A Little History

[LarryC]

Things are slow on here, so I thought this old photo would only be appreciated by X-heads.

This photo was taken in 1985, the day I took possession of the Crab from my friend, standing there next to me. I had been around the Crab since it was new, but she was ready to pass it on to me, so here I am cleaning it up to my specs because she had let it get a little faded. I paid her a grand total of $2000 for it.

 

[Eastep]

nice pic. not so nice hair :mallet:

 

[mx5rush]

At 46 I'm thinking that I'd pay serious coin to have that much hair again!

(My Mug shot is from a road trip back in the early 90's....)

 

[JimD]

Amen

I seem to have misplaced my hair in the 80s. Maybe Larry took it?

 

[Black-Tooth]

Kinda slow here also... I like the color...

... fullness and length also!

Like Jiminy... I misplaced mine somewhere over the years...

 

[LarryC]

All sorts of thoughts here!

Let's see:
1. Wait 20 years and the style will look normal again. Remember how much we hated the dorky short hair grownups wore in the late fifties-early sixties. Now the 20 somethings look like our parents! Wait a minute! I've been forced to look like my parents now, too!
2. Given the distinctive wedge-shaped automotive styling that the X-1/9 set into motion for that era, we X-heads probably should be mute on era-type fashions!
3. I see I have a bottle of what looks like that old Meguiars car wax on the frunk hood. Hmm, maybe that was the secret. It would be easy to mix that bottle up with the shampoo in the travel bag.

That's an old JSC parking sticker on ther rear bumper. She had just applied gone through the astronaut process for the Space Shuttle at JSC. Now that I think about it, they are just now retiring the shuttle. If theycan fly a spacecraft for 30 odd years, we should be able to drive our 30 odd year-old X-1/9s!

 

[Black-Tooth]

HAHAHA... I think I have some of that Meguir's...

in the garage... Gonna go try some now!

Welp... all it did was make my forehead shinier!

HA!

BTW... have you tried their new NXT wax? My daughter always gives me these wax kits for Christmas and I have several... Anyway, I tried a some next to a section where I used Meguier's GOLD wax... Quite a difference... and the liquid stuff is so easy to apply and remove. I highly recommend it.

 

[MarkF]

You weren't the only one This is probably October 1985, when I obtained my very first X1/9. Most things don't work as well anymore but my Fiat does. At least I still have my hair!

and here it is 25+years later

 

[mbusman]

When my hair starts to get too white,

my wife hides my beer and won't give it back until she's had a chance to sit me down and throw some shoe polish on the hair. Although the hair comes out darker, at least the forehead isn't glossy.
Mike

 

[shoreline]

OMG....MGandini....

LOL - you look like Sonny Bono! AND you and LarryC look like you're related - and shop at the same place for clothes!

Beatles hair cut....
Aviator sunglasses....
Cheesy Magnum PI 'stache....
Swell sweater vest....
Black Nike tennys....

Wow - be still my heart!
:love::love::love:

 

[MarkF]

Wow, thank you mystery admirer...such kind words! If you were closer, I might even offer to buy you a drink :hug:

 

[halojm]

More period pics

The first of me in my Fiat uniform (note the way I cleverly left my shirt unbuttoned to lure in the ladies...)

Another one of me test-running a newly rebuilt Ford 289 on an engine stand and the wall in front of my parent's home (the neighbor's loved me).

This was in the early 1980s and, fortunately, I was more into cars than fashion!
Dave

 

[bbrown]

Wow Mark, obvious of how

well you've taken care of that car.
Nice work! BTW, you were 'stylin' for the time.
Maybe I'll post some of my old X photos when I get home...

 

[LarryC]

Now these are "family" pictures!

Are we a bunch or what?! I have to admit that last one of Dave is enough to write a novel about. I mean what is going on there? Why would you be standing behind a Ford small block next to the street like that? The mind "races".

 

[halojm]

It was my first engine rebuild

I was 17, it was my first total engine rebuild, and I didn't have a car to put it in to test it. Soo, being a little impatient, I wheeled it out of the garage on the engine stand, hooked up all the pieces needed to fire it (note the bellhousing, radiator, fuel line going down to a gas can, headers - which I later attached glasspacks to quiet it down a little for the neighbors), then fired it to see how it worked. It drew a crowd of neighbors (not all of them happy), and I lesrned not to quickly rev the engine when it torqued and almost flung itself on the ground (I had to physically grab the blistering hot engine before it fell). Good times!
Dave