Innovation in steering wheel design, that never went into production... the "Wrist Twist" from Mercury

At Mercury, engineer Bob Rumm produced this one-off 1965 Mercury Park Lane convertible with so-called "wrist-twist" steering controls. The standard steering wheel has been replaced by two 5-inch, wrist-operated dials, that the promo claims frees up knee room, improves visibility and makes parking easier.

Skip the first 45 seconds and the male chauvenist attitude, they are both useless

Found on http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-were-they-thinking-mercurys-wrist.html

Jim Lakey's Speed Shop, Piqua Ohio, 1963 Nash Metro B/Comp dragster. Lovin it.

Found on http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585

24 butterflies, 8 blowers, and makes 3400 hp worth of Nitrous powered grin... Mike Harrah's Detroit Diesel, does it make you feel a bit awed?

180 photo gallery of the intake and engine going together here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/learaviator/sets/72157623774941005


learned about it on http://www.autoblog.hu/videok/video_24_hengeres_dizelmotor.html

not much info on the www yet, but I did find that the guy is a millionaire real estate developer, and owns the biggest of the Blastolene cars (can't recall the name, it's the one with the PT boat Packard engine) and this titan engine is going into a Peterbuilt 359

Zaniest thing I've seen in a while, the Jade Warrior from 1985

Skip the first 30 seconds

Learned about it from http://zelastchancegaragedu78.blogspot.com/ information from http://www.dragzine.com/news/the-jade-warrior-a-truly-insane-and-one-of-a-kind-ride/

The creation of British motorcycle racer Angus MacPhail, who built it himself in his garage, it's called the “Jade Warrior,” did the quarter mile in under 8 seconds a quarter century ago without the use of nitromethane. That's riding on the tip of a bullet.

It was powered by an inline 4-cylinder that blended MacPhail’s own engineering with that of a Ford Cosworth and sported a Roots supercharger producing somewhere between 400 and 500 horsepower.

The frame was, obviously, a completely one-off piece that was built monocoque-style – with a main center section made of alloy and put together with Araldite adhesive and Monel rivets. A well-designed body with ground effects incorporated helped keep it stable and hooked up at close to 200 MPH. Angus claimed it was actually very easy to navigate down the track.

One big honking vehicle, the TC-497 Overland Train, Obsolete the day it was finished

Above image from Big Lorry Blog, where there are a couple more photos and the info that one is restored and at Ft Yuma Arizona http://www.roadtransport.com/blogs/big-lorry-blog/2010/10/more-le-tourneau-overland-trai.html#more

In the 1950s the LeTourneau company developed several overland trains, essentially oversized semi-trailer trucks that could travel over almost any terrain. Their intention was to be able to handle logistics needs without being dependent on local road or rail systems, allowing them to operate in back-country areas.

six-wheeled TC-497 Overland Train MkII used four Solar gas-turbine engines (at 1,170hp each, that’s 4,680hp total) to spin generators that delivered juice to 54 total motors – one for each of its wheels. Of its 12 trailers, two were dedicated just to carrying the turbines and generators. The Overland Train stretched 572 feet long, easily making it the world’s longest vehicle. Funny enough, it could only carry 150 tons of freight – as much as the Sno-Freighter – though it carried such developments as steerable trailer wheels that allowed the entire train more maneuverability.

Read about it here: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/11/19/54-wheel-drive-the-letourneau-electric-arctic-land-trains-that-put-australian-road-trains-to-shame/ because Dan at Hemmings wrote a cool long post about the land trains

For other crazy polar exploring vehicles: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/arctic-or-antarctic-explorers.html

Unique method of loading a forklift on a trailer

from Caradisiac http://www.forum-auto.com/automobiles-mythiques-exception/section5/sujet225087-3780.htm

you can read a post and see a 4 photo gallery here http://www.roadtransport.com/blogs/big-lorry-blog/2010/11/ancient-austins-and-unusual-pi.html#more