Newly relisted on eBay: Return of the “Pat Tillman” Submariner. And this time with a promise to donate 15% of the proceeds to the Pat Tillman Foundation. Of course, there’s still no eBay donation link or other official endorsement that would guarantee that, so I guess we’ll just have to take his word for it. Would be nice to think so but with the vile and vituperative emails I’ve received from this asshole, I wouldn’t bet on it. Those with nothing to hide do not react to simple queries in that manner. So IMO, don’t believe the hype on any of this seller’s claims. Ever.
Getting ready for the 2014 Rolex 24-Hours at Daytona
Tomorrow — Saturday, January the 25th — is the unofficial official start of big time motorsports in the New Year with the 52nd running of the 24-Hours at Daytona. It will also inaugurate the new IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship after a merger between the two formerly competing US road racing leagues, the American LeMans Series and Grand-Am. Daytona’s unique hybrid banked oval/infield road course (aka “Roval) will be the first test of professional and gentlemen drivers across the newly reorganized 4 classifications (in descending order of technical and performance level): Prototype (P); Prototype Challenge (PC); GT Le Mans (GTLM); and GT Daytona (GTD). As you can tell by these names if you’re familiar with the class structures of the old series, there seems to be an uneasy merger between the exacting specifications of the French organization which controls Le Mans, the ACO, and the more free wheeling Grand-Am regulations. It should be interesting to see how the tension between these two visions for sports car racing play out as this first United SportsCar Championship season evolves and the different cultures are integrated.
Delta Wing Racing’s New Coupe
Nonetheless, familiar top competitors will still be players in the new league with teams such as Chip Ganassi, Wayne Taylor, Bob Stallings’ Gainsco, Michael Shank, Starworks and Action Express. And world-reknowned sports car pilots will still be driving for them, such as the great Scott Pruett, Alex Gurney, Ollie Gavin, Antonio Garcia and superstar-in-the-making Jordan Taylor to name but a few. And of course many of the world’s high-performance automotive leaders will be competing, like Corvette, Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, Mazda, as well as expanded programs by Astin Martin, Audi and SRT Viper.
But the most important factor to get the new series off to a good start and hopefully capture the interest of an even greater portion of the American public will be the racing down there in Daytona tomorrow afternoon. The grueling 24-hours kicks off at 2pm Eastern and can be viewed pretty much continuously, albeit only across multiple platforms that may or not be available on your cable or satellite provider.
Here is the broadcast and Internet schedule for tomorrow’s 24-Hours at Daytona (via Auto Week)– let’s hope for good weather and an exciting and safe race for all!
Saturday, Jan. 25
2-4 p.m. ET on Fox
4-9 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 2
Overnight (Jan. 25-26)
9 p.m.-7 a.m. ET on IMSA.com (includes live images, in-car cameras and announcers)
Sunday, Jan. 26
7 a.m.-3 p.m. on Fox Sports 1
The Case of the Questionable “Pat Tillman” Rolex Submariner
Unfortunately, like any hobby that attracts big money, vintage watch collecting has its share of scams and scumbags. For example, and it would be hard to think of a more odious seller angle, this so-called “Pat Tillman Rolex 5513 Submariner” showed its face on eBay the other day. Along with a lot of claims about how this was the heroic Pat Tillman‘s personal watch that he wore in Iraq and Afghanistan before he was tragically killed by friendly fire, there was a song and dance about Mr. Tillman’s Social Security number being engraved on the inside, with his rank and Ranger motto on the outside. And of course the obligatory “Support the Pat Tillman Foundation”… without any link, official endorsement or percentage contribution of the proceeds to said foundation or other veterans’ groups via eBay, which is extremely easy to arrange when you list an item for sale.
Probably Not Really Pat Tillman’s Submariner
So I had questions, as any properly skeptical observer would of a big money watch with specially claimed provenance, and they were: Why would Pat Tillman take a 1966 Rolex Submariner into action in Afghanistan when a G-Shock is the preferred equipment these days? Where was the actual provenance that this was the Pat Tillman’s watch, such as a letter from the family and/or an official family representative? Why would Mr. Tillman have engraved his Social inside the caseback — that is a very old fashioned concept that might have been done in 1966 but in 2003? And most importantly, where was a commitment to donating some of the proceeds from this sale to the Pat Tillman Foundation, the absence of which made this an extremely mercenary and unsavory endeavor even if the watch was genuine?
