View allAll Photos Tagged Tenacity,
Fibers upon fibers upon fibers, joined together to achieve a single goal. A little worse for wear after years in the sun, but they're still hanging in there!
“Only $2,575,291.” That’s how much GM paid for all of Vauxhall in 1925, according to Alfred P. Sloan in his book, My Years With General Motors. Small stuff for GM, “only a kind of experiment in overseas manufacturing.”
But for Vauxhall, and for Britain, it was the beginning of the end of an era. GM’s acquisition of the small company – Vauxhall never made more than 1500 cars a year – would bring profits to the Luton-based firm, but it would also mean the end of a great Edwardian-era sportster and one of the best British sports cars of the ‘20s, the Vauxhall 30/98.
The 30/98 was the final iteration of a theme that Vauxhall’s Chief Engineer, Lawrence Pomeroy, Sr., (father of noted British auto writer) had begun with the three-liter Prince Henry in 1910. Named for the European trials in which it had first success, the Prince Henry’s engine was enlarged to four liters in 1912-13 in response to competition. That was good, but not enough for some. When one John Higginson asked Pomeroy for a faster Shelsey Walsh hillclimber, Pomeroy enlarged the bore of the four-cylinder engine by three mm and lengthened the stroke by five mm – by cold stretching the crank with a steam power hammer!
Blacksmith engineering completed, the now 4.5 liter engine went into a Prince Henry frame, and Higginson went out and set a record at Shelsey Walsh the first time out. As sure as you can say “Race on Sunday sell on Monday,” a whole lot of folks were beating a path to Bedfordshire for what he was having over there.
A lot is relatively speaking. Only 18 of this new model, christened the 30/98 (for no known reason; the numbers match neither tax nor horsepower), were made before The Great War. The limited production numbers have more than something to do with the chassis price of the 30/98 being £900 while the standard Prince Henry, also in production, cost only £580.
After the war, the 30/98 took over as the “E-type” which, fixed-head engine and all, was guaranteed to do 100 mph in chassis form. In fact, all 30/98s, from the beginning to the end, came with the promise that if the buyer wished, the factory would certify that ability with the customer’s own car.
The E-type was succeeded in turn by the OE-type, which was more different than a simple addition of a letter would suggest. It was drawn not by Pomeroy, whose overhead cam design was rejected after which he left for the U.S., but by one C.E. King. Instead of the E-type’s exposed valves and valve springs, the OE was an overhead valve design with very large valves. Where the E-type made 90 BHP at 3000 rpm (very good for a pre-war design), the OE produced around 115 bhp with revs raised to 3300 RPM. The engine speed was made possible in part by the use of aluminum connecting rods, advanced for 1922, and also by a reduction of the stroke by 10 mm, though the latter was done mainly to keep hood height down. The OE, though, displaced only 4224 cc, and traditionalists preferred the torquier earlier model. Oh well.
The innovation of front brakes came in 1923, though these were cable-operated off a foot pedal which also activated a transmission brake. The meat of the stopping chore was done by the rear brakes, applied by a large lever mounted outside the car itself. Hydraulics came soon after, but only for the foot brake, the cable system being retained for the rears.
Most 30/98s came with either four-seater Velox or Wensum bodywork, the latter in a handsome nautical style. Only one was known to be bodied in the U.S., that a rumble-seat roadster built by the Durham Body Co. of Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania firm started making carriages in 1887 and expired in the’ 50s after being reduced to making luxury conversions, but in 1926 was well known for the quality automotive coachwork it supplied. The 30/98 Register has no record of the original owner, the registrar David Marsh surmises that the car was shipped from the factory with no body but with fenders and the Vauxhall hallmark fluted hood and radiator.
Ralph Stein wrote of what is probably this car in his book The Great Cars. It was owned by Ray Gilhooly, who sold used foreign cars in New York (though he is best known for the spectacular spin he performed at Indianapolis and that now carries his name). Stein almost bought the car, but presumably it instead went to a J. Frost who began to restore the car but only took it apart. Bought by New York collector Gardener King after World War II, it was finally rebuilt. In the mid-60s it was sold to W.H. Lane, who in turn sold it in 1986 to Charles Mallory of New York City.
