Denison Fall Festival.....& Car Show

  Saturday (October 3rd) the City of Denison held it's annual 'Fall Festival' on Main Street in the downtown area. Main and cross streets were marked off by police and thousands poured out to visit the various booths on display. Any kind of food you can think of was there for your enjoyment, as well as many different organizations wanting your support for their efforts...

           You could walk the entire five block area and not see any space between the vendors. What you are looking at is the many different tents erected in the middle of the street. There were also vendors set up on the curbs on each side of the street.
          My main reason for attending the festival each year is the car show they always have. As you can probably figure out from previous postings, I have a distinct fondness for cars.... especially older cars.

             This is a 1933 Plymouth 5-window coupe.. Ford and Chevy usually dominate the Hot Rod field, so it was nice to see a Plymouth. Really a nice looking coupe and I especially liked those custom made headers.

           Dot brings her 1939 Ford Coupe to the show every year and I always take time to view it. I love the fact she keeps it as original as possible. That 85-horsepower flathead engine was a stroke of genius by Henry Ford. Plenty of power and sounded great through a set of glass-pak mufflers. Ford made this engine from 1932 through 1953.

             I remember this car from one of the car shows at Texoma Harley-Davidson in years past. It is a 1937 Chevrolet Coupe and is so clean you could eat off of it. It came from the factory with a 216 cubic inch 6-cylinder engine, but now sports a 350 cubic inch V8...and small details are really finished off nicely in this car.

         Proving that you are never too old to learn something is this pick-up on display Saturday...It is a 1927 Ford Model T.. See the owner sitting inside?  I struck up a conversation with him and he became the instructor. I figured the truck would have the same transmission as the cars of that period.....WRONG!

              Take note there is no gear shifter on the floor!... and that lever to the far left is not an emergency brake. Observe the three pedals on the floor. The pedal on the left is first gear (or low).. once the truck gets moving, the lever is pushed all the way forward to shift into high gear. The middle pedal is used for reverse and the pedal on the right is for braking. A lever under the steering wheel was used for throttle control.

            And this is the original 4-cylinder engine that came in the Model T Pick-Up..  Very basic, but if you stop to think about it, it was at the top of technology charts for its day.

             A 1923 Ford T-Bucket Roadster...and a really impressive one at that. A lot of these old car are fiberglass kit cars, but I think this one was all metal.

             1932 Ford 5-Window Coupe... The owner drove it up from Arlington this morning to be in the show. I talked with him for a few minutes about this fine looking ride. He has owned it since he was fourteen years old and sold the original 'roadster' body and kept the chassis. About ten years ago he decided to build a coupe and remembered he still had this frame and front end sitting in the grass behind his shop. BAZINGA!!.. Now he has this fine ride.

         1939 Cadillac LaSalle...and powered by a 409 cubic inch Chevrolet engine putting out 400 horsepower with an automatic transmission. The interior is sort of a horsehide material almost identical to the stuff that came from the factory. This car is also owned by a woman and she drives it daily.

          I have admired this car for a long time... It is a 1950 Chevrolet Deluxe 2-door sedan...and looks like it just rolled off the assembly line. Everything about it looks like brand new and it is authentic right down to the heater,..which was an option in 1950. I owned a 1950 Chevy business coupe my senior year in high school and it was the talk of the school..

           Another extremely clean representative... This is a 1947 Chevrolet Fleetmaster.. top of the line for the day. A Chevy 350 V8 powers this ride down the road with ease. I especially like the way he has 'frenched' the headlights, and kept the stock grille that was so prevalent on the 1946, 47, and 48 Chevys.. The interior was just as clean as the outside of this beauty.
        There was also plenty of Mustangs and Chevy Nova's as well as newer cars in the show, BUT I am an old school guy and these were the cars that I really enjoy seeing brought back to life. The weather was super and nothing like two years ago when it was a cold and damp day. Thank You Lord !

