Alternate Route

Nov 1, 2009 - Rubbernecking

Going on an all day exursion to Pittsburgh today with a total of about 6 hours of driving, so I thought I'd get my rubbernecking out of the way before the trip by stopping at wreckedexotics.com this morning.

This photo is from the Weird Accidents section.

Now that's a pothole!

5:08 am | Categories: car photos Comments (0) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Aug 2, 2009 - Sightseeing

You should always carry your camera because you never know what you might see.

And I always manage to see something interesting when I stop in to see my buddies at Tire Town in State College, PA. If you ever get to stop in and visit them, tell them the Alternate Route sent you.

A Porsche had come in with a flat tire that needed to be repaired or replaced and was running on the spare tire.

As you can see, the spare isn't a donut, it's an inflatable spare that unfolds to become a full sized spare as it's inflated. When you let the air out, it collapses on itself to save space.

5:43 am | Categories: car photos Comments (2) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Jan 4, 2009 - Socket To Me

Today's semi-unusual photo comes from one of my recent visits with my buddies at Tire Town here in State College.

People are always coming in with leaking or flat tires that are skewered with strange items and this one was no exception.

This poor fellow had his truck tire rendered unrepairable by a misplaced socket.

There's a lot of crap on the roads out there and with all the miles we drive, I'm kind of surprised I have picked up any of it yet. I guess we should keep our fingers crossed!

6:29 am | Categories: car photos, tires Comments (2) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Dec 28, 2008 - The Mother Of Invention

Today's unusual car photo came to me in an email from an Alternate Route reader who must follow the same rule as I do... always have your camera ready because you never know what you might see.

The damaged front end of this Chevy was being held together by a lashing of yellow nylon utility rope that looked like it had been there for a least a week.

Possibly the vehicle is owned by a sailor since the rope work seemed to be quite advanced to the photographer.

And you thought necessity only made a genius out of Red Green and that duct tape was the universal repair material!

5:17 am | Categories: car photos Comments (1) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Dec 1, 2008 - Dear Santa

It's past Thanksgiving, so it's not too early to start prodding Santa for things you'd like to find in your driveway.

Check out Edmunds full test and video of the new Nissan 370Z.

Now Santa, this isn't for me. My wife has always wanted a Z and this would be a great year to surprise her with it.

3.7 liter V-6, 322 horsepower, 6 speed. What's not to like?

What are you hoping to find in your driveway on Christmas morning?

5:07 am | Categories: car photos Comments (2) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Nov 2, 2008 - Pretty As A Picture

Just another in my recent fortunate swing of interesting vehciles I've run into was this 1954 Chevy pickup that was really sharp.

It even had the original wooden bed in terrific shape. Unfortunately it had suddenly died on the road from some electrical issue.

One word of warning if you ever run across someone stranded in one of these. The electrical system is a 6-volt system and if you tried to jump start it with a 12-volt battery, you'd do more harm than good for sure.

Still, a really neat vehicle to run into.

5:42 am | Categories: car photos Comments (1) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Oct 19, 2008 - Back In The Day

I'm not sure what it is, but it seems that older and/or unusual vehicles have a way of finding their way to me when I have my camera.

On Friday it was this 1966 Chevy Nova. This one is not done as a restoration but is strictly a hot rod. The owner did an absolutely gorgeous job on the leather interior and overall the car was pretty sweert.

This car also illustrates one of the dangers of modifying cars. It's outfitted with all new suspension parts and snappy wheels and is eating front tires. The alignment machine says things are within specs, but those specs are thrown out the window with the new parts so the trial-and-error part of the alignment process is underway I suppose.

It was a lot of fun to see the 387 shake the whole car when the engine was revved up!

5:21 am | Categories: car photos Comments (1) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Oct 12, 2008 - Groovy!

The vehicle that caught my camera's eye this week was this 1966 Austin Healy.

It is finished in Cobra 'guardsman' blue with blue leather interior and blue soft top. Power is from a six-cylinder engine with overhead valves and twin SU carburetors. About 150 horsepower is sent to the rear wheels with the help of a four-speed manual gearbox with overdrive. Disc brakes are in the front and power-assisted hydraulically operated drums are in the rear. It has two-plus-two seating, roll-up windows, varnished timber dashboard and bucket seats.

What I really found remarkable is that this isn't a show car, but someone's fairly regular driver. Forty-two years is a long time out on the road to still be in that shape!

5:16 am | Categories: car photos Comments (1) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to:

Sep 28, 2008 - In The Viewfinder

It annoys the heck out of my kids, but I have terminal shutterbug disease and carry my digital SLR pretty much everywhere I go, just in case.

So when I was visiting my buddies at Tire Town and one of them asked if I had my camera because he just heard on the scanner that there was a problem at the shopping center next door I was ready.

I even beat the fire department to the scene and got about 100 shots as they extinguished what used to be a Dodge Stratus. I must have looked like a real "photojournalist" because nobody asked me to move back as I maneuvered around try to get good shots.

In any event, I think I'll occasionally use this space to feature interesting or unusual car photos. Move over Peter Parker! 

If you want to see a larger version of this shot, you can find it in my album at National Geographic

5:59 am | Categories: car photos Comments (4) | Permalink | Alert Administrator

Add to: