VINTAGE CHEVY BOMBS...
THE ATOMIC KIND
Throwin wrenches a visiting blogs post on the cars that gave their lives for science and the cold war during the weapon effects tests.
A 1949 Chevrolet Styline DeLuxe sedan, aka Operation Doorstep Test Car #3. Throwin wrenches @blogspot.com wrote this article |
Its been quite ye a few years since we blew up big bombs and drove real cars on pure not fucked with gasoline cheap as water! All you too cool for history millenials and 90s generation hipsters never bought a gallon of gas under a buck or drove one of these Beautiful all metal..... Not car but Automobile because they are so different then what constitutes a car today. These things driving down the road are not what the designers of yesterday had in mind for American consumers. Cars we bought for 100 bucks as our first cars Built tough they survived weapon testing and prob ably are in one piece still in the ground. Had we used todays cars there would be puddles of plastic blobs that never would of hardened in the desert sun if they weren't buried they would of remained soft enough to push sticks into the mass of plastic. Most of us would give our arms for those cars on the flats today even the four door models,.hell id even take it with the number on it.
I wrote an article on here about NYC MANNEQUINS VOLUNTEER FOR ATOMIC TESTS, It was a short blog piece on the department store mannequins that were sent from all over to populate the houses and even the cars in the tests, i also did one on Civil Defense Ice Cream Trucks and it included links to various stories related i decided to post up throwin wrenches piece on the blog because i thought it deserved more recognition, and i liked the piece. I tried to contact them to let them know a poorly written blog that english majors love to point out the thousands of grammar mistakes not to mention the freakin millenial douchebag e bay collector civil know it alls who love to correct history guys its cold war civil defense not ww2 stuff so please this year has bee n hell and last february the world seemed ok by the end we were barricaded indoors from a plauge from china we had grimy dirtbags marchin down streets chanting dead crimi nals names like they were a holy apostle and then flippin on tthe police beating and killing them and burning down cities while certain people cheered this loser shit on and screwed up an election and elected forrest gump the loser version. God almighty is it the end i thought we would go in a very quick flash of light vaporized but it looks like wd are all going to suffer for years to come,
This article was linked to a story i did on civil defense ice cream trucks i thought it was a good reminder of good things lol no no i liked the story i tried to contact them but no answer. Check out their blog a automobile themed blog called throwinwrenches@blogspot.com
Check em out and tell them you saw their post on a blog blah blah blah, bit really check it out. I hope everybody is healthy and alive and stays aware of whats going on. Its crazy. Forget the news lose yourself in a good book on the cold war or along those lines visit a abandoned cold war nike missile site or bunker stay busy and safe! Now the blog post as written by throwin wrenches.
VINTAGE CHEVY BOMBS...
THE ATOMIC KIND
Today, an antique car with some flair and a period low-slung look is commonly referred to as a "bomb". Many enthusiasts prefer a lowered, mid 1930's to early 1950's Chevrolet to customize into their "bomb" of choice, and generally they retain the original features of the cars such as paint color and interiors while lowering and adding modest personal touches. This post isn't about those cars. This post is about vintage Chevrolets that actually had atomic bombs detonated above them in March of 1953.
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March of 1953 was a simpler time, right? Patti Page's "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?" was climbing up the record charts. The Cold War was gearing up, and the US was playing with thermonuclear weapons in the Nevada desert while military and civilians roamed around the area. Sounds like the good old days.
As part of the series of U.S. atomic weapons tests carried out that month nicknamed Upshot-Knothole, there was a test called "Annie" that involved atmospheric detonation of a 16 kiloton atomic bomb from a 300 foot tower. This test was part of 11 tests at the Nevada Test Site executed between March and June of 1953, and shot "Annie" was unique. It would mark the first time that civilians would be allowed to witness such a test in person, and on television.
In conjunction with the Federal Civil Defense Administration, a related study called "Operation Doorstep" used the "Annie" test to evaluate the effects of atomic blasts and radiation on common items Americans used in their daily lives. Power lines, electrical and phone substations, houses and even automobiles. We've all seen the iconic image of the house exploding during this test...
Its been part of rock & roll music videos, pop art, and Indiana Jones even made reference to this test in his last film, but that movie was so terrible I won't mention it anymore.
Insert Your Favorite Nuclear Family Joke Here. |
In addition to the houses and mannequin families, there were 50 new and used cars and trucks that made it onto the Yucca Flats site to get a nuclear make-over. I hadn't learned about the automobiles until recently, when images started surfacing on classic car websites. I recognized some of the landscape and knew exactly what had happened to them. Below are a few of the Chevrolets that died in the name of science. Its sad to note than most of them are 1947 models, which pulls on my heartstrings a wee bit.
That's the history behind the strange car photos from the desert. As far as I know, the debris from these tests was analyzed and buried out in the Nevada test site. Atmospheric tests were banned after 1963 and now we probably do something equally as scarey without anyone knowing about it.
If you'll excuse me, I need to run out to the garage & give my old Chevy a few pats for good measure, and run the Geiger counter over it to make sure it doesn't click. You never know where some of those rust-free eBay auto parts came from..