Workers Unite

Sorry blogs been lacking lately.
Been pulling big hours at work, working saturdays and a second job saturday nights. Needless to say i'm truly rooted with only one days rest. Looks like much of the same until christmas too.

Read This Book

Happily i got told about this book, and was glad i took the advice. I try to read as much as possible but finding something to read is always hard.
Whats it about you say? Well it's sort of hard to pin down exactly. Theres about 10 messages on why people, white collar people in particular, feel disconnected with there jobs.
Whilst the book never aims at glorifying the blue collar worker, it goes a long way into deciphering why people no longer choose a trade for a job. Instead choosing the much promoted myth that university holds unlimited possibilities for people, and that a white collar approach to a persons future is seen as a successful path for life.
It poses the question that maybe a blue collar approach to life can be more intellectually demanding and can cultivate certain ethical values, and ideas of individual responsibility.
Its not an easy read, in fact I'm reading it for a second time and it's all only now making sense. The kind of book you have to dwell on for a while.
I give it 4 throttle revs out of 5.

Poddo#2

Front end shortened so the bike sits flat, and the poor job done on the hardtail is now finally sorted.

I won't mention the "Kustom" bike shop/person who originally built the hardtail for him, but needless to say he talked the talk but from what i saw couldn't weld the weld. In my workshop the boys would say- "The guy wouldn't make a fabricators arsehole."

Dunno, maybe the guy was just having a bad week and rushed it and didn't notice all the porous welds..... Anyways he's gone to America now to "live the dream" so theres no point making comments without the guy being around to defend himself.

Traffic Boner

I hate Traffic Boners

One Year

I was thinking today that i must have been doing this shitty little blog for at least a year now, and blow me drunk yesterday was the birthday.
I think its safe to say now, i really have no idea what this blog is really supposed to be about, nor do i have any clear idea of where its headed, if at all anywhere.
When i started i had the idea that the blog would be based around updates on my Valiant build up, mates cars/bikes/skateboarding and whatever car shows and swap meet finds i stumble across.
The blog was only really meant for me and no one else. Sort of like an online scrap book. I however told a mate who told a mate who....you get the idea, and then i picked up some followers along the line, and i don't know why, not even I'd want to read this thing. But I'm happy people do.
In the end looking back over the last year the blog seems lost. The Valiant updates aren't there because people really don't want to see all the boring stuff that goes into building a car, (lets face it, its just a work hack) and its not like i live in town/country that's hot rod and custom car mad and i can go out taking photos every weekend.
I don't skate as much as i want to, and i try not to write my working class bullshit as much as i would like because my ideas are only half thought out and the arguments have holes all through them, and you just come off sounding like someone who thinks there better than others and that's never my intention.
I'm at a cross roads. Do i stop, do i stumble on for another year, or do i find a direction?
If you have an idea, let me know.

My High Horse

There was a time in history when a mans working skill was valued in high regard. A time when the sweat on ones brow and the finished product made by ones own hand had a distinct connection to its creator.
A time when learning a trade was seen as heroic, and not as a resort for ones failure of not being able to 'hack' a university degree.
Real wages for skilled labour began to dwindle when these same small craftsmen had to compete with factories producing an often substandard product in the name of affordability. The working men slowly began to shut there workshop doors and take on mundane jobs on an assembly line producing one part of a puzzle without having a strong physical connection to the finished product.
Tradesmen were diminished, there importance trampled on and there skills lessened to a point where any man can now do a 4 year (often less nowadays) apprenticeship and call himself qualified in his chosen field.
Skills that a man would craft over a lifetimes devotion to a trade were now accessible to anyone who could push a button on a machine and soon a white collar approach to life was seen as a most successful pursuit to happiness.
Money and power was everything and the ability to point fingers went a long way to destroying a mans true soul.
The pursuit of big money and power made many men lazy and effeminate. The world was flipped up side down. The man at the bottom was devalued and the man at the top making his invisible deals was seen as heroic and worthy of worship.
How does a man who sits at a desk get a sense of what it is to be a man? Where is the virility found in a faceless bureaucracy? What becomes of an individual inside a corporation?
The battle over this is all futile however. Society demands a cheaper product wrapped in the guise of quality, and cost cutting over craftsmanship and pride.
I don't know where I'm going with this, the story has no end. Its probably all just a bunch of high horse rhetoric.
In a way i guess if theres any point to be made, its that no matter how strong the pull or prestige of a white collar life i believe each man has a subconscious desire to produce something, and know the real brow sweat that went into making something with there hands. Save yourself from a midlife crisis, don't waste your money on a new Porsche just make something worthwhile and be quietly proud.
Now watch this and tell me you don't understand.

David A Smith - Sign Artist from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

The Poor Mans Charger

I've decided the Valiant is just the poor mans Charger.
Been making good progress with the Valiant lately, and long over due for an update.
The paints all sorted and wet sanded ready for buffing. Interiors mostly in, all the side glass is back in and all the locks and handles working. Door rubbers sorted, bumpers on with grille and headlights.
Lot of little shit to do including front and rear screens, battery cables and minor engine stuff - gauges/electrics, tyres and paint rims before i wanna tackle the suspension and brakes, but at least i can sit in it and feel I'm finally getting somewhere when the nights work is done. Look at me mum......Brrrm....Brrrm.....

Rain

All Chrysler day today. Well it was until it rained.
I still managed to get shot of this sweet Chrysler Sigma, leaving the rained out swap meet.
The other night when i was lying in my bed attempting to sleep with all the sick shit that goes through my head when my eyes close, I was thinking about cars that just fade away into a slow death in which no one cares cause they just plain sucked. Cars like Mitsubishi Magna's and Chrysler Sigma's.
When was the last time you ever saw a Sigma? Five year ago? For me that was until today when i saw this, and then did a google search out of curiosity and found that there's actually people out there trying to modify and save these things. Why? Custom 80's sigma with Mustang Badges. I'm lost for words.

The Pink Ramp

In 96' my brother and a few friends of his built this ramp next to a Pauls milk factory on the concrete grounds of an old knocked down factory.
Originally the ramp was in the backyard of a guys rented house, and lasted until his first house inspection and was moved here.
At first the ramp had a masonite surface, which lasted a few weeks until the boys bought some plywood from a hardware store. Up until now the ramp was built with supplies 'borrowed' from work sites after hours.
They bought some cheap wood primer to stop moisture in the attractive colour of pink and thus, the ramp was locally known as the 'Pink Ramp.'
I remember skating this ramp with my brother most afternoons after he'd knock off work, mostly under the guide of car headlights and stereos blasting.
Old ramp dudes would step straight out of the 80's and turn up for a session. It was all rather bazaar for the time, fat boards, big wheels and knee pads.
The ramp took a beating, and being built with mostly scrap wood it wore out fast.
The ramp must have lasted from memory about 4 months until the owners of the land gave us good notice to move it or have it destroyed. Plans were for one of the guys not responsible for the original build to take it, and then we though about cutting it down into a mini ramp for another guys house, but in the end the ramp was just to fucked to do anything with and the time ran out.
Good memories of some real good times.