Volvo P1900 Sport: The Other Volvo Convertible

Wha...? That was my reaction this morning when I read about the P1900 in my Sunday paper.

It's a Volvo P1900. During a trip to America in 1953, the co-founder of Volvo was impressed with little roadsters with fiberglass tubs, like the Chevy Corvette. So he talked to the guys at Glasspar in Costa Mesa (a town just a few freeway exits away from the Mercedes Benz Classic Center) and asked them to design and build a body for Volvo.

What resulted was the P1900. Less than 70 were built in 1956 and 1957. Poor build quality and the lack of torsional rigidity were the culprits. Most ended up in Sweden or the States.

Most of the parts came from the PV444. A 3-speed was mated to a 1.4 liter engine capable of producing 70 hp.

Is the Chinese food in LA better than the Chinese food in the Bay Area?

In a word, yes.

There is no happy medium for Chinese eateries in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In the "authentic" restaurants, the ingredients are cheap and not-so-fresh and the hygiene level (filthy kitchens, leaking cardboard boxes stacked in the dining area) is unbelievably low. And shockingly, I've been served stale, almost crunchy, steamed rice on three of my last five visits to random "authentic" restaurants.

In the nicer restaurants, it is clean. Sure, the ingredients may be of higher quality. But I've got to put up with flaky (read: not sticky) steamed rice, or worse, brown rice. I don't need an egg roll with fluorescent red and tangy dipping sauce. I don't need a fortune cookie. I just want a tasty, inexpensive, quick meal that won't send me to the hospital.

I am generalizing, of course.

I grabbed lunch at Sam Woo in LA. It is one of a dozen in a chain (I know, I know). I got the satay shrimp lunch meal for about $7. It didn't come with soup, egg rolls, a fortune cookie, or a slice or two of orange. No, it was all I needed. The shrimp, onions, and green onions were all fresh and of the highest quality. The satay sauce was mild but distinct. The steamed rice was fluffy and sticky. What more could you ask for?

Satay beef picture source.

You know you're in a cheap motel room if...

1. the complimentary shampoo is so suspect, even your cheap ass won't take the little bottle home;
2. you are forced to watch a Tyler Perry sitcom on TV because you're eating that gas station deli sandwich and you don't want to cross-contaminate your fingers by touching the remote control;
3. the bedside lamp mysteriously turns off when you're reading and turns on when you're sleeping;
4. you never take off your socks, ever, while you're at the motel room; and
5. when you do take off your socks, you avoid looking at the sole of your socks because you don't want to see what is stuck to it.

Old School Ski Racks

During my trip through the Sierras, I saw an old rusty Porsche 924 parked on the street with a ski rack. Only the sub-arctic weather and my hunger and exhaustion prevented me from whipping out my camera to take a picture.

The first thing that came to my mind was my Hot Wheels Porsche 944 with removable plastic skis.

The second thing to come to my mind was Roger Moore's Lotus Esprit with a ski rack in For Your Eyes Only.

I wonder what happened to the rear mounted, angled ski rack. I haven't seen one of these set-ups in decades. There aren't that many hatchbacks now, but I don't even remember seeing these on 300ZX's or RX-7's in the 1990s.

Is it because they hurt the aerodynamics? Or is a rear wheel drive two seater not the first choice for people when they head to the mountains to go skiing?

XB-70 Valkyrie

When I saw a picture of this plane at a little museum near Edwards Air Force Base, I thought I was looking at a Concorde. What is that thing?

It's an XB-70 Valkyrie. Two of these prototypes were made. They were supposed to be hypersonic (Mach 3+) bombers. The planes needed to be fast not only to escape from Soviet interceptor jets, but needed to escape the nuclear blast once they released their deadly cargo.

The folding wing tips and cannards made this plane truly strange looking.

Advancing Soviet surface-to-air missile technology changed the game. High flying bombers like the Valkyrie were no longer effective. Low-flying planes were favored instead. That, the high expense, and other technical issues (fires, pieces of wing falling off) meant the Valkyrie would not go into service for the USAF.

