Shame on me I thought I posted this, but it was lost in the storage facility archives!
CARHUNTER is no longer prowling NY, but I wanted to share all this from a forgotten blog draft
Bayshore NY hidden in plain sight is a very special MUSEUM
Marty Himes, a legend in Long Island racing has amassed a collection of the long gone world of circle track racing of Long Island!
Freeport Speedway, now a shopping center seems to have given up every piece of itself to Mr. Himes!
Marty reached in and gave me a couple tickets right from the booth!
I am not going to point out everything just keep your eyes open!
At this point let me explain this is Marty's home and been consumed by an amazing collection
He has a story for every piece and a piece from every story!
It is overwhelming
Storage containers, sheds and every nook and cranny!
Performance flathead parts
You heard of the Indianapolis Raceway being called the brickyard?
Here are some of the original bricks that made up the track surface!
I guess we can tell the story now; Marty passed inspection just on his reputation in this one
Looks legit, but the bulkheads were cardboard painted silver and rather fake roll bar in place, tubing just bolted down, I think he said exhaust tubing!
You heard it called stock car racing? These cars were stock with much unneeded items removed to save weight and simple engine mods like custom ground cams, milled heads, open exhaust and not much else- scary if you ever drove cars from this era!
This one got widened wheels!
Very rare "Offy" engine
Is Marty planning a vacation?
His Crosley engine is already packed
Mickey Rooney drove one of these in "The Big Wheel"
Look at that Offy emblem
Could you possible see all of this on 1 visit?
Be there or be square!
Part of the bleachers from Freeport Stadium
Long forgotten race tracks once all over Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island also
This is inside Marty's hosue
Marty is concerned what will become of the collection one day and I am not sure there is a clear cut answer?
Too late the Autoseum is now gone, it was once presented as an addition to Museum Row in Mitchell Field
Under an agreement with the previous county Exec of Nassau County this space, I believe a former public works garage was handed over under a reciprocal arrangement
Quite a few interesting cars awaiting?
Hey mid 60's T'Birds never had T'Tops!
Even I don't have room in my garage for this one!
Memory says thus was billed as the worlds longest car, in fact the front was in Nassau County and the rear was in Suffolk County, really!
If you need more info see the history of the car here, where is it now?
This is?
There was a connection here to the late George Barris
Herbie says; Go Speed Racer!
Shaken, not stirred please!
You know the drill!
Called original Batmobile #6, I am pretty up on my favorite car and I know for a fact there was one original built from the 1955 Lincoln Futura show car, 3 Barris built replicas for publicity. That makes 4 and then an unauthorized replica that Barris had seized by federal marshals and it entered the 5 car stable!
Is this Starsky and or Hutch?
Various false claims of links to Barris, the 2 Monkeemobiles were built by Dean Jefferies
They were a teaching facility under the BOCES program
Flash was not in the car!
My lips are sealed, but there was Bat in the Belfry, the molds for the replicas had made a many an unauthorized Batmobile, would this have been billed as #7
We have to get back to the future
The famous or not 1955 Lincoln Futura Show Car which became the Batmobile in 1966!
The venture ended with a change in County Gov't when the Autoseum was not paying rent after the previous agreement dissolved and large liquidation auction happened!
Freeport Again!
Funny this odd little junkyard is across the street from the Freeport Stadium racetrack original location
Ironic
This eye candy is all outside
Oops! Welcome to Jimmy's Junk
How could you not get a kick of this place, Jimmy gave me the VIP tour, great guy!
You are on your own here pick your own favorite item
Most organized and neatest junkyard I ever wondered into
If I recall this is just Jimmy's collection he does not sell much!
A Signs sign!
WHAT DOES LONG ISLAND NEED?
Many things besides an automotive museum, but lets talk about 1 of them!
I signed the petition, but many think this a stillborn effort
Take the time especially if you are a Long Island area resident and help the cause!
It's the 1968 Dodge Daroo II
Not too excited huh, it is kind of strange!
It was a Dart GT once!
I kind of like the chopped Targa roof look
Now that I look it kind of is Batmobile like
Hey should have put a pickup bed on it, remember I said that
BONUS CONCEPT CAR!
TESLA CYBERTRUCK
I still can not believe this abomination
Is Elon Musk kidding us, check the date, not April fools day!
Amazing shatter proof glass that shattered!
Take 2 - shattered 2
There is the pickup bed!
I do not need to say much as he became the laughing stock of media of all kinds with this stunt!
Here is a lady Tesla owner who did a better job
Tesla, side bar Mr. Tesla is probably turning over in his grave although many people think he is behind these cars. He invented the light bulb despite what Edison wanted us to believe
How do they let him keep going with the cars catching fire?
Why in the world do we need self driving vehicles, they are like deadly weapons!
They save you the time of calling 911
And now the summoned feature, you get your car to play valet and come to you even if it cuts off another car and runs down a guy walking!!
WE DON'T NEED SELF DRIVING CARS PERIOD, STOP THE MADNESS
United Network Command for Law Enforcement
Napolen Solo and Illya Kuryakin super secret agents leading the organization of counterespionage!
Ok it's really Robert Vaughn and David McCallum
Solo AKA Vaughn who appeared in many TV shows and movies including Bullit (your assignment is to recall what part he played) was most famous for this role!
Kuryakin AKA McCallum popped up in NCIS as Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard and I spotted him shouting out that's Illya Kuryakin! HUH?
86 year McCullum did play characters with interesting names!
You knew there was a car coming! I remember the show, but I am embarrassed to say I don't remember seeing the car in the show?
It only appeared in a few episodes in season 3 and 4
I did find this shot of a 1st generation Dodge Charger from the show, notice they took the windshield out, did glass make the scene too realistic? That can be another blog about dulling paint and removing glass in Tv shows!
The show had filming locations all around the world 1964-1968, where else would espionage coming from? The cars seen in the show were an eclectic mix from the International inventory.
The car we are talking about is actually a custom car called the Piranha designed by nonother than Gene Winfield and produced in limited numbers using a Corvair chassis
HOLD ON THERE A MINUTE KIDS
Actor James Brolin eyeballing The CRV built by Marbon Chemical a division of Borg Warner to demonstrate a plastic car of thermoformed Cycolac!
CRV = Cycolac Research Vehicle assembled with a Centaur Racing Tube chassis.
CRV II to CRV V evolved
Finally gaining a roof and gullwing doors
Is showed the Dodge Charger above because customizer Gene Winfield was asked to customize it for the show. Winfield had recently been hired by AMT the model car maker to design kits and steer them into movie props.
What happened was AMT made arrangement with Marbon Chemicals to produce the car as The Piranha.
AMT got some mileage out of the car producing model kits as well as a drag race version.
The arrangement went bad when AMT found out producing the car exceeded the $5000 selling price and Marbon once again found themselves with a car.
Here it is in the TV show, one of the few appearances!
Three of the most famous ones exist today, The UNCLE car, the drag racer in Don Garlit's museum and a road racer.
The Man from UNCLE car had a unique body that was longer making 1 of 1 within a very small production count to begin with
It is believed 7 cars still exist, record between the 2 producers were not clear and some may have been built from parts, one just popped up in Pennsylvania.
AMT certainly gave us the chance to build an entire fleet!
Funny how some of the most obscure cars became toys too!
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