Four-Links – Kripple Kart, McQueen on bikes, GAZ truck racing, this week in junkyards

* What would you do if you suddenly found yourself disabled? Not a pleasant thought, to be sure, but something to think about. Especially after reading Kripfink’s experiences with that same situation. Ultimately, though, he didn’t let his paralysis keep him from enjoying hot rods and building one of his own, the 1954 Ford panel delivery that he christened the Kripple Kart.

* O’Clair pointed me to this post on Knucklebuster that reprints an article from the November 1966 issue of Popular Science in which Steve McQueen reviewed a handful of contemporary motorcycles.

* Europeans will race anything. Thanks to our friends at BigLorryBlog, we now know that in Latvia and Estonia (Elbonia?), they race GAZ 51, 52 and 53 trucks around dirt/forest courses. Awesome.

* A couple friends of Hemmings recently blogged about their junkyard trips. First, the longrooffan headed out to find a circuit board for his BMW E30 and ran across a few finds (as well as a few clunkers, complete with glassed-out engines). Next, CarDomain’s Jen Dunnaway visited what seems to be the world’s most sensible junkyard, All American Classics in Vancouver, Washington.

* Them boys over at x planes keep finding photos that include cars in with their aircraft. One of the latest shows this Doman LZ-5 lifting a VW Beetle convertible to display its lifting capacity. Wonder why they didn’t try the Chevy in the background?

* And finally, another incident of unexpected racing in Europe. This time, it’s a bomb/lowrider/kustom drifting around the Tykkimaki Circuit in Kouvola, Finland. If all the participants drove lowriders, I might start to care about drifting.

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All About the Isle of Man and the Legendary TT

The TT is more than a race, it is a competition that embodies everything about what good racing is. It’s a motorcycle race held on the Isle of Mann, a rocky crag off the coast of Ireland that’s actually part of England, and 224 people have died during the running of the race over the years. It claimed another rider this year.

The race is so deadly because it’s held on public roads which are closed down for the competition. The 37-mile loop is made up of ancient roads that are narrow, bendy, and normally lined with stone walls and other very dangerous stuff.

This year, Los Angeles Times reporter Susan Carpenter was there for the event and wrote a nice piece about the island and the race itself. If you have only heard about this insane, 200-mph dash through the old countryside of Europe, her piece will fill in the details. If you have not heard about it, read this puppy and you’ll be wanting to go watch next year. Click here to read Carpenter’s account of the race.

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Got one in – first Hemmings cruise-in of the year

Our luck with cruise-ins so far this year has not registered on the positive side. We canceled the first two under threats of rain and thunderstorms, and it almost looked like we’d have to cancel last night’s cruise-in, but we figured there had to be a few diehards who couldn’t wait another two weeks, and plenty of them showed up. Look for full coverage of our cruise-ins in upcoming issues of Hemmings Motor News, and check out the schedule for the remaining cruise-ins of the year at the Hemmings World HQ here in Bennington, Vermont.

We had plenty of pickups filling the lot, including Bob Houran’s nice stormy-gray 1954 Ford.

Chuck Bubie of Poestenkill, New York, always surprises us with what he brings to the cruise-ins, and last night proved no exception, with his Vespa, sidecar and the intrepid Pine Bowl Speedway Stunt Team.

Dan Herrick of Chatham, New York, brought up Chatham’s old 1970 Superior Road Rescue ambulance.

A 5.0L and a five-speed powered this wicked killa 1965 Falcon.

How often do you see 1978 Ford Fairmonts still on the road? We often see Scott York of Hoosick Falls, New York, driving his around town.

Big hand to Bruce Foster, who drove his 1976 Pacer down from Norway, Maine, then took home our Favorite Independent award. He said he may have to make the trip more often now.

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