The story gets sadder. In 1966, an XB-70 and four other jets were on a photo shoot for GE, which made the engines for all five aircraft. At the end of the shoot, an F-104 drifted into the XB-70. The F-104 pilot and XB-70's co-pilot died. The XB-70's pilot sustained serious injuries.

Johannesburg, California

Aside from a few Native American names, most places in the United States are named after some other place in Europe. Most are derived from Britain, France, and Spain. There are a few Russian places-- Moscow, Idaho and Sebastopol, California. But this is from Africa. Johannesburg is a small silver mining town near Death Valley. It got its name because its first residents thought their new home reminded them of their gold mining days in South Africa.

Antique Slot Machines

This is a cool collection I saw at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City.

Roll six dice, do a quick count, and maybe you win.

Forefather of the electronic poker machine.

Wheel. Of. Fortune!

Pachinko?

Inspiration for Lotto ball machine?

Car Themed Notepads

I may have gone a bit overboard. I was at the gift shop at the National Auto Museum. On a rack were notepads with pencil drawings of cars on top. They were $1 each, or six for $5. So I bought twelve of them. I need to increase the frequency of writing notes and shopping lists.

What got me interested were the cars that Reno artist Laura Lea Evans chose. There are no Mustangs, Porsches, or VW Beetles. No. All of her subjects are obscure cars that I like. What are the chances?

Lamborghini Espada.

Lotus Europa.

BMW M1.

Lamborghini 350GT.

Maserati Mistral.

Alfa Giulia SS.

Aston Martin Lagonda.

BMW 6 series.

Ferrari 400/400i/412.

Aston Martin V8.

Maserati Biturbo.

Alfa Romeo GTV.

Mercedes-Benz Classic Center Irvine (450SEL 6.9 for sale)

I would venture to guess that outside of Germany, there are few places that has as many classic Mercedes-Benzes as Southern California. With its mild weather, wealth, and obsession with cars, this is the perfect venue.

A few years ago, Mercedes-Benz opened a Classic Center in the Orange County city of Irvine. It is one of two places where one can buy a classic Mercedes from Mercedes-Benz (Fellbach, Germany, is the other place). The Center has virtually every part you need and will custom make a part if it is not available. The staff also performs appraisals. The gift shop has an impressive selection of model cars but has a less than stellar inventory of books and posters.

I arrived in the middle of the afternoon. The mercury said it was 83 degrees-- in February! I was so impressed with the cars in the parking lot that I started snapping away. The landscaping guys were nice enough to stop their work and get out of the way of my photographs. Gracias, amigos!

Here are two unmolested W201s. They were in pretty decent shape. The one on the left is a 2.5 and the one on the right is a 2.3-16 Cosworth.

This is a 1994 or 1995 E500 that was hand built by Porsche.

As you walk in, there are classics for sale to your left and right. In the back, a couple of dozen more classics are tightly packed and displayed.

This is a rear-engined 170H cabrio limo. I wonder if this idea was borrowed from Tatra, or vice versa?

C291 Group C racing car. Five were made in 1991. The 3.5 liter V12s produced 650 hp.

The keys to every car!

I never realized the 600s were so much larger than the W108s. This 600 is an SWB.

Old and new. The car in the foreground is a replica.

Three views of a cutaway M100 motor.

The 1957 300SL roadster in the foreground is exquisite but is it worth $825,000? Note the 6.9 in the background.

So this white 6.9 has 229 miles and has not been restored. Now I love these cars, but $175,000?! Apparently, the powers that be designated the W116 as worthy of "classic" status. We'll have to wait for a few more years before W126s will be displayed here.

EPA sticker that comes with the 6.9.

$125,000 for this 1967 250SL Pagoda. I must admit, these cars looked brand new.

If you are visiting Orange County or are commuting between LA and San Diego, this is definitely worth a visit. It is just east of the El Toro Y, where the 5 and the 405 converge. The address is 9 Whatney, Irvine. I would NOT advise flying here just to visit the center. As a museum/classic car collection, it's not that fantastic.