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Mar 27, 2020 14:30:14 GMT
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Today we ventured out to Sequoia, i really really liked this place! At this point we was kinda National Parked out but i am so glad we went to this, the road through the park was super fun.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Heres a photo of a rock.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr This was a crazy fun road to drive, kept it sensible though of course.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Now i know you guys have been in suspense ever since i mentioned i fitted the new door strip, well here it is in all its glory, featuring Jewish Racing Gold front fender  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr I will fight a bear if i catch him coming after my snacks. No, but the thought of this was actually pretty scary. especially as the park was rather quiet so if we ever was in harms way, chances are there wouldnt have been anyone around to help in an emergency and also, we had no cell signal.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Went to go see some of the giant trees that Sequoia has to offer, parked up and thought it looked pretty.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr We went to see a tree called the General Sherman, this is the largest living tree at 83.8 meters high (275 ft), a diameter of 7.7 meters (25ft) It was super hard to get any clear images of the tree as there was so many people around it at any given time, but there are plenty of photos on google if anyone was interested in looking at Shermans large wood.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr At this point my camera ran out of battery, kinda curse word off as i knew you guys was all on the edge of your seats wanting to see above mentioned giant tree. i do apologise for this inconvenience. Nicholl did get this photo of me driving through a tree though so i hope that make up for it.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr This tree fell to the ground on December 4th 1937. The tree extended 275 feet long with a base diameter of 21 feet. Moving the tree to clear the road was going to be quite the task back in 1937. so they done what they thought best, cut a massive whole in the tree so the road can continue to be used. |
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Mar 27, 2020 14:44:10 GMT
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So we had an early start today on our way to Malibu, we decided to have a detour to Calabasas to see if we could do any spotting, no interesting people to see but i did see this gorgeous Porsche, dreams!! one day, one day!  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Stopped for a coffee, figured out our route and hit the road.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr anyone else around here live their life a quarter mile at a time?  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr We was doing the typical tourist thing and was trying to see who's houses we could creep up on, we pulled up down a road to see who we could find locally on our phones looking at our maps etc i heard a rather loud bark... thought that sounds like a familiar noise.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr looked to the side and there was a great dane and a mastiff at a fence barking at us, I have a great dane and a mastiff myself back at home and was awesome yet weird to see the exact same combination here in Malibu, the owner came running out shouting but not telling us to curse word off, she was being super nice saying that they just wanted to say Hello, i asked if i could get out the car and come see them, she happily agreed.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr We spent around an hour standing here chatting to her about everything from places to see all over the world and of course her dogs. She was actually the wife of a famous special effects director/manager in the Movie industry, her husband had done films such as King Kong, Godzilla and Mission Impossible to name a few. she was super down to earth and just an all around lovely person. We hopped back in the car and went exploring you couldn't really see anything at all but was cool to know you was in some what close proximety (potentially) to someone who might be world famous. We carried on and was told about the University and that they had all the Flags on the mound.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr These flags just go on and on and on into the distance, each flags represents one life that was lost in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre. We took a moment and sat down and just really reflected on life and how lucky we are to be able to do a trip like this and all the people that we have met on our route and just really not taking it for granted.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Filled the old girl up with gas and drove to my friend Chris's house who we are due to spend the next few days at to do some work on the e30. Chris lives in Palmdale. |
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Mar 27, 2020 15:07:48 GMT
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So today didn't really consist of too much we had a bit of a lay in and spent the entire day checking over the car seeing what needed to be done/repaired. ordered any parts if needed and also removed the old fenders as we was replacing both the fronts. I had the fenders collected in the dark and they wasn't quite what was explained to me but i didn't know this until i properly saw them in the light. i was told they was both Genuine BMW fenders, one was a DOT-R (i think its called) so at-least that is BMW. the other was not, it didn't fit great and also the paint was so curse word. Unfortunately, the non BMW fender was the passenger side which was the main one i wanted to replace to get rid of the gold!! Pulled into the garage  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr and this was with the non bmws fender just lined up to decide if i was going to fit it as is or strip the paint and paint it again. paint was badly burnt and just... was curse word really.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr We decided to paint it which was curse word hell we had tons of issues with paint but we got there in the end. decided to take a break and go get some food, drove past some planes.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr after food we then decided to try and figure out what was happening with the lights. checked all the relays and stuff just didn't seem right, we looked under the wiring was a curse word mess to say the least. we then looked under the dash and most of the wiring looked like this...  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Honestly have no idea how the car hadn't gone up in flames. After working till about 3am on wiring we decided it was time to sleep. |
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Mar 27, 2020 15:16:24 GMT
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We got back to working on the car, i woke up around 9 am and went straight to the garage. Realised the paint had started cracking on the fender we just painted, something was reacting so my morning was spent sanding down the paint on the fender to get it flat and paint again. whilst i was doing this Chris was finishing up on the wiring. We also saw water marks on some of the hoses, the hoses was new so i knew something must be wrong, there was water leaking out of the thermostat, turns out that was fitted the wrong way around, rather not risk just turning that thermostat around we went and purchased a new one and new O ring and fitted it in the correct way. - To date no coolant has been lost so this is good. When we was doing this the washer fluid tank decided to crack randomly and water was everywhere. For God Sake. We then took some time out of the garage and went to a local junk yard to collect some bits. Back to the car we was getting the fenders back on, we also changed and fitted new front discs and pads as they was rather low, i was under the impression they had recently been replaced but nope thats a negative ghost rider. - on a side note whilst we was going over the car it appears to have had a short shifter fitted, 18mm rear sway bar and some other bits which i can't remember, the ARB wasn't actually connected though and the mounts had snapped so we welded up some new mounts and also re-inforced them. the drop link bushes are worn and rattling though which is rather annoying but we was running out of time. I hardly took any pictures on this day as we was just busy trying to get the car ready. also the IS front valance was so really messed up as i had hit it a few times and it was just falling apart so we decided to just rip the lip off and just have the car without it. Now it was time to get the car back together to get me to LA started the car and it was just cranking then BOOM!! WHAT THE HECK  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Yep, thats the fuel line. the car had carb fuel line fitted to it, not fuel injection. i literally have no idea how they hadn't exploded before hand and i am so thankful they went bang when they did and whilst i was still in Chris's garage. we had time to run to the shop and get a load of fuel line (the correct stuff) and replaced it all. Honestly, could not thank Chris anymore for his help over the past few days. I have no idea how this car hadn't gone up in flames previously with the fuel line like it was and the electric like they where too. Someone must have been looking over us thats for sure! Here is Chris's e30, he also has a turbo's M30 e34 This e30 also has a M30, looks super evil.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr During the past couple of days at Chris's house we went to a local shop near his that sell a ton of funky and weird things. i bought a load of Sodas amongst other things.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr And this lived up to its name! if anyone knows somewhere else i can buy it i would be super grateful.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Now, it was time for us to leave, it was getting late and i had to be at my friends Robs house in Downing, LA. We drive through Angels National Forest via Hidden Springs. What a road!! i really wish i could have driven it in the light, we pulled over at a vista point which gave us a great view of LA, couldn't photograph it very well but the view in our own eyes was amazing.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Got to LA i called Rob en-route to say lets get food, I'm hungry and so is Nicholl, and Nicholl turns into a right diva when she is hungry. Went through a list of places to eat in LA and man there is a lot of places to eat there. we settled for the Cheesecake factory. called Rob when we was 45 minutes away and typical Rob fashion he still wasn't ready when we got to his.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Rob finally ready we headed out, thankfully he drove so the e30 had the night off.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr We had some manly drinks.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr By the time we finished this it was midnight and the restaurant closes then, we took our cheesecake to go!!  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr |
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Mar 27, 2020 16:46:11 GMT
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All of this is sooo familiar!...
glad things worked out the way they did with the e30...amazing that wiring didnt short out and burn up!...you definitely had a guardian angel looking over you!
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Mar 27, 2020 21:05:55 GMT
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Really enjoying this whole trip.
Giving me lots of ideas for a future trip in the same vein.
And loving the e30 too of course.
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Mar 27, 2020 21:15:11 GMT
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Great trip and great car. I love the look I Of the US side marker lights on e30’s e32’s and e34’s
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1994 BMW 525i touring
2004 BMW Z4 sorn and broken
1977 Ford Escort
1982 Ford Capri getting restored
1999 Mazda B2500 daily driver.
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Mar 27, 2020 21:35:38 GMT
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Still learning...still spending...still breaking things!
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Eee, I am enjoying this!  |
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Great story, well told.
Imagine California when it had less people. Magical place.
John
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Mar 28, 2020 12:46:38 GMT
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,274
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Loving this story, but can I clarify, are you there now? If so, how is that going?
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Bookmarked and loving this....what's not to like?
BMW, road trip and great photos. Thanks for taking the effort to share it
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mouse
Part of things
Posts: 71 
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Oh this is a brilliant thread. Loving it, keep them pictures, stories and details coming. More the better.
