davintosh

I missed my last opportunity to enjoy my favorite sandwich at my favorite restaurant chain; the last of the Z’Kota restaurants closed its doors over New Year’s weekend. Sad.

Z’Kota was a locally-owned chain of four restaurants; three in Sioux Falls and one in Brookings. Originally the stores were part of the Hardee’s franchise until the owner, Scott Fritz, broke off from the chain in 2002. His plan was to provide customers with a slightly more upscale fast-food experience and larger selection of menu choices that were a little out of the ordinary. I think it was a success.

For the last several years, Hardee’s had been looking to get back into the Sioux Falls market — as if Sioux Falls restaurant-goers needed yet another choice of national restaurant chains — and last year the four stores were purchased from Fritz by a Wisconsin-based Hardee’s franchisee.

On a work day I’ll often go home for lunch, but when time is short, I’ll sometimes hit a nearby McDonald’s or Burger King (and I’m a sucker for the $2.65 Pizza & Pop Combo at Sam’s Club!). If I’ve got a little more time and want to eat out, I prefer going to a locally-owned restaurant or diner, mostly to get away from the mass-produced plasticky food served by the bigger chains; the West 12th Street Z’Kota was a good place to go for me, just a quick run down I-29 away from work. Now though, I’ll have to work a little harder at that with Z’Kota gone. There is Rosie’s, Jono’s & Marlin’s, all within a ten-minute drive from work, but it seems most of the locally-owned restaurants are in the downtown area; a little too long a drive for a lunchtime outing.

The Z’Kota restaurants were a bit of a paradox; part of a chain, albeit a small one, but were put together very well and presented very professionally, more so than some of the bigger chains, yet far more polished than the average mom-n-pop local restaurant. Yet, even with the polished look, it still held something of the mom-n-pop charm that was very appealing.

The food though was where Z’Kota separated itself from the run-of-the-mill restaurant chain; fresh ingredients assembled after you placed your order, and seasoned perfectly — not too much and not too little. My favorite item on the Z’Kota menu was their Cajun Chicken Sandwich. For about $7 or so you got a char-grilled chicken breast on a bun with cajun seasoning & sauce on it, with cheese & lettuce, a helping of fries and a drink. It doesn’t sound like much, but the seasoning & sauce they used made it by far the tastiest thing on their menu, and the tastiest thing in town, fast-food-wise.

Another thing to like about Z’Kota is that on most warm Saturday evenings, the South Minnesota Avenue location hosted a loosely-organized street rodders’ car show. The boys & I would go there as often as we could to see what kind of cars were there… Because there was no organization, no entry fees and no visitor fees — pretty much a free-for-all — it was really a mixed bag of cars that would be there on any given Saturday. I’ve seen everything from brand new Ferraris to the rattiest rat rods to pro-street drag racers to restored Model T trucks to slightly modified tuner-style cars. That store converted over to Hardee’s last fall, right around the time the weather got too cold for hanging out in a parking lot all evening, so it’s unclear whether the show was exclusively a Z’Kota arrangement or if the new ownership will be as accommodating or not. It was rumored that the Z’Kota owner was a rodder himself, but I can’t say that I ever met him on a Saturday evening.

The West 12th Street store was within a quick lunch-hour drive for me, but even after that one converted to Hardee’s I would drive across town for one of their Cajun Chicken sandwiches. Mid-December was the last time I was there; the girl at the counter told me they were closing down in early January, so after the turn of the year I made the trip again. Unfortunately the only vehicles in the lot belonged to contractors working on converting the store and swapping the signage from Z’Kota to Hardees. It was a sad day for me. It’s been a while since I visited a Hardee’s restaurant; Deane says they’re not just another me-too food franchise so I’ll likely give them a try, but I’m thinking the bitterness I feel over the change will keep me away from Hardee’s restaurants for a while.

The Z’KotaGrille.com website went offline recently. Just for posterity’s sake, I pdf’ed the entire site; download it here if you like.

Here is an outstanding little BMW… A 1967 2000tilux with a mere 12,800 miles on the clock! Judging by the amazing condition this car is in, I don’t doubt that mileage figure a bit. Of course, photos can be deceiving and a closer inspection would be needed if I were planning to buy this car, but still… Very impressive in pictures!

