Turin Shroud mystery

 

Turin Shroud mystery 'solved': Infrared tests show ancient cloth may NOT be a medieval fake after all... and could have been used to wrap Christ's body Infra red tests dated the cloth to some time between 300BC and 400AD The shroud will appear in a live TV broadcast on Saturday Just in time for Easter a new study has claimed that the Shroud of Turin is a not a medieval forgery but could - in fact - be the burial shroud that was used to wrap the body of Christ. The cloth’s consistency is similar to those used to bury the dead at the time of Christ, 2,000 years ago, according to the latest scientific studies. Details of the research have emerged in a book and come ahead of Saturday's rare glimpse of the Shroud, when TV cameras will film it as part of a live broadcast ahead of Easter Sunday. Separated at birth: Split screen showing the likeness between the Turin Shroud and a portrait by Leonardo da Vinci For centuries scientists have argued about the authenticity of the Shroud - which is kept in a secure vault in Turin Cathedral - and it has become one of the most iconic images of the Roman Catholic faith. The 14ft-long linen cloth bears the faint image of the front and back of a tall, long-haired, bearded man and appears to be stained by blood from wounds in his feet, wrists and sides that match those suffered by Christ at his Crucifixion.The findings are in a new book called Il Mistero della Sindone (The Mystery of the Shroud) which is published on Good Friday. The authors, Professor Giulio Fanti, an expert in mechanical and thermal measurement at the University of Padua’s Engineering Faculty and journalist Saverio Gaeta, examined fibres from the Shroud and compared them to samples of cloth dating back to between 3000BC and up to the modern era to contrast them and see if it is a Medieval forgery. Key to the findings are three new tests, two chemical ones and one mechanical, the first two were carried out using infra-red light, and the other using Raman spectroscopy - which measures radiation through wavelengths and is commonly used in forensic science. Has Turin Shroud mystery been solved? 14ft-long linen cloth, pictured above left in 1934, bears the faint image of the front and back of a tall, long-haired, bearded man and appears to be stained by blood from wounds in his feet, wrists and sides that match those suffered by Christ at his Crucifixion The results dated the fibres from the cloth to a period between 300BC to 400AD, which covers the years of Christ's life. Debate has raged whether the image is that of Christ or a fake from the Middle Ages. But what is certain is that experts have never really been able to explain how the image was made. Carbon 14 tests were conducted on the cloth in 1988 and these findings suggested it dated from between 1260 and 1390. However, some scientists have since claimed that contamination over the ages from water damage and fire, were not taken sufficiently into account and could have distorted the results. Since then, there have been several requests for fresh tests but Church chiefs have always refused - and this is why Professor Fanti and his team had to rely on fibres that were used in the 1988 tests. Before he retired last month pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave permission for the Shroud to go on display as a 'last gift’ to the millions of Catholics before he retired from public office. Thirteen years ago when he was plain cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict wrote that the shroud was a ‘truly mysterious image, which no human artistry was capable of producing. In some inexplicable it appeared imprinted upon cloth...’ Italian state TV will broadcast footage of the Shroud but it is not thought that general public access will be allowed until 2025, the date of the next scheduled display. As part of the TV broadcast, a new app called Sindone 2.0 has been developed, showing a series of HD images of the shroud which highlight details of the cloth not visible to the naked eye. WHAT IS THE TURIN SHROUD? The linen cloth, believed by some to have wrapped the body of Jesus Christ, has captivated the imagination of historians, church chiefs, sceptics and Catholics for more than 500 years. There are no definite historical records concerning the shroud prior to the 14th century. Although there are numerous reports of Jesus' burial shroud, or an image of his head, of unknown origin, being venerated in various locations before the 14th century. But there is no historical evidence that these refer to the shroud currently at Turin Cathedral. A burial cloth, which some historians maintain was the Shroud, was owned by the Byzantine emperors but disappeared during the Sack of Constantinople in 1204. Historical records seem to indicate that a shroud bearing an image of a crucified man existed in the small town of Lirey around the years 1353 to 1357. It was in the possession of a French Knight, Geoffroi de Charny, who died at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. However the correspondence of this shroud with the shroud in Turin, and its very origin has been debated by scholars and lay authors, with claims of forgery attributed to artists born a century apart. Some contend that the Lirey shroud was the work of a confessed forger and murderer. The history of the shroud from the 15th century is well recorded. In 1532, the shroud suffered damage from a fire in a chapel of Chambéry, capital of the Savoy region, where it was stored. A drop of molten silver from the reliquary produced a symmetrically placed mark through the layers of the folded cloth. Poor Clare Nuns attempted to repair this damage with patches. In 1578 Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy ordered the cloth to be brought from Chambéry to Turin and it has remained at Turin ever since. The shroud has had many notorious admirers. It even obsessed Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who wanted to steal it so he could use it in a black magic ceremony. In May 2010, five years after he became Pope, Benedict authorised a public viewing of the Shroud - the first since 2000 and also 15 years ahead of its next scheduled public display. Turin Shroud 'was created by flash of supernatural light': It couldn't be a medieval forgery, say scientistsThe image on the Turin Shroud could not be the  work of medieval forgers but was instead caused by a supernatural ‘flash of light’, according to scientists. Italian researchers have found evidence that casts doubt on claims that the relic – said to be the burial cloth of Jesus – is a fake and they suggest that it could, after all, be authentic. Sceptics have long argued that the shroud, a rectangular sheet measuring about 14ft by 3ft, is a forgery dating to medieval times. Scientists in Italy believe the kind of technology needed to create the Shroud of Turin simply wasn't around at the time that it was created Scientists from Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development spent years trying to replicate the shroud’s markings. They have concluded only something akin to ultraviolet lasers – far beyond the capability of medieval forgers – could have created them.This has led to fresh suggestions that the imprint was indeed created by a huge burst of energy accompanying the Resurrection of Christ. ‘The results show a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin,’ the scientists said. WHAT IS THE TURIN SHROUD? The Vatican owns the Turin shroud, and hails the relic as an exploration of the ‘darkest mystery of faith’. But the church has shied away from any definitive statement over whether the shroud - which is supposed to have formed Christ's burial robe - is real. The Shroud is thought to have travelled widely before it was brought to France in the 14th century by a Crusader. It was kept in a French convent for years - by nuns who patched it, and where it was damaged by fire. The Shroud was given to the Turin Archbishop in 1578 by the Duke of Savoy and has been kept in the Cathedral ever since. Carbon dating tests in 1988 dated it from between 1260 and 1390 - implying it was a fake. Scientists have since claimed that contamination over the ages from patches, water damage and fire, was not taken sufficiently into account In 1999, two Israeli scientists said plant pollen found on the Shroud supported the view that it comes from the Holy Land. There have been numerous calls for further testing but the Vatican has always refused. The image of the bearded man on the shroud must therefore have been created by ‘some form of electromagnetic energy (such as a flash of light at short wavelength)’, their report concludes. But it stops short of offering a non-scientific explanation. Professor Paolo Di Lazzaro, who led the study, said: ‘When one talks about a flash of light being able to colour a piece of linen in the same way as the shroud, discussion inevitably touches on things such as miracles. ‘But as scientists, we were concerned only with verifiable scientific processes. We hope our results can open up a philosophical and theological debate.’ For centuries, people have argued about the authenticity of the shroud, which is kept in a climate-controlled case in Turin cathedral. One of the most controversial relics in the Christian world, it bears the faint image of a man whose body appears to have nail wounds to the wrists and feet. Some believe it to be a physical link to Jesus of Nazareth. For others, however, it is nothing more than an elaborate forgery. In 1988, radiocarbon tests on samples of the shroud at the University of Oxford, the University of Arizona, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology dated the cloth to the Middle Ages, between 1260 and 1390. Those tests have been disputed on the basis that they were contaminated by fibres from cloth used to repair the shroud when it was damaged by fire in the Middle Ages. More recently, further doubt was cast on its authenticity when Israeli archaeologists uncovered the first known burial shroud in Jerusalem from the time of the Crucifixion. Its weave and design are completely different from the Turin Shroud, they said. The Jerusalem shroud has a simple two-way weave – but the twill weave used on the Turin Shroud was introduced more than 1,000 years after Christ lived. That research was disputed, however, because there was a possibility of contamination from patches of cloth that had been sewn on following a fire in Chambery, France, in 1532 The Resurrection of Christ, 1463-65, fresco by Piero della Francesca: The Vatican - which owns the Turin shroud - shies away from statements over whether it is real or fake, but says it helps to explore the 'darkest mysteries of faith' Carbon dating tests carried out in 1988 in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona suggested that the shroud was created some time between 1260 and 1390

HOLY TURIN SHROUD MYSTERY  shows the Holy Shroud, a 14 foot-long linen revered by some as the burial cloth of Jesus, displayed at the Cathedral of Turin, Italy. The long linen with the faded image of a bearded man is the object of centuries-old fascination and wonderment, and closely kept under wrap. Now, for six weeks, both the curious and those convinced the Turin Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ can have a brief look. By late March, 1.3 million people had reserved their three-to-five-minute chance to gaze at the cloth, which is kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case. Organizers said earlier this year they hoped some 2 million pilgrims and tourists would see the linen during the special viewing from Saturday April 10 to May 23. The Turin Shroud DOES have miraculous powers... whether it is genuine or not Italian scientists claim shroud was created by 'supernatural event' as burst of ultra-violet light necessary to leave imprint on cloth wasn't then possible Implication from research is that image of Jesus was scorched onto linen by divinely generated light given out by His body Shroud believers welcome new scientific research 'proving' its existence But Vatican still refuses to comment on the long-running saga Puzzle: The Turin Shroud's origin is endlessly debated. Still, the Catholic Church has placed the cloth in a cathedral as an object of worship The Catholic Church has never publicly accepted or rejected popular belief that the Turin Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. But it has done everything short of that to encourage devotion to this ancient piece of linen, on display in Turin Cathedral, which bears the markings of a man who appears to have been crucified. The extraordinary sepia image on the cloth is simply — as Pope Benedict XVI likes to put it in that careful, precise way of his — ‘an image that reminds us always of Christ’s suffering’. Yet, this week, a group of Italian scientists claimed the shroud was created by a ‘supernatural event’ rather than the machinations of medieval forgers. The academics concluded that the sort of burst of ultra-violet light necessary to have left such an imprint on the cloth just wasn’t possible by any human endeavour in any age other than our own technically advanced one with its access to lasers. The implication of their findings is that the image was scorched on to the linen as a result of a divinely generated light given out by Jesus’s body when he rose from the dead. Believers in the shroud hail the research by scientists at Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) as proof that it is genuinely the cloth of Christ. They claim it backs up the work of a group of American scientists from the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) from the Seventies. These scientists established by careful analysis of the fibres of the cloth that the image of the bearded, crucified man had not been painted on to the cloth. It was not, they concluded, ‘a natural formation’. Science, say the believers, appears to have provided no reasonable answer to counter the belief of generations of Christians that this is the image of Christ on the shroud in which his body was wrapped when it was taken down from the cross. Scientists in Italy believe the kind of technology needed to create the Shroud of Turin simply wasn't around at the time that it was created. Still the Vatican steadfastly refuses to be drawn again into the saga And yet, despite this latest research supposedly proving its authenticity, the Vatican has steadfastly refused to be drawn again into the long-running saga of the shroud. The question is why. Why, if the science seems so certain, won’t the Catholic Church endorse this piece of cloth as the genuine article? One reason is that the new research still cannot get round the main stumbling block when it comes to proving the shroud’s authenticity. In 1988, three separate and internationally acclaimed laboratories in Zurich, Oxford and Arizona carbon-dated samples of the cloth, provided by the Church, and came up with 1260 to 1390 as its probable date of origin. In other words, that research showed it to be a medieval forgery. And in the 23 years since,  the best that the shroud’s devotees have come up with to counter this incontrovertible fact is a theory that all three samples that were carbon-dated were contaminated — that they contained rogue fibres from later medieval attempts to patch and mend the original shroud. There are plenty of papers that try to make this thesis stand up, but the overall impression is of whistling in the wind. So why do people flock to see the shroud on the rare occasions it is put on public show in its glass, climate- controlled display case? The most straightforward answer is that we like a mystery and this one is about as tantalising as it gets. For just as the Church has never felt able to pronounce definitively on the shroud, neither has science come up with a water-tight theory as to exactly what it is and how the image came about. The shroud therefore exists in a kind of middle ground — where we can all pronounce our own verdict. But once you start considering the possibilities of how it was created, you immediately get in a tangle. If it is a medieval forgery, then how can its image have been created by methods beyond the wit of humankind at that time? Why do people flock to see the shroud? We like mystery. Since neither the church nor science have come up with a definitive answer, the shroud exists in middle ground, where we can make our own verdict One of the most intriguing aspects is that the image of Christ is hard to pick out with the naked eye in the sepia markings on the cloth, which is 4½m long and just over a metre in width. But, when at the very end of the 19th century, a photographic negative of the image was first produced, it looked every inch like the face of Christ. How could a medieval forger have produced something so exact 500 years before the technology existed to make a negative image? Yet the sceptics could easily counter this with an argument of their own. Even if the shroud is really 2,000 years old and the carbon-dating laboratories mistaken, they point out what is there to link it to Jesus? Crucifixion was a common method of putting criminals to death back under the Romans. This might just as well be the funeral wrappings of a run-of-the-mill murderer or thief. Indeed, one theory popular among supporters of the medieval forgery theory is that it was made centuries after the death of Christ by crucifying someone in exactly the same manner as described in the Gospel accounts and then wrapping the victim in a shroud. The further you go into this mystery, the murkier the waters become. And if you go so far as to visit Turin (for 500 years the shroud belonged to the locally based royal house of Savoy) and stand in front of the display case, there is undeniably a certain awe about this object. The Resurrection of Christ, 1463-65, fresco by Piero della Francesca: The Vatican - which owns the Turin shroud - shies away from statements over whether it is real or fake, but says it helps to explore the 'darkest mysteries of faith' It springs, to my mind, not from any air of authenticity that the object itself radiates, but from the knowledge that for centuries people have been making precisely the same pilgrimage as I and so many others have done to gaze at this piece of cloth. It stems from the fact that they have harboured exactly the same hopes that by doing so, somehow, they will be able to reach a final conclusion on the truth or not of the very claims of Christianity. How comforting it would be to know, for sure, if there is a God. What is important today about the shroud is not whether it is genuinely the burial cloth of Jesus — we are never going to reach a consensus on that — but rather that over many centuries people have believed in it. It is this history of belief that is the really powerful thing. At a stroke it carries us back through centuries of Christianity and connects our sceptical, secular and scientific age with an earlier epoch of miracles and faith. This is why the Catholic Church refuse to be drawn on the Turin Shroud. As Pope Benedict says, it is an extraordinarily powerful image of Christ’s suffering —  and made so because of the faith people have in it, whether it is genuine or not. On its own, the shroud is never going to be enough to legitimise belief in the core tenet of Christianity — the Resurrection of Jesus. But nevertheless, it is a powerful focus for our thoughts on the subject — a symbol of the hopes of so many who embrace Christianity without any conclusive proof other than their own belief. And that, surely, is the point about religion — a point we are in danger of missing now that every belief and theory is judged to be worthless unless it can be put under a microscope by scientists and proved, irrefutably, to be true. Some things, some important things, just don’t fit into this rigid, logical model of the world. Science, as the saga of the shroud epitomises, can never get to the bottom of faith.   Was Jesus crucified with his arms ABOVE his head? Turin Shroud hints crucifixion was more painful than traditionally thought The Shroud of Turin, which appears to show crucified man, suggests that the victim was suspended from a cross in a Y-shape, scientists claim Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Pavia, Italy, used donated blood to simulate blood trickling down arms It is not known whether the Shroud is medieval or is older, but it could suggest that many artworks showing the death of Christ are inaccurate For centuries the Church has largely depicted the crucifixion of Christ with his arms outstretched horizontally on a cross. But scientists believe that death by crucifixion may have been even crueller, and that a victim’s arms were probably nailed above their head. An international team studying the Shroud of Turin, which appears to depict a man who was put to death by crucifixion, said that no matter who created it, the artefact suggests that the practice involved a victim who was suspended in a Y-shape. Scroll down for video +7 Unshrouded? An international team of scientists studying the Shroud of Turin (pictured), which appears to depict a man who was put to death by crucifixion, said that whoever created it suggests that the practice involved a victim being suspended in a Y-shape. They came to this conclusion after studying lines of 'blood' down the arms, which can be seen in this image WHAT IS THE TURN SHROUD? The Shroud is a 14ft (4.3 metre) long piece of linen that appears to show the faint imprint of a man bearing wounds consistent with crucifixion. Some people believe it shows the image of Jesus of Nazareth, while others think it is a medieval forgery of cloth wrapped around a body after crucifixion. The Shroud is the most studied artefact in human history but its age remains in dispute. Radiocarbon dating of the cloth carried out by the University of Oxford in 1998 found it was only 728 years old. But a recent study claims that an earthquake in Jerusalem in 33AD that could have created the image and skewed dating results. Professor Alberto Carpinteri, from the Politecnico di Torino, said: 'We believe it is possible that neutron emissions by earthquakes could have induced the image formation on the Shroud's linen fibres, through thermal neutron capture on nitrogen nuclei, and could also have caused a wrong radiocarbon dating,' The Telegraphreported. The Shroud has attracted widespread interest ever since Secondo Pia took the first photograph of it in 1898 which showed details which could not be seen by the naked eye. The Vatican has never said whether it believes the shroud to be authentic. The Shroud of Turin is the most studied artefact in history and opinion is divided as to whether it was created in medieval times as a kind of hoax or whether it really shows the face of Jesus of Nazareth, as some believe. Whatever the case, the linen cloth, which is imprinted with the faint image of a naked man, seems to show lines of blood that have streamed down his arms as well as other wounds. Regardless of whether the Shroud is Biblical or medieval, Matteo Borrini at Liverpool John Moores University told New Scientist that ‘it’s a very interesting piece of art and human ingenuity’. He set out to find whether the ‘bloodstains’ on the left arm matched up with the flow of blood from a crucified person. To investigate, another researcher from the University of Pavia, Italy, assumed different crucifixion poses while donated blood trickled down his arm from a place where the shroud shows a nail was hammered through the hand. The duo found that the ‘blood’ marks on the shroud correspond to a crucifixion – but only if a person was nailed onto a cross in a ‘Y’ position instead of a ‘T’ position, as depicted in most Christian art. +7 The scientists set out to find whether the 'bloodstains' on the Turin Shroud flow of blood from a crucified person. By safely simulating different positions of crucifixion they worked out that the man wrapped in the legendary cloth must have been crucified in a Y-shape position, pictured right Was Jesus crucified with his arms ABOVE his head? +7 The majority of Christian art shows Jesus stretched into a T-shaped position on the cross, such as this famous painting by Andrea Mantegna, which is housed in Musee du Louvre, Paris   Some artists have chosen to represent Jesus on the cross with his hands nailed above his head, such Jacob Jordaens' Crucificon scene (pictured left)  which was painted in the 17th Century, with other artists choosing to show Christ's arms in a shallow V-shape, like Diego Velazquez's image painted at around the same time Dr Borrini said: ‘This would have been a very painful position and one which would have created difficulty breathing.’ It is thought that someone crucified in a ‘Y’ position would have died from asphyxiation. +7 The imprint on the Shroud does not correspond with many traditional artistic images of crucifixion but Peter Paul Reubens - a 16th century Flemish painter - shows Jesus crucified in a Y-shape. His painting, 'Descent from the Cross' is pictured He explained to a February meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Seattle that similar positions were used in medieval torture, where victims were suspended from a beam from their wrists, which were tied with rope. So if the Shroud is indeed a medieval forgery, it may be an interpretation of contemporary practice, rather than that of Biblical times. The results of the experiment back up earlier work by a Massachusetts-based doctor called Gilbert Lavoie who suggested that the person depicted in the shroud was crucified in a Y-shape. In his study, Dr Lavoie said: ‘The blood-flow is absolutely consistent with what you see on the Shroud.' Danish doctor Niels Svensson, who has studied the Shroud, said: ‘The imprint on the Shroud does not correspond with many traditional artistic images of crucifixion.’ While the majority of Christian art shows Jesus stretched into a T-shaped position on the cross, some painters, including Peter Paul Rubens, depicted Christ with his arms above his head on the cross. Dr Borrini believes that the person who made the shroud must have been a skilled forger (if it is not 'real') to show the correct blood spatter for a crucifixion – or they stumbled across it by chance. ‘It could be that the artist just decided to draw the rivulets of blood parallel to the arms for artistic reasons,’ he said. THE PAIN AND SUFFERING INFLICTED BY CRUCIFIXION In Roman times there was a common way to put people on the cross, Matteo Borrini told MailOnline. ‘The vertical stake was fixed to the soil in an area usually devoted to capital punishments, while the horizontal branch, called the patibulum, was carried on by the person who was to be crucified.’ ‘Theoretically this was the rule, but Roman historian Josephus (Giuseppe Flavio) reported how in  the war against Gerusalem  in 70 AD,Roman soldiers enjoyed crucifying prisoners on trees in the most painful and strange positions.’ Dr Borrini explained that there are only short passages of writing from ancient authors about crucifixion, probably because the technique was a well-known way to sentence someone to death – ‘but it was also a very infamous way to die.’ Dr Frederick Zugibe conducted ‘extensive suspension studies’ that explained the higher the upper limbs are, more painful the ‘Y’ position is. Dr Borrini said: ‘We can imagine that it became more difficult for the subject to breath, but this problem could be avoided or partially reduced allowing the prisoner to have a rest thanks to the sedile - a small step behind his pelvis - that could be used as a sort of chair. ‘We have some reports of cruciarii (victim of crucifixion) that stayed on the cross for some days and this could be related to the use of the sedile,’ he said. The reason for the procedure was likely not merciful but designed to prolong the pain of the victim and their exposure to the sun, as well as their humiliation ‘partially starving him but also creating muscular pain to him due to the uncomfortable position of upper and lower limbs’. If authorities wanted the victim’s death to be quicker, they might have positioned them in a high ‘Y’ position and broken their legs, which would have increased breathing difficulty and accelerated death, Dr Borrini explained. Dr Zugibe said in his research that this approach was a way to create a fatal shock in the prisoner. +7 Brutal: In the experiment, a researcher from the University of Pavia, Italy, assumed different crucifixion poses while donated blood trickled down his arm from a place where the Shroud shows a nail was hammered through the man's hand (pictured)

