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RANDOM PICTURE THREAD

Started by CobraJoe, 2020-05-06 17:47

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CobraJoe

When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

RICH MUISE

If those trolleys were in Boston, I may have ridden in a few of them.
I can do this, I can do this, I, well, maybe

CobraJoe

#1457
Quote from: RICH MUISE on 2024-09-07 08:21If those trolleys were in Boston, I may have ridden in a few of them.

The picture above of the railcars:

"1930 the scrap yards were full of streetcars and interurbans waiting to be demolished. So many they had to stack them on top of each other. Most people alive today don't realize that in the past almost EVERY city in the USA did have mass electric powered public transit, that was clean, relatively inexpensive and highly effective. However, the big question people should really be asking is why and how did it vanish?

Once upon a time in the USA by 1900 almost every city that had a population of 2,500+ had at least one electric streetcar company. Those streetcar companies by and large were 90%+ privately owned and powered by electricity generation stations owned by the same streetcar companies or they were the largest customers of the electric company.

In some places the streetcar companies started selling their extra capacity electricity to consumers and businesses as well. The electric supply business eventually proved to be the larger and a more profitable market. By the mid 1930's the federal government had to step and impose an antitrust law (The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935) that prohibited the newly regulated electric utilities from operating unregulated businesses (such as streetcars) and from operating across state lines, because they were behaving badly. As many of those holding companies/corporations did both they decided to sell the streetcar portion of their business.

The government then allowed National City Lines (NCL), which had been in operation since 1920 to be purchased and eventually controlled by another corporation/holding company comprised of: General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum, and others.

During the next 15 years 1936-1950 National City Lines bought out more than a hundred electric street car lines and replaced them by exclusive contracts with GM made busses.

The corporations involved (General Motors, Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum and Firestone Tire) were charged of conspiring to monopolize transportation services, and conspiring to monopolize the provision of parts and supplies to their subsidiary companies. Eventually the corporations were found guilty of some of the charges, but were acquitted of the major ones and were fined $5,000, and the directors were each fined one dollar. If that is the worse punishment corporations get why would they change the way they do business?




Typical US electric street cars circa early 1900s

Electric city transport still flourishes in Europe and Asia. More importantly the actions of NCL and inaction of city governments left most cities in the US to be nearly 100% reliant on fossil fuel transportation.

A shocking truth:
Oil refineries are now the largest commercial users of electricity today in some states such as California, which is electric energy that could be used more directly and efficiently by electric vehicles. Even more interesting is that in some cases the fuel used to power the electric companies is supplied by some of the same oil companies. Often those types of codependent situations breeds corruption and/or at the very least mergers and centralized power leading to the establishment of an oligopoly or monopoly."
[/i]


It's kind of funny how we are going back to electric, isn't it? 
When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

CobraJoe

When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

CobraJoe

#1459


"This is troopship Queen Elisabeth. Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary were used as troop transports during the Second World War. Their high speeds allowed them to outrun hazards, principally German U-boats, usually allowing them to travel without a convoy.

Her carrying capacity was over 15,000 troops and over 900 crew. During her war service as a troopship, Queen Elizabeth carried more than 750,000 troops, and she also sailed some 500,000 miles."
When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

RICH MUISE

Which way to the restroom?
I can do this, I can do this, I, well, maybe

BP57CUSTOM

My Dad may be in that picture, He said one of the most memorable things he ever saw was the thousands of Americans standing there to welcome them home when he returned from Italy. He was a machine gunner with the 10th Mountain Division.
Barry
1957 Custom 300
1965 Mustang GT
8N ford Tractor

CobraJoe

How cool would that be??
When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

CobraJoe

When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

CobraJoe

When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

CobraJoe

Harry Gardiner aka "The Human Fly" hangs from the 24th story of the Hotel McAlpin in New York c. 1922.



Gardiner was famous for climbing buildings. He began climbing in 1905, and successfully climbed over 700 buildings in Europe and North America, usually wearing ordinary street clothes and using no special equipment.
When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

FiveSevenLiter

#1466
Here is my brother-in-law's APBA #1 Crackerbox Capt n. Scrunch, I was 16-years old and small enough to fit inside to fibreglass the deck to the hull.  Ernie and Ken had never raced boats before, designed and built the first fiberglass crackerbox and won the #1 two years in a row.  I went to the races around the Northwest and also saw the Unlimiteds run.  Check Youtube for some wild/out of control Crackerbox racing.
Rules said you could not use a commercial name so they added the S to Crunch.
1957 Custom 300 - since 2012 SOLD 2024
1951 Mercury M3 - since 2004
1951 Ford F1 - since 1987
1950 Ford Tudor - since 2019
2009 Sport Trac Adrenalin

CobraJoe

When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

CobraJoe

When I was fourteen years old, I was amazed at how unintelligent my father was. By the time I turned twenty-one, I was astounded at how much he had learned in the last seven years!

'96 Bronco,
'39 Ford Coupe,
'57 Fairlane,
'68 Torino GT
'15 F150,
'17 Escape,

Ford Blue blood

Certfied Ford nut, Bill
2016 F150 XLT Sport
2016 Focus (wife's car)
2008 Shelby GT500
57 Ranchero
36 Chevy 351C/FMX/8"/M II