‘Ster Crazy 6

I’d never have guessed that the best thing I’d find at the “big orange” home fixups big box store was in the parking lot.

I recognized immediately what it was, and I knew the AMC owned the brand for a few years.  Wiilys Overland became Kaiser Willys, which lost money and in 1970 was sold to AMC, which branded it as “Jeep Corporation.”

Anyhow, as I said, it was my first trip to this orange brand store since February.  I’d postponed some fixups because it didn’t seem a safe place to go.  I chose to go right after downing my daily cup of coffee . . . figuring I’d beat the crowds.

I took the photos because it seemed to be a good follow-up to the “Star Ster Crazy 5″ posts. This is what I’m doing now, only to realize that other than an AMC Jeep Commando . . . remember AMC at this time had names like Javelin and Gremlin . . . I didn’t know what year it is.  If I’d looked at the registration sticker on the windshield, I’d have known.  I don’t always anticipate what info I’ll need.  So help me . . . given that grille, is it a 1972? 

Jeep became a Chrysler product in 1986.  Jeep has survived, but Chrysler has allied itself with a German company nd then an Italian company since then.  And thanks to my itinerant sister, some snaps she took at

Willys America in Cazadero CA.

Other than the two photos from my sister, all snaps by WVD, who really wishes he had just glanced at the registration, but then I wouldn’t have had such fun figuring it out.

Also, I maybe should have called this “something different” 55. . . .   or just “tugster distracted.”

KVK Tourism

And I thought I was a solitary tourist wanting to see the sights here?  I always do bring outatowners here to my “offices” for the scenery.

And to think that he too thought a maritime center devoted to contemporary shipping is sorely needed along the busy channels of the sixth boro.

First, Noble Maritime IS open this Saturday and Sunday, Labor Day.  More than half the fotos in this post are from the well-worth-seeing display called “Tides of 100 Years.”    Snug Harbor also caught some attention in the New Yorker  this week.

The KVK always intrigues and amuses.  Like, this tanker . . . made me think Torm is mini?    No way . . . it’s heavily-laden,  it’s rusty,

it’s orange (or would you call that cantaloupe?).

Over beyond it at Bayonne’s dry dock, USNS Dahl is getting a make-over.

Farther west, Maersk Phoenix is transferring a petroleum product and soon to head into the Mediterranean.

John Noble is the godfather of this blog.  And this exhibit helps you form a fuller idea of the artist.

And lest you think, it’s only his fabulous artwork, it’s more . . . like this manual below.  John Noble had a Jeepster, one of my all-time to-be-coveted vehicles!  See the flickr image to the left margin of this blog.   Anyone remember his topless Jeepster around Staten Island?

And here’s a taste of his workshop . . ..

If you have a chance this weekend or soon, come to see this exhibit.  Spend some time in the museum, and then find a place across the road to sit and watch his inspiration.

Tangentially related:  My Jeepster story does NOT involve John Noble or even NY.  I was born in coastal North Carolina, a marshy farming area where deep ditches tend to outline roads.  My slightly older relatives–who will stay unnamed–used to waterski behind the Jeepster.  Run the tow line from the car to the ditch, where the skiier crouches at the ready hoping to begin the ride before a snapping turtle, alligator, or water moccasin happens along.  Once the tow gets going, keep your skis cranked forward in the ditch, not toward the car.  Can be done. Has been.  Wish I had fotos!

If anyone has Noble Jeepster stories, please leave a comment.