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About Roadsters.com |
Last updated on December 25, 2007 |
How Roadsters.com got started
This web site was born in the spring of 1996, and moved to its own domain name on December 15th, 1996. It was put
together so that those of us who are interested in classic and high-performance cars and motorcycles would have
one place on the web that had links to most of the web sites that we'd want to be able to visit without having to
spend a lot of time searching for them.
In addition to this site having about 8,000 links to other motorsports-related web sites, you'll also find
articles on topics that include
classic racing wheels,
hot rods, and
Land Speed Record Racing.
What you see on this site is the work of Dave Mann, an incurable motorhead. I've been nuts about hot rods, race
cars, motorcycles and sports cars ever since I discovered them. I was raised on
sports cars and
jazz, but I grew up on
hot rods and
rock and roll.
My first car was a
1930 Model A Ford, bought the day I turned 16, in 1968.
That same year I bought my first motorcycle, a 1942
Harley-Davidson WLC 45 Army bike. A wild, fiberglass
T-bucket
hot rod with a GMC 6:71-blown Chevy followed the
rusty A-bone, and a 1939
Harley-Davidson Knucklehead and a 1958 Panhead
followed the Army bike.
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In the 1990s I had two of my books
published.
The first book is filled with information about over 500 movies, going all the way back to 1913, that feature
hot rods,
race cars,
muscle cars,
sports cars,
motorcycles,
and outstanding chase scenes. The first printing of 7,000 copies has sold out.
I titled the book "Motorhead Movies", but in the process of "enhancing the book's appeal", the publisher changed
it to "Races, Chases & Crashes A Complete Guide to Car Movies and Biker Flicks". (Gee why didn't I
think of that?)
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The second book came about as a result of research I did in the late Eighties while building a Harley-Davidson
XR-750 race bike. It contains information about products and services available from 353 manufacturers and
fabricators in thirteen different countries that can be used to improve the performance of a Harley. The first
printing of 7,000 copies has completely sold out. I titled it "Harley Muscle Parts", but the publisher changed the
title to "Harley-Davidson Performance Parts Directory". There is now a popular page on this site called Harley-Davidson Speed Equipment. If you don't like the
title, you might consider going to work for a publishing company.
I live in Phoenix, Arizona, and am building a
big block Chevy-powered
1932 Ford roadster with a
Reprosteel body from Sweden and several different
sets of
classic aluminum and magnesium racing wheels. This is
a classic
hot rod project, built for limited street driving as
well as racing at the
Bonneville Salt Flats and some
nostalgia drag racing.
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Interesting visitors to Roadsters.com
The site has gotten to be pretty popular. Roadsters.com gets around three million hits a month from people
using more than 200,000 different computers. And the hits just keep on coming.
One of the neat things about having your own domain name is that you can view the site's statistics to see
which pages people view the most, and where they are visiting the site from.
Roadsters.com has been visited by people in more than 160 countries, including Albania, American Samoa,
Andorra, Angola, Antarctica, Antigua, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas,
Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Barbuda, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bouvet Island, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria,
Burkina Faso, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia,
the Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark,
Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, the Falkland Islands (Malvinas),
the Faroe Islands, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Georgia, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland,
Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica,
Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Montserrat, Morocco,
Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue Island,
Norfolk Island, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland,
Portugal, Qatar, Romania, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, the Slovak
Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, the Soviet Union, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Helena, Suriname,
Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turks
and the Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay,
the former USSR, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, the Virgin Islands, Yugoslavia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as well as
the Intelsat satellite.
Like any responsible Webmaster, I pay attention to the statistics that are automatically compiled on my site's
server. Roadsters.com gets some interesting visitors. From time to time I look through the huge list that shows
who visits the site in a particular month. As an example, the following lists were compiled from that information,
showing where some of the computers that were used to visit this site in the first two months of 2002 were
located.