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How About Using The Bourke Engine For The Flying Car

 

 

Flying CAR makes aviation history by taking its first public flights The £190,000 ($300,00) Transition is part-sedan, part-private jet It made two 20-minute flight demonstrations at the EAA AirVenture show The Terrafugia Transition vehicle is due to go on sale in 2015 A flying car from Massachusetts-based firm Chas made its first public flight, soaring for 20 minutes in front of aviation enthusiasts in Wisconsin. The Transition vehicle is part-sedan, part-private jet and is due to go on sale as early as 2015. It was driven around the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh air show in July before transitioning into the jet and taking off on two 20-minute flight demonstrations.   A flying car, pictured, from Massachusetts-based firm Terrafugia has made its first public flight, soaring for a total of 40 minutes over the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh aviation show in Wisconsin The Transition is part-sedan, part-private jet and is due to go on sale in 2015. The cockpit, pictured, has two seats and four wheels. It has wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car and can carry luggage. The vehicle runs on unleaded petrol TRANSITION SPECIFICATIONS The Transition can reach speeds of around 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 in the air. It flies using a 23-gallon tank of automotive fuel and burns 5 gallons per hour in the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon. It has rear-wheel drive when on the road. The Transition comes with two passenger airbags, and a full-vehicle parachute. Terrafugia's Transition has been in development for seven years and during flight testing last year, it successfully flew for eight minutes. The Terrafugia has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. It can carry two people, including the pilot, plus luggage and runs on unleaded petrol. In a statement, the company said: 'Terrafugia made a dream come true at this year's EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. 'The Transition performed its first public demonstrations for the aviation community during the show. 'Flown and driven by Phil Meteer, our Chief Test Pilot and Flight Test Coordinator, the Transition showed the crowd what it's capable of. 'The 20-minute demonstrations included flight manoeuvres over the show centre, converting from airplane to car, and driving along the flight line.' Transition is considered to be a light sports plane by the U.S Federal Aviation Administration, as well as being a road car. Owners will have to have pilot's licenses, and will need to pass a test, plus complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the car. First public flight of Terrafugia flying car Despite the advances in technology the Transition demonstrates, critics have said that it is still not the vision of flying cars seen in many sci-fi films. To answer these critics, Terrafugia also released designs for a TF-X Model of its Transition range in May. The TF-X model will be small enough to fit in a garage and won't need a runway to take off. Whereas the Transition requires a runway, the TF-X can take off from a vertical position because of motorised rotors on the wings. These rotors will work in a similar way to helicopter rotors. This shot was taken by a camera fixed to one of the Transition's wing during its public flight over Wisconsin. The 20-minute demonstrations included flight manoeuvres over the show centre, converting from airplane to car, and driving along the flight line The Transition flying car, built by Terrafugia, making a banking turn in the sky above Massachusetts. The car flew for eight minutes at 1,400 feet during test flights last year, before completing the public flights in Wisconsin in July This shot shows the Transition plane switching from drive mode to fly mode. The wings fold into the side of the car, built from a Sedan design. You can only take off in the Transition from a runway. The Transition has a maximum flight speed of 115mph Being able to take off from standstill means owners will be able to go from the road to the air straight from their driveways, car parks and even when stuck in traffic. Although you will still need at least 100 feet in diameter in order to open the wings. According to Terrafugia, the vehicle will carry four people 'in car-like comfort'. It is expected to be able to fly, nonstop, for 500 miles. Refuelling: A Terrafugia test pilot fills up the Transition flying car with petrol. The Transition can hold 23 gallons of usable fuel and uses 5gph during flight When the TF-X - a new flying car design announced by Massachusetts-based firm Terrafugia - is in drive mode, the wings fold into the side of the car and the rotors, which make it possible to take off in the TF-X from standing still, also fold away and tuck into the chassis When the wings are folded away, the TF-X will be small enough to fit in a single-car garage. Terrafugia announced plans for the TF-X today and is hoping it will be road-ready in 12 years The TF-X model has not been tested yet, and prices haven't been announced. Terrafugia hopes to have working models of the TF-X available for sale within eight to 12 years. Like with the Transition, pilots will need 20 hours of flying and a pilot's licence to drive it, though. The flying car has always had a special place in the American imagination. Inventors have been trying to make them since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst who owns R.W. Mann & Co. in Port Washington, New York. But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying cars a reality. The government has already granted the company's request to use special tires and glass that are lighter than normal automotive ones, to make it easier for the vehicle to fly. Around town: When its not soaring in the air, the Transition's wings fold up to make it a road-ready two-seat car Special rules: The federal government has eased certain regulations to allow vehicles like the Transition to come closer to reality The government has also temporarily exempted the Transition from the requirement to equip vehicles with electronic stability control, which would add about six pounds to the vehicle. Mann said Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration's decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft. The standards govern the size and speed of the plane and licensing requirements for pilots, which are less restrictive than requirements for pilots of larger planes. Imaginative: Inventors and engineers have been working on the flying car concept since the 1930s. Here, a 1947 Convair Model 118 ConvAirCar is seen in flight Unholy alliance: The 1973 AVE Mizar attached a Cessna Skymaster airframe to a Ford Pinto. Its inventor was killed when the wings collapsed during a test flight First generation: The 1930s Waterman Aerobile was the first simple flying car to successfully be produced (five were built) and flown Mann questions the size of the market for the Transition. The general aviation market has been in decline for two decades, he said, largely because of fuel costs and the high cost of liability for manufacturers. Also, fewer people are learning how to fly. 'This is not going to be an inexpensive aircraft to produce or market,' he said. 'It has some uniqueness, and will get some sales, but the question is, could it ever be a profitable enterprise?' Mann sees the western US as the most likely market, where people could fly instead of driving long distances. Terrafugia has been working on flying cars since 2006, and has already pushed back the launch once. Last summer the company said it would have to delay expected 2011 deliveries due to design challenges and problems with parts suppliers.   The Bourke Engine Could Revolutionize Private Aviation   The Bourke One Cycle Engine by Yukon Jack Bourke is to engines as Tesla is to alternators, this was no accident, Robert Bourke taught engine maintenance at the Unites States Air Service School at Kelly Field, Texas in 1918. He fully understood the theoretical limitations of the Otto 4 cycle and sought a simpler design and for years worked on the problem until 1932 when he built a working prototype. Bourke set out to overcome the complex design of gasoline engines, he succeeded. The Army Air Force was impressed and awarded him a contract to build an aviation prototype. According to legend he did and connected a wooden prop to the crank, when he gunned the engine the torque was so great the prop sheered, the blades could not keep up with the engine RPM acceleration. No real pilot ever complains about to much thrust, the rapid acceleration of a Bourke engine can be overcome with a gear box or throttle acceleration limiter. The Bourke design is considered by some to be a ‘one-stroke’ engine. Every half turn of the engine, or 180 degrees of revolution, the engine has a power stroke, this is compared to a 2-stroke engine that fires every 360 degrees and 4-stroke every 2 revolutions, or 720 degrees.  Bourke’s engine is simple compared to high performance aircraft radial engines: http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/images/pages/Bourke-engine-animation-text.gif https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4bNOLdhchA The Bourke engine lacks the many parts of regular 4 stroke piston engines, there’s no valves or rocker arms, camshaft, springs or precision ground valve seats. Even the flywheel has been eliminated because the engine is balanced at all crank angles. In fact there are only two moving internal parts, the piston – rod – Scottish yoke and the crank – bearing assemblies. Disassembled Bourke engine. Requires only one wrench. Disassembling the engine is very easy and requires only one wrench on easy to reach external flange nuts. There is no head or head gasket, the piston sleeve is a jug just like a 2-cycle engine sealed with an O-ring, the piston rods are solid and immovable, there is no piston pin or lower bearing cap. With an impact wrench or ratchet the entire overhaul disassembly in accomplished less than 5 minutes. No special torx driver or extension needed to remove the jugs like many modern 2 cycle engines, the large macro size bolts are a breeze to remove. The Bourke engine is so simple you’ll say “It can’t be that simple”, but it is. The crank is enclosed and is isolated from piston ring blowby thus this engine doesn’t require an oil filter! The piston rods go through the crank housing, keeping the pistons isolated from the crank oil. The engine is rugged, the piston cylindrical  rod is supported at two points, the rod is a straight throw, there is no piston slap or cylinder wear. Thermal Efficiency The four stroke piston engine is a thing of wonder, so many moving parts and precision, it is amazing they work as well as they do, they produce lots of torque but they are not thermally efficient. Even with all of the modern improvements of controlled combustion and Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system, a modern gasoline engine is unable to use 25-35% of the available heat in a gallon of gasoline. Modern car engines also require high octane fuel, but not the Bourke engine, it runs smoothly on low grade fuels, even 20 Octane, hydrogen or highly diluted alcohols! The Bourke engine has cool exhaust, what this implies is very impressive thermal efficiency. The reason for this is the incredibly long  ‘dwell’ angle as the piston pauses at TDC longer because of the Scottish Yoke design. Because of this inherent design and very high 15:1 to 24:1 compression ratio, the fuel is burned before the piston reacts, thus Bourke’s engine is similar to a gun firing a projectile, as the hot burnt gas expands the temperature cools, to the point that during the exhaust stroke the gas is cool enough to touch at the exhaust port. Regular engines are still combusting during the power stroke but Bourke’s engine burns most of the fuel before the piston starts the power stroke. Lower compression gasoline engines (8:1) are not good at complete combustion.  In fact at car races you can see flame shooting out the exhaust pipes – the fuel is still burning even as it is exits the cylinder and is vented to the atmosphere.  I’ve worked on  pickups that had pollution control sparkplugs that fired on the exhaust stroke, or at classic car shows where the rat rods shoot a flame out the tail pipe.  Diesel engines have compressions of 20:1, thus they don’t require sparkplugs and radiators require covers during cold weather.  Bourke’s engine has thermal results like a diesel engine burning low grade fuels. Low Grade Fuels Burning hydrocarbons burn better when all the molecules are squished together and Bourke’s engine allows the combustion to reach completion because of the long dwell at TDC. With higher compression you can also burn crappier lower cost fuels or cut fuels. You may be able to cut (dilute) gasoline with water if you add alcohol which dissolves water and mixes well will gasoline. Or you may be able to get combustion on alcohols heavily diluted with water. You can check this out for yourself, go to the store and get some straight grain alcohol (200 proof ethyl alcohol) or 90% isopropyl rubbing alcohol then cut it with water in different test amounts, alcohol will burn with water. Wine or beer won’t burn because the alcohol is only 5-12% unless you heat it, the flash point of ordinary wine containing 12.5% ethanol is 126 °F. Chefs like to impress diners with burning wine flambe, table wine poured into a hot skillet will burn.  With sufficient compression and heat even wine will burn. Test Results The engine can run at 20,000 RPM. After 2,000 hours the engine shows no cylinder wear.  Two stroke beats four cycle engines for weight and power, but the Bourke beats them all. Bourke’s 30 cubic inch delivers 76 horsepower at 10,000 RPM and it only weighs 38 lbs. The reported thermodynamic efficiency greater than 55%, which is an exceedingly high figure for a small gasoline engine and in the range of the best diesel engine.

Built in 1954. This is Russell's first 30 cubic inch, 30+ HP production engine built for public use. The claims made, except for the unusually high rpm's or the workability of extremely high compression ratios, are true based on real world tests. The key to it's much higher efficiency is simply increased time atTop Dead Center 'TDC'. Back in the 1940's Russell Bourke set out to solve various problems with the conventional engines of that era. During his career as an instructor on internal combustion engines he soon ended up discarding many pre-conceived notions, fixed ideas and incorrectly duplicated theories of how to create the same end result as a steam engine using pressure as the prime mover by converting hydrocarbon based fuels to create pressure against a piston driving it downward in a cylinder and converting it into rotary motion. The first basic and workable theory was in order to create the needed pressure against a piston,  combustion of hydrocarbons and air in an enclosed chamber was mandated! In order to accomplish real work it was theorized that 4 separate cycles. 'INTAKE' of air and fuel, 'COMPRESSION' thereof, spark or pressure ignited expansion of those gasses ' POWER' and finally removal of the spent gasses, 'EXHAUST' was necessary. Long ago, Dr. Otto came up with the first practical working engine based on this theory which was a 4 stroke type. It completed 4 cycles in a very literal way in that it had an INTAKE stroke, a COMPRESSION stroke, a POWER stroke and finally and EXHAUST stroke. Do you see the literal translation? The 4 Stroke Cycle was born. The combustion chamber had to be valved in order to enable the cylinder to admit air and fuel and to emit spent gasses and it needed a crankshaft to drive things. There was quite a bit of  parasitic power robbing equipment added to accomplish the above complete cycle. Anyway, the first internal combustion piston engine was born and basically it hasn't changed one bit since! Ever since then we have been basically stuck with the Otto cycle to drive anything that requires a 4 stroke/cycle diesel or gasoline engine. The problem isn't so much in Dr. Otto's interpretation of original theory or Dr. Diesel's decision to stick with what works. This includes 2 stroke and turbine engines as well. They are although much simpler and able to yield more power per pound of weight, still prone to similar limitations. Thermodynamically speaking they are flawed relative to their stoichiometric limitations and their complete inability to achieve even a hint of  adiabatic efficiency. Although they do work, none of these engine types are capable of  adiabatic operation in that their efficiency is gauged based upon fuel rich stoichiometric ratios. Regardless of an engine, be it  2 stroke, 4 stroke or turbinetype, they are all inefficient stoichiometric engines in that they emit harmful waste products into the atmosphere! They needlessly  pollute our world due to an incomplete combustion process with a great deal of  lost  heat energy that could and should otherwise be put to work! Regardless of that and to be fair, It remains a fact that conventional engines have worked well for decades and kept the world chugging along faithfully for a long time. But at what cost? We are all seeing the cost now as Russell Bourke predicted decades ago and tried to help prevent! I don't have to tell you what that is as you wouldn't be reading this now if you didn't know or at least suspect that something can be done about it! Yes, the effect is overall environmental degradation due to improperly and incompletely converted hydrocarbons and other toxic substances and gasses! The work engineers and chemists have done, their innovations as well as improvements of conventional engines and hydrocarbon fuels of all types are greatly acknowledged and appreciated. From my perspective, engineers are generally extremely bright intelligent people who solve problems and create! The greater majority of them have a passion for helping their fellow inhabitants live better,  take care of  and preserve our natural resources. The drive of this website is what Russell Bourke the inventor, Melvin Vaux, John Allen, Roger Richard and a host of others including myself  have been talking about and trying to prove for a long time.  Something CAN be done about it! As Russell Bourke advocates in his Documentary, there is and has been a better way to squeeze power out of a pound of fuel without wasting it and harming the environment for over 60 years now. Russell Bourke is responsible for this discovery and will always be greatly appreciated and honored for his ingenious and insightful contributions! We at Bourke Engine Com are carrying on his work in his honor and in the name of a better world where people can breath fresh air! The Bourke 400 Cubic Inch Heavy Duty High Torque / High Horse Power Engine! Per reports received from Melvin Vaux  who knew and worked with Russell, the Bourke 400 was actually designed and built under contract with American Motors Corporation  by Russell Bourke and Melvin Vaux. Melvin was Russell's protégé during that time. The 400 was a heavy duty engine designed to be a standard replacement engine built for trucks and tug boats of that era. Per Melvin Vaux, after it had been test run for about 15 minutes or so as per contract, AMC took it away from Russell and never put it to use as they just couldn't get their heads wrapped around it's operation and tried to make it run like a rich 15:1 a/f stoichiometric engine when it was designed and ran fine with ultra lean air fuel ratio's. Per the Documentary the 400 cu. in. engine produced around 200 plus horse power at only 2000 RPM! Since Russell Bourke and Mr. Vaux claimed they were the only ones who really knew how to make it run in super lean  mode, AMC's engineers were lost and they gave up on it all together. It has been rumored by Melvin Vaux that the 400 4 cylinder was born out of the 200 cubic inch 2 cylinder Bourke cycle engine that Melvin sized up from the original Bourke 30 before Russell took him on as his understudy. Evidently when Russell saw Melvin's calling card, a light went on and the 400 was born! Melvin incorporated a half shaft crankshaft using a square cupped yoke instead of the 4 piece scotch yoke connecting rod setup as in an original Bourke 30 engine. Not so much an original idea as it was novel  on Melvin's part. Melvin's design did accomplish one thing and that was a true 1 piece connecting rod/scotch yoke assembly. Trouble was that in order to keep Melvin's design from bending and breaking at the cup, he had to incorporate a slider plate as a means to keep the setup from breaking. In my opinion this arrangement offers no fundamental improvement over Russell's original design. Same movement, same stroke, same dwell time at TDC and BDC and actually there's no where to mount timing equipment or pumps etc. because there's only one half of a crankshaft sticking out the PTO end. Was Melvin's engine design any better. Evidence of his workmanship and the results thereof say absolutely NOT based on my own personal observations of Melvin's workmanship which is shoddy at best compared to Russell and his obvious jealousy of Russell based on his history working with Russell. Even Melvin's latest creation, the DeVaux 4 cylinder boxer is no more efficient than the original Bourke design. In fact it's less efficient, less powerful and more complex than the original Bourke 30 ever was! The 400 4 cylinder engine was only static estimated @ 200 HP and 500 Ft. Lb. torque at 2000 RPM! It never ran a real test and no one knows the actual power it made based on interviews with Melvin Vaux in 2001. But Melvin Vaux had been running his 2 cylinder 200 cubic inch Bourke twin on natural gas as an irrigation pump for a long time and up until recently in the last 10 years before he retired and turned all his engines over to another company with the hopes that they would finally get something useful done with his version of the original Bourke engines which are in fact a far cry from the original Bourke engine design. Per Melvin Vaux, the Bourke 400 was made due to Russell's abandonment of the 30, the radial 4 cylinder engines and the H 4 cylinder, in an attempt to make enough money to support his wife Lois after he was gone. Russell was very ill and knew he was dying. A sad and pre-mature ending for an incredibly ingenious man who cared deeply about his fellow man and the environmental damage he knew was going to result from the improper design and use of conventional engines and carbon based fuels well ahead of time. Now we see exactly what Russell was talking about all around us! Don't we. At least those who can see that is. Russell lived a very full life as you will find in the Bourke Engine Documentary. Lois was a genuine angel and backed Russell up 100%, up to and after Russell's passing. Russell Bourke was indeed a visionary man. There have been and are still many who carry on his dream and his work. We are part of that group. We are proud of it! The key thing is that the Bourke engine will still run as clean and green as Russell said they will! They do run unusually lean air fuel and high compression  ratio's. It's all in the dwell time and the simplicity of the Scotch Yoke mechanism that accomplishes a shorter  moment arm and longer torque period with less bore and stroke and moving parts than any conventional engine including Wankles. of equal power that are keys to improved efficiency in any internal combustion engine!

NOSTALGIA: MOTORING ACROSS OLD AMERICA

 

MOTORING ACROSS OLD AMERICA

 

This rare 1928 Mercedes, unearthed after 60 years sitting in a garage without seeing the light of day, is expected to sell for a staggering £1.5million at auction. Described as the supercar of its generation, the 'S' Type model was one of the world's fastest vehicles when it rolled off the production line in 1928, easily reaching speeds in excess of 100mph. And it’s Ferdinand Porsche designed engine and hand crafted chassis made it one of the earliest luxury sports cars ever mass produced. Incredibly despite having been locked away since the 1950s, it still runs perfectly. Rare find: The unrestored 1928 Mercedes S Type was unearthed after 60 years sitting in a garage Nippy: The S-Type model was one of the world's fastest cars when it rolled off the production line in 1928 easily reaching speeds of 100mph It has been owned by the same family from new and experts have hailed the discovery one of the most considerable automotive finds, with unrestored cars of its type extremely rare. The cobweb clad car - first registered on the roads in May 1928 - is set to go under the hammer at Bonhams’ Goodwood Revival sale on September 15. Automotive expert, Rupert Banner, said: 'At a time when motor cars in original condition and with impeccable provenance are appreciated more than ever, this one-owner car offers an unrepeatable opportunity for collectors. Upholstery: The car's untouched interior. It is now going under the hammer at Bonhams' Goodwood Revival sale on September 15 Find: Experts have hailed the discovery one of the most considerable automotive finds with unrestored cars of this type extremely rare 'It has literally been off the radar. No one knew such an untouched and archaic this old existed. It is an incredible find.' The unidentified owners grandfather - a pioneering British motorist - was one of the earliest buyers of the Mercedes ‘S’ Type, which sparked mass production due to its popularity. And according to the cars unworn handbook, it was sold under the order number 38130 and bought from The British Mercedes Ltd in London. Detail: The unidentified owners grandfather - a pioneering British motorist - was one of the earliest buyers of the Mercedes 'S' Type, which sparked mass production due to its popularity The motors dark battleship grey bodywork was crafted by London-based coachbuilders Cadogan Motors. Described as a time warp, the convertibles original blue upholstery is still intact. The car re-established Mercedes’ reputation for building fast, luxurious and high quality motorcars. Serial number: According to the cars unworn handbook, it was sold under the order number 38130 and bought from The British Mercedes Ltd in London Built to last: Incredibly despite having sat in a garage for 60 years the Mercedes still runs perfectly A spokesman for Bonhams said: 'This newly discovered 1928 Mercedes-Benz 'S' Type Sports Tourer is almost without precedent. 'Motor cars of this type and age have rarely been in the same family ownership from new. 'It is expected to sell for more than £1.5m.   Wrapped around a tree, nose down in a ditch and dangling precariously over water. Fascinating photos from the 1920s and 30s show the dramatic and tragic side effect of the golden age of American motoring. The pictures were taken in and around Boston, Massachusetts by Leslie Jones, who was staff photographer at the Boston-Herald Traveler newspaper from 1917 to 1956. Mr Jones captured everything that happened in the city for five decades and when he died in 1967, his family donated a vast collection of 34,000 prints to the Boston Public Library. They included these fascinating photos of vintage car wrecks from the great motoring boom. Motor cars became affordable to the masses for the first time in the 1920s. By the end of the decade a Model T Ford cost $298, just a fraction of the $1,200 it cost in 1909. The introduction of hire purchase also made it much easier for members of the public to buy cars, and by 1929, 20 per cent of Americans were on the road. Ford, Chrysler and General Motors were all competing for the boom in business and by the time the depression hit in 1929, Ford was producing more than one car every minute. Technology meant these early cars were capable of achieving speeds of up to 50 miles per hour - but safety measures were nowhere near as advanced as they are today. Add in the fact drivers didn't need to pass a test before they got behind the wheel, and it's easy to see why accidents were frequent and often spectacular.

Officers examine a car that has wrapped itself around a tree, spilling its interiors onto the street in Boston in 1933

Passersby try to figure out how this car ended up nose-down in a trench in Boston's West End. A glance at the rough, dirt-covered road provides a clue

The scene of an accident in 1935. Information with the photo reveals a car stolen by joyriding children crashed into a lawyer's car, killing him

Giving a rare glimpse of the day's fashion, a group of men look over a crumpled car that sits by the side of a residential Boston street

Crowds pose for photographer Leslie Jones alongside a mangled and burnt out wreck in Boston in 1933

A police officer poses next to a car that flipped over manoevring around corner in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1935.

This truck stood no chance when it came into contact with a tree on a rural Mass. road, disintegrating on impact - leaving just the steering wheel intact.

A fireboat struggles to haul a car out of the Fore River in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1933. They succeeded, but couldn't save the three passengers, who drowned

This car came out loser in a battle of wills with a trolley bus on Boston's South End in 1932

Children peer out of the undergrowth as photographer Leslie Jones captures a nasty wreck smoulding by the side of the road in Hingham

Crowds watch in awe as a car is winched out of the Charles River in Cambridge, Mass in 1933. close to the Harvard University campus

Taken in 1934, this photograph shows a truck balancing on a bridge in Dorchester by just one wheel. Workers from the Walter Baker & Co chocolate factory rushed out of the building in the background to watch

Another angle from the same accident shows how close the truck is from toppling into the water

This car remarkably survived a collision with a utility pole in Cambridge, Mass - with just a mangled bumper to show for the crash

The driver of this car was unlikely to have survived this collision. The wreck is wrapped entirely around a tree, which sits in the driver's position

The shell of a truck is pulled from the Charles River after it careered off the Harvard Bridge

Photographer Leslie Jones had to part crowds of onlookers to capture this accident in downtown Boston. An out of control car collided with a shopfront, smashing windows and ending up on its side

Local businessman Byron Harwood and Byron Grover were hurt when their car collided with a bus in Waltham, Mass. in 1921. They were lucky to survive this nasty looking wreck. Their car certainly didn't

Taken in 1934, this photo shows a car that skidded out of control on ice-covered roads and wrapped around a tree in Auburndale, Mass.

A truck collideded with a bus and flipped over in south Boston, stopping just before it smashed into a cafeteria storefront

Another view of the same accident shows eager children posing with the upturned truck. it also demonstrates how close the vehicles came to nearby buildings

A Cudahy Packing Co. truck is hauled out of Fort Point Channel, which separates South Boston and downtown Boston

Even public servants weren't immune to accidents. An early mail truck came out loser in this battle with a tree on the tree-lined Commercial Avenue, Boston

Sitting in a Boston wrecking yard, this cross section of a wreck shows how basic car interiors were in the early days of motoring.

November 11th marks the 85th Anniversary of one of the most famous highways in America, U.S. Route 66. Route 66 opened in 1926 stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles and became a western migration route for people looking for work during the great depression of the 1930′s or to escape the Dust Bowl disaster. Later, it offered vacation getaways and driving adventures until 1985 when it was decommissioned as a federal highway. Facing neglect after its decommissioning, many Route 66 enthusiasts lobbied for the highway to be placed on National Historic Registers and Preservation Lists. Today, portions of the road have been designated National Scenic Byways and some have been renamed Historic Route 66 in an attempt to boost its revival.

Route 66 is stenciled on the old road through an abandoned town in California's Mojave desert 14 July 2003. Route 66 is 2,448 miles (3,939kms) of roadway connecting Chicago to Los Angeles, now used by local traffic, road buffs and nostalgia-minded tourists. For midwestern farmers migrating to California to escape escaping the Dust Bowl in 1930's, the long stretch across the Mojave desert was considered one of the most grueling parts of the trip. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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An old cafe along Route 66 in Litchfield, Illinois, 03 July 2003 sits in disrepair and shut down after business screeched to a halt when Route 66 was bypassed by the high speed Interstate. The road which was the main roadway between Chicago and Los Angeles from 1926 to 1984 was realigned to follow different paths throughout it's history. Towns lobbied hard to have Route 66, "America's Main Street," pass through their town because the huge volume of traffic was a boon to local businesses. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Cars at "Cadillac Ranch" on historic Route 66 in Amarillo, 06 July 2003. As a tribute to America's relationship with one of it's favorite automobiles, a collective of artists called Ant Farm in 1974 placed 10 Cadillacs, ranging from a 1949 Club Coupe to a 1963 Sedan, in a wheat field located west of Amarillo. Visitors are encouraged to draw or paint on the cars. Cadillac Ranch is a popular stopping off point for tourists on historic Route 66 which stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A waiter picks up his order from the grill at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, 06 July 2003. The Big Texan, a 450-seat restaurant, is a Route 66 attraction which does a bustling business, drawing customers with their free 72 ounce steak dinner contest promotion. Anyone who can eat the entire 4.5 lb steak dinner, which includes baked potato, salad, shrimp cocktail and roll within a one-hour time limit gets the dinner for free. But challengers are required to pay the dinner's price of 55 USD in advance, and are refunded the money if they finish the entire dinner within one hour. Approximately 30,000 people have taken the challenge since 1960, with some 4,800 people have succeeded, according to the restaurant. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A statue of Elvis strikes a pose as a nearby McDonalds restaurant is reflected in the window outside the Polk-A-Dot diner along historic U.S. Route 66 June 12, 2007 in Braidwood, Illinois. The restaurant has been serving travelers along the road since the 1956. Route 66 opened in 1926 stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles and became a western migration route for people looking for work during the great depression of the 1930's or to escape the Dust Bowl disaster. Later it offered vacation getaways and driving adventures until 1985 when it was decommissioned as a federal highway. Due to neglect and commercial development Route 66, the first highway to connect the Midwest with the West Coast, was added to the biennially compiled list of the world's most endangered landmarks by the World Monuments Fund and the National Trust for Historic Preservation's yearly list of the 11 most endangered historic places in America. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

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Modern power lines cross the desert on June 16, 2007 in Daggett, California. Route 66 opened in 1926 stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles and became a western migration route for people looking for work during the great depression of the 1930's or to escape the Dust Bowl disaster. Later it offered vacation getaways and driving adventures until 1985 when it was decommissioned as a federal highway. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

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A Marilyn Monroe statue stands along old Route 66 on June 15, 2007 in Rancho Cucamonga, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

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A car makes its way across Route 66, the main street in Atlanta, Illinois, 02 July 2003. Atlanta was once a thriving town bustling with commerce to support Route 66 traffic. But since Route 66 was bypassed by the high-speed interstate, Atlanta, and the small towns like it along 66, are now sleepy and quiet, catering only to the nostalgic-seek Route 66 tourists who eschew the high speed Interstate in favor of the two-lane remnants of 66 which pass through towns like Atlanta. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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The US flag flies near the St. Louis Arch to mark the Independence Day holiday, along historic Route 66, 03 July, 2003, in in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is the first big city after Chicago when traveling west along Route 66. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Historic Route 66 (R) parallels the divided high-speed highway Interstate 40 (L) near Atlanta, Illinois, 02 July 2003. Atlanta was once a thriving town bustling with commerce to support Route 66 traffic. But since Route 66 was bypassed by the high-speed interstate, Atlanta, and the small towns like it along 66, are now sleepy and quiet, catering only to the nostalgic-seek Route 66 tourists who eschew the high speed Interstate in favor of the two-lane remnants of 66 which pass through towns like Atlanta. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Signs point the way to various portions of historic Route 66 in Litchfield, Illinois, 03 July 2003. The road which was the main roadway between Chicago and Los Angeles from 1926 to 1984 was realigned to follow different paths throughout its history. Towns lobbied hard to have Route 66, "America's Main Street," pass through their town because the huge volume of traffic was a boon to local businesses. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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An old cafe along Route 66 in Litchfield, Illinois, 03 July, 2003, sits in disrepair after business screeched to a halt when Route 66 was bypassed by the high speed Interstate. The road which was the main roadway between Chicago and Los Angeles from 1926 to 1984 was realigned to follow different paths throughout it's history. Towns lobbied hard to have Route 66, "America's Main Street," pass through their town because the huge volume of traffic was a boon to local businesses. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A visitor walks up to the Blue Whale, a classic Route 66 landmark and curiosity, in Catoosa, Oklahoma, 04 July 2003. The park closed down long ago and was left to crumble but was recently restored through fundraising efforts. Route 66 travelers bring their children here to visit the whale and recount stories about how they visited the place when they were children themselves. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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The neon sign of the Lincoln Motel is reflected in the windshield of a camper 04 July, 2003, along Route 66 in Chandler, Oklahoma. The Lincoln is a vintage motel in the classic style of the motor courts made popular during the heyday of recreational travel along Route 66 in the late 1930's to the 1970's. The motor court hotels, or motel, allow travelers to park directly in front of their cabin room for easy access to their cars. The meandering Route 66 in this part of Oklahoma has been largely abandoned in favor of the high-speed Interstate 40 but nostalgia-seekers still enjoy the friendly, personalized service one no longer finds in chain hotels along US roadways. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Once the main thoroughfare between Chicago and Los Angeles, Route 66, as seen 05 July 2003 in Chandler, Oklahoma, is used almost exclusively by local traffic and nostalgia-seekers. Interstate 40 accommodates most long distance traffic. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Route 66 souvenirs, including imitation road signs, shot glasses, salt and pepper shakers and bells are for sale in a shop along the road in Elk City, OK, 06 July 2003. Kitschy souvenirs of every description can be found in shops large and small along the road, which was America's main artery from Chicago to Los Angeles from 1926 until 1984. Fondly referred to as "America's Main Street," Route 66 is a living timeline of contemporary American history and a throwback to earlier times. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A car passes the Round Barn, a much loved Route 66 landmark in Arcadia, OK, 05 July 2003. The barn, originally built in 1898, was recently restored. Like many other colorful personalities along Route 66, caretaker Ernest Lee Breger freely showers visitors with stories of his family's history along Route 66 and the heyday of Route 66, as well as the history of round barns around the world. Breer keeps and displays and a comprehensive image gallery of round barns around the world. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Harley (R) and Annabelle Russell, the self-proclaimed "Mediocre Music Makers" entertain passing Route 66 tourists at their Sandhills Curiosity shop, a former meat store, in the largely deserted main strip of Erick, OK, 06 July 2003. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A pickup truck drives along Route 66 past the mostly shuttered doors of abandoned businesses in Erick, OK, 06 July 2003. In 1999, the National Route 66 Preservation Bill was passed by Congress and signed into law by US President Bill Clinton. The act provided 10 million USD in matching fund grants for the purpose of preserving or restoring historic properties along the legendary route. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A lone motorcycle rider travels on historic Route 66 across the western Arizona desert on the approach to Oatman, AZ, 12 July 2003. Route 66, 2,448 miles (3,939 km) of two-lane highway, was once the main artery between Chicago to Los Angeles. Between the early 1970's and 1984 the road was slowly bypassed as Interstate 40 was built. Now remaining sections of 66, including this desolate and winding 50-mile stretch from Kingman, AZ to the California border, still serve local traffic and attract motorcycle riders and tourists in search of classic Americana. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A man reaches out of his van window to pet a wild burro, 12 July 2003, in the former mining town of Oatman, AZ on Route 66. Oatman transformed itself into a tourist town from a once thriving mining town after the mining was exhausted and Route 66 bypassed by the Interstate. Now the town thrives on tourism, Route 66 travelers, and others who come to see the historic Oatman hotel and the burros, descendants of the mining burros who were let free once mining was ending. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

Cross Country in Color: The Road Trips of Charles W. Cushman, 1938 – 1949

Posted Jun 06, 2012

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From the late 1930s to 1969, amateur photographer Charles W. Cushman traveled the country documenting American life and landscapes with color photographs. Upon his death in 1972, he bequeathed his collection of 14,500 Kodachrome color slides to his alma mater, Indiana University, where they remain today. Below are a selection of Cushman’s photos from 1938 to 1949. You can see the entire collection and read more about his life and work on the Indiana University website.

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Sep. 3, 1938 - Sep. 4, 1938: Golden Gate Bridge - Marin End, San Francisco, California #

2

Sep. 17, 1938: Street scene. Victoria, B.C. #

3

Sep. 18, 1938: City Hall, Victoria, B.C. #

4

Sep. 21, 1938 - Sep. 22, 1938: Hwy bridge over Columbia , central Washington #

5

Sep. 21, 1938 - Sep. 22, 1938: More of the Columbia from its left bank, Washington #

6

Sep. 22, 1938: Grand Coulee Dam under construction, Grand Coulee, Washington #

7

Sep. 23, 1938 - Sep. 24, 1938: Looking up Along The Garden Wall, Glacier Park, Montana #

8

Sep. 21, 1938: Leaving Rainier National Park on the way up to Chinook Pass, Washington #

9

Sep. 23, 1938: Cushman Little old mining town Alberton, Montana #

10

Sep. 24, 1938: north end of Flathead Lake, Montana #

11

Sep. 17, 1938: A retired Britisker's home at Victoria, B.C. #

12

Sep. 29, 1938: North across Midway Geyser Basin & Prismatic Lake in foreground. Excelsior Geyser in distance, Wyoming #

13

Feb. 1939: Pre-war Airplane over Miami #

14

Mar. 1939: Wofford Hotel Beach Miami Beach #

15

Mar. 1939: Jean and Charles on Wofford Beach, Miami Beach, Florida #

16

Mar. 1939: South Bay Shore Drive, Miami #

17

Mar. 1939: Across Biscayne Bay, from the County Causeway, Miami Skyline #

18

Mar. 1939: Star Island in Bay Biscayne Miami, Fla. #

19

Mar. 1939: Blimp over Miami Beach, from Million Dollar Pier. #

20

May 1939: Road south of Miami, Fla. #

21

Oct. 1939: Fall colors at Dune Acres, Ind., looking past tree-covered dune to Lake Michigan #

22

Oct. 1939: An October Sunday afternoon along Indiana's Dune Island shore with the Reeds. Jean and Mary. Hank to right. #

23

Nov. 1939: Pink Rock below Rim between Yavapai and Yaqui, Arizona #

24

Nov. 29, 1939: Looking across Grand Canyon from Yaqui Point, Arizona #

25

Dec. 1, 1939: Works of Man and Native vie at Boulder Dam [Hoover Dam], Arizona #

26

Dec. 1, 1939: Lake Meade at Sunset from Nevada heights back of Boulder Dam. Fortification Mtn. across the Lake #

27

Jan. 1940: San Xavier Mission near Tucson, Arizona #

28

Feb. 1940: Flagship Texas at Tucson Airport #

29

Feb. 1940: Kangaroo Court along-side the Calaboose, Tucson, Arizona #

30

Feb. 1940: Tucson, Saturday Afternoon in February #

31

Feb. 1940: Tucson dude ranch, Testing out new saddle horse, Ft Lowell Rd., Tucson, Arizona #

32

Feb. 1940: Tall sahuaros in foothills of Santa Catalina Mtns. North of Tucson, Arizona #

33

Feb. 1940: Two Mexican boys fly a kite. South, main st. Tucson, Arizona #

34

Feb. 23, 1940: Rodeo Parade, Tucson, Arizona #

35

Mar. 17, 1940: Palm Sunday procession San Xavier Del Bac Tuscon, Ariz #

36

Apr. 1940: Emmet Flynn as old Leather face in Movie "ARIZONA" on the set. Tucson, Arizona #

37

Jun. 1940: Fisherman's Wharf San Francisco #

38

Jun. 1940: Angel Island, S.F. Bay East Bay Hills #

39

Jun. 20, 1940: California's Hills along Morro bay - Atascadero Road in June #

40

Jun. 23, 1940 - Jul. 1, 1940: Sunday afternoon Band concert at S.F. Fair. #

41

Jul. 4, 1940: Harbor of St. Francis Yacht Club Marina in background San Francisco #

42

Jul. 4, 1940: Marina Beach Holiday crowd, Marina Beach, San Francisco, California #

43

Jul. 4, 1940: Gayway G.G.I.E. Treasure Island, San Francisco, California #

44

Jul. 4, 1940: Telegraph Hill San Francisco #

45

Jul. 9, 1940: Lower end, Lake Walker, Nevada #

46

Jul. 9, 1940: Tonopah, Nevada #

47

Jul. 14, 1940: Hopi Indians. El Torar Hotel, Arizona #

48

Jul. 18, 1940 - Jul. 26, 1940: Johnstown, Penn. #

49

Jul. 18, 1940: San Jose, New Mexico #

50

Jul. 26, 1940: Johnstown, Pa. Children of the Mill. #

51

Jul. 26, 1940: Street Shower Hagerstown, Md. #

52

Sep. 6, 1940: Drayman Baltimore docks, Maryland #

53

Sep. 7, 1940: Georgetown Univ. High Tower, Washington, District of Columbia #

54

Sep. 16, 1940 - Sep. 23, 1940: Row of old brick houses, half block from State Capitol, Annapolis #

55

Sep. 16, 1940 - Sep. 23, 1940: Hillsboro, Virginia #

56

Sep. 27, 1940: Harpers Ferry from Potomac river bridge, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia #

57

Oct. 13, 1940 - Oct. 31, 1940: Posey County children. These live near the Ohio river at Mt. Vernon, Indiana #

58

Nov. 2, 1940: Summer homes in Indiana's dune country Porter Co. at Lake Michigan #

59

Nov. 17, 1940: White House and South Lawn, Washington, District of Columbia #

60

Dec. 21, 1940: The Governor's Palace as seen from the Palace Green, in late afternoon, Williamsburg, Virginia #

61

Feb. 1, 1941: Factory and mill smoke rise from Harrisburg's industrial valley. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania #

62

Feb. 1, 1941: Pennsylvania farm west of Harrisburg #

63

Feb, 9, 1941: Chicago's lake front skyline in winter from Northerly Island. Chicago, Illinois #

64

Feb. 18, 1941: South Works, Carnegie- Illinois, from [91th] St., Chicago, Illinois #

65

Feb. 18, 1941: Scudding mist, Calumet river from 92nd St. Bridge. A cold day, Chicago, Illinois #

66

Feb. 19, 1941: Wrigley Bldg. and Tribune Tower Chicago, Chicago, Illinois #

67

Mar. 5, 1941: Chicago's loop bldgs. Northeast of board of Trade Tower. Chicago, Illinois #

68

Apr. 16, 1941: Proud grandpa watches solo rope skip. New Harmony, Indiana #

69

May 24, 1941: Across south part of Country Club grounds. Chicago, Illinois #

70

Jun. 6, 1941: South St. Along East River front. New York City. #

71

Jun. 6, 1941: Battery Park New York City. #

72

Jun. 6, 1941: Wall Street New York, toward Trinity Church. New York, New York #

73

Jun. 6, 1941: South Ferry New York. Looking up into Financial District from South Ferry. New York, New York #

74

Jun. 17, 1941: Stewardess of American Airlines takes in a tan on Lake Michigan Shore. Chicago, Illinois #

75

Jul. 1941: Little Butch and big beach ball. Chicago, Illinois #

76

Aug. 2, 1941: The flying concellos hag out their wash back of the Big top. Chicago, Illinois #

77

Aug. 21, 1941: Wrigley and Tribune towers from Wacker and Wabash, Chicago, Illinois #

78

Aug. 12, 1941: Old Otis home at 1709 Prairie Avenue, Chicago, Illinois #

79 Sep. 12, 1941: Rainbow Bridge and American Falls. Niagara. #

80

Sep. 13, 1941: South shore, St. Lawrence from 1000 Islands Suspension bridge. #

81

Sep. 17, 1941: Thuya Castle Mt. Desert Island, Maine #

82

Sep. 18, 1941: Boat harbor at Camden, Maine - late afternoon. #

83

Sep. 19, 1941: The old Short House circa 1717-1733 - Newbury Port Mass. #

84

Sep. 20, 1941: Boats off Rocky Neck, in Gloucester harbor. Gloucester, Massachusetts #

85

Sep. 20, 1941: Gloucester harbor Late Sun afternoon, Gloucester, Massachusetts. #

86

Sep. 21, 1941: Faneuil Hall, Boston. #

87

Sep. 22, 1941: A wedding party leaves church. Boston's Little Italy. Boston, Massachusetts #

88

Sep. 22, 1941: Downtown Boston From Cambridge Bank of Charles River. A Sunday Regatta. Boston, Massachusetts #

89

Sep. 23, 1941: Provincetown, Mass. #

90

Sep. 27, 1941: An old house in any old anthracite town just south of Hazleton, Pa. #

91

Sep. 27, 1941: Manhattan's skyscrapers from Jersey City ferry boat. New York, New York #

92

Sep. 27, 1941: Lower East Side Corner Broome St. and Baruch Place. New York, New York #

93

Sep. 27, 1941: On New York's lower East Side, Lower Clinton St. New York, New York #

94

Nov. 5, 1941: New Orleans River steamer Capitol, New Orleans, Louisiana #

95

Nov. 5, 1941: Street in negro section, Vieux Carre #

96

Nov. 5, 1941: Vieux Carre New Orleans, Louisiana #

97

Nov. 6, 1941: L.S.U. campus, Baton Rouge, Louisiana #

98

Oct. 7, 1942: Chinatown. New York, New York #

99

Nov. 8, 1942: The Marshall Field Mansion, Chicago, Illinois #

100

May 29, 1943: Fox river in Evening sunlight Waukesha, Wisconsin #

101

Jun. 21, 1945: Michigan Ave towers from LaSalle - Wacker Bldg, Chicago, Illinois #

102

Jun. 23, 1945: Sheila McPeck at 8mo. - laughing. Chicago, Illinois #

103

Sep. 11, 1945: Get out and get under-190? Cadillac At Rosenwald Museum. Chicago, Illinois #

104

Oct. 13, 1945: Posey county farm house west of St. Philip, Indiana #

105

Dec. 6, 1945: Two Steel Corp. ore boats at 100th St. bridge over Calumet river, South Chicago, Illinois #

106

Mar. 7, 1946: North side of Sullivan St. 400 block. Chicago, Illinois #

107

Apr. 25, 1946: C.B. and Q wreck, Naperville, Illinois #

108

Jul. 5, 1946: Old [1872] St. Xavier's Academy 29th and Wabash. Chicago, Illinois #

109

Jul. 24, 1946: Oak Street Beach. #

110

Oct. 23, 1946: Stripped coal land along Ind. Hwy 63 south of Perrysville, Indiana #

111

Nov. 15, 1946: Mary feeds Jackson Park ducks. Chicago, Illinois #

112

Jul. 20, 1948: Hyde Park Church of 1895 comes down at 56 and Dorchester. Chicago, Illinois #

113

Aug. 5, 1948: Pueblo at Santa Fe exhibit Chicago RR fair. Chicago, Illinois #

114

Nov. 17, 1948: Wrigley Bldgs. seen from Mich. and So. Water. Chicago, Illinois #

115

Jan. 14, 1949: Enolia Brown and brother Leonard Jr. at window, first floor of 250 W. 23rd St. Chicago, Illinois #

116

Jan. 16, 1949: Ruins of fire swept Bldg. at 4600 S. Paulina St. Chicago, Illinois #

117

Feb. 11, 1949: Final stage of fire at 9246 Harbor Avenue. Chicago, Illinois #

118

Mar. 1, 1949: Food and drink Store at 1000 Maxwell St. Chicago, Illinois #

119

Mar. 28, 1949: Confectionary cart at Lexington & Dekalb. Chicago, Illinois #

120

Apr. 9, 1949: Rear of 611 Liberty St. Chicago, Illinois #

 

122

Feb. 1, 1941: Univ. of Pittsburgh Late evening, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

22

The sign outside the 66 Motel in Needles, CA 12 July 2003. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

23

A swimming pool in the shape of the state of Texas at the motel of the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas 06 July 2003. The Big Texan, a 450-seat restaurant, is a Route 66 attraction which does a bustling business, drawing customers with their free 72 ounce steak dinner contest promotion. Anyone who can eat the entire 4.5 lb steak dinner, which includes baked potato, salad, shrimp cocktail and roll within a one-hour time limit gets the dinner for free. But challengers are required to pay the dinner's price of 55 USD in advance, and are refunded the money if they finish the entire dinner within one hour. Approximately 30,000 people have taken the challenge since 1960, with some 4,800 people have succeeded, according to the restaurant. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

24

Vintage cars set the ambience at the front office of the Wigwam Village on Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona, 10 July 2003. The rooms, renovated and restored with the original hickory furniture and fixtures from they hotel's heyday in the 1950's and 1960's, attract visits from as far as Europe and Japan to experience this classic example of American roadside kitsch. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

25

The Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma, along Route 66, 05 July 2003. Historic Route 66 passes through eight states from Illinois to California, and every state has made efforts to support and highlight the old in an effort to revitalize the history and capitalize on the tourist trade associated with the historic route. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

26

A stencil denoting "historic Route 66" decorates the road outside of Kingman, Arizona 12 July 2003. Authorities in the eight states crossed by Route 66 have been involved in efforts to develop tourism along the 2,448 miles (3,939 km) of two-lane highway which once served as the main artery between Chicago and Los Angeles. Between the early 1970's and 1984 the road was slowly bypassed as Interstate 40 was built. Now remaining sections of 66, including this desolate and winding 50-mile stretch from Kingman, AZ to the California border, still serve local traffic and attract motorcycle riders and tourists in search of classic Americana. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

27

Four-year-old Sarah Mercer of Amarillo, Texas visits "Cadillac Ranch" on historic Route 66 in Amarillo, 06 July 2003. As a tribute to America's relationship with one of its favorite automobiles, a collective of artists called Ant Farm in 1974 placed 10 Cadillacs, ranging from a 1949 Club Coupe to a 1963 Sedan, in a wheat field located west of Amarillo. Cadillac Ranch is a popular stopping off point for tourists on historic Route 66 which stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

28

A sign advertises land for sale along Route 66 in California's Mojave desert 14 July 2003. Route 66, 2,448 miles (3,939kms) of roadway connecting Chicago to Los Angeles, is now a historic road used by local traffic, road buffs and nostalgia-minded tourists. For midwestern farmers migrating to California to escape escaping the Dust Bowl in 1930's, the long stretch across the Mojave desert was considered one of the most grueling parts of the trip. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

29

A neon figure is displayed on Santa Monica Boulevard, the historic Route 66, in West Hollywood, California on August 6, 2010. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) #

30

A BSNF train makes its way across California's Mojave Desert 14 July 2003. Historic Route 66 follows the train tracks across the desert. Route 66 is 2,448 miles (3,939 km) of roadway connecting Chicago to Los Angeles which in the 1930's offered desperate Midwestern farmers suffering from the Dust Bowl a pathway out of poverty, and after World War II became associated with tourism, affluence and the concept of the American "good life." (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

31

Andrea Pruett, owner of the Bagdad Cafe in the Mojave Desert on Route 66, serves milkshakes 20 November 2006 in Newberry Springs, California. The establishment used in the movie "Bagdad Cafe", about 40 miles west of the original Bagdad site on historic Route 66 outside the town of Newberry Springs, was originally named the Sidewinder Cafe, but after its use as a filming location, was later changed to the Bagdad Cafe. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) #

32

The desolate looking area around the Bagdad Cafe in the Mojave Desert on Route 66 is pictured 20 November 2006 in Newberry Springs, California. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) #

33

A weed grows through a crack in a closed section of historic U.S. Route 66 June 12, 2007 near Countryside, Illinois. Route 66 opened in 1926 stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles and became a western migration route for people looking for work during the great depression of the 1930's or to escape the Dust Bowl disaster. Later it offered vacation getaways and driving adventures until 1985 when it was decommissioned as a federal highway. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

