Your Today in Pictures...

[Graham Ritchie]

One thing I remember about the Datsun 240Z it did not like to be driven in slow moving traffic. What I recall was having to ride the clutch in 1st gear as it really wanted to get up and go. Compared to many cars in 1st gear which would tick along nicely in slow moving traffic, the 240Z just wanted to fly

I only ever owned a Datsun and that was here in NZ a Datsun 312 three speed column change it was all I could afford at the time. One thing that stood out with Datsun was unlike British cars they did not leak oil, plus they were easy to work on and very reliable . I think they had a 260Z out here plus Datsun 1200sss model that was modified with a different carburetter and cam shaft, plus a few other things, That was the sports version the thing with the 1200cc engine you could really give it a hard time and it took it in its stride.


Today its a cold winter day 7C, standing on the side line with my jacket, wooly hat and gum boots in middle of a boggy paddock although looking at the heat waves and wild weather world wide I cant complain. A parent took these photos below over the last couple of weeks, today is the bottom one .

[Janice Glesser]

When I was married we had a Datsun 280Z. I don't remember much about it. Just that I didn't really like it because it was a stick shift.

[Graham Ritchie]

If I remember right but its been a while since I watched it, I am pretty sure that the car driven by actor Elliot Gould on his way to that deserted airfield in "Capricorn One" was a Datsun 240Z. It caught my eye while watching it years ago not exactly sure if that's the model, its been a while.

If I remember right the 240Z was heavy on the clutch, its interesting that you call it a stick shift Janice, we just refer to a car with a clutch as a manual. Most cars in the UK and here back then, were manual. To get your driving license you could drive a automatic for your test but your license was restricted to automatic only, and were not allowed to drive a manual unless you sat and past in one, in which case your license would cover both types.

Those days are well and truly long gone, as most cars now are automatic. Only up to recent times have I owned a automatic, in my mind a car had to be a manual it was more fun I should add I don't drive like an idiot anymore, according to my granddaughter I am a "careful slow driver"

I came across this particular front cover of Haynes manual on the internet this morning, for any car owner a Haynes was really a must I still have some in the garage

[Ed Gordon]

Here is the US, we also call them as 'manual' but in addition to 'stick shift' we use the term 'four on the floor'. Then again, as they say, ..."As for the Americans, they haven't spoken English for years".

Say Bye-bye to Four on the Floor

The fact that you have opened the pages of this magazine implies a certain mental disturbance known among clinical psychologists as "car nuttiness." This involves irrational enthusiasm regarding such social pathologies as law-breaking highway speeds, deafening engine sounds, and unhealthy olfactory attractions to odors produced by methanol, castor oil, and nitromethane. There is no known cure for such disturbances, although the nannies of the world are seeking to excise the essential stimuli by substituting such benign power sources as the hybrid, the fuel cell, and the electric motor in place of that fuming, Wagnerian devil machine known as the internal-combustion engine.

The New Age automobile will be silent and syrupy to a fault, an environmental paragon embodying all the passion and panache of a Waring blender. Gone will be the obscene exhaust sounds, the screech of rubber, and the howl of gears, replaced by the courtly hum of low-voltage motors and muted servo systems, all controlled by fussy little microprocessors marshaling you along vast, computer-controlled freeway networks.

We are already getting a peek at the future. For example, the once-beloved manual transmission is about to join the drum brake, the flathead, and the rumble seat as an automotive relic. Research by the consulting firm PWS Auto-Facts reveals that sales of vehicles in the U.S. with manual transmissions has slipped to a mere 16.9 percent of the market. Even in Europe, where the manual has dominated at more than 90 percent of sales, there has been a recent slippage to 86.9 percent, and the trend is downward.

There are many reasons for this shift (or lack thereof). The new computer-controlled five- and six-speed automatics are almost as efficient as manuals. They are nearly as cheap to manufacture, and they offer hands-free driving in clogged urban situations, where the right hand can be employed to wield a cell phone or PalmPilot and to change CDs. As an interim step for the lazy and the ham-fisted, there are such crossover devices as Porsche's Tiptronic and DaimlerChrysler's AutoStick, to name but two of a new genre of automatics that can be shifted like manuals. But the traditional four-, five-, and six-speed manual transmissions so beloved by us car nuts seem headed for the scrap heap, auguring yet another step into the seamless and sterile world of the anesthetized cybercar.