BMW Germany, http://www.bmw.de/
BMW North American Operations, http://www.bmwna.com/
DaimlerChrysler, Germany, http://www.daimler-benz.com/
DaimlerChrysler, USA (numerical address)
Ford Motor Company, numerical addresses and http://www.ford.com/
General Motors, several numerical addresses including 198.208.223.35
Honda USA, http://www.honda.com/
Isuzu, Japan, http://www.isuzu.co.jp/
Lotus, UK, http://www.lotuscars.co.uk/
Mercedes-Benz, http://www.mercedes-benz.com/
Nissan USA, http://www.nissan-usa.com/
Renault, France, http://www.renault.fr/
Saab, http://www.saab.com/
Toyota Belgium, http://www.toyotabelgium.net/
Toyota Japan, http://www.toyota.co.jp/
Toyota UK, http://www.toyota.co.uk/
Toyota USA, http://www.toyota.com/
Volvo, Sweden, http://www.volvo.se/
Volkswagen, http://www.vw.com/
Case, http://www.casecorp.com/
Caterpillar, http://www.cat.com/
Freightliner, http://www.freightliner.com/
John Deere, Inc., http://www.deere.com/
Mack Trucks, http://www.macktrucks.com/
New Holland, http://www.newholland.com/
PACCAR, Inc. (Kenworth and Peterbuilt), http://www.paccar.com/
Polaris Industries, http://www.polarisind.com/
Accuride, http://www.accuridecorp.com/
American Racing Equipment, http://www.americanracing.com
ArvinMeritor Auto, http://www.meritorauto.com/
Bosch, http://www.bosch.com/
Bosch Braking Systems, http://www.bosch-brakes.com/
Cross Country Automotive Services, http://www.crosscountry-auto.com/
Custom Chrome, Inc. (Harley parts), http://www.customchrome.com/
Dana Corporation, http://www.dana.com/
Delphi Auto, http://www.delphiauto.com/
Goodyear Tire and Rubber, http://www.goodyear.com/
Midas, http://www.midas.com/
Mueller Tire and Brake, http://www.muellertire.com/
SEMA, http://www.sema.org
SFM Racing (dragster), http://www.sfm-racing.com/
Snap-on Tools, http://www.snapon.com/
Summit Racing, http://www.summitracing.com/
TireRack, http://www.tirerack.com/
Tucker Rocky (Harley parts), http://www.tuckerrocky.com/
Weld Racing, http://www.weldracing.com
Baron BMW, Kansas, http://www.baronbmw.com/
Crevier BMW, http://www.crevierbmw.com/
JMK Auto Sales BMW, http://www.jmkautossalesbmw.com/
Kimberly Imports BMW, http://www.kimberlyimportsbmw.com/
Tulley BMW, http://www.tulleybmw.com/
Westchester BMW, http://www.westchesterbmw.com/
Alcan, http://www.alcan.com/
Alcoa, http://www.alcoa.com/
Bethlehem Steel, http://www.bethsteel.com
California Steel Industries, http://www.californiasteel.com/
O'Neal Steel (metals supplier), http://www.onealsteel.com/
Rouge Steel Company (Dearborn, Michigan), http://www.rougesteel.com/
ACNielsen (ratings), http://www.acnielsen.com/
Amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/
BBC, UK, http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Booth Newspapers, Michigan, http://www.boothnewspapers.com/
The Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming, http://www.trib.com/
The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotteobserver.com/
Dennis Publishing (UK), http://www.dennis.co.uk/
EMAP-USA Publishing, Anaheim (emap-usa.anaheim.cw.net)
Fox Sports, http://www.foxsports.com/
Gannett (newspaper and TV stations), http://www.gannett.com/
The Herald Times, Indiana, http://www.heraldt.com/
The Hood County News, Texas, http://www.hcnews.com/
King 5 NBC TV, Seattle, http://www.king5.com/
McGraw-Hill, http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/
The Modesto Bee, http://www.modbee.com/
Modus Media International, http://www.modusmedia.com/
Pacifica Papers, Canada, http://www.pacifica-papers.com/
Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/
The Toronto Star, http://www.thestar.com/
Turner Broadcasting Systems, http://www.turner.com/
TV Guide, http://www.tvguideinc.com/
Altair Software, http://www.altair.com/
AltaVista, http://www.sv.av.com/
Apple Computer, http://www.apple.com/
Compaq Computer, http://www.compaq.com/
Concentric Systems (computers), http://www.concen.com/
Dell Computer, http://www.dell.com/
Delta (microwave), http://www.delta-corp.com/
Electroglas, (semiconductors) http://www.electroglas.com/
Fujitsu (semiconductors), http://www.fujitsu.com/
Gateway Computer, http://www.gateway.com/
Google, http://www.google.com/
Hewlett-Packard, http://www.hp.com/
IBM, http://www.ibm.com/
Intel, http://www.intel.com/
Intellisync Web site update monitoring service,
http://www.intellisync.com/
Lycos, http://www.lycos.com/
Microchip Technology, Inc., http://www.microchip.com/
Microsoft, http://www.microsoft.com/
Motorola, http://www.motorola.com/
National Semiconductor, http://www.nsc.com/
Sun Microsystems, http://www.sun.com/
Texas Instruments, http://www.ti.com/
Xerox, http://www.xerox.com/
Disney, http://www.disney.com/
Dolby Labs, http://www.dolby.com/
DreamWorks SKG, http://www.dreamworks.com/
Paramount Pictures, http://www.paramount.com/
Sony USA, http://www.sony.com/
Sony Japan, http://www.sony.co.jp/
Warner Brothers, http://www.warnerbros.com/
Aerojet (missile manufacturer), http://www.aerojet.com/
Aerostructures (aerospace supplier), http://www.theaerocorp.com/
Airbus, Germany, http://www.airbus.de/
Boeing, http://www.boeing.com/
Celanese Chemical, http://www.celanese.com/
