Collection Addition 7-12-24

 It never ceases to amaze me that I find decanters and other items I never knew Michter's had made. Despite several detailed decanter lists I have in my collection, I still occasionally find unlisted variants. This decanter was found by a good friend of mine and fellow Michter's collector. Jordan, by trade, is a professional photographer (https://jordanbushphotography.com/). We met years ago when he was getting interested in whiskey history and started incorporating it into articles he was writing for a magazine. Recently, Jordan contacted me and asked if I had noticed a very odd decanter on EBay. I hadn't, and I was very grateful he had brought it to my attention! It seems Michter's had a penchant for using the ASI Ford truck decanters as somewhat of a promotional/marketing tool. A variant of the green telephone truck has turned up with Jones Motor Freight advertising on the sides (If anyone has one and wants to sell it, I'm your buyer!) and a variant of the white ice cream truck has turned up with Heidelberg car show advertising on the sides. And now this turns up, another white ice cream truck, this time with advertising for Cressona Textile Waste, Inc. on the sides. I'm not sure if Mr. Winstian was an owner or salesperson at Cressona or not. But it doesn't appear to be someone's mock-up or fake. The paper decals are exact in size and cut nicely. They fill the panel perfectly on each side of the truck. And with Cressona being about a 45 minute drive from Michter's, it's more than feasible this was another one of their small production variants.

A big thanks to Jordan for finding this and letting me know! It now resides with the other decanters in the collection!

Summer projects...

This summer, since I've once again found gainful employment, I plan on doing something that I've wanted to do for 10 years- have the Capri restored. Back in college I did a very rushed paint job on it and it shows. The car also needs a proper rustproofing and some other areas repaired. So far this spring I repaired the sunroof, did an oil change, repaired the driver's door armrest, and put a new hood weatherstrip on. I found a guy that's local that does classic car restorations during the summer (He's a school teacher) and he came over and we discussed the car. He is going to take on the project, so early this fall I should have a VERY nice looking, solid car!
As for other projects? I am going to fix up the 94 Escort wagon and sell that (so I can buy a 99 Escort wagon!), do some more work around the house, and of course stay involved with everything Michter's! After doing a little more research, I am going to start my whiskey rebarrel project. I still haven't selected the barrel size or what whiskey to use, but I've narrowed it down. I am probably going to buy 3 3 liter barrels and put Old Grandad 100 in one, Old Heaven Hill 100 in the second one, and Cabin Still 80 in the third. This gives me 3 very different whiskeys to experiment with and see what happens when they are aged an additional few months.

The Capri turns 24.

Today marks the 24th anniversary of my 1986 Mercury Capri coming off the assembly line at Ford's Dearborn plant. 1986 also marked the last year for the Capri and carburetted 2.3L 4 cylinder engines. Why is this car worth keeping? In 1986, only 20,869 Capris were made. Of those, only 1,774 were made in the Shadow Blue Metallic color- most of which were ASC McLaren coupes. The options package on my Capri is what really makes it unique. It has power locks, power windows, a 3 speed automatic, premium sound, a flip-up sunroof, and rear defrost, BUT no air conditioning and only the cloth interior. This options package would have had to have been pieced together, which would have made it very expensive. You could have gotten a decent V6 or base V8 engined car for the price. I have owned the car since July of 2000 and I've done an awful lot to it. When I bought the car, it had an Earl Sheib paint job, smoked a little, and needed a few other repairs. I fully repainted the car while in college and since then have done quite a bit of engine work. The Ford 2.3L OHC engine in it has 221,000 miles on it (From what I suspect. However, there is no 100,000 marker on the odometer so it's hard to say.). I put a rebuilt head from an 89 Mustang on it, the carburetor is a rejetted Motorcraft-Weber 5200 2 barrel from a 77 Pinto, I replaced the camshaft with a roller cam out of a 90 Ranger, the ignition was modified to a Duraspark-MSD hybrid system, I removed the air pump and a bunch of other emissions junk and also reworked most of the vacuum system. My modifications replace a computer controlled 1 barrel Carter carburetor and lots of other old, worn out, pathetic parts. Here's a few pictures of the car today:

The First Post.

Oh Great! Another blog from some goober out there in la-la land ranting about how much he hates squirrels and that weird guy with excessive back hair at the supermarket deli. But wait! This one is different! I promise or your money back. This blog will be a real smattering of stuff. Not just angry rants! Oh so much more! I have been doing significant research on the Michter's Distillery in Schaefferstown, Pa and also some physical work there. I will be posting up my findings and my work on here. I will also have other postings about my view on politics (remember they are just my opinions so try not to flame me to death!), views on society in general, automotive topics (I love Fords- just to give you an idea how strange I am), and other random tidbits. So enjoy and welcome to the best blog ever*.








*actual results may vary.