American dream: the ford GT40 story, it’s history and it’s versions at the 24 hours of le mans race

the story of ford GT40 is an incredible one. and yes that is steve mcqueen next to the MKIV with taped-up front lights. they did that to protect the headlights from flying debris during the day to limit maintenance in the 24hr race. winner of le mans, bagging 1st, 2nd and 3rd position against ferrari in 1966 is the stuff of legends. if you don’t know about the story of ford and ferrari’s feud, it is worth checking this out. here’s a conclusive look at the ford gt models starting with the prototype. anyone with further knowledge is encourage to make corrections in the comments or just email us to update. that would be much appreciated, as we couldn’t find a single site showing the range of models. thanx.

1964-1965 GT40 108

above and below: henry ford II in the ford GT40 108 prototype roadster back in the USA in 1965

one of the earlier (i believe 1964) ford GT40 models on the race track

in 1964 ford attended the lemans but all cars fell behind ferrari due to repeated pitstops credited to massive gas consumption of the mega powered ford engines. finally all ford GT40’s dropped out due to mechanical failure and ferrari as usual took home 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize.

1964 official results “24 heures du mans” otherwise known as “le mans 24-hour race”

1st place – ferrari 2nd place -ferrari 3rd place -ferrari

1964-1965 GT40 MKI

notice the bat mobile wings on this GT40 i had never seen that myself. like back in 1964 ford did not manage to win or even complete the race with its GT40 prototypes.

1965 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ferrari 2nd place -ferrari 3rd place -ferrari

1966 GT40 MKII-MKI

this was the decisive year for henry ford the II and his GT40’s, by now ford had various improved versions of the GT40 MKII and MKI’s in the race driven by australian drives bruce mclaren and chris amon amongst others

the number 5 GT40 in gold and pink livery. in 1966 ford managed to win lemans for the first time, in positions 1, 2 and 3 finally taking vengeance on ferrari for all that enzo ferrari had done to henry ford the II. (more on that story here)

the #2 for GT40 in black white with gold rims driven by bruce mclaren and chris amon (the 24 hr race requires drivers to take turn as its a continues race for 24 hours)

the #2 car finishes first ahead of the other 2 fords.

the trio immortalized in detailed die cast available here for around $2,000

1966 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ford 2nd place -ford 3rd place -ford

1967 GT40 MKIV

having wounded ferrari ford had to come back to lemans with a bigger gun. the MKIV was born

but ford wasn’t going to take any chances aside from the 4 GT40 MKIV’s there was also a MKII entered into the race

and the race was on…

ford once again took 1st place but this time ferrari was on its tail on position 2 and 3. the aerodynamic MKIV did not stand up to the test as well as the MKII’s did back in 1966, but winning lemans in 1st place is major accomplishment 2 years in a row for a company known for making mass production models Ts.

1967 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ford 2nd place – ferrari 3rd place – ferrari

1968 back to GT40 MKI again

the revised ford GT40 MKI in gulf livery

car number 9 driven by pedro rodriguez and lucien bianchi wind the race

this is also the year actor steve mcqueen films the feature “le mans” using a modified GT40 to mount the camera on

1968 official results of the le mans 24-hour race

1st place – ford again 2nd place – porsche 3rd place – porsche

1969 GT40 MKI

troubles for ford

and yet… ford wins first again for the 4th year in a row… and where is enzo ferrari?

the story and the cars that came out of that story are simply legend and carry with them more than just beauty and power but an attitude of a man bent on making a point. now how can any one not love that? recently a GT40 used by steve mcqueen sold for an unbelievable price of $11,000,000, what a steal. by dd

CATEGORIES: cars, history, read

citizenfour: the edward snowden documentary

the film is made by glenn greenwald and laura poitras which premiered at the london film festival

and below the interview with the new yorker

will this be the big fall hit at the box office? possibly not. but who wouldn’t want to see it and hear “his” story? by ac

CATEGORIES: clips, history, must be considered films

cuba: memories of underdevelopment

massively personal and poetic film. based on a book by edmundo desnoes and directed in 1968 by tomás gutiérrez alea (IMDB) during the turmoil of social change in cuba. it is unfortunately his one and only good film, but how many can you do in a lifetime anyway? don’t ask why the titles are in japanese… by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, history, must see films

Henry Miller & Anaïs Nin on Death and Dreams

they say true love is not two people gazing into each others eyes, but two people looking forward in the same direction.

by kl

CATEGORIES: clips, history, musings

electrocuting an elephant with nikola and tom

earlier today, in the dreary cabin in the middle of nowhere known as ts headquarters, we were discussing the differences between nikola tesla, thomas edison and their feuding. more specifically, the war of the currents. the subject came up following a series of paralleled conversations, particularly why there is a difference with 110 and 220 voltage in the united states and europe. basically, the system of three-phase alternating current electrical generation was invented by tesla, and he found that 60hz (cycles per second) was the best frequency for an AC (alternating current) power generation. tesla preferred 240 volts, which angered edison, whose DC (direct current) systems were 110 volts. our mindful kt then added that edison (in my opinion just a lucky inventor and by no means on the scientific level tesla was) had once electrocuted an elephant. we found the video, and if you haven’t seen it, it’s disturbing but historically present. i could go on about their differences, in hygiene and interpersonal skills, but we can leave that for another post on some other day. by sv

