This is Bobby Darin's Di Dia 150. I saw it at a car show.
No car shows the exuberance and confidence of America in the 1950s quite like this example of Car Culture. It took four men nearly seven years to build this car of hand-formed aluminum on a tubular frame. It’s no wonder the materials alone cost over $93,000, and the whole cost, including labor, was $150,000.
The car's fins are four feet high and the body is extra long, low, and wide. It has thirty coats of translucent pearlized paint with crushed diamond dust in it for sparkle. The car was featured in Bobby Darin's movie "Too Late Blues," and was donated in 1970 after 10 years of film and publicity use.
Bobby Darin had rheumatic fever and knew he would die. He gave his life that extra gusto we all recall. He left at 37 in 73.
I had rheumatic fever at five just as cortisone was being used for it, and so survived.
Faced with death, heroes respond with something extra, throwing themselves on a comrade to save him; throwing themselves on a grenade--
What an extraordinary corps has recently made history in Iraq, and continues in heroic fashion.
Sahar, a teacher at a school in Abu Grahib, Iraq, helps a girl write the albhabet on the board on the school's opening day on April 26, 2003. The school has been closed down since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom is the multinational coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and end the regime of Sadaam Hussein. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Cherie A. Thurlby) (Released)
Photo by: STAFF SGT. CHERIE A. THURLBY, 1ST COMBAT CAMERA Record ID No. (VIRIN): 030426-F-7203T-018.JPG
U.S. Army Capt. Herb Joliot, commander 96th Civil Affairs Battalion, talks to Iraqi children on the opening day of a school in Abu Grahib, Iraq on April 26, 2003. The school has been closed down since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom is the multinational coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and end the regime of Sadaam Hussein. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Cherie A. Thurlby) (Released)
Photo by: STAFF SGT. CHERIE A. THURLBY, 1ST COMBAT CAMERA Record ID No. (VIRIN): 030426-F-7203T-012.JPG
Members of a Combat Control Team (CCT) walk through the rubble at one of Sadaam Hussein's palaces on April 25, 2003. The Combat Control Team (CCT) is currently assigned to the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Baghdad International Airport is a primary base of operations for U.S. troops, cargo and humanitarian airlift for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom is the multinational coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and end the regime of Sadaam Hussein. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Cherie A. Thurlby) (Released)
Photo by: STAFF SGT. CHERIE A. THURLBY, 1ST COMBAT CAMERA Record ID No. (VIRIN): 030425-F-7203T-009
Schmuck Hussein built himself lavish palaces while the children of Iraq went without food and medicine.
May he roast his stomach in hell for seven times seven years. Rinse, repeat.
They shall be known as major dudes and dudettes.