Cessna Aircraft Company, http://www.cessna.textron.com/
Chautauqua Airlines, Inc., http://www.flychautauqua.com/
Corporate Air, Montana, http://www.corporateair.net/
Crossair, http://www.crossair.ch/
Delta Air Lines, http://www.delta.com/
Dow Chemical Company, http://www.dow.com/
DuPont, http://www.dupont.com/
DynCorp, http://www.dyncorp.com/
General Electric, http://www.ge.com/
Goodrich Corporation, http://www.bfg.com/
Halliburton Company, http://www.halliburton.com/
Hughes, http://www.hughes.com/
Litton Marine Systems (Northrup Grumman), http://www.litton-marine.com/
Lockheed Martin, http://www.lmco.com/
MD Helicopters, Inc., http://www.mdhelicopters.com/
Northrop Grumman, http://www.northgrum.com/
Ozark Aircraft Systems, http://www.ozarkaircraftsystems.com/
Pittsburgh International Airport, http://www.pitairport.com/
Pratt-Whitney, http://www.pratt-whitney.com/
Raytheon, http://www.raytheon.com/
Rockwell, http://www.rockwell.com/
Sikorsky Helicopters, http://www.sikorsky.com/
South West Air Lines, http://www.tlfa.com/
Swiss Air Group, http://www.sairgroup.com/
TRW, http://www.trw.com/
Union Tank Car Company, http://www.union-tank-car.com/
United Air Lines, http://www.ual.com/
Vienna International Airport, http://www.viennaairport.com/
Weyerhauser, http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/
Allied Insurance, http://www.alliedinsurance.com/
Aurora Health Care, http://www.aurorahealthcare.org/
Banner Health, http://www.bannerhealth.com/
Battelle Memorial Institute, http://www.battelle.org/
Capital Blue Cross, http://www.capbluecross.com/
Covenant Health, http://www.covenanthealth.org/
Healthlink South Africa, http://www.healthlink.org.za/
Hurley Medical Care, Flint, Michigan, http://www.hurleymc.com/
Kaleida Health, http://www.kaleidahealth.org/
NDC Health, http://www.simatics.com/
The Mayo Clinic, http://www.mayo.edu/
Medtronic, http://www.medtronic.com/
Merck Research Laboratories, http://www.merck.com/
Scott & White Hospital, Texas, http://www.healthcare.sw.org/
State Farm Insurance, http://www.statefarm.com/
Sutter Health, http://www.sutterhealth.org/
Tenet Healthcare Corporation, http://www.tenethealth.com/
ABN-AMRO (global banking), http://www.abnamro.com/
Bank of America, http://www.bankofamerica.com/
Bank One, http://www.bankone.com/
CitiCorp, http://www.citicorp.com/
DataMonitor (market analysis), http://www.datamonitor.com/
Dow Jones, http://www.dowjones.com/
Edward Jones Investments, http://www.edwardjones.com/
JPMorgan, http://www.jpmorgan.com/
Mastercard, http://www.mastercard.com/
Nesbitt Burns (investing), http://www.nesbittburns.com/
Novo Group (Finland), http://www.novogroup.com/
Royal Bank, http://www.royalbank.com/
Charles Schwab, http://www.schwab.com/
Trust Company of America, http://www.trustamerica.com/
USAA (insurance), http://www.usaa.com/
Wells Fargo Bank, http://www.wellsfargo.com/
Arnold Oil Company of Austin, Texas, http://www.arnoldoil.com/
Atmos Energy Corporation (natural gas), http://www.atmosenergy.com/
Baker Hughes (oilwell pumps), http://www.centrilift.com/
Bandera Electric Cooperative, http://www.bandera-ec.com/
BOC Gases, http://www.boc.com/
BP British Petroleum, http://www.bp.com/
Chevron, http://www.chevron.com/
Cinergy, http://www.cinergy.com/
Citgo, http://www.citgo.com/
Con Edison (New York power), http://www.coned.com/
Consumers Energy, http://www.consumersenergy.com/
DTE Energy, Detroit, http://www.dteenergy.com/
Duke Power, http://www.dukepower.com/
Enerchem International, Inc. (oilfield), http://www.enerchem.com/
Energy Northwest, http://www.energy-northwest.com/
Entergy (nuclear), http://www.entergy.com/
FirstEnergy Corp. (Ohio power), http://www.firstenergycorp.com/
GE Power Systems, http://www.gepower.com/
Helsinki Energy, Finland, http://www.helsinginenergia.fi/
Honeywell, http://www.honeywell.com/
Hydro Quebec, Canada, http://www.hydro.qc.ca/
IHS Energy (oil industry information service), http://www.ihsenergy.com/
Illinois Power, http://www.illinoispower.com/
Mustang Engineering (oil), http://www.mustangeng.com/
Norsk Hydro (oil), http://www.hydro.com/
PanCanadian Energy, http://www.pancanadianenergy.com/
PEMEX (oil, in Mexico), http://www.pemex.com/
PGE, http://www.pge.com/
Schlumberger Ltd (oilfields in Laredo and New Orleans), http://www.slb.com/
Shell Canada, http://www.shell.ca/
Shell Netherlands, http://www.shell.nl/
Shell UK, http://www.shell.co.uk/
Shell US, http://www.shellus.com/
Statoil, Norway, http://www.statoil.com/
Summit Industrial Products (oil), http://www.summitoil.net
Tesoro Petroleum Corporation, http://www.tesoropetroleum.com/
Texaco, http://www.texaco.com/
Unocal, http://www.unocal.com/
Westinghouse Electric, http://www.westinghouseelectric.com/
EOG Resources (formerly Enron Oil & Gas; three visits)
http://www.eogresources.com/
Enron (five visits), http://www.enron.com/
Arthur Andersen (eight visits), http://www.arthurandersen.com/
Government visitors to Roadsters.com in 2002
Air Force Technical Applications Center (aftac.gov)
Bay Area Rapid Transit Authority (bart.gov)
Bonneville Power Administration (bpa.gov)