The Vauxhall is now, as it always was, a very long legged machine, its booming exhaust chasing it up to an easy 70 mph and beyond. With right-hand drive, the gearshift is near the driver’s right knee. It’s a solid affair which feels as if it was machined from a billet. It isn’t easy to change gears, the non-synchro box wanting double clutching going up as well as down. It’s best just to short shift, matching gear speeds at lower rpm and relying on the engine’s thunder to bring up the speed.
Though light for the era, the steering does take some shoulder to start the almost 3000-pound car turning, though once set into a turn the 32×4.5 Dunlop’s cling with surprising tenacity. Nor does the chassis betray their effort. Brakes are the weak link, the foot brake pulling the car from side to side, though once the drums are warmed the handbrake is quite effective. The trick is not to forget to reach for the handbrake while also remembering that the Vauxhall also has a center throttle, with the brake on the right. If you have to stop right now, what is it one grabs or stomps or…? Speed, though, was the 30/98’s trump: At Brooklands alone some 27 firsts, 28 seconds, and 14 thirds were counted by 1926. It is a tribute to the quality of the Vauxhall 30/98 that one came in fourth in the first Watkins Glen Grand Prix in 1949.
Production of the 30/98 continued after GM bought Vauxhall, but GM had other plans. Vauxhall was to become a volume producer of cars that Alfred Sloan understood: ones that made money. If not history. The 604th and last 30/98 was completed early in 1927. But even today, British enthusiasts debate Bentley versus vintage Vauxhall. It was just that kind of car.
J Matras, Remember Road
This tree always impresses me. It grows straight out over a long, shear drop and somehow it hangs on.
More randomness from around the yard. Fern growing in the seam between my house and the carport. Looks like it's time for the pressure washer... :p
Hope your week is going well... :)
like a limpet I often find myself hanging on ... surviving the thrashing from the violent waves... awaiting calm and the hope the light brings...
Highest position in Explore #357
This plant growth is found the rope that secures a commercial fishing boat to its dock on the Sheboygan riverfront.
This is part of one of the longest continuous free stacked stone fences in Ontario - which happens to be located in front of my in-law's farm property in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada.
Given the amount of effort I spend in trying to get things to grow where I want them, I'm always amazed at how some plants can grow and thrive in some impossible locations.
is not a montage, this tree was born and raised here.
"It takes an extraordinary fortitude to get out of bed every morning with the idea that life is a test and should be faced always, even when you are sure to have suffered a terrible injustice, and you are afraid of not succeeding." Massimo Gramellin
"Ci vuole una forza d’animo straordinaria per alzarsi dal letto ogni mattina con l’idea che la vita sia una prova e vada affrontata sempre, anche quando si è sicuri di avere subito un’ingiustizia terribile e si ha paura di non farcela."Massimo Gramellin
All night, and well into the next day, the wind and rain had pounded the croft house where we were staying. It finally relented in the late afternoon; giving us an hour or two to make use of what light was left in the day.
Water is transformative. It has helped shape the land here; in turns nibbling at the edges or guzzling like a hungry man at a feast. Driving channels down the hillsides surrounding us and pouring into the fields below; an ever-present reminder of the forces of nature at work.
The small burn we’d crossed two days before was now swollen and unrecognizable. Surging and tossing its way through Achateny to the sea beyond. Sodden and dripping, on this afternoon the fields show little sign of the fiery past which gave them their name.
Under the grey sky, the colours of the waterfall come to life. Rich caramels and browns, mixed in with creamy, frothy whites; blackened rocks and, here and there, a flicker of green from plants caught under the flow. A few tentatively stick their heads above, supplicant to the water yet steadfastly staying in place. Tenacity and persistence, apt words for what is needed to live in this place.
A line of Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata) cast long shadows in the morning light as the sun brings out the texture in the Mesquite Dunes and the eroded northern shoulders of Tucki Mountain, Death Valley National Park, California. The temperature was delightful at this time of day, though it did not take long for the sun to pump the bellows and bring a heat that felt jarring given that 24 hours previously the temperatures in Colorado were just below freezing.