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All of this is sooo familiar!... glad things worked out the way they did with the e30...amazing that wiring didnt short out and burn up!...you definitely had a guardian angel looking over you! JP i know i am so thankful that it didnt go up in flames! we have our entire life for 3 months in the trunk so it would have been so so bad if we lost everything! Really enjoying this whole trip. Giving me lots of ideas for a future trip in the same vein. And loving the e30 too of course. It truly is the best thing i have ever done, i just wish i done something like this much sooner as there are so many other places i want to tick off now!! Great trip and great car. I love the look I Of the US side marker lights on e30’s e32’s and e34’s Yeah i really like the side markers, i have managed to find 88 bumper trim which is a 1 year trim for the US e30, has much sleeker side markers. i also really like that there are no side repeaters in the fenders/wings Yes it is such a well done car, wish i was able to get closer to it but we had been at Canepa for a while at that point and we had other places we wanted to go and see, oh and we where both getting hungry! Eee, I am enjoying this! thank you i am enjoying going back over it all, although rather depressing! Great story, well told. Imagine California when it had less people. Magical place. John oh i can imagine!! thankfully, when we got to LA i didn't really need to do any driving which was nice to not need to sit in LA traffic. but also i noticed people in LA are not as welcoming as other states, most seem to have a stick up their  . I am really looking forward to going back to California and hitting up some of the same spots. Thanks for the link Loving this story, but can I clarify, are you there now? If so, how is that going? no no we done this already and i am not back home in Essex. I have documented this story and made notes but never truly put it down in a blog/forum form so i am taking this time now to do all that. otherwise, i would be clawing at the walls! Bookmarked and loving this....what's not to like? BMW, road trip and great photos. Thanks for taking the effort to share it thank you, appreciate it and there is loads loads more to come!! i think so far i have only documented about 16-18 days out of the 90!!! Oh this is a brilliant thread. Loving it, keep them pictures, stories and details coming. More the better. i will do thank you!! got an update coming now for you all! |
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 Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr So i heard that Mooneyes is just down the road from where Rob lived, and i really really wanted to go!! Nicholl wanted to go to Long Beach so we agreed to go Mooneyes on route to Long Beach. We had plans in the evening so we had to be back to Robs for a set time. Now a little back history, i originally started talking to Rob back in 2012 but never had we actually met but became amazing friends over this time, he was just someone that you can rely on no matter what its about and what time of day it is, i have so much time for Rob and he is probably one of my closest friends yet he lives half the world away. I have actually known Rob for longer than I've known my wife!! Now, when we get up to leave the house we came out of our room to a table full of breakfast, this is amazing and totally unexpected!! after a good amount of food we rolled out to the car and set off for our first stop, Mooneyes.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr First of all we checked out the gift shop, and yes i got some gifts, for me.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr and some Mooneyes history: Founded by the late Dean Moon who grew up in Norwalk CA with his family, Dean helped run his fathers Moon Cafe and go kart track called Moonza. Turning 20 years old in the late 1940’s and having an interest in racing meant Dean was in that same hot rodding “window” as the like of Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr It was in this exact spot that Carol Shelby built the first Shelby Cobra. and once it was done both Carol and Dean Moon took the cobra up and down the street for its first test run hunting down corvettes.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr In the years between opening Moon Equipment Co. and his death in 1987, Dean grew and fostered a company that quickly became an institution in the hot rod world. Over the years, the iconic Mooneyes eyeball logo has applied to street cars, drag machines, salt flat racers and everything in between, and today Moon-branded speed parts continue to be used in builds all over the world. After Dean passed away, his wife Shirley ran the company for a couple of years before closing the doors and putting everything on hold. It was at this time that Shige Suganuma, a Japanese hot rodder and long-time close friend of Dean stepped in to keep the Moon legacy alive. Shige, who at this point was supplying Japan’s hot rod community with Moon parts, decided to purchase everything – the shop, the stock, and the brand. Shirley Moon died in 1990, and it took two more years before the shop was open again for business, this time with Shige and his good friend Chico Kodama at the helm. Since then, Mooneyes has expanded around the world with more outlets and a global dealership network. Mooneyes welcome you to take a look around the machine shop and who was i to say no!? Dean Moon was involved in a number of extremely important motorsport events and continued to produce speed parts that grew with the rise of Southern California’s hot rod addiction.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Right inside the front door is a recreation of the iconic ‘Mooneyes’ dragster from the 1960s. Actually, it’s the second recreation; the first – that bare chassis hanging from the rafters – was crashed in Japan back in 2005.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr The original quarter-mile machine still exists, but being too precious to race now, this almost inch-perfect replica was created in order to keep the legend alive. Amazingly, it uses all period parts, including the Dragmaster chassis it’s built around and the smallblock Chevy V8 engine running a Potvin blower.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Chico’s car is built for another form of straight line racing – the sort that happens on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Under the fibreglass ’27 Ford Model T (with track nose) bodywork is a custom chassis, and a Fred Larson-built, Potvin-supercharged smallblock Chevy V8 running on alcohol. His best result to date: 221mph (355km/h).  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Then we was let loose around the rest of the shop, that everything is all hand made over here is incredible. love it.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Public Service Announcement:  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Harley-Davidson sold some of its tooling equipment to Japan in the 1940s, and the result of that was a brand called Rikuo. A JDM Harley  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr After Mooneyes we then went down to Long Beach  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Heading back from 2nd street (i think) we saw a couple cool cars go past, stunning 993!  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr After Long Beach we then cruised back to Robs as he was hosting a car meet that evening. Now the cars are not going to be to the taste of most the members of this forum, i personally appreciate most car styles no matter where you come from or whatever your taste. different strokes for different folks. No hate here please this isn't what this thread is about.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr |
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Today was mainly a chilled day, we caught up on a lot of sleep and when we woke we just relaxed spent time around the house with Rob and also our friend Paul flew in from the East coast which was awesome so we was just catching up all day Snapped some pics of the e30 since we tidied it up.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr Whilst eating dinner (BBQ) we decided we should go out and do something, We went to the local arcades played a ton of Initial D and also went round a few of the machines, all round awesome fun night, plenty of laughs where had.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr On the way home we decided to pull in for some ice cream, was so damn good.  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by ben walsh, on Flickr |
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ClemRusty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 168
Club RR Member Number: 50
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Mar 30, 2020 10:02:49 GMT
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Well this has just made me forget for 20 mins that the world is on its ! great read |
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Mar 30, 2020 11:11:21 GMT
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Today we went to Venice beach. Much like most the mainstream places we went to in LA, i wasn't sure what to expect.... but i wasn't all that impressed.  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr I felt rather unsafe here but i was glad that there was a few of us and it wasn't just me and Nicholl.  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr Rad little Chevy side step. and then we went off and checked out all the street art around the area.  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr And then we went off to do the normal sites of Venice such as muscle beach, the skatepark and walked up and down checking what is to offer.  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr A good friend of mine is a Charity worker at Venice Beach, he says they have a really bad homeless problem there due to the city of LA give all the homeless free bus passes, Venice beach is at the end of the bus route so that is where they end up. the sad story in this is that he says it isn't rare for them to find a dead homeless person at-least once a week on the beach.  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr after this we took to the streets to see if there was anything interesting floating about. came across this super rad Honda  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr next stop was the Santa Monica Pier  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr we got some street food, chilled out as a group. really chilled vibes to this day we just took it as it came!  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr we was soon to be heading in land and would be the last time we saw the coast/beach/ocean for a while.  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr  Untitled by Ben Walsh, on Flickr And i will leave you with this for thought: For whatever reason, we all end up in different places of the world, with different skills, opportunities, and abilities. I'm just doing the best i can with what i can get my hands on. Even though this journey has taken much longer to plan and cost much more than i ever imagined, i continue on, because i dream of those quiet, late night drives, those wooded curvy roads, the hypnotic sensation of rolling through a lightened tunnel, merging off an on-ramp, and so much more.
I believe we have to create magic for ourselves. The magic that sets one photograph apart from a hundred others. That look, you'll never forget. Getting lost in thought, or sinking into your seat, and absorbing the heaviness of every sound and sensation. It's hard to take experiences we live every day and make them extraordinary, but I've done it before, and i intend to do it more. I don't think it is possible to make every single moment in life that way, but i know i can condition myself to appreciate some moments more than others. It is elusive, like most magical things. It's what makes us get lost in movies, or that weird thing that happens to us when we think of the ocean. You feel it, and just as you become aware of it, it vanishes. Some say you can learn to delay it.
I believe the business of our everyday lives clouds our mind with buzzing, heated mess of worry, anxiety, fear and anger. We have felt this for so long, it has become a "constant". Meaning, it is part of our experience. It is as much a part of the human experience, as the air we breathe, and the clothes on our back. However, i believe every man tried to draw away from that hectic atmosphere now and then. We go to a place where that noise disappears. Some go hiking, some ride motorcycles, some listen to music, some sail the sea. We all run away to a place where we can leave our chains behind. That's what i want.
Everything we do is a result of conditioning. If you can find a way to associate an object or action with slipping into the elusive state of escape, you will eventually condition yourself to achieve that feeling almost on demand. There used to be a road out in the country, that near sent me into a trance. I thought I was insane, till i took a passenger along the same road. At a certain speed, with the right kind of music playing and neither one of us speaking, they felt it too. They looked over at me wide-eyed, and i realised, it was real.
You've got to silence everything, just walk away from it all. That's what i'd like to accomplish. I want this to be my getaway. |
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Mar 30, 2020 12:58:13 GMT
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The next post is a long one.
I took over 400 photos on this day. But I have narrowed it down to about 65 for this post.
I hope you guys like pictures.
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