Hobby Thread - August 8, 2026 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. For this week, the Wheel of Hobbies (TM) is feeling lucky and decided on a random car theme for this Hobby Thread.

A what? A random car theme?

The second week of August on the Monterey Peninsula in California is typically known as "Car Week." The automotive world gathers for a week of car shows, vintage car races, new car unveiling, car auctions, and generally a celebration of almost anything with four wheels. Several major events anchor the festivities including the historic vintage races at Laguna Seca Raceway and the Pebble Beach Concours. Seventeen mile drive and PCH down to Big Sur are popular venues for driving tours. If you're the buying and selling sort, several world-class auctions are happy to help place cars of distinction with new homes.

Some events are ultra exclusive. Of course, you can also sit by the roadside and get a free parade of amazing machinery.

In that spirit, we'll do a theme of random cars.

What is the most random or quirky car you've ever owned?

What is the most random or quirky car experience you've had (with your clothes on)? What is the dream car that you always wanted? Did you grow up seeing concept cars at auto shows and wondering whether those would become real?

What are you hobbying?

Cars may not be everyone's favorite but give the content a chance before you judge. Any car or car-adjacent hobbying is in scope (such as small scale collecting or model building), so jump in with your interests, stories and questions.

In any event, the thread is not limited to to the theme. Anything (legal) you are hobbying is welcome. Even if the theme does not speak to you, you might learn something or be entertained. If not, find something else or offer something else relating to hobbying. If all of that fails, just check in and say hello.

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. Leave politics and religion to threads elsewhere (unless your hobby is building or restoring churches). Pants? Nope. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.

Play nice and do not be rude. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls.

If we're talking random, might as well start with an amphibious car.

Anyone ever own one? Drive one in the water?

Let's do some high dollar auction window shopping at one of the Monterey auctions. Monterey auctions often feature cars rarely seen or sold. Click on each for more photos and the full listing.

1948 Tucker - 19th made. Only 47 examples survive of the 51 made. Tuckers are mostly in museums and are rarely up for sale. Estimate $1m-$1.3m.

1968 Chevrolet L88 Corvette - class winner at the 1972 24 Hours of LeMans and third overall at the 1973 24 Hours of Daytona. Estimate $900k-$1.1m.

1963 Corvette Grand Sport - One of five race cars built - extensively raced in 1964 and 1965. Estimate $11m-$13m.

1996 McLaren F1 GTR - racing version of the F1 road car. Formerly owned by Nick Mason. Estimate in excess of $35m.

1937 Bugatti Type 57SC Atalante - Best of Show at the 1976 Pebble Beach Concours. Estimate $4.5m-$6m.

2013 Dallara DW12 - winner of the 2013 Indy 500 (but being sold without a drivetrain). Estimate $900k-$1.2m.

Gotta love a car known as the "Thing":

Auto Union has a wild history. It was a German automotive group formed in 1932 through the merger of four manufacturers: Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer. The sporty Auto Union 1000 Sp was produced by Auto Union in West Germany from the late 1950s into the mid-1960s. It is one of the last models to use the "Auto Union" name before the brand evolved into modern Audi. If you squint, it kinda looks like a mid 1950's Ford Thunderbird, doesn't it? Hmmm...

Stainless steel and angular long before the Cybertruck...

How did Ford make Model A cars in 1928-1931?

Racing Trabants? Tell me this doesn't look like fun. Such an irony to have so much fun with cars that were an illustration for all that was wrong with East Germany. Now, they're nostalgic and have very enthusiastic and dedicated fans.

Did you know there is a sub-genre of cars that use airplane engines? That requires a particular type of mad scientist/evil genius. Naturally, Jay Leno has a few. This one is even more special than that. It has an enormous 18.8 liter 6 cylinder Benz airplane engine joined to a Mercedes truck chassis. It was built in 1921 in England and joined the two brands before they formally joined together in corporate life (in 1926). As Jay says in this video, "It really is just a low-flying aircraft."

If you watch nothing else, watch a few minutes starting at the 4 minute mark with Jimmy and the brass water jackets. Interesting design and impressive craftsmanship.

Non-automotive related. If you're not building a supersonic trebuchet in your backyard, are you even really hobbying?

Only posted a day ago and already over a million views. My favorite comment to the video: "Man throws a rock. Man happy"

Wisdom for the 'ettes - men are not complicated creatures. Frustrating perhaps, but not complicated.

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did a shed theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

Reminder: if you put links in the comments, use a URL shortener and describe what you're linking to. Failing to do either or both makes you barrel-eligible. Don't make people click to find out what you're linking.

Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Or just email to say hello. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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