Central Intelligence Agency (ucia.gov)
Community Open Source Program Office (osis.gov)
Department of Agriculture (usda.gov)
Department of Commerce (osec.doc.gov)
Department of Energy (netl.doe.gov)
Department of Housing and Urban Development (hud.gov)
Department of Justice (doj.gov)
Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (doleta.gov)
Department of Veterans Affairs (dvacm.gov)
Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov)
Federal Aviation Administration (ea.faa.gov)
Federal Aviation Administration Hughes Technical Center (tc.faa.gov)
Federal Bureau of Prisons (bop.gov)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (fdic.gov)
Federal Emergency Measures Administration (fema.gov)
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (ferc.fed.us)
Federal Reserve Board (fed.frb.gov)
General Services Administration (gsa.gov)
Government-Wide Registration Service (fed.gov)
The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (wwb.noaa.gov)
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (nesdis.noaa.gov)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov)
New York Power Authority (nypa.gov)
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (panynj.gov)
Rocky Flats Environmental Technology (rfets.gov)
Social Security Administration (ssa.gov)
State of Arizona, Maricopa County (maricopa.gov)
State of California Department of General Services, Sacramento (dgs.ca.gov)
State of California Department of Transportation (dot.ca.gov)
State of California Forestry and Fire Protection (fire.ca.gov)
State of California Franchise Tax Board (ftb.ca.gov)
State of California Health & Human Services Agency Data Center (dhs.cahwnet.gov)
State of California Public Employees' Retirement System (calpers.ca.gov)
State of California Water Resources Control Board (swrcb.ca.gov)
State of Idaho (state.id.us)
State of Ohio (ohio.gov)
State of Tennessee Valley Authority (tva.gov)
State of Virginia (va.gov)
US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Houston (ca5.uscourts.gov)
US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC (doc.gov)
US National Library of Medicine (nlm.nih.gov)
US Office of Personnel Management, Macon, Georgia (opm.gov)
US Patent and Trademark Office (uspto.gov)
US Postal Service (more than 50 visits a month) (usps.gov)
US Senate (senate.gov)
US Treasury (BATF, Customs, IRS, Secret Service) (treas.gov)
Veterans Affairs (va.gov)
Western Area Power Administration (wapa.gov)
The Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab (als.lbl.gov)
Ames Laboratory (ameslab.gov)
Argonne National Laboratory (anl.gov)
Argonne National Laboratory West (anlw.anl.gov)
Brookhaven National Laboratory (bnl.gov)
Center for (nuclear explosion) Monitoring Research (cmr.gov)
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (fnal.gov)
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (inel.gov)
Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory (llbl.gov)
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (llnl.gov)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (lanl.gov)
McMurdo Station, Antarctica (mcmurdo.gov)
National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (nersc.gov)
National Energy Technology Laboratory (niaid.nih.gov)
Sandia National Laboratories (sandia.gov)
NASA Glenn Research Center (lerc.nasa.gov)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (gsfc.nasa.gov)
NASA Hubble Space Telescope (hst.nasa.gov)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (jpl.nasa.gov)
NASA Johnson Space Center (jsc.nasa.gov)
NASA Kennedy Space Center (ksc.nasa.gov)
NASA Langley Research Center (larc.nasa.gov)
NASA National Space Science and Technology Center (nsstc.nasa.gov)
NASA Stennis Space Center (ssc.nasa.gov)
NASA Wallops Flight Facility (wff.nasa.gov)
Australian Capital Territory, Canberra (act.gov.au)
Australia Government Department of Defence (defence.gov.au)
Australia Government Department of Highways (roads.vic.gov.au)
Australia Government, Queensland (qld.gov.au)
Australia Government, Tasmania (tas.gov.au)
Australia Government, Victoria (vic.gov.au)
Western Australia Government, Victoria (wa.gov.au)
Bahia Government, Brazil (ba.gov.br)
Canadian Government, Alberta (gov.ab.ca)
Canadian Government, British Columbia (gov.bc.ca)
Canadian Government, Newfoundland (gov.nf.ca)
Canadian Government, Nova Scotia (gov.ns.ca)
Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (idsc.gov.eg)
French Polynesia Government (services.gov.pf)
Republik of Slovenia Government (gov.si)
UK Government Secure Intranet (gsi.gov.uk)
UK Hyndburn Borough Council, Lancashire (hyndburnbc.gov.uk)
UK Blackpool Borough Council (blackpool.gov.uk)
UK Hampshire City Council (hants.gov.uk)
UK Northumberland City Council (nc-ncc.northumberland.gov.uk)
US military visitors to Roadsters.com in 2002
Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado (usafa.af.mil)
Air Force Incirlik Air Base, Turkey (incirlik.af.mil)
Air Force Institute of Technology (afit.af.mil)
Air Force Philips Lab (plh.af.mil)
Air Forces in Europe Operational Weather Squadron (sembach.af.mil)
Andersen Air Force Base, Guam (andersen.af.mil)
