Motor Vehicles
Miss Brake Special, 1951
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 24, 2020 -
Comments (6)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Motor Vehicles, 1950s
Follies of the Madmen #456
Who knew gas pumps were such gossips?
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 10, 2019 -
Comments (6)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Business, Advertising, Motor Vehicles, 1940s
A Queer Ferry
I would call this an aerial tramway for cars. Seems it would have been much easier just to build a bridge!
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 27, 2019 -
Comments (8)
Category: Engineering and Construction, Motor Vehicles, Technology, 1930s
The Pedestrian Horn
We've posted before about Los Angeles auto dealer Hilton Tupman who, back in 1948, invented a "pedestrian horn" that he used to honk at motorists.
Great ideas like that tend to get recycled. So, recently artist Yosef Lerner unveiled a pedestrian horn for the 21st century. His intent was satirical. He wanted to make the point that honking at people can be obnoxious, whether you're on foot or in a car. But for a while he was actually offering his pedestrian horn for sale on his website, at $699 each. He decided to stop selling them because (as he told Gizmodo) he didn't want "to contribute to any more noise in this city!”
For the record, Tupman didn't invent the idea of a pedestrian horn. Actress Eleanor Whitney had rigged one up in 1932.
Chambersburg Public Opinion - Apr 9, 1932
And as early as 1927, there's a report in the NY Times about an unnamed man from Southampton, England who had attached a "miniature but noisy motorhorn" to his walking stick and then "sounded warning blasts to the more fortunate ones in automobiles when he was about to cross."
New York Times - Oct 7, 1927
Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 19, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Motor Vehicles, Cars, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
Follies of the Madmen #441
Not sure how a different color motor oil is better for your car. Don't think the advertiser can tell us either.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 26, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Motor Vehicles, 1950s
License-Plate T-Shirt
Available from AdversarialFashion.com, which explains:
via Book of Joe
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 13, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Fashion, Motor Vehicles
The Jetway 707
Built by American Quality Coach. Introduced in 1968. Its design was based on the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. Some more info from coachbuilt.com:A complete line of AQC hearses, ambulances, combination cars and limousines were planned, but unfortunately all of their working capital was tied up in the tooling for their first run of airport limos, and when they failed to sell, the firm was forced to abandon the other coaches. A current owner believes that only 52 Jetways were built between 1968-1970, although professional car historian Bernie DeWinter believes that the number is closer to 150.
Posted By: Alex - Mon May 20, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Motor Vehicles, Cars, 1960s
Dried Milk as Fuel
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon May 06, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Food, Motor Vehicles, Technology, 1930s
The Amazing License Plate Collection of Paul Franke
By chance, I recently happened to meet a fellow San Diegan, Paul Franke, who has in his garage a collection of 22,000 license plates. Of course, I was interested in seeing that, and he was kind enough to invite me over and spend an afternoon showing it to me.I hadn't realized how popular license plate collecting is. The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association has almost 3000 members, and it holds an annual national convention, as well as smaller regional ones. But even within this large community of collectors, Paul's collection of 22,000 plates is very impressive.
Guinness lists the largest collection of license plates in the world as being that of Péter and Tamás Kenyeres who have 11,345 plates. Seeing that, I wondered if Paul actually had the true world record. But no, he assures me that Guinness is wrong. While his collection is undeniably large, he doubts it's even the biggest in San Diego County, and this BBC article indicates there's a collector in Florida with over 50,000 plates.
Paul stores his license plates thematically. Along one wall (above left) he has boxes of plates arranged by state. (He long ago acquired plates from every state.) On another wall (above right) he has boxes of plates with more random themes. For instance, he has a box of error plates. Can you spot the errors in the examples below?
(scroll to the bottom of this post for the answers)
More in extended >>
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 02, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Motor Vehicles, Collectors
Professor Burt, Endurance Pianist
"Lady nurse in attendance shaves him every day."
Source.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 16, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Eccentrics, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Human Marvels, Motor Vehicles, Music, 1920s
| Who We Are |
|---|
| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |