A Penny For Your Thoughts

I've seen a lot of stuff down here. I've taken a ride on a Tall Ship, bicycled to a few major league baseball games, gone deep sea fishing and all manor of museums. But what I saw a couple weeks ago ranks right up there. Almost too bizarre for words. In fact, I don't really know how to start.

Parked in front of a Big Lots in St. Petersburg was this copper colored, I don't know, is that an old Ford Fiesta? Every single area on this car was emblazoned by pennies. Hundreds and hundreds of pennies. Outside AND inside, too.

Structurally, what are the pennies doing with the aerodynamics of that poor car? Don't underestimate the weight of all those copper pieces on the structural integrity of the suspension and braking systems. Maybe because the weight is dispersed throughout the car lessens any fatigue factors. I'm not a structural engineer but I play one on this blog.

Here is a closeup of the car and I can't imagine WHY they ever got the idea to do such a thing. Wouldn't you be better served by putting that money in the bank? Then I thought who has the time to sit down and do that. Sure, they may call it rolling art, but the fact is someday this machine is going to die. Then what? Do they pry all the coins off, or just say good bye to all that money?

Inside you can see they have glued pennies to the dash, doors and I suppose anywhere that is available. One interesting thing to mote also is that is a Club, a theft deterrent device, but the windows were down and the car was unoccupied. I see there is a Cuban flag hanging from he rear view window. Cubans have a special thing going on with their cars.

Cuba itself is a time capsule of 50's cars since the embargo in the early 60's. They keep their stuff running with spit, chicken wire and duct tape and many of the cars are beautifully modified - really sharp stuff down there. Maybe this Cuban is making a statement with his (or her) car - American Dream stuff, perhaps. All I know is, when they go to trade this in I feel sorry for the poor salesman who will have to count all those pennies to get its value. Maybe they should just crush this baby andmelt it down to a very coppery, very expensive doorstop.

Comments

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the f...

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida. There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife. In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride. He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much. He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A. But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying. He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed. No...

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week. Except for me. I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers. These pics need no words. Why muddy the waters? They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley. The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter. If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one. But, please, no more.

Existing In BFE

Search This Blog