Album of the Week - 27 Hours to La Paz

I picked up "27 Hours to La Paz" on ebay recently.  It's a seven inch ep that came with a Revelle model kit and a document of the first Mexican 1000.

There isn't much to it, the cover art is great but there's only one song with some funny lyrics.  I shot a video of it playing.  The sound isn't great but it really isn't worth reshooting.

After the song, there's basically the narration track of this video "27 Hours to La Paz."  The video is definitely worth watching.

The Banquet Bronco

1972

The "Banquet Bronco" has recently been rediscovered and found a good home.  The story goes, that in the earliest Mexican 1000, NORRA promised a banquet at the end of the race.  So, Vic Abruzzese donned a tuxedo at the start so he'd have something to wear for the festivities.

Tom Duffy, Vic Abruzzese and margaritas - 1969

The Bronco sporting an extra tall air filter - 1970

burned top hat - 1969

It raced from 1967 -1977 which is quite a testament for one vehicle.  It's now being restored and hopefully will see Baja again.

Inspiration - Rod&Custom, August 1969

I picked up this 1969 copy of Rod&Custom magazine on ebay.  With the cool green model T on the cover - I'd remembered seeing it when I was a kid.  Like a lot of other stuff, my folk's copy was lost in the Harris fire.

For a hot rod magazine they dedicated a ton of space to the 69 Baja 500.  The first paragraph is almost illegible.  A long run on sentence with some hip lingo thrown in.  It reminded me that Hunter S. Thompson didn't operate in a vacuum.  There were plenty of people whacked out of their minds writing. Thompson just did it well.

The article's long, luckily there are plenty of pictures to go along with it.  There's also a short article on the "Norra Car Show" which I might get to later on.

This was one of the few races the Toyota Fj40 wasn't zebra striped.  Duffy/Younghusband finished fifth in their class doing the 500+ mile race in 18 hours 38 minutes. 

While looking over the magazine I really admired the amount of hand lettering going on.  You really don't see enough of it anymore.

Inspiration - Toyota Topics Winter 1970

I found this tucked into an old Mini Bike magazine.  I must have "borrowed" from my dad years ago.  Most of his magazines were lost in the Harris fire so I'm glad I saved this one.

The article on the 1970 Mexican 1000 is okay.  I really wish I had original copies of these photos.  Maybe I can track down Charles Nerpel.

sweet Toyota related comics.

Inspiration - and head out the door

 my dad

one of the bronco's I will be racing against.

Crunch Time

It's coming down to race time and there's still plenty to do.  Mainly packing, kids, me and tools.  The last couple days have been crazy with getting all the little stuff done.  Like...

window nets,...

notes to my folks...

and t-shirts.

inspiration - old trophy top

I found this little jeep the last time I was at my folks.  It was a trophy top from one of the old races.  The Mint 400 or one of the Barstow races.  It had broken off years ago and had been kicking around  outside.  The trophy, dad's films and much of the racing memorabilia burned it the Harris fire.  It was nice to see that this little jeep had survived.

Lights and GPS

The GPS is hooked up and the waypoints for the race are loaded. 

I've also got the lights mounted but am waiting for some switches and relays.  I went with some vintage NOS KC Daylighters, and even with their age, they are really bright.  The race is "supposed" to take place during the day, so, I hope I don't need to use them.

There's still a bit to be done.  Mainly narrowing down what we need to bring and where is can be fitted.  I should also change the oil and check all the other fluids.

Graphics and 9 days to go!

My gallery Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects has been a huge help with this race car project.  Supporting me on USA Artists, Letting me have a garage sale in the gallery and generally putting up with my rather scattershot approach to my career.  They've definitely earned the title Sponsor.

Doing the graphics was my challenge.  I didn't want vinyl lettering - it looks way too contemporary.  My initial thought was to do a stencil but that didn't work.

Then I thought I'd use a sign painting brush and run a little border around it.  Basically, it was really sloppy and a very bad choice of colors.

So I sanded it down and used the shadow of the stencil as a starting point.  It came together and I actually learned a bit.  For example that Cooper Black font is pretty easy to do on the side of a car.  The paint wants to run down and that feeds the blobby lower part of the letter.

It's not perfect and could use a little help but it feels like something from on of the early races.

-thanks Susanne!

Inspiration - old photos

Kenny Younghusband my dad's co-driver and best friend

George Plimpton

me

New Old Roof

I needed a sheet metal roof for car 23/28 and was just about to head out to the metal supply shop, when I looked up.  In the rafters of my garage was a hood. 

Not just any hood.  This one was from the first car 23.  A "race" car which never ran, was eventually cut into pieces and made into art.

I had struggled with the hood for a while and attempted several mediocre paintings on it.

I turns out the hood fit over the drivers compartment almost perfectly.

I bent it a little, ground off some bits, gave it a coat of paint and bolted it on.

 It's great and maybe redeems the original car 23.  It also feels like the spirit of the old races.  Just use what's available and make it work.

The Roll Cage is in and it's awesome.

Picked up the car today with it's new cage, seats and harnesses.  It's surprising what a difference it makes. The car's heavier but feels more solid and definitely way more comfortable.

36 days until the start of the race.

Now, I just need window nets, a roof, cup holders and I'm set.

The Roll Cage has arrived!

The roll cage arrived at Man-a-fre last weekend at it is an awesome beast.  Dave at 4plus did a great job.  I went with a family style cage because eventually I'd like to get the back seat back in the car.

Oh, and the new seats are actually comfortable! 

 It's being installed and should be done in the next couple days.  Here's a regular family style cage so you can see the difference.