Creosote Bush is an interesting and extremely long-lived plant. Careful research has revealed that its roots are the source of compounds that actively inhibit the growth of other plants' roots. In arid environments this trait likely provides an edge as individuals scour the soil for available moisture. This species is also clonal and the clones may form rings that expand with increasing diameter as the clone ages. The oldest known clone lives in the Mojave desert and through a combination of radio-carbon dating and diameter measurements, over 60 feet at the widest point, it is estimated to be between 11,000-12,000 years old.
Now I am a shadow
I long for the boundaries
of my wandering
and I move
with the energy of your prayer
and I move
in the direction of your prayer
for you are kneeling
like a bouquet
in a cave of bone
behind my forehead
and I move toward a love
you have dreamed for me.
~ Leonard Cohen
Nikon D850, Nikkor 14-24mm @ 24mm
f/5.6, 1/50s, ISO 64
2022.04.15
Rotterdam
Name INTERLINK TENACITY
Type Bulk carrier
Flag Marshall Islands
IMO 9709257
MMSI 538005693
Callsign V7GD3
Year Built 2016
Length 179 m
Width 32 m
Draught Avg 8.8 m / ...
Speed Avg/Max 16.3 kn
Deadweight 38785 tons
Gross Tonnage 25546
AIS Class A
Seeing the Russian winter
#BogKY #Shrovetide #Omsk #Western_Siberia
Additional photos are at the Russian-language hosting in the album fotki.yandex.ru/users/bogky/album/2063408
Tech.details-brief: Sony Alpha 7 / ILCE-7 (FF)(ISO500), Sony LA-EA3 + Tamron AF 75-300mm 1:4-5.6 LD Tele-Macro(210mm f/5), 1/800s, +0.7ev.; RAW
Here is the direct link to this photo at the hosting with full EXIF, GPS tag, large size, etc.
fotki.yandex.ru/next/users/bogky/album/2063408/fullscreen...
Rus.: Упорство
Фон на данном и некоторых других фото может ввести в заблуждение из-за зелёных деревьев. Но это - ёлки, они и зимой зелёные, в нижней части заметен снег, а температура в последний день масленицы была хоть и сравнительно комфортной для Сибири, но вполне себе отрицательной: -5...-7, так что герои репортажа выдержали испытание не только на физическую силу и ловкость, но и на устойчивость к холоду ;-)
Дополнительные фото доступны на русскоязычном хостинге в альбоме по ссылке fotki.yandex.ru/users/bogky/album/2063408
A decaying tree clenching on to its counterparts strong and proud posture. This gnarled birch may certainly have had its time but its not going anywhere, anytime soon! I managed to find this composition having a wander around Holme Fell in the Lake District! The mist started to roll in and I was lucky enough to be just on the edge of it which gave the scene some lovely soft morning light!
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For prints and canvas, please visit my website www.danielkayphotography.co.uk
This old cypress tree looks like it's survived some harsh times, but is still holding on. Atchafalya Basin, Louisiana, USA, November 2020
Best viewed large by pressing "L". All rights reserved
Created in DDG Text 2 Dream using its "Artistic" Ai model.
Filters: PS Beta 2023 and Topaz Photo Ai and Topaz Studio.
My inspiration was Edinei Montingelli's two beautiful works here: www.flickr.com/photos/edinei/51333944410/in/faves-5788981...
www.flickr.com/photos/edinei/52674223462/in/faves-5788981...
I used the prompt: A beautiful Woman cornered by the hat and the fish in a surreal landscape as a tree with a beautiful face and fashionable shoes next to a compliment of necessary accoutrements.
A bit of hand painting.
Thanks for your visit, faves, and kind comments.
This was taken on the Zia Reservation a few miles outside Albuquerque, New Mexico. There is enough soil and moisture in the porous rock that this tree is able to survive. Nature is truly marvelous.
This is the scene of slow but age-old struggle: the tenacious tree is probing and poking the rock for cracks and fissures to exploit, while the rock - which probably predates the dinosaurs - holds steadfast and has seen it all before. The tree outgrows its support system and tumbles, to be taken by the sea at the end of this narrow pathway. However, the hardy tree's root-system lives on to sprout a new shoot heading for the light, and the struggle continues.