January 15, 2012
SKIING, HEROISM & RACING
The first celebrity skiers, Torstein and Skjervald.
The event is called the Birkebeinerrennet and it’s the oldest annual cross-country ski race in the world. Held in official sanctioned form since 1932, it commemorates the dramatic rescue of the infant king of Norway, Håkon Håkonarson, in 1206.
In 13th Century Norway there were two main factions, each claiming the crown. Baby Håkon of the humble Birkebeiner faction was just a year old when his father, the king, died. The opposing faction sensed an opportunity and began a ruthless manhunt for the only royal heir of the Birkebeiners.
Håkon’s mother knew she must get her child to the safety of the Birkebeiner stronghold of Trondheim, a treacherous crossing over some of the most formidable mountains in Norway. So on a moonlit night around...
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January 14, 2012
FAREWELL TO MOTORING
E. Paul du Pont ready for take-off.
It pictures E. Paul du Pont, former owner of the Indian Motocycle Company (sic) and heir to the chemical company fortune, in his bi-plane with a 1911 Indian strapped on ready for take-off. Isn’t this every man’s fantasy – especially if Bridget Bardot or Sophia Loren were the passenger?
This past week in Las Vegas, Bonhams Auctioneers sold the du Pont Family Collection of motorcycles which consisted of nearly 50 historic machines, including this very 1911 Indian. It was an impressive sight.
In commemoration of the pioneers of motorcycling, here are some archival photographs (click to enlarge) of real men doing real things. We hope you enjoy them and we thank you for making the Motoring Shop a hit.
January 6, 2012
COLOR BLINDNESS
"A house
divided against itself cannot stand."
- Abraham
Lincoln
In this new year, a year of election, we would ask you to
rethink the oft-used terms “Blue State” and “Red State.” Pointedly,
we feel these labels are an affront. No matter how innocuously they
came to be, they are now polarizing. They are a
metaphorical Mason-Dixon Line that divides our
country, just like “The North” and “The South” once did. As
Americans, we believe we must come together. That’s our strength as
a nation and that’s the beauty of America – unity inclusive of
differences. We do not live in a patchwork of opposing Blue States
and Red States. We live within United States, no matter for whom we
cast our...
December 30, 2011
NEW YEAR COWBOY'S CREED
Here comes 2012!
1. Be neat and clean.
2. Be courteous and polite.
3. Always obey your parents.
4. Protect and help the weak.
5. Be brave but never take chances.
6. Study hard and learn all you can.
7. Be kind to animals and care for them.
8. Eat all your food and never waste any.
9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly.
10. Always respect our flag and our country.
This list of rules was created about the time Leave It To Beaver was meant to represent the average, middle-class American family, when Lucille Ball embodied good, honest mischief, and when a boy’s hero was a singing cowboy named Roy Rogers. Gene Autry had a similar “Code of Honor,” Hopalong Cassidy had a “Creed For American Boys & Girls,” and there was also the “Lone Ranger’s Creed.” All were faithfully repeated aloud by thousands –perhaps millions– of children each Saturday at matinées across America....
2. Be courteous and polite.
3. Always obey your parents.
4. Protect and help the weak.
5. Be brave but never take chances.
6. Study hard and learn all you can.
7. Be kind to animals and care for them.
8. Eat all your food and never waste any.
9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly.
10. Always respect our flag and our country.
This list of rules was created about the time Leave It To Beaver was meant to represent the average, middle-class American family, when Lucille Ball embodied good, honest mischief, and when a boy’s hero was a singing cowboy named Roy Rogers. Gene Autry had a similar “Code of Honor,” Hopalong Cassidy had a “Creed For American Boys & Girls,” and there was also the “Lone Ranger’s Creed.” All were faithfully repeated aloud by thousands –perhaps millions– of children each Saturday at matinées across America....
December 15, 2011
SIBERIA BY MOTORCYCLE – IN WINTER
To see if the traditional design still had merit, the guys took it to Siberia, in winter, on motorcycles. Riding Russian-made Urals (somewhat-updated replicas of the 1940 BMW R71) attached with sidecars for gear stowage and stability, they rode a good section of Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest, biggest (by volume), and deepest lake, not to mention one of the most remote.
As the pictures prove (click images to enlarge), this 1914 beauty does have brawn. Pictured is the winter version, completely lined in shearling. We recommend the 1914 unlined version with detachable shearling collar since, even in the Siberian-like winters of Chicago or Boston, it’s a bit...