From the photos and the description, the car has gone through some minor refurbishing — new paint, cleaned things up underneath, detailed the interior — but you just don’t find complete 40-plus year old cars from European automakers in the US, much less complete 40-plus year old cars from European automakers that have less than thirteen thousand miles on them.

I don’t know much more about the 2000tilux other than what I’ve read this morning (here and elsewhere), but I do like the styling. The headlights are so otherworldly considering the car’s vintage… US Federalization back in the day would of course have required the trapezoidal headlights be replaced by boring round headlights — as illustrated below in another car that was recently featured on Bring A Trailer.com — so this one was either a gray-market import or converted. My guess is the former.

I dunno; it’s just something about these boxy little European sedans that’s just really appealing to me. And the little details, like the way the fuel filler door blends into the corner of the rear quarter panel… This is one gorgeous automobile!

This car probably weighs in around 2,000 lbs, and with an engine under the hood rated at 135 HP, it’s got to be a screamer. Lots of things to like about it!

Here’s the copy and the rest of the photos from the eBay ad, just for fun. Thus far nobody’s placed a bid on the car, and the seller’s $5,000 minimum bid stands with four days to go in the auction. Reserve hasn’t been met; it’ll be interesting to see where the bidding goes on it.

(more…)

The Rifleman was one of my all time favorite shows when I was a kid, and thinking about it a bit, still is one of my favorite shows. I flipped on the TV this morning & watched two episodes that were being played on The CW channel; awesome.

The show’s original run was before my time, from 1958 to 1963, but the re-runs went on well into my early years, so I saw it often. Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford were the stars of the show, playing the roles of Lucas McCain and his son Mark. The episodes were pretty predictable, but still very entertaining. Lucas McCain was a good guy, a widower, living on a ranch somewhere, and trouble always seemed to be able to find him. But he was wicked fast with that Winchester, and wicked accurate, even while shooting from the hip most of the time. Yeah, the accuracy thing is a put-on for TV, but the way Chuck Connors handled the gun, with the spins and the fast lever action shooting was as real as it gets.

The gun that was used in the TV series was specially made to do the tricks Connors did, but it still took him a lot of practice to get the moves down and to make it look so smooth. It’s basically a modified Winchester Model 1892 .44-.40 caliber with a large rounded ring — the doughnut loop — in place of the standard lever that allows the gun to be cocked using a twirling action. That design was actually used first by John Wayne in the 1939 movie Stagecoach; Wayne’s rifle also had a shortened barrel, but Connors was a bigger guy — 6’6″ — and had a longer wingspan that allowed him to use a full-length barrel.

The lever also had a screw installed in the triggerguard that could trip the trigger when the lever was closed, effectively making the gun as close to a semi-automatic as you could get in that era. That feature was used in the introductory scene in the YouTube video above; a slow-motion replay of that video reveals he fires 12 rounds in what appears to be less than two seconds. There could be some camera/editing trickery going on there, but from what I’ve read about Chuck Connors and how seriously he trained for this role, I’m thinking it’s for real.

Of course, replicas of that rifle can even be had, at a price. One of the top returns for a Google search is a site called The Rifleman’s Rifle; and the guy who runs it, Mike Demuzio, has learned to handle the guns quite well himself.

Dimuzio’s replica rifles are pretty costly – about $2,400. But if they work as well as he demonstrates, it’s probably worthwhile. Not that I’m going to go out & buy one any time soon; with the current shortage of bad guys chasing after me these days, it would spend most of its time hanging on the wall. But it would look good hanging there!

This commercial is an absolute hoot. Baby scooting across the open desert in a walker… Baby scooting across a field chasing a flock of terrified sheep… Baby scooting down the roads, passing trucks & weaving through traffic… All to impress the idea that you can print photos from your phone from anywhere.

Not sure how effective it’ll be at selling HP gear, but I get a laugh out of that commercial every time.

Cincinnatti banker Harry Yeaggy is officially the biggest James Bond fan. At least the biggest one as measured by the amount one is willing (and able) to pay for Bond memorabilia. Yeaggy bought the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 that was driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger and Thunderball.