Probably Not Really Pat Tillman’s Submariner, back
When I raised these questions publicly on a very well known forum, and mind you I didn’t say the watch was phony just that these things seemed incongruous, I received the following blasts of opprobrium from a “Jack Dorsey” in reply:
Let me get this straight, after their loved one was killed in Afghanistan, you would narcissist [sic] enough to ask a grieving family to write a letter about their dead family member in order to satisfy your thirst, and you find nothing wrong with that? … Have you ever served in the military? Your comments suggest that you haven’t, Because in our world Name, Rank and Serial Number is enough. If Spc Tillman’s social security number is inside that case back, than in all likelihood that is his watch.
And it goes on like that. Not only that but I got wonderfully colorful personal emails from Mr. “Dorsey” and a compatriot (probably the same dude really) named “Jose Corrone” who also commented on the original post, so obviously they were not disinterested parties but in fact the seller(s) of the watch over there in Mullica Hill, New Jersey (an IP search of “Jose” confirmed that proximate location, i.e. close to Philly). I guess I touched a nerve and the only thing these bozos had to come back with was ad hominem, circular logic (If that’s Pat Tillman’s SS# then it’s probably his watch! — agreed, now prove it) and machismo posturing. And shortly thereafter the “Tillman Sub” auction was ended early before it could go to the hammer.
Yes, Pat Tillman was a hero but this watch probably wasn’t his
Now, I like to think that their little scam was made stillborn after a light was shone on these cockroaches who feed on the fame of a dead war hero to sell their questionable goods. But maybe someone less cautious or particular made an outside deal with them thinking he was getting the real thing. Hard to know for sure. But I do know that “Jack Dorsey”, “Jose Carrone” and their loathsome ilk have no place in this hobby. If you can’t defend your watches that you are seeking to profit from (and the spectacular claims you make for them) by any means other than threats, name calling and unsubstantiated bullshit then go back to your day jobs nickel-and-diming widows and mopping out the local porno and leave the watch sales to decent human beings.
As the old saying goes, and just as in all aspects of commerce but especially in collecting vintage watches: be careful — it’s a jungle out there. But in honor of these assholes, let’s all really make a donation to the Pat Tillman Foundation and that way something good will come out of their venality after all.
What we’re listening to today — Revelry by Kings of Leon
There is something about the bittersweet yet unapologetic quality of “Revelry” from Kings of Leon‘s 2008 breakthrough album Only by the Night that always resonates for me.
A lyric like “Just know it was you all along that had a hold of my heart/
But the demon in me was a best friend from the start” sums up that kind of youthful pattern where you can’t help but hurt the other person for the simple reason that you are too busy chasing your own kicks. Call it the selfishness of our immaturity, a feeling that the world and the people in it exist to please us and us alone.
Most of us have got memories of a misspent youth indulging in far too much partying, often at the expense of joys that could have been more lasting and less transitory. One of the keys to maturity as a man is leaving that reckless selfishness behind. But of course the memories of such uncontrolled hedonism linger with us, a constant caution and temptation from our past selves to the men we have (hopefully) become. And sometimes a rock song can bring it all back to crystal clarity once again, those times dreaming of revelry while letting something precious fall away.
MLK Day 2014
Because we’ve come so far as a nation and a people since 1963 but like all human endeavors we’ve still got work to do, it pays to listen again to one of the greatest oratories in our history and pay tribute to the man who made it.
MLK Day is always a good day to reflect on how to be a better person and how to make things better for others. Whether it’s a grand gesture or a simple one, it’s a fine day to make an effort on behalf of one’s fellow man.
Cars we want — Jaguar F-type
(Pic from AutoExpress.co.uk)
At long last, Jaguar’s fabled E-type gets a successor: The stunning and sleek new F-type roadster.
The F-type is available with 3 levels of power plant, all of them exhilarating: a “standard” Supercharged V6 with 340 horsepower, an “S” version of the same engine that bumps the power up to 380 HP and the big daddy 5-liter V8 “R” version, which maxes out at a powerful 495 HP and is “restricted” to a blazingly fast 186mph.
What We’re Watching – Charlie Is My Darling
Above from left: Mssrs. Jones, Watts, Jagger, Richards, and Wyman in Ireland, 1965.
One of my favourite film genres is music documentaries. They offer a fun insight into the bands, indulging us fans and giving us a glimpse of what went into a certain record or period of time in a band’s career. For me, one of the best music docs of all-time is “Charlie Is My Darling”. There have been a lot of documentary films made about The Rolling Stones over the years. From the seminal concert film “Gimme Shelter” to Robert Frank’s unreleased (but often bootlegged), down and dirty “Cocksucker Blues”, to the nearly unwatchable 2008 bloated disaster of a film by Martin Scorcese, “Shine A Light”. The Rolling Stones have had their magical career covered from every direction, but never so insightfully as in this not often seen film from 1965.
