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The 1966 Holman & Moody No. 4 Ford GT40 Mk II
with its Arch Nemesis, the N.A.R.T. Ferrari 250LM that won the 1965 24 Heurs du
Mans on Display at the IMS Museum, circa 2012. (The Tomaso Collection)
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And Y'all thought Arizona was Land Locked, Righto?
As this No Fenders yarn will give Yuhs Somme-thun' to Knaw upon over Turkey
Lurkey Dinner...
Lounging about over a lazy weekend whilst on
Holiday in Thee Valley of The Sun with Artiste Dave, creator of thou Bitchin' No
Fenders website logo! He casually inquired how Ye Blog was doing? And what
stories I was working upon. To which I mentioned I had two stories in Thy
Hopper related to Howard Hughes I was hoping to Roll-out Justin-time' for Ye
Turkey Holiday, which I should really be working on right now...
As I'm still reveling in thoust fading
Afterglow of my most wonderful Debutante outing to visit the infamous Spruce
goose in nearby McMinnville, Oregon.
Mentioning how the H4 Hercules, it's latter
official name sported then the world's largest wingspan at a whopping 320-feet length, longer than an
NFL Football field, until the flight of the late Paul Allen's Stratolaunch
earlier this year.
Dave looked up the Mega Behemoth
Stratolaunch, which sports a ridiculous 385-foot long wing anchored to its twin
747 fuselages!
He ran across an image of what he deemed the
Oddest looking Aeroplane, simply known as the Caspian Sea Monster, Huh? As this
Russian flying contraption was part plane, part boat and really, really B-I-G!
As it was
built during the legendous Cold War in the early 1960's by Thee Rooskies' and utilized
a total of 10 engines on short, stubby wings as Thee ultimate Ground Effects
Flying Brick!
Then as many things go, a further Military
application was designed, deemed the Lun, a slightly smaller rendition of the Caspian Sea Monster
weighing in at 286 Tons!
As the
Caspian Sea Monster's Successor which entered service in 1987 was equipped with
6 Anti Ship missiles and sported only eight of the powerful Kuznetsov NK-87 Turbofan engines; subtracting
the extra two on the Sea Monster's tail from this flying oddity that literally
Skimmed the water at 20-feet!
VIDEO: Sting' - Russians Song
The 24 Hour War
Then having spent the previous evening
clambering on 'N on 'bout the Mega Ford v Ferrari movie being released that
same Friday, Dave scanned thru his NetFlix service and turned on a wonderful
2016 Documentary I'd never heard of before simply titled The 24 Hour War.
as this Awesome
Documentary produced by Nate Adams and Adam Carolla is Chock 'Oh Block with interviews
from the likes of 'Ol Hobbo, nee HobbsCap', aka David Hobbs. The late Dan
Gurney, SuperMario', nee Mario Andretti and Bondo', aka bob Bondurant to name
just a few.
Along
with lots 'N lots of snippets from 'Ol Shel' himself. The Best 'Ol Texas
Snake Oil Salesman, 1959 24 Heurs du Mans winner and legendary Car Builder
Carroll Shelby!
As the Documentary features an in-depth view
upon the very same subject, the 1966 24 Heurs du Mans and the Ford Motor
Company's epic Duel against Ferrari and seems to serve as a template for the
actual Ford v Ferrari Film in my view.
As it's totally worth watching if you get the
chance, which for Mwah was great since I Don't have NetFlix myself...
Hypercars'
After watching The 24 Hour War Documentary, No
Fenders Artiste Dave next selected another Automotive Documentary Treat for
Mwah, also on NetFlix titled Apex: Story of The Hypercar - which I got to
watch; err listen to approximately 65% of. Featuring a Quartet of Stunning
Super Cars, for which the modern era's technological cutting edge machinery are
now known as Hypercars.
Having previously heard of the McLaren P1,
the Porsche 918 and Ferrari La Ferrari. And although I know of the Swedish
marque Koenigsegg's name, I'd never heard of its then tour de force Mega Watt
car, simply known as the 1:1!
as the small, specialty Swedish Car Company
routinely runs circles round much larger Automotive Manufacturers has managed
to eak out an astounding 1,341 Horsepower in a vehicle weighing 1,341kg! The
first to accomplish the always elusive goal of 1-to-1 power to weight ratio!
With the 2016 Documentary chronicling the
Design, Development and production of each of these four amazing Hypercars,
along with their Quest for the Fastest lap time at the famed Nordschleife, aka
Nurburgring!
Since like I said above, I've just learned of it five
years after its Debut. I find the Koenigsegg 1:1 Hypercar to be a thoroughly
impressive Piece 'O Kit' as thou Bloody Brits' would say; Yah, Sure, Yuh
Betcha!
More Snake Oil lore...
Now totally aware of All things Ford v
Ferrari, which I've just seen over the weekend, I've also recently learned
about another Documentary now available from the same producers of The 24 Hour
War. This time chronicling the legendary Band leader Carroll Shelby and his Merry
men at Shelby American Inc. during the Glory Years...
Alice's Restaurant
As we're just ah-waitin', Yuhs know, for I-T
to come back round. When we'll All sing It in Four-part Harmony. As I'm Not
Proud for makin' uze wait to find out what I'm Ah-typin' about; Hya!
Since it used to be a Thanksgiving tradition
when some of the local Seattle Radio Stations would play Arlo Guthrie's
majestic Alice's Restaurant Massacree' in it's entirety. All 18+ minutes of it at
High Noon to Celebrate Turkey-Lurkey Day...
Y'all know, where
You can Get Anything You Want, 'cept Alice, at Alice's Restaurant. As Sing It
Arlo!
(Photo c/o No Fenders ‘Offical Photographer
CARPETS')