There were only two bids on the DB5 at the Wednesday evening RM Auctions event before the gavel fell. Final price — an amazing $4,608,500 (which includes a 12% buyer’s premium). The other bidder must’ve been completely blown out of the water by that bid.

Yeaggy will add the DB5 to his already amazing collection. Or maybe he’ll park it in his family room & watch James Bond movies while sitting in the driver’s seat.

I like cars, and I like James Bond movies too, but dang; even if I had that kind of money to throw around, I’d have a hard time justifying spending that much on a car. I’d be afraid to touch it, much less drive it.

The President of The United States of America is going to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Mythbusters. Hmmmm… Could they be trying to figure out whether the ballooning national debt really creates jobs outside of the Federal bureaucracy? Or maybe they’ll delve into the mystery behind Barack Obama’s dwindling poll numbers.

Actually, the show featuring the President is entitled ‘Archimedes Solar Ray,’ which will test the Greek myth about Archimedes defeating a Roman fleet of ship using mirrors to direct & concentrate the sun’s rays. His appearance on the show is part of a larger emphasis to promote science and math education. Coinciding with the show’s Decmber 8 air date, the White House will host the winners of several science and math competitions, from the Intel Science and Engineering Fair to the Team America Rocketry Challenge. While the President’s intellect is allegedly quite impressive, he’s a lawyer; the only geek creds he has are related to his Crackberry addiction. I wonder how many kids will be inspired to work harder for a career in science by his little dog & pony show.

It seems to me that the President is spending a lot of time on television appearances like this lately; Mythbusters, Jon Stewart, The View, the 2010 Teen Choice Awards, Anderson Cooper, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman… Some might argue that it’s a good way to get his message to a lot of people, but doesn’t it diminish the office somewhat? Prime example; his bowling comment during his appearance on Jay Leno last year. Not a banner moment for the Presidency, but none of his other appearances seem to help his approval ratings either. Maybe they are helping, and he’s thinking how much worse it could be if he hadn’t been on TV.

The President, in the middle of a speech on the importance of education, says, “We cannot sustain…” Guess “we can’t sustain” a firm hold on the Presidential Seal. Could this be a sign?

These things don’t happen without reason. How long before the rest of the wheels end up in the ditch?

Throwing stand-up comedy one-liners on Twitter seems to be a perfect match, judging by Steve Martin‘s Twitter page, SteveMartinToGo.

I tell wife I need printer paper. Am now driving car in Beverl. Hill. Californi. (I abbreviated Beverly Hills, California to save space).

2:10 PM Sep 25th via web

Have just been pulled over by cop. He wants to know why there are monkey paw prints on car. Asks me to remove paper sack.

2:10 PM Sep 25th via web

Because of frozen Botox face, my expression does not match my driver’s license photo and I am arrested.

2:11 PM Sep 25th via web

Handcuffs force me to Tweet with nose. Kindly cop holds phone to face. K-9 corps dog smells monkeys, attacks.

2:11 PM Sep 25th via web

Am held in non-celebrity section of jail. The cappuccino is cold. No one recognizes me. Other inmates think my impression of myself is bad.

2:11 PM Sep 25th via web

I’m in dire straits. Need help. Suggestions taken.

2:12 PM Sep 25th via web

I love me some Steve Martin. I don’t think I’ll get much done this morning…

Speaking of the BMW M1, here’s a great video on YouTube. Click the full-screen button, slip on some headphones (or crank the speakers up uncomfortably loud!), and enjoy the ride.

That Hans Wagner is one heck of a driver, and the M1 Procar is one heck of a car.

Look what showed up on eBay… half of the Pontiac Banshees in existence. (Well, yeah; there were only two built…)

So far the price is up to just over $85,000 (reserve not met), but I predict it’ll go much, much higher in the five days left in the auction. I might throw a bid in there, knowing I’ll get out-bid, just so I can say I was THIS close to buying that car…

But really, I’m surprised to see this car on eBay; it would likely do much better in an auction house like Barrett Jackson. But the seller didn’t ask me I guess.

