Modifications That Got Ugly

I found this image completely by accident on some car restoration site that was last updated in 2005. I don’t even remember how I got there; I think I was doing a Google image search on vintage hair dryers. The image above appears in the following context:

Any vintage automotive electrical system can be a real challenge, especially if it’s been partially burned up due to modifications that got ugly or a voltage regulator that went into fricasse mode. Just about every tatooed Isetta wiring harness we’ve seen had ignition problems of some form or fashion with the blue and green ignition wires vying for first place in the Meltdown Category.

Dude. I don’t know what any of the above means, but it’s pure poetry.

9 Responses to “Modifications That Got Ugly”

  1. Shay Says:

    unf.

  2. Mer Says:

    Oh god, I’ve actually seen that thing before, or one just like it, at the Top of Oklahoma Museum in Blackwell! http://coilhouse.net/2008/07/05/the-tarnished-beauties-of-blackwell-oklahoma/

    Ugly indeed… the sign posted on it stated that it was a hair-curling machine that actually killed more than one or two women.

  3. Nadya Says:

    Mer, those pictures are fantastic! It’s amazing, the kinds of things that women have done for beauty through the ages, from bleaching their hair with pee in the Roman era (although, to be fair, men did that too) to using lead-based face powder and thus poisoning themselves in the Elizabethan times.

    By the way, I just found one of these for sale, in case anyone’s interested:

    http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6331854

  4. mitch Says:

    Oh wow! I just got done reading this comic that takes place in 1900 new york, so I read all that odd auto-slang and metaphor in old timey gangster-speak. Wonderful!

    This is what I was talking about.
    http://www.zudacomics.com/node/1275

  5. Alice Says:

    Despite what women have gone through in the distant past, the first half of the 20th century strikes me as one of the scarier times to be female. Tentacle’d hairdryers and lobotomies galore, oh my!

  6. Thews Says:

    it look s like a flying robot sea jelly

  7. Tequila Says:

    @Nadya…I wonder what the shipping cost would be on that beast? It’s a tempting auction. Would be a great decorative item though getting that thing working again would probably be a bad idea.

    A bad idea I’d so want to try.

    @Alice…Maybe…but think of all the cool clothes in the first 40 years alone. :D

  8. Emily Says:

    This is known as Perming device were women use to sit under this device to style their into a tight, fizzy perm in the 1900.

  9. Robert Says:

    I have one its neat , would not use it …….or any not on my hair……..