Arkansas Air National Guard (ang.af.mil)
Aviano Air Base, Italy (aviano.af.mil)
Edwards Air Force Base, Florida (edwards.af.mil)
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida (eglin.af.mil)
Elmindorf Air Force Base, Alaska (eglin.af.mil)
Gunter Air Force Base, Alabama (psab.af.mil)
Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan (kadena.af.mil)
Kunsan Air Bae, South Korea (kunsan.af.mil)
Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal (lajes.af.mil)
Misawa Air Base, Misawa, Japan (misawa.af.mil)
Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska (offutt.af.mil)
Osan Air Base, South Korea (osan.af.mil)
Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany (pandora.ramstein.af.mil)
Royal Air Force, Lakenheath, UK (lakenheath.af.mil)
San Vito Air Station, Italy (sanvito.af.mil)
Spangdahlem AB, Germany (spangdahlem.af.mil)
Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida (tyndall.af.mil)
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (wpafb.af.mil)
1st Armored Division, Friedburg, Germany (1ad.army.mil)
233rd Base Support Battalion, Darmstadt, Germany (darmstadt.army.mil)
414th Base Support Battalion, Germany (hanau.army.mil)
Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles (spl.usace.army.mil)
Army Forces Central Command, Kuwait (kuwait.army.mil)
Army Infantry Center, Fort Benning, Georgia (benning.army.mil)
Army Personnel Command, Alexandria, Virginia (hoffman.army.mil)
Army Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey (pica.army.mil)
Army Signal Command, Fort Huachucha, Arizona (kln.army.mil)
Army Signal Command, Fort Huachucha, Arizona (amedd.army.mil)
Army, Germany (mannheim.army.mil)
Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, NC (soc.mil)
Army Tank-Automotive Armaments Command (tacom.army.mil)
Army War College, Carlisle Barracks (carlisle.army.mil)
Army Yuma Proving Ground (fw.yuma.army.mil)
Fort Belvoir, Virginia (belvoir.army.mil)
Fort Rucker, Alabama (rucker.army.mil)
Grafenwoehr 7th Army Training Command, Germany (grafenwoehr.army.mil)
Redstone Arsenal (redstone.army.mil)
Schoefield Barracks, Hawaii (jp.pac.army.mil)
Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (apgea.army.mil)
US Forces, Korea (korea.army.mil)
Watervliet Arsenal (wva.army.mil)
Coast Guard, Alameda (alameda.uscg.mil)
Coast Guard Finance Center, Chesapeake, Virginia (fincen.uscg.mil)
Coast Guard, Washington, DC (comdt.uscg.mil)
Marine Corps Base Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan (mcbbutler.usmc.mil)
Marine Corps Base, Hawaii (mcbh.usmc.mil)
Marine Corps Community Services (usmc-mccs.org)
Marine Forces Reserve, New Orleans, Louisiana (mfr.usmc.mil)
Naval Air Depot, North Island, San Diego (nadepni.navy.mil)
Naval Air Facility, Atsugi, Japan (atsugi.navy.mil)
Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine (nasb.navy.mil)
Naval Air Station, China Lake, Ridgecrest, California (chinalake.navy.mil)
Naval Air Station, Fallon, Nevada (fallon.navy.mil)
Naval Air Station, Lemoore, California (lemoore.navy.mil)
Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Maryland (nawcad.navy.mil)
Naval Aviation Depot, Jacksonville, Florida (nadjx.navy.mil)
Naval Command Control and Ocean Surveillance Center (pacsw.navy.mil)
Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station (nrl.navy.mil)
Naval District Washington (ndw.navy.mil)
Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (nfesc.navy.mil)
Naval Reserve Forces Command Services (cnrf.navy.mil)
Naval Special Warfare Center (navspecwarcen.navy.mil)
Naval Support Activity, Naples, Italy (naples.navy.mil)
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division (corona.navy.mil)
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (crane.navy.mil)
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Virginia (nswc.navy.mil)
Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport, RI (npt.nuwc.navy.mil)
Navy Atlantic Fleet's Maintenance Team (spear.navy.mil)
Navy Directory Service (smartlink.navy.mil)
Navy Indian Ocean Region Network Operations Center, Bahrain (ior.navy.mil)
Navy Japan Regional Network Operations Center (cnrfe.navy.mil)
Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (jag.navy.mil)
Navy, New Orleans (says "You have been scanned") (nola.navy.mil)
Navy, Norfolk, Virginia (nmci.navy.mil)
Navy Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (cpf.navy.mil)
Navy Pacific Region Network Operations Center (pacfd.fleet.navy.mil)
Navy Public Works Center, Norfolk, Virginia, (pwcnorva.navy.mil)
Navy Public Works Center, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, (pwcpearl.navy.mil)
Navy Regional Instructional Technology Support Center, San Diego (pacsw.navy.mil)
Navy Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific, (swfpac.navy.mil)
NAVSEA Coastal Systems Station, Panama City (ncsc.navy.mil)
NAVSEA Indian Head, Maryand (ih.navy.mil)
NAVSEA San Diego (sssd.navy.mil)
Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii (pmrf.navy.mil)
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (phnsy.navy.mil)
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (ports.navy.mil)
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (psns.navy.mil)
Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity, San Diego (simasd.navy.mil)
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (nosc.mil)
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego (spawar.navy.mil)
Tinker AFB, Oklahoma (tacamo.navy.mil)
US Computer & Telecommunications Area Master Station, Rota, Spain (rota.navy.mil)
US Fleet Activities, Sasebo, Japan (cfas.navy.mil)
US Navy Activities in Sicily, Sigonella Area, Italy (sicily.navy.mil)
Defense Finance and Accounting Service (dfas.mil)
Defense Information Systems Agency (iern.disa.mil)
Defense Logistics Agency Corporate Headquarters (hq.dla.mil)
Defense Logistics Agency Defense Distribution Center (ddc.dla.mil)
Department of Defense Network Information Center (cbus.nipr.mil)
Department of Defense Network Information Center (kelly.nipr.mil)
Department of Defense Network Information Center (moffett.nipr.mil)
Department of Defense Network Information Center (norfolk.nipr.mil)
Department of Defense Network Information Center (sand.nipr.mil)
Department of Defense PRECOM Pascagoula IT (peosnap.navy.mil)
Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, VA (je.jfcom.mil)
National Imagery and Mapping Agency (nima.mil)
United States Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Illinois (transcom.mil)
Navy Headquarters, the Pentagon (noca.ecr.navy.mil)
Navy Headquarters, the Pentagon (nocb.ecr.navy.mil)
Navy Headquarters, the Pentagon (nocc.ecr.navy.mil)
Navy Headquarters, the Pentagon (noca.hq.navy.mil)
Navy Headquarters, the Pentagon (nocb.hq.navy.mil)
Navy Headquarters, the Pentagon (nocc.hq.navy.mil)
Navy Headquarters, the Pentagon (nocd.hq.navy.mil)
Washington Headquarters Services, the Pentagon (ren.whs.mil)
Washington Headquarters Services, the Pentagon (stimpy.whs.mil)
Washington Headquarters Services, the Pentagon (wakko.whs.mil)
Washington Headquarters Services, the Pentagon (yakko.whs.mil)
It's great that so many of you find this site interesting. While you're here, I hope you
learn something.
Awards Roadsters.com has won
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On March 7th, 1997, when it was less than three months old, Roadsters.com received its first award, a USA Today Hot Site award that's given for "excellence
in graphics, content or both". Their review was brief, but the response was great. And it happened on my
birthday.
A few days later, on March 11th, this site and its award were mentioned in the Life section of USA Today. This
also helped the site become known by thousands of people who otherwise wouldn't have heard about it.
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On September 11th, 1997,
Lycos named Roadsters.com as being in the Top 5% of all web sites. Being recognized by Lycos brought another
increase in visits to the site from people who hadn't yet discovered it. In their review of the site, Lycos
praised its content by saying, "This place is huge." They were right. Back then it took about 300 sheets of
paper to print out the whole site. And although I haven't printed it all out for years, it would currently take
over 600 sheets.
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On March 18th, 1998, Forlags AB Albinsson & Sjoberg (FABAS), based in Karlskrona, Sweden, let us know that they
had chosen this site as being in the top fifty of all automotive web sites. FABAS is Scandinavia's largest
publisher of motoring magazines. "Quite an achievement, as this web site includes some 5,000 motoring-related
links!"
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In addition to the awards, the site has been mentioned on radio, television, and in at least a dozen newspapers
and magazines, including a very positive article about it in the December, 2000 issue of Rod & Custom.
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This recognition was much appreciated. Although I've had a lot of fun putting the site together, the time involved
has called for some sacrifices and it's always nice to hear from people who recognize its value. This site is been
around for eight years now, and it's going to get a lot better. If you think it deserves more recognition, feel
free to nominate this site for more mentions in the press, and for any web awards that you consider worthwhile.
If you have a web site, please add a link to Roadsters.com, and encourage other people to add them too. The
more popular this site becomes, the better for all of us.
Some things need to be said about web site awards. There are two basic categories of them.
Web awards are supposedly given to reward excellence, and to provide a means for more people to become aware of a
site that is worth spending some time at, whether it's entertaining or a useful resource.
Some awards are passed out like business cards, and are just a means of generating traffic back to the site that
awards them. This site has won obout a dozen of these, and they're meaningless. You know you've been "awarded"
something bogus when the site that the award is from is mediocre and blatantly commercial.
