Archive for January, 2018

Flymall Wheels & Wings January 2018 Newsletter

Thursday, January 25th, 2018

Welcome to the Flymall January 2018 Wheels & Wings NewsletterClick here for the January 2018 Newsletter.  To view past newsletters click here.  You can sign up for our newsletter at Flymall.org.

Visit our new Wheels & Wings page on Facebook by clicking here.

Recently there was some great news in the music industry. Ringo Starr is now Sir Richard Starkey. Ringo was recently Knighted by the Queen.  If you’re a Beatles fan like we are check out our events calendar, select the Beatles category to view historic dates in Beatle history.

Achievements & Special Recognition:  December 22 2017 German M. passed his checkride for his initial flight instructor certificate.  German is a friend from Harry’s days at a flight school at KGAI.

Harry’s former student Francesca is enjoying her first year at Embry Riddle. She is also in a Navy ROTC program.  They enjoyed a dinner together at Julliano’s while she was in town for the holidays.

Next month (Feb 2018) will be the 30th anniversary of Harry receiving his instrument rating.  He earned his instrument rating on February 25 1988.  Thirty years of flying around with his head in the clouds.

Aviation/Aviators in the news:  This month we’re featuring some aviators in the news from WWII. Their interesting story is about 2 Boeing B-17 Bombers that became entangled in the air during WWII.  The 2 aircraft actually flew joined together for some time while the crews of each were able to parachute to safety.  Click here for the full story.

 

 

Car/Motorcycle Show News:  Here is a new design motorcycle by Yamaha that show be at shows in 2018.  The all new Yamaha Niken.  It has side by side front wheels.

We have been receiving a lot of entries for our events calendar for cars shows this coming spring and summer.  Check it out to get the latest and most accurate dates for upcoming shows and other events.

Here is a flashback from Harry’s hometown, Baltimore Maryland.  Kind of, sort of car show news. Long before Eastpoint Mall was a mall, it was known as Eastpoint Shopping Center.  There was a miniaturized village there called Safety Town. It was used to educate children about the laws of the road.  Here are a few pictures found online of Safety Town.

 

Barn Finds/Hangar Finds:  This month in Barn Finds we’re featuring a 1925 Julian Sport Coupe.  This car is said to be the granddaddy of the Volkswagen Beetle.  The Julian Sport Coupe had an air-cooled engine.  The prototype sat in a storage garage for 24 years until it was sold to recoup some of the storage fees.  It has since been restored and is now owned by the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. Click here for the full story on this interesting vehicle.

 

The Flymall Market Watch is a great resource for “pickers”.  We designed the database to be smart phone friendly and easy to use.  The database over 10,000 entries including vintage cars, antique motorcycles, aircraft, bicycles, and more.  You can even search the database by a celebrity name (if you want to know how much celebrity ownership increases a vehicle’s value).  We have even expanded the database to include memorabilia that can be searched by key words such as Beatles, John Lennon, Chip Foose, etc.

Here is another interesting barn find or maybe a tree find we seen while scrolling through barn finds on Facebook.  Look closely, the tree actually grew through the rear wheel of this bike.

If you enjoy barn finds visit Bingo’s Swap Meet Garage by clicking here. Bingo’s site can also be found on the Flymall under our classified section.  Bingo always has some cool stuff for sale.

CFI Notes:  Here is an NTSB report I found while researching an aircraft for a client.  What stands out in this accident is the fact that the CFI asked the student to add fuel (primer) while he pulled the prop through.  This is not a good idea.

