THAT is my dream car! Nice!

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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Is that a '69? Very nice.... This is what sucks up my spare bucks. '51 Ford, 350 Chevy, Jaguar independent front and rear suspension, AC, power windows, etc. I did everything but the cloth part of the interior and the paint. We put 12,000 miles on it in eight weeks last year driving from CA to Bangor, Maine to Savannah, Georgia and back to CA.

For me, it was motorcycles...



...but that was in a past life.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
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UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

What size Honda is that, John? I loved the 150-300 series cuz they sounded like small Triumphs. Nice looking bike. A friend of mine is prepping a Honda 450 to run at Bonneville this summer....partly to go for the record, mostly just to say he did it.

It's a 1968 Honda 305 'Super Hawk' that was a 'basket case' when I bought it a few years after I graduated from college. I completely rebuilt it into a sort of 'cafe racer' style bike (note the velocity stacks, with red-rubber balls, and megaphone exhausts). This was my 3rd and last bike. My first was a 1964 Honda 150 'Dream' that I got when I was in high school and drove my first year in college, until I sold it to my kid brother when I got a deal on a 1965 Honda 305 'Super Hawk' from a guy in my dorm who was forced to sell it as he headed off to the Peace Corp. I drove it until I got married (just before my junior year) and was forced to sell it in order to buy a car as my soon-to-be wife (we're still married 45 years later) had refused to honeymoon from the back of a bike

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Here's a better view of the engine:

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Yes, it's a '69. Your ride is very nice too. Was the "woody" look original, or is that something you added?

Good luck,
Latexman

I had a Honda SL 125 for off-roading and "mudding" when I was 14. It was lime green. I outfitted it with rear knobby tire and it would go almost anywhere, slinging mud all over the place, especially on my back. My brother's girlfriend (now his wife) even rode my bike up an apple tree! Had to replace the front fender with a flexible plastic one after that!

One of my buddies had a 150 Dream. It and it's trim was not as well suited for off-roading, definitely a road/touring bike, but he did surprisingly well with no modifications.

Good luck,
Latexman

I never took my 150 Dream 'off the road' but I did with my first 305. One of the guys in the dorm had a 305 'Scrambler', same engine as the 'Super Hawk' but with high-rise pipes, rock-guard under the engine, smaller fuel tank, etc. I was able to keep-up pretty well with him, but there were a couple of true 'dirt bikes' at school including at least one Husqvarna that were always up front throwing mud on us.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

HAHAHAHAAAA!!!! I had a 150 Dream too! Turned it into a dirt bike...put high pipes on it and big knobbies, cut the fenders...had a ton of fun with it. I've got a pic somewhere, I'll find it and scan it.

John, I love the red balls in the stacks, just like race cars of the day. It was a beautiful bike. Where in Michigan did you live? The picture looks very East Detroit. I 'grew up' in Southfield.

Latexman, the body is all original, last of Ford's real woodies. We were lucky to find original, restorable wood. This is what it looked like when we bought it...

The picture was taken in Saginaw, where I worked for 14 years before I changed careers and headed to SoCal in 1980. However, I did work for awhile in Southfield when I was transferred back to Michigan in 1986 (for 17 months) to work on the GM account, after which I was moved back to California when I left the sales organization and joined R&D. Been here ever since.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

I left MI in '76....don't miss it at all......

Saginaw! I was in Midland, MI 2001-2006. That's where the pic above of my Mach 1 was taken. I don't miss the winter!

Good luck,
Latexman

The only time I 'lived' in Midland was during the summer of 1969. I was co-oping in Saginaw and stayed with a cousin in Midland while my wife remained up at school (she had a full-time year-round job in the local hospital). The biggest things that happened that summer was the Apollo 11 moonlanding and us conceiving our first child during a 'conjugal visits' over the 4th of July weekend

BTW, it's amazing the number of people you run into here in California who are either FROM Michigan or who had lived there at one time.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

I lived in Michigan for a year or so.

I loved the summer.

... both weeks.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

Both weeks?? Here we just hope summer shows up on a weekend.

Or where I went to school, it was 9 month of winter and 3 months of bad sledding.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

...where the mosquito is the state bird. My license plate ring reads "Detroit....a good place to be FROM!"