Hot Rod Car Show in Denison

          I was really disappointed in the turnout for this car show... Evidently some of the participants got upset over the decision to NOT award trophies and the cancellation of the drag racing event.
         On the other hand, my thanks to those that did display their cars this time around. Next weekend is the Fall Fest in downtown Denison and that always brings a bunch of vintage autos for display on Main Street.
       This weekends event was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, but I only took in the Sunday display and just a few cars were on the grass at Forest Park.

          This 1932 Ford Roadster greeted us as soon as we found a parking place (there was plenty of parking since so few car owners turned out). This car was on display last year and still looks like a million bucks. Chevy powered, dropped front axle, and disc brakes all the way around,..just some of the great features on this ride.

          This '32 three-window coupe is owned by a woman and she drove it up from Dallas for this show. She told me she had just returned from a trip to Kentucky in this car and it rode like a dream. Yes,..those are air-conditioning ports on the dash. A 5 liter Mustang engine is couple to a four-speed transmission to power this excellent ride down the highway in style.

             Praise the Lord!... It's a 1955 Chevrolet!!  My favorite year of all time. I had a '55 in high school and still kick myself for letting it get away.
            This one is a daily driver as well as a frequent visitor to the drag strip. Jacked up in front to help with the weight transfer coming off the line.. and check the lettering right below Grice Machine Shop..

             A 327 cubic inch engine!  I have rebuilt about half a dozen of these engines and they really are strong pullers. Nice looking headers and Mallory ignition. Ram intake with after-market carburetor definitely makes this a fast-lane Chevy.
            If you saw any of the hot rod movies of the 1950's you will remember this one.. Seems like every hot rod teenager of the '50s had to have a 1950 Mercury with a chopped top.

           This one was not only chopped, but lowered extremely low. Skirts and flamed paint job really makes this ride stand out in a crowd. Headlights and taillights were both given the 'Frenched' effect.

           A 1970 Oldsmobile 442...  This was an extremely clean car. I'll bet he spent hours shining on this jewel in the early morning hours. Lots of chrome contrasting with the basic black and white colors really were impressive.

            And yes that is the original 455 cubic inch Olds engine that came in the car. Obviously, the owner has added quite a bit of chrome goodies to make this engine compartment one to be proud of. Nice and neat work on arranging all the wiring and hoses around the engine bay.

                At quick glance I thought this was a 1948 Cadillac Coupe, but it is a 1947 Mercury Coupe...and that is a '48 Caddy grille. The car was a deep metallic green in color and you could not tell it without seeing the sun shine directly on it.

             The interior of the Merc had a nice camel color to blend with the dark green and the combination was super. I especially liked the original pedals on the floor and the instrument panel just as they came from the factory. Good looking ride !
            I saved my favorite of the day until last, and I chose it over the '32 coupe and roadster only because of its rarity. You just don't see these cars everyday...or in just any car show.

         This is a 1940 Oldsmobile Coupe...  Just about all GMC models (Chevrolet, Cadillac, Olds, Buick, and Pontiac) shared this basic design, but each had its own little details.

               The two-tone paint is separated by orange pin striping and the colors were super and deep. I like that the owner kept the running boards on the side of the car also. The coupe was really impressive and the owner drove it down from Sand Springs, Oklahoma to be a part of the show.

            Chevy short block and really dressed out well. The manufacture's identification plate on the firewall is also a neat touch. 
           Thanks again to the car owners for bringing out their rides for others to see and enjoy. It's always a joy for me and my family to see the older model cars and a chance for me to show the grandchildren the difference between the junk on the road today...and the way real cars used to be.

2015 Dallas Cowboys Roster and Prediction

                               

                                2015 Dallas Cowboys Roster

         As we prepare for the 2015 regular season of the National Football League,..all teams have reduced their rosters to 53 players. The Dallas Cowboys released over a dozen this weekend to attain the 53 man limit. This is the way they will look heading into the Sunday night opener against the New York Giants.
     In 2014 I was happily mistaken when I picked Dallas to be 9-7 for the season, but I was probably not the only one surprised when the Boys finished 12-4. They might have gone even farther if not for that call in the Green Bay game ( I promised I would not lose my temper over that call again.)
     Dallas will open the season with only two quarterbacks on the roster. Tony Romo will start and Brandon Weeden will back up.
     On Tuesday (September 22nd) the Cowboys made a trade with the Buffalo Bills for veteran quarterback Matt Cassell. He has been in the NFL for eleven years and played with Minnesota and Kansas City before Buffalo. With Romo out for the next seven games due to a broken collar bone, Cassell is listed as Weeden's back-up,..but may challenge for the position.

A lot has been made over the free agency loss of DeMarco Murray since last season. The Cowboys plan to fill the running back spot with a 'committee approach.' Over the weekend Dallas sent a 7th round draft pick to Seattle for Christine Micheal, a three year veteran with little playing time for the Seahawks. He will join Joseph Randle, Darren McFadden, and Lance Dunbar in the group effort at tailback. All of them will follow Tyler Clutts from his fullback spot.

        
        
        #30 is Christine Michael, who hardly touched the ball in his two years with the Seahawks. The former Texas A&M star is 5'10'' and tips the scales at 220 pounds. I foresee him as a front runner in the Cowboys 'group effort' at the tailback spot.
   A couple of new faces will also join the receiving corp for Dallas in 2015. Dez Bryant, Terrance Williams, and Cole Beasley return, and rookies Devin Street and Lucky Whitehead made the team. Look for Whitehead to be used to receive kickoffs and punts.
         On Tuesday (9-15-2015) Dallas traded for Oakland Raiders wide receiver Brice Butler. He will help fill the void created when Dez Bryant broke his foot in the season opening WIN over the NY Giants. Bryant is expected to be out for 6-8 weeks. If Butler plays in 5 games this season Dallas will give up a 5th round draft pick in 2016.

        At tight end there is no one better than Jason Witten, and he returns for a 14th year. He will be joined by James Hanna, Gavin Escobar, and rookie Geoff Swaim from the University of Texas.

        The offensive line has gotten a lot of publicity over the last year with just about all publications predicting them to walk on water in 2015. With all the number one draft picks among them, they might just be able to do that. Travis Frederick will anchor the line at center, while Zack Martin, Ron Leary, and Mackenzy Bernadeau will play guard. La'el Collins, Doug Free, Tyron Smith, and Darrion Weems fill out the tackles.

       Okay,... Just making sure I still had your attention!!  Let's move over to defense, which I thought was a real weak spot for Dallas in 2014...especially in the secondary.
      The Cowboys used their top pick in the NFL college draft to fill that need when they picked Byron Jones out of the University of Connecticut. Jones can play safety or cornerback, but remember he is a rookie and will need some learning time. Corey White, Tyler Patmon, Morris Claiborne, and Brandon Carr will play on the corners, while Barry Church, Jeff Heath, Danny McCray, and J.J. Wilcox are the safeties.

         Pressure on opposing quarterbacks was a top goal of defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli over the off-season but two of his top players will start the season on the suspension list of the NFL. Defensive end Greg Hardy and linebacker Rolando McClain both will sit out a few games to begin 2015. 
        The Cowboys will go with Randy Gregory, Jack Crawford, DeMarcus Lawrence, Jeremy Mincy, and Ryan Russell at defensive end to begin the season. The interior tackles will be Nick Hayden, Tyrone Crawford, Devon Coleman, Terrell McClain, and Ken Bishop. They will have to man the battle stations until Hardy and Rolando return on October 5th.

       Linebacker has been a position filled with injuries for Dallas over the past couple of seasons, so they open the 2015 year with six of them. Andrew Gachkar, Anthony Hitchens, Keith Smith, Kyle Wilber, Damien Wilson, and Sean Lee, who has missed most of the past two years with knee operations. As of Monday (9-7-2015) the Cowboys released linebacker Jasper Brinkley to make room for offensive tackle Jordan Mills, who they claimed off the waiver wire of the Chicago Bears.