CATEGORIES: clips, history, mind candy

Halston 1970’s: how to take down a luxury house in style

halston and his models in black bathing suits

ultrasuede: in search of halston is the film about roy halston featuring the overly excited adolescent director, whitney sudler-smith, and his rent-a-car trans am. bit obnoxious but worth the trouble if you can get past him, and no he doesn’t look like halston, nor burt reynolds, he looks more like a whitney.

halston with betsy theodoracopoulos

halston’s dog

from hat designer of the ‘ladies at bergdorf’ to a global style icon, halston was perhaps the first luxury house to spread its legs… just a bit too wide. he was the face of studio 54, always surrounded by his models, and sometimes his boy toy, victor hugo. he brought a sense of american ease to fashion that not many europeans could appreciate at the time as much yves saint laurent himself. his muted color palette was supreme, he did well. but then he designed uniforms for avis rent-a-car, airline interiors, carpets, one of the most successful fragrance ranges and finally its own demise. all of them expertly designed. it wasn’t the first time a creative soul was tempted with money and a promise to rule the world, only to be dumped from his own company by a bunch of paper pushers. if i recall correctly steve jobs, YSL and many more secured a similar fate. lesson learned… by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, fashion, history

somrero club, jamaica – cool ska cool: PART 1

rude boy clubbin’ circa 1964. by jr

CATEGORIES: clips, history, music

Voter fraud?

more to come on this in the future

“we’ve all used ATMs, and most everyone has something such as an iPod. now, have you ever, anytime, anywhere, had one of these electronic devices switch data input on you?” asks selwyn duke of american thinking in a recent article. “so how is it that in our high-tech universe of flawlessly functioning electronic gadgets, voting machines are the only ones prone to human-like ‘error’? if there’s an explanation other than human meddling, again, i’d truly like to hear it.”

wow. and i thought voter fraud was exclusive to countries like russia, pakistan and iran, i guess not anymore! here’s what the guy who posted this video wrote:

“i initially selected obama but romney was highlighted. i assumed it was being picky so i deselected romney and tried obama again, this time more carefully, and still got romney. being a software developer, i immediately went into troubleshoot mode. i first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting jill stein to actually highlight obama. nope. jill stein was selected just fine. next i deselected her and started at the top of romney’s name and started tapping very closely together to find the ‘active areas’. from the top of romney’s button down to the bottom of the black checkbox beside obama’s name was all active for romney. from the bottom of that same checkbox to the bottom of the obama button (basically a small white sliver) is what let me choose obama. stein’s button was fine. all other buttons worked fine.

i asked the voters on either side of me if they had any problems and they reported they did not. i then called over a volunteer to have a look at it. she him hawed for a bit then calmly said “it’s nothing to worry about, everything will be ok.” and went back to what she was doing. i then recorded this video.

there is a lot of speculation that the footage is edited. i’m not a video guy, but if it’s possible to prove whether a video has been altered or not, i will GLADLY provide the raw footage to anyone who is willing to do so. the jumping frames are a result of the shitty camera app on my android phone, nothing more.” original post. by ts

CATEGORIES: history, read

Dick Cavett and Jean-Luc Godard 1980

genius speaking. by ars

CATEGORIES: clips, f#@k your heroes... look at ours, history

ancient astronaut theory: human arrogance, sky people, our notion of gods, the pyramids and an outlandish but fascinating theory

mayan temple tikal guatemala

mayan artifact with delta wings and serpent head

sombrero galaxy: NASA hubble telescope image

sky people: mayan artifact from tikal ruins guatemala

aliens who came to earth thousands and thousands of years ago? established civilization as we know it? bred earth and alien DNA to create a race known as man? i mean i would have laughed this man out, and considered him in desperate need of a hobby. i’d picture ron hubbard and a bunch of hollywood freaks on prozac writing alien scripts in the church of scientology. i mean come on, to believe this type of stuff is more foolish than believing in god and organized religion… but hell it’s fascinating!

in my search for documentaries on the similarities of the pyramids of egypt and south america, in accordance with my desperation in my choice of films on demand, i came across a history channel series titled “ancient aliens” and its 2nd episode: “gods & aliens”. not generally being a fan of aliens, the word “god” did get me interested. after all, we’re told there’s a god up there and we’re told there are aliens up there. supposedly, both visited us and are planing to come back soon… i pressed play. twenty 44 minute episodes later i’m bummed that it’s all over. i thoroughly enjoyed the “stories” and the imaginative fictions, and although i find 80% of the “reasoning” and “facts” in the series assumptive and weak, i have come to place this theory that is frowned upon by millions (including myself) well above god and religion which billions still believe in. not that this says much about the theory but still.

