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If car shows almost every weekend are not enough, why not take a "detour", and go on an overnight side-trip out of the area? During 2003 - 2004,

In early April 2003 the Tarr's good friend, retired USMC MAJ Harold R. Knowles, provided a visit to the Van Nuys (California) airport, which revealed this beautifully restored antique aircraft, the......


Above is a right side exterior view of the cockpit and the forward-most gunner's station.	And on the left side, in all her voluptuous beauty, is the notorious "Heavenly Body".

Above is a terrific head-on view of aircraft, with it's newly installed starboard engine.

Looking up into the pristinely restored bomb bay.	The voluntary contribution "bomb" and data board.

The tail gunner's station !	Truer words were never spoken !

A close-up of a 500 lb bomb.

Click here to visit the B-25J Bomber website to learn more about this magnificent antique aircraft.

Also tucked in this hanger at the Van Nuys airport was this wonderfully restored half-tracked, "quad-fifty's" vehicle.


You're kidding, this thing has a built-in latrine?	A very formidable vehicle then - and now !

The view from the guy "riding shotgun", and . .	a view of the cab - the bino's close at hand.

The track is new/old stock (NOS), found in Israel.	This is the right track's driver wheel,

and the generator that recharges the batteries that power the turret.	A view of the turret from the rear hatch (note the 2 M-1 carbines hanging in their rack).
A bit of restoration history The "half-track" was built in 1943, and was finally released from the military in 1963. The purchaser took it up to the Big Bear Lake area with the idea of converting it to a lumber hauling vehicle. Conversion never took place and it was used as a general purpose vehicle, on and off. In 1979 the present owner, Mike Pubich, (who owns the B-25 above) purchased it, and began acquiring authentic parts to return it to its original state. Concentrated restoration began in late 2002 and within a six month period the task had been accomplished, essentially a total restoration. Much of the work was performed with the assistance of a bunch of very good friends that would drop in now and then to lend a hand. Chad Sisk, however, was the one that did most of the dirty work and organized the process. All the components, parts, and pieces were removed with the exception of the engine, transmission, and the differential. That left the vehicle with bare frame rails from the driver's compartment aft. All external engine parts were removed and overhauled. The quad 50 cal machine gun turret was completely disassembled down to the individual nuts and bolts. More trivia - The chrome-nickel engine block was utilized primarily to better withstand bullets and shrapnel. With extended pipes for the exhaust and carburetor the engine will run under water, as it sits, right now. The vehicle is completely street legal - for day and night operation. In the event of a vehicle battery failure, the engine may be jump-started by the use of the turret battery system.

A visit to the American LaFrance Fire Apparatus Museum in Cleveland, North Carolina will delight you with the restored examples of the wonderful vehicles produced by their company over their many years in business. Here's just a sampling of them!

To learn more about each vehicle shown here, visit the American LaFrance website.

Another side trip to the North Carolina Transportation Museum will keep you interested for hours. Trains and old cars can be viewed in the many buildings and exhibits this facility has to offer. You can take a train ride (steam locomotive on weekends !), and for fifty cents you can take a ride on the turn-table in front of the "round-house". Here's another sampling of what's in store when you visit this wonderful museum in Spencer !

HVPR Members Mary and Don Baker attended the Cadillac-LaSalle Grand National Meet - 2003, in Saratoga Springs, New York. This certainly was a very nice "detour" for them, and here are some of the vehicles they saw.