34

Patrons wait in line for ice cream at the Rich & Creamy stand along historic U.S. Route 66 June 12, 2007 in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

35

A sign marks the route through town of historic U.S. Route 66 June 12, 2007 in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

36

A rusting truck is parked by an old drive-inn restaurant along historic U.S. Route 66 June 13, 2007 in Lexington, Illinois. Sections of the old road near the town have been turned into a park and walking and biking trails. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

37

The Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, 06 July 2003. The Big Texan, a 450-seat restaurant, is a Route 66 attraction which does a bustling business, drawing customers with their free 72 ounce steak dinner contest promotion. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

38

A traveler passes by new and old power lines along historic U.S. Route 66 June 13, 2007 near Dwight, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

39

A sign declares an old section of historic U.S. Route 66 closed June 13, 2007 near Dwight, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

40

An old corn crib stands above a stretch of historic U.S. Route 66 June 13, 2007 near Odell, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

41

A pre-dawn sky is reflected in the windows of the Sportmans' Club on June 16, 2007 in Daggett, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

42

A collection of car license plates is displayed on the fence in front of a home on June 16, 2007 in Daggett, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

43

An old gas station along Route 66 is preserved on June 16, 2007 in Newberry Springs, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

44

A cat walks past a Route 66 signs at the El Rancho Motel, once a major Route 66 landmark but now in a state of decline, on June 15, 2007 in Barstow, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

45

The old Daggett Garage is seen on June 16, 2007 in Daggett, California. The building was an auto repair shop until when it became a mess hall for U.S. Army troops guarding railroad bridges during World War II. After the war it was a garage and machine shop until the mid-1980's. It was built in the 1880's in the borax-mining town of Marion, California as a locomotive repair roundhouse. In 1896 it was moved by 20-mule team to the Waterloo Mine south of Calico and finally to Daggett in 1912. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

46

A neon figure is displayed on Santa Monica Boulevard, the historic Route 66, in West Hollywood, California on August 6, 2010. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) #

47

The Wigwam Motel, built in 1949 on old Route 66, consists of teepee-shaped individual rooms on June 15, 2007 in Rialto, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

48

More than 100 Irish motorcyclists arrive at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California, on October 6, 2010, as part of a 2,448-mile (3940 kilometers) Route 66 ride to raise money for Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) #

49

New housing and shopping mall developers use new Route 66 signs as a marketing theme along old Route 66 on June 15, 2007 in Rancho Cucamonga, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

50

Aging hotels, many used by long-term residents, are seen along old Route 66 on June 15, 2007 in Barstow, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

51

Route 66 carries little traffic on June 16, 2007 east of Daggett, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

52

A car passes "Gemini Giant" a fiberglass spaceman which marks the location of the Launching Pad restaurant along historic U.S. Route 66 June 12, 2007 in Wilmington, Illinois. The restaurant has been serving travelers along the road since the 1960s. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

53

A garage stands destroyed along old Route 66 on June 16, 2007 in Ludlow, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

54

The Desert Market stands near the dilapidated remains of the Stone Hotel, built in 1883, where Death Valley Scotty stayed in 1900 and 1903 and Wyatt Earp reportedly stayed during his travels to mining claims outside of Parker, Arizona, on June 16, 2007 in Daggett, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

55

A motel stands abandoned on June 16, 2007 in Newberry Springs, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

56

The El Rancho Motel, once a major Route 66 landmark, has years-long residents and is in a state of decline on June 15, 2007 in Barstow, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

57

A car passes a burned out building on old Route 66 on June 15, 2007 near Oro Grande, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

58

New housing and shopping mall developers use new Route 66 signs as a marketing theme along old Route 66 on June 15, 2007 in Rancho Cucamonga, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

59

The sign on the El Rancho restaurant, a Route 66 landmark, has been turned off and the restaurant converted into a sushi and Asian Barbecue restaurant on June 15, 2007 in Barstow, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

60

Wigwam Motel, Route 66, Holbrook, Arizona on October 7, 2006. The brain child of Frank Redford. There were originally seven Wigwam Motels. The wigwams have a steel frame covered with wood, felt and canvas under a cement stucco exterior. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

61

Rusty Bolt souvenir store, Route 66, Seligman, Arizona on July 4, 2006. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

62

Rusty Bolt souvenir store, Route 66, Seligman, Arizona on July 4, 2006. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

63

Abandoned cars, Route 66, Arizona on July 4, 2006. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

64

Vintage Phillips 66 Gas Station and historic cars, Route 66, Chandler, Oklahoma on October 11, 2006. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

65

Historic Cottage Hotel, Route 66, Seligman, Arizona on May 3, 2009. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

66

Old gas pumps, Hackberry General Store, Route 66, Hackberry, Arizona on May 3, 2009. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

67

"Ice Cold Pop" sign and American flag advertised on Route 66, Seligman, Arizona on May 3, 2009. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

68

Chain of Rocks bridge, Route 66, St. Louis, Missouri on September 10, 2009. The bridge is for walking only and is one mile long. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

69

Old motel sign, Route 66, Truxton, Arizona on May 3, 2009. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

70

Cuba, Missouri is known as the Route 66 Mural City. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

71

The largest rocking chair in the world on Route 66 in Fanning, Missouri on September 10, 2009. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

72

On Route 66--worlds longest map of Route 66, Meteor City, Arizona photographed on July 4, 2006. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

73

Night comes to the El Rancho Motel, once a major Route 66 landmark but now in a state of decline, on June 15, 2007 in Barstow, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

74

Although collectors of bottles and other items found in the desert have all but gone by the wayside, Elmer Long carries on the tradition with his continual creation of a forest of bottle trees on old Route 66 on June 15, 2007 near Oro Grande, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

75

An iron fence surrounds the dilapidated Stone Hotel, built in 1883, where Death Valley Scotty stayed in 1900 and 1903 and Wyatt Earp reportedly stayed during his travels to mining claims outside of Parker, Arizona, on June 16, 2007 in Daggett, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

76

The old California Inspection Station mentioned in John Steinbeck's 1930 book The Grapes of Wrath and used from 1930 to 1953 stands abandoned on June 16, 2007 east of Daggett, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

77

An old house stands on June 16, 2007 in Daggett, California on Route 66. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

78

In this Thursday, May 5, 2011 picture, Angel Delgadillo pedals past his souvenir store and barber shop in Seligman, Ariz. Delgadillo, 84, has witnessed the rise and fall of America's most historic byway and gets credit for helping it rise again as Historic Route 66. Telling his story and the road's has become his life's work. (AP Photo/Matt York) #

79

A train that runs along old Route 66 passes a railroad building before dawn on June 16, 2007 in Daggett, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

80

A colorful sunset takes place over the El Rancho Motel, once a major Route 66 landmark but now in a state of decline, on June 15, 2007 in Barstow, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

81

In this Thursday, May 5, 2011 picture, tourists walk on Route 66 in Seligman, Ariz. The 84-year-old Angel Delgadillo was the driving force behind the formation of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, which lobbied the state to dedicate U.S. 66 as "Historic Route 66." Highway signs were erected, the association launched an annual "Fun Run" of classic cars, tourists and media began converging and Seligman was reborn. (AP Photo/Matt York) #

82

A train that runs along old Route 66 transports military tanks on June 16, 2007 in Daggett, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

83

A house is abandoned to make way for a new development on old Route 66 on June 15, 2007 in Rancho Cucamonga, California.(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

84

A destroyed cafe stands along old Route 66 on June 16, 2007 in Ludlow, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

85

Aging hotels, many used by long-term residents, are seen along old Route 66 on June 15, 2007 in Barstow, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) #

86

A French tourist takes pictures of the Bagdad Cafe on May 29, 2008 in the Mojave Desert on Route 66, in Newberry Springs, California.(GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) #

87

A view of the Bagdad Cafe,is seen on May 29, 2008 in the Mojave Desert on Route 66, in Newberry Springs, California. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images) #

88

A roller coaster at the Pacific Amusement Park on the historic Santa Monica Pier, which is celebrating it's centennial year in Los Angeles on July 23, 2009. The iconic pier built in 1909 is a major tourist attraction and has been the backdrop for countless Hollywood movies as well as the end of the famous Route 66 highway. Almost destroyed by a pair of violent storms in 1983, it was rebuilt after local residents rallied to save it from demolition. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) #

89

Historic Route 66 runs in front of the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Mo., as seen Sept. 5, 2002. The motel, built in 1946, is a favorite stop among the nostalgia lovers of Route 66. (AP Photo/John S. Stewart) #

90

A truck travels a portion of U.S. Route 66 east of Galena, Kan., early Wednesday morning, May 28, 2003. Once one of the most famous and traveled highways in America, U.S. Route 66 is a travel route for sight seers and local traffic today. (AP Photo/Mike Gullett) #

91

The Route 66 Museum still dwarfs the landscape in Elk City, Okla., Jan. 31, 2006. A flurry of home building, packed hotels, the new cars and trucks cruising the red dirt prairie 110 miles from the nearest metroplex announce a prosperity that hasn't been seen in the western Oklahoma oil patch in nearly 25 years. (AP Photo) #

92

Pops Restaurant on Route 66 in Arcadia, Oklahoma on July 19, 2009. This sculptural take on a soda bottle and straw soars 66 ft. into the sky. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

93

66 Drive-In Theatre, Route 66, Carthage, Missouri on August 12, 2009. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

94

In this Thursday, May 5, 2011 picture, Angel Delgadillo sits in his barber shop in Seligman, Ariz. Delgadillo, 84, has witnessed the rise and fall of America's most historic byway and gets credit for helping it rise again as Historic Route 66. (AP Photo/Matt York) #

95

Entrance sign to Hamel, Illinois on Route 66. Hamel is where the two Metro East alignments of Route 66 part ways, the earlier path heading through Edwardsville and Mitchell towards the Chain of Rocks Bridge and the Show Me State. The later corridor heads further south towards Troy and Collinsville before heading into Missouri from East Saint Louis. Title: Entrance sign to Hamel, Illinois, Route 66 on July 22, 2009. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

96

Abe Lincoln sits on a wagon on Route 66 in Lincoln, Illinois. Lincoln is a city in Logan County, Lincoln, Illinois, United States, is the only town in the United States named for Abraham Lincoln before he became president; he practiced law there from 1847 to 1859. First settled in the 1830s, Lincoln is home to three colleges and two prisons. Title: Abe Lincoln sits on a wagon, Route 66, Lincoln, Illinois. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) #

97

A sign marks the end of U.S. Route 66 on Jackson Boulevard near the intersection of Michigan Avenue June 12, 2007 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

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