       Familiar faces will man the specialty positions for Dallas as Dan Bailey will handle the kick-offs, Chris Jones the punting, and L.P. LaDouceur is again the long snapper.
      That is the 53 man roster to begin the season, but Dallas is not counting guard Chaz Green, who tore up a knee in training camp and can't play yet. Linebacker Mark Nzeocha is being carried as a non-football related injury, and of course, veteran cornerback Orlando Scandrick is out for the season with a torn ACL muscle.

      

     For the past four and a half years the Cowboys have been under the guidance of Head Coach Jason Garrett, and he has a record of 42 wins and 32 losses. This years team has the 'potential' to be his best yet, BUT you will never see me inside of a casino because I am not a gambler. There is a lot riding on the play of one or two players, and other players are unknown quantities. 
    While history will show me to be a dedicated Dallas Cowboy fan dating back to 1960, I just can't see them anywhere close to the 12-4 record of 2014. Hopefully, I am wrong, but I see this years team as a 10-6 group and maybe that is good enough for the NFC Eastern Division Championship. Good Luck Dallas! Go 'Boys !

                         2015 N.F.L. Season

Sept 13th         Dallas 27   New York Giants  20     (1-0)
Sept 20th         Dallas 20   Philadelphia 10              (2-0)

Sept 27th         Dallas 28   Atlanta  39                      (2-1)
Oct  4th           Dallas  20   New Orleans 26 OT       (2-2)
Oct  11th         Dallas 6      New England 30             (2-3)
Oct 18th          Open Date== No Game
Oct 25th          Dallas 20    NY Giants 27                  (2-4)
Nov 1st           Dallas 12    Seattle 13                         (2-5)
Nov 8th           Dallas 27   Philadelphia 33  OT         (2-6)
Nov 15th         Dallas  6    Tampa Bay 10                  (2-7)
Nov 22nd        Dallas 24   Miami 14                         (3-7)
Nov 26th         Dallas 14    Carolina 33                     (3-8)
Dec 7th           Dallas 19    Washington 16                (4-8)
Dec 13th         Dallas 7      Green Bay 28                  (4-9)
Dec 19th         Dallas 16     NY Jets 19                     (4-10)
Dec 27th         Dallas  6      Buffalo 16                      (4-11)
Jan 3rd            Dallas  23   Washington 34                (4-12)

Denison Yellow Jackets 2015 Football Schedule

                               2015 Yellow Jacket Schedule

August 28th      Won over Frisco Liberty 49-7  (1-0)

Sept 4th            Lost to Argyle 50-33  (1-1)

Sept 11th          Won over Trinity Christian  48-40  (2-1)

Sept 18th           Open Date---No Game Scheduled

Sept 25              Lost to Lovejoy 45-34  (2-2)  (0-1)

Oct 2nd             Won over McKinney 35-13 (3-2) (1-1)

Oct 9th               Lost to Wylie 31-21  (3-3)  (1-2)

Oct 16th             Won over Sherman 41-14  (4-3) (2-2)

Oct 23rd             Won over McKinney North 52-49 (5-3) (3-2)

Oct 29th             Lost to Wylie East 63-42 (5-4)  (3-3)

Nov 6th              Lost to Prosper 21-10  (5-5)   (3-4)

Key:

District 10 AAAAA Standings in Red

Hillary vs Petraeus

      Okay,..How is it the media can't seem to exert enough pressure on Hillary Clinton to release her personal emails and private server for the time she served as Secretary of State...BUT they hounded former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency David Petraeus until everything was out in the open...
     Petraeus is a man who devoted thirty years of his life as an Army officer and retired as a four-star general after commanding all U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He had an affair with a female reporter who was writing his biography and turned over some confidential materials to her. What is NOT being reported is that she held a secret security clearance at the time. Petraeus was forced to resign his position at the CIA, put on probation for ten years, and fined one hundred thousand dollars.