Actually the Mosquito was going to be the state bird when the UP (and some border counties from Wisconsin) seceded (it was going to be named 'Superior') from the rest of Michigan.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_(proposed_U....)

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

I was always interested to find out how they were going to survive without the LP's taxes.....

Well, for one thing, the TOLL BOOTH on the Mackinaw Bridge happens to be located on the NORTH end of the bridge, which means that it's sitting on 'State of Superior' soil. And don't forget that the locks through which all of the ships carrying ore from Minnesota's 'Iron Range' are located, at least the American side of the locks, in Sault Saint Marie, a 'Superior' city.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

There are also thousand of first cut birch logs sitting on the bottom of Lake Superior. As they were moving them in huge batches some would get water logged and sink. A company has been raising them and they look like they were cut and stamped yesterday rather than 100+ years ago...they're getting HUGE bucks for them!

My ex hobby, 1958 Triumph TR3a. Unfortunately had to part with it when re-locating overseas.
For a 55 year old motor it is a very impressive unit.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

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Artisi, that looks like it was a lot of fun!

Good luck,
Latexman

Gorgeous Triumph!!!! Always been a fan of British roadsters.....

So wqqdster you enjoy unplanned maintenance events then.

Kenat, a car that just runs and runs with no flaws is really kinda boring, isn't it? I had a Sunbeam Tiger that was pretty reliable. But my dream British roaster is a big Healy with a small block Chevy.....

I almost bought, what at the time would have been a not all that old XKE, but it would have been impractical since I couldn't afford a second car so that I could get to work on a regular basis. Like a guy I used to work with who had an XKE V12 2+2 and was looking for information about where he could buy a trailer hitch for it. My comment to him was that the only practical hitches that I had ever seen on an XKE were ones which mounted on the FRONT bumper.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

John, can't answer for XKE's but I had a trailer hitch on my '70 XJ 6.... towed a little pickup bed trailer with it.

Actually a "front" hitch is a very useful attachment, it allows you to push trailer etc. into position - no need to back them in where access is very limited.

It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)

Speaking of 'classic cars' I had an interesting experience yesterday. We hold several regional 'user meeting' each year around the country where customer get together for a one day meeting where we do new product reviews and demos (this is the role that I play at these meetings), as well as presentations by customers as to how they're using our software products. Most often these meeting are held at a hotel or one of our offices but occasionally a customer will volunteer to sponsor a meeting if they have an appropriate facility. Well yesterday's meeting was held at Andretti Autosports (owned by Mario/Michael Andreddi of Indy Car fame) in Indianapolis, IN. The facility that we were at was where they engineer and assembly their race cars (they compete in four open-wheel classes) as well as where they set-up and send-out their team tractor-trailers to the races (these rigs were almost as impressive as the cars). They employee about 125 people at this facility.

Anyway, our meeting was held in the area where the cars are given their final touches and then loaded into the trailers but since it's the 'off season' all that was there were the trailers so there was room to set up tables and chairs for the meeting (there were about 120 attendees).

Now the actual shops area was so clean you could have eaten off the floors and while we could take pictures in that part of the building where the meeting was held, they asked us not to in the area where the actual work gets done later in the day when we got a tour of the operation. However they did say it was OK to take this picture showing the main shop area as long I took it from where I was standing:



Note that the 'banners' on the far wall represents the wins by the varioua Andretti cars since Michael took over the 'family business'.

But speaking of 'cars', here are what they refer to as their 'show cars' or ones from various eras which were race winners (these represent only a few of the cars):



They also had a couple of the more recent winners sitting out so that people could get a closer look such as this 'GoDaddy' Indy car from last season:



Now in addition to Andretti Autosports using our software, we're also one of the team sponsors so we get 'signage' on the all the cars, as seen here (not a large sign but easy to spot):



But the highlight of the day was when Michael Andretti stopped by and spoke to our group for a few minutes. He welcomed everyone and explained how they had been using our sotware for about 15 years or so and how he was glad that they could sponsor the meeting and assured us that we'd enjoy our tour of the shop later in the afternoon.



All in all, it was an interesting day.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Not a bad day at all!

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?

Very cool and I'm very envious!