Several people have suggested that I start giving my own awards to sites that deserve recognition, and although
it's a very low priority to me right now, that day may eventually arrive. It's far more likely that someday I'll
create a page on this site that features the "Best of the Web".
Having looked at many thousands of them since 1996, I can tell you the things I'd be looking for if I was to judge
web sites. The comments that follow may be of some help to those of you who are putting together your own web
pages.
Tips for your web site
When most of us visit a web site, the first thing we look for is content. I visit a site to learn things. I'm
looking for information, and I want to find it quickly. That means that a site should tell me where to find the
information I'm looking for right away. I shouldn't have to dig around too much to find it.
I'm amazed at the number of business web sites out there that don't tell you the most basic things, such as
what the company does what they make, what it's for, what it fits and their street address, phone
number, and E-mail address, in their first page or two. There have been many times when I've gone to a company's
site just so I could get their phone number or E-mail address, and then hunted around for ten minutes without ever
being able to find it. Tell everybody who you are, what you do, where you are and how to contact you in the first
page or two.
Now my opinion on things like Java, CGI, and Perl scripts may change someday, but from what I've seen so far,
they add very little that's of any real value to a web site's visitors. Java scripts can really slow down the time
it takes to download your pages, and also make your visitor's computer much more likely to freeze up.
I'm not going to be any more likely to read your catalog, letter, magazine or newspaper if you put an animated
juggling clown on the first page.
Things like blinking text and pages that use more than two colors of text make a web site look like it was
designed to get the attention of young children.
Are the graphics you provide on your pages relevant? Are they just for decoration, or can we learn something
from them? Are they unique, or uncommon?
Are you using happy face logos, and those lame, yellow-and-black-striped "Under Construction" signs on pages
you feel insecure about, or that tired, stupid-looking animated image that shows the hand reaching out of the
mailbox to grab a letter? Are you really that desperate to look like an idiot?
Now let's talk about links. When I first started putting this site together, in addition to searching with
search engines, I looked at other sites to see what links they had. In fact, since I will admit to having a link
fetish, a new site's links are one of the first things I look at.
The links you have to other sites say something about who put the site together "how many of their
friends they're willing to introduce you to" is one way of putting it. It is perfectly acceptable for a business
to have no links to any other web sites. If you only have five or ten links to other sites, that's fine too,
assuming that they're relevant and they all work, and you check them every month to make sure they still do. (And
you certainly don't have to provide thousands of links like this site does. It just so happens that it was put
together by one of the relatively few people who actually enjoys doing research and compiling a lot of information
in a way that makes it easy for people to quickly find out something in particular.) But if you do have a lot of
links, are they arranged in a way that breaks them down into categories, and then put in alphabetical order, so
that people don't have to wade through a lot of things they're not interested in?
By the way, you don't ever have to ask permission to add a link on your site to another site. And if you
haven't already done so, please add a link to the first page on Roadsters.com.
Don't expect people to load a different browser or change their monitor's resolution so they can view your site
with the browser you've optimized it for. Nobody does that, and it makes you look arrogant if you tell them to.
Make your site work with Firefox, and let their competition deal with any compatibility issues.
People won't ever adjust their screen size unless they really have to, so don't ever ask them to or expect them
to. That's like running a business and telling a customer they can't come into your shop until they go home and
change their shoes.
Make your site easy to navigate, with continuity in its layout between all of its pages. You'll notice that
this site has an index at the top of every page, and a link to its first page at the bottom of every page.
Never overestimate the patience of your site's visitors. Never underestimate the value your visitors place on
their time. If you frustrate them, you'll lose them.
Make the people who visit your site happy to be there. Treat them with respect, without being patronizing.
Remember, there are millions of other web sites that they could be looking at, so be grateful that they chose to
spend some time at yours. Don't make them wait for what they want. Make their visit to your web site an
educational, entertaining, and worthwhile experience. Give them something that will make them want to come
back.
As far as frames go, I hate them. Everyone I've talked to about them hates them. I would never use
frames on any web page I put together. If I was ever asked to evaluate web sites, I would automatically deduct
points from any site that used frames. Truth is, I virtually never spend any time on web sites that are made with
frames. Here are some of the reasons why:
We can think of a web page as being a page from a letter, a magazine, a catalog or a book. When we are holding
a magazine in our hands and reading it, in effect we are using a two-page color monitor. Of course when we're at
our computers, most of us don't have the luxury of a 21-inch monitor. I'm opposed to anything that reduces the
effective screen size of a monitor and gives us a smaller window to peek through.
Images displayed on pages that are made with frames must be smaller than the window the frame provides, or
visitors will have to scroll around to see all of its parts and then try to visualize what the whole image looks
like when it's all put together.
Sites built with frames often "hold us hostage" to a site when we follow one of its links to somewhere else, by
keeping us from even knowing the URL of where we are (unless we looked at where the link pointed to and wrote it
down, or typed it in ourselves to get out of the frames).
You often have to "right click" to get a framed page to appear in a new window, or to bookmark a site that's
linked to a framed site, but most people don't know that they can do this.