There was a day, of course, when all automobiles were controlled by manuals. American cars, with their larger displacements and torquier engines (thanks to cheap gas), ran on three forward gears, whereas smaller, lighter European brands favored four. Then came Oldsmobile in 1937 with its limited-production "Automatic Safety Transmission" that led three years later to the optional ($57!) Hydramatic, and with that, the floodgates to shiftless motoring were opened.

True believers reviled the early "slush-boxes" that hit the postwar market with such names as Powerglide, TorqueFlite, Fordomatic, and Dynaflow. They were all dreadfully inefficient and helped to generate a reverse enthusiasm on these shores for British imports from MG, Jaguar, Austin-Healey, and others that featured smooth-shifting four-speed manuals mounted not on the steering column but snugged against the driver's right knee where God had intended them. The Big Three then responded with "four on the floor" during the muscle-car revolution of the '60s and '70s. Anyone growing up during this period who wanted to gain stature in the crazed, American Graffiti-style car culture sure as hell had to learn how to use a manual gearbox properly. The double-clutch, the heel-and-toe, and the drag-racing "board shift" had to be mastered. Matching revs via the tachometer to execute perfect downshifts was expected, as opposed to the current technique of merely punching the clutch and jamming the shifter into a lower gear.

Recently, I had occasion to speak with a chief instructor of one of America's largest and most successful high-performance driving schools. He noted, "You can't believe how little people know about using a manual transmission. They haven't the foggiest notion how to match revs or downshift, much less heel-and-toe under braking. Ninety percent of them learned to drive on automatics, and what little they think they know about manuals for fast driving is so far out in left field it's useless. We have to teach 'em all over again."

Source:
https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...-on-the-floor/

[Brian Fretwell]

Also the three ratio gears changed by a lever on the steering column called "Three on the tree"

[Melvin England]

I am currently enjoying a weeks break in Cornwall which is in the very south westerly part of the UK and some 400 odd miles from my home town.

I am currently in the seaside town of Falmouth and this afternoon as I wandered around the town I also enjoyed part of the sea shanty festival that is taking place this weekend.
Wandering up the high street, I came across a shopping arcade that had pretty obviously been a cinema in its day.

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Taking you step by step into the building, you should be able to get the feel of the bygone days.....


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As you can see, the main steps up to the entrance. On the left and right, what must have been the old ticket booth's. Then up another small flight of steps to what would have originally been the doors into the stalls. At this point, looking left and right we see.......

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......... the stairs leading up to the circle, now sealed up with no access.


Next.... what is now the main auditorium.

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The main shopping area with a hanging ceiling.

Moving to the far end of the ground floor......

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It appears to me that one of the shops has been built on top of the stage that would have housed the screen.

Just to the right...... an emergency exit.

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It is a double edged sword, really. I would much rather this building be used for the purpose it was designed for, but if it has to be a set of shops to keep the building standing, occupied and maintained.... then... I suppose.... so be it.


Pity this other building further up the road did not receive the same treatment......

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[Steve Klare]

Nice detective work, Melvin!

There's this other seaside town in New Jersey called "Wildwood" that a lot of us like (-for some reason...). Wildwood used to have a number of movie theaters. For us the most famous is the Sea Theater: it's been closed about 9 years now but has remained there basically intact. The owner comes to CineSea and he's reopened it for us to come in as his guests a few times. The last time we were there we saw Blazing Saddles in 35mm. The booth door stayed open the whole show and for the first time in my life I saw a movie projector way too big to have a handle on top!

My most recent theater sighting isn't nearly so thorough as yours! Often when I go there, I bring a bike and ride the boardwalk: get some fresh air and see the sights. It's not a strenuous ride, but it gets a lot harder or easier depending on the direction of the ocean winds.

On the way back south to the Shalimar, I passed a fairly ordinary looking arcade (one of many...), but this time I saw this relic hanging on the wall:
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It closed in 2012, but once looked like this:
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[Graham Ritchie]

Great stuff Melvin

Its nice to see that the building has survived, years ago now I was contacted by the local Dunoon paper from Scotland, asking me if I had any information on the old "La Scala" as I had commented on there Facebook page about it.