Pontiac didn’t ask me if they should’ve built them back in the ’60′s either, but that’s just as well because I was just a dopey little round-headed kid back then. But seriously, this car should’ve seen production. It was designed to go head-to-head against the Mustang, and as it stands I think it would’ve kicked the Mustang’s butt in the market. But then again these were concept cars, and the production version probably would’ve had a back seat, which would’ve added to the roof length and thrown the visual balance of the car way off…

Maybe it’s best that we just have these two. Or in my case, just the photos.

eBay Link

1964 Pontiac XP833 Banshee Concept Car Coupe

Title: 1964 Pontiac Banshee Firebird Corvette Concept Show Car
Mileage: 1,498 miles
Location: Milford, CT

Vehicle Information
VIN: 66L23060
Warranty: Vehicle does NOT have an existing warranty
Title: Clear
Condition: Used
For sale by: Private seller

Features
Body type: Coupe
Engine: 6 – Cyl. Cylinder
Exterior color: Silver
Transmission: Manual
Fuel type: Gasoline
Interior color: Red

XP-833 CONCEPT CAR
BANSHEE

Created by John Z. Delorean – then General Manager of Pontiac
Built by the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors
Debuted as a Banshee Prototype in 1964

**This car is the original one-of-a-kind prototype Pontiac Banshee Coupe**

History of the XP-833 Banshee

The early Ford Mustangs were so popular that Pontiac’s brass decided to build a Mustang competitor while DeLorean wanted to offer a two-seat sports car as a Corvette alternative to compete with the Mustang. Secretly, the XP-833 project was born. DeLorean declared the XP-833 Banshee a Mustang beater after the concept prototypes were built.

The XP-833 prototype was a preview of future GM designs to come. Long nose, short deck, swooping “coke-bottle” profile, broad grille with chrome bumper surround, raked windshield, bulging fenders, triple slit taillights and hidden headlights with a suggestive power bulge on the hood.

However, the design of the XP-833 was so far ahead of its time that GM’s top executives became worried that it might be too much of a threat to their prized Corvette so they stopped the project. To compete with the Mustang, in 1967 Pontiac ultimately came out with the Firebird that shared both chassis and sheet metal with the Chevrolet Camaro.  In 1973 John Delorean left General Motors and formed the DeLorean Motor Company to create his dream sportscar the DeLorean, which was later featured in the movie “Back to the Future” and the rest is now history…

Unfortunately, the Banshee never reached production, but most exterior angles of the redesigned third generation 1968 Corvette interestingly mirrored the XP-Banshee prototype except for the distinctive Pontiac grille and Firebird style tail panel.

There’s so much Corvette influence that a Banshee prototype was shown at Bloomington in 1990 and this car was even invited to be displayed at the Meadow Brook Hall Concourse d’Elegance in 2001 as a legend of automotive history.

Amazingly, the two drivable Banshee prototypes (a coupe and a roadster) avoided destruction by being hidden in shipping crates after the project was canceled by GM. Eventually, the cars were spared death by the crusher and sold by GM to employees that were closely involved in the XP-833 project.

Bill Killen received this prototype coupe directly from GM and the Killen family has owned the car until it changed hands a few years ago. The car has less than 1,500 original miles on it with most of the miles coming from the early developmental days while at Pontiac. The car is a true unrestored survivor as it still is the way that it was when shown to the GM management over 40 years ago including the original paint, interior and drivetrain…

The Banshee prototypes and their legacy remain a huge part of automotive lore and have been featured in countless automobile history books and car magazines over the years. Now that we have seen an end to the Pontiac marquee, this historically important Pontiac will surely be a much sought after car by collectors and enthusiasts into the future.

This car is a one-of-a-kind prototype and was built with the following features

Silver exterior with a red interior

Unique solid-body construction of exterior fiberglass with Steel underbody

Special hinged roof/top that flips up for easy access

Specially-built cross flow head OHC inline six engine (155 horsepower)

Four-speed manual transmission

Solid live rear axle

Cooling air intakes under its long nose

Fixed seats with adjustable – movable pedals

Stylish sport car dash

Large 120mph speedometer

Large 8,000 RPM tachometer

Gauge pack (temp, oil pres, oil temp, water temp, amps, clock)

Wood sport steering wheel

Pontiac radio

Rally II style wheels

For additional information or to set an appointment to see this car in Connecticut, call Mark at (949)226-7053**