06-01-2024, 09:27 AM (This post was last modified: 06-01-2024, 09:34 AM by Rich.)
Good day all! A bright blue sky day here with NO wind for a change! Might have to grill out tonight!
We were supposed to have a classic car show last weekend but we had threat of rain so many didn't show up. Those that did were busy with their chamois.
Thought this was a good one with the drive-in food tray on the window.
06-01-2024, 01:41 PM (This post was last modified: 06-01-2024, 01:44 PM by Dave.)
Fine photo of a classic car, Rich. The tail fins look pretty sharp so I'm guessing a 57 Chevy, but if they are more rounded than it appears, possibly a 56. If a 57, it reminds me of the first family car I can remember my parents having (I was probably 6 or 7), except ours was yellow and white instead of red and white.
I have a car photo too, taken a few hours ago. Invasive growth, most unidentified but also what looks like a variety of Morning Glory) is threatening to engulf an inoperative car in my neighborhood.
Don't blame me - I didn't vote for him!
Nikon D7500 with Nikkor 18-300 mm; PSE2021, PSCS5 Ny Flickr Albums
Seeing as there are some rev heads here, 'car enthusiasts' for the purists.
Here is a relic from before the petrol engines.
It is the only one known of the original three prototypes, the 1898 Thomson Surrey, invented by General Electric.
"They were looking at whether they should get into building cars or whether they should stay with electrical systems," Mr Sorensen said.
"So they built three."
Mr Sorensen's Thomson Surrey is not to be confused with the steam car made by Herbert Thomson, which was the first wholly Australian-made vehicle of its kind from about the same era.
Mr Sorensen's vehicle was created by American inventor, and founder of GE, Elihu Thomson.
There is no record of what happened to the other two Thomson Surrey prototypes.
With the flick of a blow torch and a quick fan of the flames, a 126-year-old vintage car sputters to life.
The rare steam car is surprisingly quick to get going – the main reason why it's considered so special.
The 1898 Thomson Surrey, which lives in a coastal garage near Bundaberg, 400 kilometres north of Brisbane, is the only one of its kind still known to exist.
But it was the inclusion of a flash boiler, using a relatively quickfire water tube, that made Mr Sorensen's Thomson Surrey so special.
"Elihu Thomson was a very innovative person and he put a different boiler in it," Mr Sorensen said.
Steam is used in such a way that it won't be seen coming out the back once the car is driving.
"It's a flash boiler, so within minutes it will steam up."
While most steam cars were modelled off steam train engines, the Thomson Surrey's engine is closer to a petrol engine.
"It took us a long time to figure out their thinking because it is different than other steam cars," Mr Lombard said.
"There are some patents that we found, but the patents don't tell us why they did it."
The introduction of the flash boiler for steam cars came too late, with the industry having already moved on.
"By that stage it's all about efficiencies, because the diesel electric or petrol is seen to be quicker and more efficient, so most of the big players turn their back on the previous technology and move on,"
