Mark visits the garage and workshop of “professional amateur” Mister Jalopy, who builds neat things from materials he scavenges from swap meets and garage sales. Mister Jalopy is a connoisseur of fine machine junque and curiosities, and he takes us on a guided tour of some of his most recent retro-mechanical creations and discoveries.
12 Responses to Mister Jalopy’s Garage
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Mister Jalopy is my hero! Thanks for featuring him again on the site. By the way, Mark’s hair is amazing. When will the editors of BoingBoing calendar come out? Because I’m buying!
Davintosh (9):
(consternation)
An old Studebaker engine in working condition is just inherently cool. Possibly it’s because there are so few of them left, and even fewer that still run. Possibly it’s because they have a recognizable resemblance to the drawing of an internal combustion engine in my fourth-grade science textbook. You can look at them and see what all the parts are and what they do. You can take off the carburetor and poke the butterfly valve with a stick if you’re having trouble getting it to start. If a hose has separated, you can fix it with mimeograph stencil correction fluid and some duct tape. It’s an artifact from the days when the technology in your life was still knowable, and sometimes fixable.
My first car had a six-cylinder flathead engine. I had some good times working on that thing.
As to why you’d have an engine sitting in a corner: so you can tinker with it. Much easier that way.
as someone who has never heard of mister jalopy, this episode doesn’t really do a great job of filling me in. from my standpoint, it’s a short (almost non-existent) interview with a guy in his garage, which contains a motor that doesn’t run, a leather-belt driven tool and a radio that plays itunes. i know the focus is on his garage more than miser jalopy, but it’d be nice to have at least a little exposition of who this guy is, and why i’m watching him. i love boingboing tv…it’s just that it seems less like tv, and more like a youtube video clip.
I believe that was a Curta Type 2 calculator that Mr. Jalopy was holding?
SWEET.
http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/curta2.html
Whatever you’ve done to the mp4 format recently, the last few videos no longer play on my AppleTV.
I would have liked have a few more seconds of video (maybe close-up on the radio + music) and a fade out before the – rather sudden – end. But otherwise: great episode, keep ‘em coming.
Hmm, not sure I’m into the showing of the title sequence twice. I mean, your branding is cool but if I’ve already seen it in the last 5 minutes it’s just going to annoy me.
Like the show a lot. Can I suggest, though, applying de-interlacing? Anything with fast movement (especially handheld video like this one) looks bad on a computer due to combing artifacts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinterlacing
If you’re editing with Final Cut Pro, you could try Effects > Video Filters > Video > Flicker Filter first.
That’s fun, but i think a “boingboing Admin haircuts” thread is needed?
I’ve been reading & enjoying Hooptyrides for a long time, and have never seen a photo of Mr. Jalopy. I’ve always pictured him as a 50-ish fat guy with long hair and a gravelly voice. I’m feeling a little let down. I’m also at a loss to understand why having an old Studebaker engine running in the corner is a cool thing; if it were doing something useful, maybe, but…
I’m afraid my experience has been forever altered. Sigh.
@nicerobot, thanks for the heads up! We boosted the video quality a little too much in the last two episodes, and discovered that this causes problems for iPhone and Apple TV. We’ve dialed back the quality now, within the acceptable range for those platforms — if you feel like re-downloading now (422pm Wed 7 11), all should be well. Again thanks, and sorry for the technical problem.
Anyone happen to know the song that his nifty radio plays at the beginning and at the end?