Now compare that with the situation concerning Hillary Clinton. Despite laws against such procedures, Ms Clinton conducted government business on her private phone which was connected to a private server. She also used the phone for private conversations and told Congress it was just to simplify matters by carrying one phone instead of two. After the Benghazi disaster resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three Navy Seals, Clinton was asked about denying the Libyan Embassy additional security forces and she claimed they were never requested. It was at this time the private phone was discovered and she refused to allow any emails to be made public. She and her legal staff have released a few emails after being forced by the Justice Department, but the majority of the emails are being held up by Clinton staffers.

     On Friday (August 7th) Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered Clinton to release all emails and the server records to the Justice Department immediately, or face charges. Today one of Hillary Clinton's personal assistants, Cheryl Mills, has told her attorney she plans to delete all of her emails to Clinton during the above mentioned period of time.

     This is the way I understand it from the Associated Press story:

In a letter sent to the U.S. State Department and just filed today with U.S. federal Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, the counsel for Cheryl Mills wrote: “Ms. Mills does not believe that she has paper copies of potential records in her possession. Following our production on August 10, 2015 [of the defense counsel’s version of the electronic records], we have instructed her to delete any and all electronic records in her possession.” That is a far stretch from a statement by Ms. Mills under penalty of perjury, and she and her lawyers are planning to delete the emails Judge Sullivan wants produced? Judicial Watch has made an emergency filing in Judge Sullivan’s court to stop the further destruction of evidence of what may very well be assorted criminal conduct and violations of numerous federal laws. 

               

          All the time Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State she never had an Inspector General in the department to observe operations and make sure no laws were broken. Now it would seem this was a deliberate move on her part. United State Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan (above) has ordered ALL emails and the server to be turned over to the Justice Department IMMEDIATELY. His ruling stated, "If you have nothing to hide it should be no problem."

     Vice-President Joe Biden has been wavering on his decision to run for the Presidency in 2016, but this may be just the thing to put his plans into motion.

       Just a few months ago Hillary looked like a shoe-in for the Democratic nomination, but now it would seem the leak in the dike is starting to flow a little stronger. You can bet we haven't heard the last of the unsavory actions of this woman.

1928 Ford Pick-Up Truck

   While driving through downtown Sherman the other day I spotted this jewel and quickly pulled over for a couple of photos..

    As you can see, she is in need of a lot of elbow grease and money,...but it could make a super street rod for someone. Rust is the main enemy when you undertake a project like this, but surprisingly this old girl is in pretty good shape for an 87 year old truck. I thought the stock height of the top cried out to have five inches chopped out, but Momma liked it just the way it was.

    My brother used to tell me 'it is the small things that you look for when purchasing an old project car like this'.. This one has the headlights, wheels, tailgate, and front bumper...and those can be hard to find. The fenders are all metal and not fiberglass.

      The interior leaves a lot to be desired,...but the transmission and four cylinder engine are still in the truck. Just remember the old adage, "All good Fords have Chevy engines in them!" 1928 and they had turn signals already!... Not really. The stem on the left side of the steering wheel was to retard the spark in the ignition, and the stem on the right side of the steering wheel was the throttle control. I looked for the brake master cylinder under the floorboard without success,..but then I realized they didn't have hydraulic brakes in 1928. The brakes were all mechanical back in those days.

          The last time this truck was registered was in 1958,... so for 57 years she has sat unused and neglected. Those original spoke wheels are a treasure by themselves. Back in the 1960's it seemed every Model A Ford you saw had a set of red spoke wheels on it.

    
    I didn't ask about a price for the truck, but it is located between
Houston and Lamar streets, one block north of the town square. Sure would make a good project for someone. It is becoming harder and harder to find an older street rod like this.