The La Scala had closed way back in the late 1970s I understand no one seemed really be that interested in its closing. In fact little was known about the place, or who had worked there, locals had just took the place for granted. The reporter told me Woolies had moved into the bottom half of the building and for many many years access to the balcony and projection box had been closed off. He managed to get access through a ceiling hatch and took some photos, of what was left inside the projection box, and to think this was where such films like the The Sand Pebbles, The Great Escape were screened. I understand from the reporter that the projectionist moved down to England and had passed away long ago.

Its a pity the school "DGS" could not have taken this up as a research project, but not to be. The old flea pit might be long gone, but the memories have not.

The reporter sent me a couple of photos of what he had found in the projection room "not much left", I think also the upstairs seats are still there.

Last I heard the building was now sitting empty, hopefully someone will take it over and turn it into similar what you saw Melvin.

[Melvin England]

Today I did a Laurel & Hardy !

Yes! I went "Way Out West!" Literally.....to Lands End..... the western most point of mainland England. At one point I had the honour of standing in front of everyone else making me the most westerly citizen in England !

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Later on in the day, we headed east slightly.....not that we had much option!!!

We arrived at Penzance which, like Falmouth sadly, also has its dilapidated eyesores to days gone by......

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[Melvin England]

Just as a footnote to yesterday, 20th June at Lands End. As you know that evening was the summer solstice which means that today 21st is the longest day of the year. There was a report on this mornings news that a man watched the sun go down last night at Lands End in the west, drove 400+ miles during the night to Ness Point near Lowestoft which I understand is our furthest point EAST, and watched the sun rise there this morning. THAT is dedication.... or madness perhaps ? It wasn't me, by the way....

Anyway.... today...

I decided that as I became the western most person in England yesterday very briefly, it would be a great idea to become the southern most person in mainland UK today. So off we went to Lizard Point which is our furthest point south and hey ho! For a few moments I held that title too ! It has been a fun two days !

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No dilapidated ex cinemas today thankfully !

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[Steve Klare]

.(-not my picture, but it's just as I remember it!)

I did something kind of equal and opposite about 25 years ago.

We were up on the Maine Coast camped out in Bar Harbor near Acadia National Park.

Acadia contains Mount Cadillac, which is an unusual thing: a mountain on our Atlantic Coast. It is also pretty far east as our coastline goes (They had to bend our time zone around it...), so it is the first point in the United States to see the sunrise every day. My wife and I made it a quest to see this thing!

So well before the crack of dawn we got in the car and headed for Mount Cadillac. We left our friends back at camp to enjoy another two hours of vacation-sleep. It was end-of July, beginning of August, but even then Maine gets pretty cold overnight. We brought jackets and camping chairs, but if we ever do it again it will also be hot coffee and a couple of blankets!

We got up to the overlook and parked, walked over to the viewing area, and what a shock we got! -several hundred people sitting silently in the cold and dark! The night skies up in Maine are spectacular! For every star in the sky down here near New York, there may be ten visible up there because there is so much less light pollution, so at that point everyone was looking up.

Gradually the sky to the East started to lighten up, and this tiny spot of sunlight burst through and actually flickered a couple of times before it became steady. The crowd actually cheered! 15 minutes later, at least half the disk was up above the horizon. I remember actually feeling its warmth on my face.

-well worth getting up a little early!

[Janice Glesser]

Melvin England I have been waiting for the summer soltice ever since daylight savings time started. I just have to wait too long before my living room is dark enough for good projection. At least now it will be getting darker a little earlier every day. I know I have to invest in some blackout shades.

[Melvin England]

This time, I am very happy to post a photograph of an older cinema building that is still fully functional..... as a CINEMA !

This is the Royal Cinema in St.Ives, Cornwall UK and is showing today's up to date films !

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A very reassuring sight !

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[Graham Ritchie]

Quite a line of of eats there Melvin, is it a cafe as well as a cinema?, or do folk take hot food into the cinema?

[Melvin England]

To be honest, Graham, I am not too sure. I only passed the place without going in for a real nosey. Maybe they support each other to keep both businesses viable ?