station wagons. After WW2 station wagons routinely had steel bodies.

I saw this car parked near downtown Mill Valley. The logo on the door reads "Humboldt Cross Country". It appears to be a Cadillac Fleetwood with the rear of a Chevrolet Caprice wagon grafted on to it, and the whole mess covered up with a vinyl roof. It owes its existence to some coach builder adhering to those earlier conversion methods.


I didn't think much more about this wagon until I saw this similar car for sale:

This car was recently owned by David Swig, son of Martin Swig (SF Autocenter, California Mille Miglia), who used it to tow his race car to the track.

He wrote "This particular car was built for Mrs. Harris of Harris Ranch - her Christmas present in '79 from her husband. We just got the car after it had sat for some 20 years in a garage. Thunderhill was it's maiden outing as a race tow vehicle ."

The Harris car is for sale here in Sausalito, and the claim is that it is one of only 6 made. Given that I sited the other Cadillac just a few miles away in Mill Valley, I think that claim is possible, but unlikely.

Thanks Bring a Trailer
Categories:Cars

49 Geary

Today I was at 49 Geary Street, an address that's home to some of San Francisco's best commercial art galleries.

In the Robert Koch Gallery I liked this image by Michael Wolf. It shows a new work shift marching onto the factory floor at a facility that manufactures industrial air conditioners.

Factory Workers, 27" x 34" cromogenic print, $6100

Categories:Art

The SupperClub

Epocrates had their holiday party in January, and it was well worth attending!


Categories:Movies

Hillman Super Minx (1961-1966)

The Super Minx (and similar Humber Sceptre, and Singer Vogue) was a less common sight on the road than the Minx. The Super Minx was based on the Minx, but with a longer wheelbase, spacious interior and more modern styling. It was the type of car a working class retiree might aspire to own. There were individual front seats and a proper floor mounted gear shift. I liked the later versions of the car which had the six-light profile, 1725cc engine, wood dashboard, and other improvements.

Note the black rubber caps on the bumper over-riders. The year this feature became popular was the year I began to be interested in cars. Also note the hole in the front bumper for the optional crank handle.

The front view of the car shows the indicators mounted above the headlights. This was a styling element I did not understand: The placement and radius of the turn signal lens seemed wrong relative to the headlight. Then I saw this car for sale on Craigslist, and everything was explained. The car is a rare 1965 Sunbeam Venezia based on the Super Minx and made by Italian coach builder Touring, who thought well enough of this styling feature to reinterpret it for their own use (or did Hillman copy from Touring?).




Categories:Cars