Aircraft: CESSNA 150M, registration: N714QW
Injuries: 1 Serious, 1 Uninjured.
THE STUDENT & INSTRUCTOR (CFI) WERE PREFLIGHTING THE ACFT TO FLY ON A COLD MORNING. TO FACILITATE BETTER ENG STARTING, THE CFI ELECTED TO TURN THE PROP WHILE THE STUDENT ‘PUSHED THE PRIMER IN.’ HE TOLD THE STUDENT TO CHECK THAT THE MAG & MASTER SWS WERE OFF & THE STUDENT ACKNOWLEDGED. ON THE 2ND ‘TURN THROUGH,’ THE ENG STARTED & RAN APRX 5 SEC. THE CFI WAS INITIALLY CLR OF THE PROP, BUT AS HE WAS BACKING AWAY, HE SLIPPED ON INCE & HIS RGT LEG WENT IN THE PATH OF THE TURNING PROP. HE WAS HOSPITALIZED WITH A SEVERE LACERATION & THE PROP WAS SLIGHTLY BENT. AN INV REVEALED THE STUDENT WAS AT THE CONTROLS WITH THE KEYS REMOVED FROM THE MAG SW. A FURTHER EXAM REVEALED THE MAG CIRCUITRY WAS NORMAL, EXCEPT THE MAGNETO KEY COULD BE REMOVED WHILE THE MAG SW WAS IN THE ‘LEFT’ POSITION.

 

Weather in the news:  Erie PA, Christmas 2017 has some weather that is news worthy.  They had over 65 inches of snow.  Here is a picture that was posted on Facebook. The location was West 8th in Erie PA.  That is a lot of snow.

Click here for pictures of the blizzard of 2016.

Click here for pictures of the snow storm of 2011.

Click here for pictures of the blizzard of 2010.

 

Harry’s blizzard video from 2010.

Three Wheel Association (TWA):  Many of our readers are familiar with the Morgan 3 wheeler.  The first Morgan 3 wheeler was made in 1909 and production stopped in 1952.  But not many may know who or what inspired Morgan to start production up again. It was re-introduced in 2011 thanks to the work of Pete Larsen and the Ace Cycle Car (first one rolled out in 2004).  Pete was the person that figured out how to mate a Mazda Miata transmission with a Harley Davidson V-twin engine.  To read reviews on the Morgan 3 wheeler, visit our Test Drive section of our forum.

 

Prototypes:  This month we’re featuring a rare prototype bicycle that showed up on ebay back in October 2017.  This 2006 prototype was made to be sold as a Harley Davidson license, but did not make it to market (internal politics between Toys R Us and HD).  It is based from the 2004 award winning Schwinn Stingray, with several modifications: The frame has unique “Tank” gusset.  Only 2 of these frames in existence. It has a Fat-boy fork – extra wide spacing for a 4″ x 20″ front wheel, alloy crowns, and chrome plated legs. It has a modified coaster brake which is 170mm wide – The only Chopper made with this hub (note that this hub was used on the limited run”Manta Ray” as well). Equipped with full wrap fenders. It has a springer saddle – not found on the production Stingrays. An extra wide chain guard. None of these features can be found on any production bicycles (except for the rear hub).  This bike and ad was found on ebay and the seller claimed that he was the product designer at Schwinn.

 

And here is a 4 wheel concept car or prototype. A 1938 Y-Job Buick Concept (possibly GM’s first concept car). The car had hidden headlamps, electrically powered windows and top. The top folded away into the trunk.  Many of these design features would find their way into post-war production Buicks in the late 40s and early 50s.

One more prototype for this month…  Many think that Chrysler was the first US car manufacturer with the minivan.  Nope!  More than ten years before Chrysler had the minivan, Ford had one.  The 1972 Ford Carousel.  Ford was kind of hesitant of the idea of the minivan.  Lee Iacocca was at Ford at the time the Ford Carousel was introduced. And when Lee Iacocca left Ford and went to Chrysler, the minivan idea went with him.  And the rest is history.  Here is the 1972 Ford Carousel.

 

Enjoy this video about a wood fueled 1913 Model T Ford

 

Animals in the headlines:  Enjoy this video about a wolf that made friends with some local dogs in Alaska.

 

Look for our February 2018 newsletter and learn about the 1942 Hydromobile. And in our March 2018 newsletter hear some words of wisdom from Wilbur Wright.

We close this newsletter with a quote from Winston Churchill: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

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