Simanaitis Says

On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff

Category Archives: Classic Bits

GASOLINE RATIONING AND OLD-TIME RADIO PART 2

YESTERDAY’S TOPIC here at SimanaitisSays offered details of U.S. gasoline rationing during World War II. Today, a SiriusXM “Radio Classics” broadcast of Lum and Abner describes its effect on the … Continue reading →

August 5, 2018 · Leave a comment

GASOLINE RATIONING AND OLD-TIME RADIO PART 1

MY INSPIRATIONS for tidbits about World War II rationing came from several sources. Reading a social history gave “Eating Brit-Style, the 1940s,” an Anglo flavor of WWII culinary matters. And … Continue reading →

August 4, 2018 · 1 Comment

THE AMERICAN AUTO FACTORY—A MINI HISTORY

THE AMERICAN AUTO business began some 120 years ago. What was originally small-shop, hand-made, one-off fabrication evolved into a highly automated, complex, internationally integrated industry. Olsen and Cabadas’s fine 2002 … Continue reading →

July 29, 2018 · 5 Comments

CELEBRATING RUSSELL BROCKBANK

I WAS recently recalling the old days of Formula 1 in reading the R&T August 1967 report of the 25eme Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco. Henry N. Manney provided the … Continue reading →

July 20, 2018 · 4 Comments

A MOVEABLE FEAST OF ELEGANCE—THE BUGATTI TYPE 50T

HAVE THERE ever been automobiles more elegant than Bugattis? I doubt it, and I offer this 1932 Type 50T as an example. The Type 50 and its variants are the … Continue reading →

July 14, 2018 · 2 Comments

R&T 20TH + 51ST ANNIVERSARY ANSWERS

READERS OF R&T back in the 1960s had to wait a year before its June 1968 issue was published with Henry N. Manney’s answers to his June 1967 R&T 20th … Continue reading →

June 28, 2018 · 3 Comments

R&T 20TH + 51ST ANNIVERSARY QUIZ

IN ITS JUNE 1967 issue, R&T celebrated its 20th anniversary by having Henry N. Manney compose a 39-question quiz. Here, SimanaitisSays selects six portions of these questions for you to … Continue reading →

June 27, 2018 · 11 Comments

“NEATNESS DON’T COUNT”—HENRY N. MANNEY III

WHAT WITH various views of different forms of motor racing (F1 is dull; NASCAR is for sale), there’s historical perspective to be gained through the writing of no less an … Continue reading →

June 14, 2018 · 5 Comments

AUTO RENDEZVOUS ADVENTURE

PERHAPS THIS title “Auto Rendezvous Adventure” reminds you of the 1976 cinéma-vérité cult flick by Claude Lelouch, C’était un Rendez-Vous, English: It Was a Date. But actually the movie I … Continue reading →

June 2, 2018 · 6 Comments

MONACO GRANDS PRIX, 1929–1933

A GRAND PRIX on the streets of the half-vertical principality of Monaco is magic, despite occasional comments to the contrary. Here are tidbits from the first five Monaco Grands Prix, … Continue reading →

May 31, 2018 · Leave a comment