Some of us who don't have state-of-the-art computers on very quick connections will sometimes surf the web with
"Load Images" turned off on our browsers, and when we find something we want to see, we click "Images" on the
browser to show all the images. But when you're at a site that's made with frames, you have to click on a frame
and load the images in that frame, and then click somewhere else and load the images in that part of the
screen.
Frames often slow down page loading.
For some reason, sites made with frames tend to cause computers to freeze up or crash far more often than sites
with no frames.
The only people that seem to like frames are people who create Web pages for others and especially the
kind of web page designers that like to show off what they know how to do.
I wish frames had never been developed.
The only frames that I would ever use are made of steel, preferably seamless 4130 chrome-moly tubing.
The Roadsters.com Promise of Performance
This web site shall provide:
No animated images
No background images that obscure text
No black page backgrounds
No blinking text
No boasting about how great it is
No cookies
No deceptive or misleading information
No features that will make browsers crash
No Flash
No forms to fill out
No frames
No hype
No Java or Javascript
No links to
jerks
No links to pages that aren't "finished"
No links to sites that have nothing to offer
No mailing lists
No memberships
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No mention of "the information superhighway"
No navigation headaches
No non-printer-friendly pages
No off-topic banner ads
No passwords
No pop-up ads
No pull-down menus
No redundant graphics
No registration forms or fees
No repetitive audio files
No sign-up fees
No slow-loading images
No spam
No subscription fees
No text typed in UPPER CASE
No "Under Construction" banners
No untitled web pages
No use of the phrase "Click Here!"
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Just pure, clicking satisfaction.
Links to helpful web sites
For those of you who are interested in making your own web pages, here are a few good resources to get you
started.
Doctor HTML
This is "a web page analysis tool which retrieves an HTML page and reports on any problems it finds". You can use
this to check your HTML code and the links on your pages.
http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/
HTML Goodies
I like this site. It is run by Joe Burns, Ph.D., who provides access to everything you could ever want in the
world of HTML. This site is the closest thing I've found to making something as mundane as HTML code fun.
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/
HTML Writers Guild
As you might expect, this site has lots of technical information for people learning and using HTML. It's not the
most thrilling site I've seen, but then it's not the most thrilling topic, either.
http://www.hwg.org/
The US Copyright Office
Your web site's content is your property. Protect it.
http://www.copyright.gov/
W3C Link Checker
This is the best online link checker that I know of, and I use it to check the links on this site. To use it, just
paste in the address of the page you want to check, hit Enter, and it will begin compiling a page with the
results.
http://validator.w3.org/checklink
Web Developer's Virtual Library
This site is packed with information and resources of interest to webmasters.
http://www.wdvl.com/
Web Law FAQ Page
This is part of the Oppedahl & Larson web site, and answers many questions about what you can and cannot do with
other people's web pages. You'll be glad you read this.
http://www.patents.com/weblaw.htm
Web Pages That Suck
This is an excellent site that was put together by Vincent Flanders, an HTML instructor in Berkeley, California.
It shows you what not to do when you're making web pages. Here we can "learn good design by studying bad
design."
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/
Why America Online Sucks
If you're on AOL, or know someone who is, this site will be of interest.
http://www.aolsucks.org/
Quotes
"If you can't find it here, you must have left it somewhere else."
Dave Mann
"I'd be more interested in putting a blower and slicks on my car than
putting neon lights under it. I treat my web pages the same way."
Dave Mann
"If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."
Woody Allen
"Getting married for the second time represents the triumph of hope over
experience."
Samuel Johnson
"You know, it's hard to get excited about winning a million when it took two million to
do it."
Richard Petty
"I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it."
Jonathan Winters
"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
Dan Quayle
"If we don't vote, we run the risk of having people like Quayle
running our government."
Dave Mann
"Some people say the cup is half empty.
Some say the cup is half full.
I say the cup is the wrong damn size!"
Jay Leno
"I see lots of differences between the United States and Canada. For example, here in
the States, when there's a fire somewhere, as soon as the firefighters arrive they just
start fighting the fire. But back in Canada, first we try to reason with the
fire."
Dave Mann
"Driving a fuel Funny Car is like marrying a nuclear weapon. I like it."
Scotty Cannon
"The women that will put up with me can't keep up with me.
The women that can keep up with me won't put up with me."
Dave Mann
"I would say that about 75-percent of the world is mediocrity, whether it's food, or
style, or music. A mediocre world. And the other 25-percent have an elitist attitude.
That's the part of the world I belong to. You have to know your own worth. I like to say
that my band consists of fifteen Ferraris in a world of Pintos."
"We don't have style. We have class."
Buddy Rich
"I have the heart of a child. I keep it in a jar on my shelf."
Robert Bloch
Q: How many rockabilly guys does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Ten. One to change it, and nine more to talk about how much better the original one
was.
"Find your Art Pedal, and mash it to the floor."
Mel Klimas
All text and images on Roadsters.com are Copyright 1996-2008 Dave Mann
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