the premise of the theory is grand but surprisingly fully compatible with evolution. what is different between this and christianity, or scientology, or religion in general, is that you are not asked to “have faith and believe” but look, ask and judge a “theory” based on assumptions. it goes something like this: 1- our solar system is a micron in relation to our galaxy (milky way). our galaxy is but one of estimated hundreds of billions of galaxies (per nasa hubble telescope research). 2- there is a higher probability that life exists somewhere out there, than the probability that it doesn’t. 3- life organisms can travel through space via galactic collisions (the big bang being one) this is referred to as panspermia. 4- we know that myths, stories, even religions and beliefs are generally routed in some form of events or truths that were passed down, granted distorted or exaggerated down the line. 5- the story referred to here is the story of beings in the skies, gods, angels descending, inception of a virgin by god and other nonsense. the type that is present in almost identical sequence in egyptian, greek, babylonian, mayan, african, indian and even pagan documents. what was there that provoked this completely disjointed cultures to talk about the same thing? 6- well the AAT’s have come up with a magical story:

aliens came to earth long ago. in a series of experiments, they meshed alien DNA with earth beings. the failures were the hybrids of men (actually alien) with bird heads, centaurs, unicorns, and cyclops as depicted by egyptian, mayan and other cultures in paintings and stories. the successful experiment was man, a sapien with a larger brain similar to aliens. this they claim is what darwin claims to be his missing link. james watson, the man behind the discovery of DNA, claims that there is a chance that man kind’s missing link was simply a fluke accident, but the chances of this accident are like a tornado going through a junk yard and coming up with a fully assembled 747 aircraft… meaning next to none. so the plot thickens… aliens then pass knowledge to this new man with a bigger brain. man being still dumb, sees the aliens as gods (thus the multiple gods of the past). so the aliens don’t actually resemble us, we resemble them. thus most alien sightings are with 2 large eyes, 2 arms, 2 legs and a pot belly (every mans future). eventually either man revolts against alien, or they leave earth for one of many reasons they give in the film. man idolizes alien in some cases, for it gave him life and knowledge. what we think of god today, they claim, was simply alien flesh and intelligence. the stories of angels with wings, are aliens that flew to the sky and back and this goes on and on… it has surely made me dream a bit and i’m glad i saw it, beats natalie portman’s “black swan” any day. if you have 20 hours to kill you too can stream it on netflix. by dd

CATEGORIES: earth related, history, must be considered films

mayan temples: what i’m obsessing over these days

the temple of kukulcan (el castillo). also know as chichen itza.

i’ve been to almost all of central amercica’s major pyramids, and being up there it is awe inspiring… imagining the short mayan priests 30 meter above ground, surveying the stars and the foliage that runs as far as the eye can see. still to this day all we have are but assumptions and theories on how these massive structures where actually built, still to this day the only answer we have to how two such far civilizations, in egypt and central america could have created such identical structures, and similar gods is all but “coincidence”! or more technically put:

“separated by the atlantic ocean and two thousand years, the pyramids of egypt and mexico call out to the imagination. they offer glimpses into romantically esoteric societies filled with secret rituals and exacting construction that even today cause us to ogle over them like voyeurs. so the question is not whether they still move us today, obviously they do. rather, the question is whether they moved each other, or failing that, did they dip their buckets into some common well of knowledge? of course there are seeming similarities between the artifacts and architecture of these geographically and temporally distant societies. the jade death mask of pacal could easily be compared to that of tut. likewise, the half-animal, half-human gods of egypt are similar, at their most basic level, to mesoamerican gods like quetzacoatl. and who can ignore the pyramids? unfortunately, despite these apparent similarities, they are unrelated to one another. not only were the mesoamerican pyramids built millennia after the those of egypt, they also did not share the same basic design or function. while the egyptian pyramids were private tombs meant to set the pharaoh off from the mainstream society of the day and protect him for eternity, the pyramids of mesoamerica, though sometimes used as tombs, were primarily public temples of ritual and celebration.”

the above argument does not even address the simplest of all issues, the general shape of the pyramids. that has been pushed aside by some as the basic shape one piles up stones. while i can see that being a possibility/coincidence, i don’t buy that given all the other similarities between the two… and no, piling up stones in a shape of a pyramid is not the obvious choice. placing a slab over 2 others (stone henge) is closer to a cave structure or other natural spaces man would have been familiar with. and yet we are to think making a fully perfect geometric shape, both accurately aligning with the stars, is a result of simply piling stones? rather insulting. it’s a riddle i’ve been entertaining myself with for the past few weeks. its exciting and fun. by dd

CATEGORIES: earth related, history

the moon is leaving the earths orbit

how did the moon come to be? orpheus, a planet the size of mars, collides into earth. the collision meshed the two planets together and the fragments become moon. that is why no rock on moon actually defers from that on earth. how would earth be without the moon? the moon stabilizes the earths tilt which regulates its temperature against the sun. without the moon the earths tilt will become anywhere between 0-90 degrees vs less than 1 degree now. so stable vs wobble. simply put, without it the sahara would turn into north pole and back, on a regular basis. and the north pole into Sahara and back, erasing any life that can not exists in both extreme weathers. without the collision, and the moons creation, man would not have existed. now…. fact: the moon recedes from the earth 1.5″ a year. at some point the moon will loose its orbit around earth and part. so the end may not be today but it is actually inevitable. also here’s a good basic documentary on the subject. by xy