Gorgeous Lady of the Week — Margot Robbie
Yes, at 23 this stunning Australian beauty is a little younger than the ladies we normally go for here at MFL. But c’mon — who can resist that face and, well, all the rest? She strikes us as a bit like the second coming of Grace Kelly, who was also a very young breakout sensation in her day. And we wouldn’t be surprised if a wealthy prince whisks her away someday either. But we’re in good company in being enchanted by such a youthful beauty — one has only to check out her sizzling work in The Wolf of Wall Street to see that Martin Scorcese is just as smitten with this blond bombshell. And he’s a hell of a lot older than us!
After making it big on the Aussie mega-soap Neighbours, Robbie split for LA and landed a prime role in ABC’s 2011 retro series Pan Am as a rookie flight attendant. While it seemed that Pan Am would also capture that magical 60s zeitgeist so successfully mined by Mad Men, the show was cancelled after only one season. But it’s hard to keep a stone looker with Margot’s kind of talent down and after a supporting part in 2012’s About Time, Ms. Robbie scored the plum role that any aspiring young actress would give their eye teeth for: the ultra-sexy party girl Naomi LePaglia who tames Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street.
Trust me: you’ll need a cold shower after watching their sex scenes.
With a great photo shoot for Esquire under her belt and currently illuminating the various red carpets of awards season, Margot Robbie is one of the fastest rising stars in Holywood. She’s now shooting Violent Talent and will co-star in the upcoming Will Smith vehicle, Focus, so we’re definitely not the first to peg her as a sure thing for a long and successful Hollywood career. With a face and bod like that, and talent to match, she’s a slam dunk… and definitely the stuff that lupine dreams are made of.
Earworm of the day — That’s Because You Drive Me by Acid House Kings
Because my New Year’s resolution is to inflict upon you all the nonsense catchy pop rattling around in my head one song at time…
What is it with Swedish bands and maddeningly sweet, highly contagious tunes? From 2005’s Sing Along with Acid House Kings, “That’s Because You Drive Me” anchors an album of persistently cheerful, decidedly un-moody Scandinavian pop, as if ABBA cross-pollinated with Belle & Sebastian. The original packaging even included a DVD of karaoke-ready videos (which can all be seen on YouTube), hence the “Sing Along” part. Go ahead and join in–you know you want to. Plus, resistance to such determined sunniness is futile, futile I tell you.
The Allure of Military Watches (an occasional series)
Military-issued wristwatches are one of the hottest categories of collectible vintage watches out there. When we talk about Mil-Watches we are speaking for the most part about timepieces that have been officially issued to a given country’s armed forces as an essential part of a soldier, airman, marine or sailor’s equipment. For example, navy divers may require a dive watch to aid in timing their decompression intervals and pilots may require a chronograph to record mission flight time or monitor gas consumption. Back in the pre-quartz days, these watches were all analog mechanical watches that possessed certain high standards of durability and functionality as required by the needs of a particular branch of the service. Therefore, these older Mil-Watches not only have the standard charm of vintage watches in general but also the mystique of possibly having seen combat or other rigorous military action. It’s no wonder that not only veterans but also those of us who have not been in the military are drawn to the vicarious thrill that an issued military watch can convey, as well as a sense of paying homage to the warriors of days past by the mere act of strapping it on. There’s something about a vintage object with a tale to tell and with the high price of many Mil-Watches nowadays, it’s clear that these special timepieces are telling a very appealing one across a wide spectrum of collectors. Better yet, genuine military watches are immune from the normal aesthetic standards of most other collectible timepieces where Mint Condition is generally the highest standard and finding a desirable watch that has never been worn is akin to finding a Grail. With Mil-Watches, the collector wants to see the use in the watch, the nicks and scars that could well denote combat and adventure. Up to a certain point, the more WABI the better!
It’s not possible to go into every Milwatch out there in in these posts, nor do I have the specific expertise required to do so. Not even close. For that I would recommend starting out with something basic and general like the Concise Guide to Military Timepieces, which, while not the world’s greatest reference book, will give you a general overview of what constitues a Mil-Watch and what’s out there in terms of variety. Even better would be a visit to the Military Watch Resource Forum where everyday you can find informative and spirited conversation on all things Mil-Watch great and small. They also have an excellent sales corner (membership required) where some of the most fantastic pieces crop up in all price ranges.
What I will do is discuss some of the Mil-Watches I have been lucky enough to own to give a small taste of their appeal and hopefully show what makes them special.
Benrus Type II
Benrus Type II, ca. 1977
