#winter thorley

[lotsofdreamb0ats]

@world-wide-west

all-new fidget toy i get frpm www. parking lot .crom

[mystical-evergreen]

The midwives stayed through Lilly's first day and that night. The woodcutter's home was clean and smelling fresh from summer herbs. Odilie's meal went over well, Peter finishing his portion so quickly he drank tea to settle his stomach.

Thorley made sure the midwives were paid well. A collection of firewood for the winter months and assorted woodland treats, mushrooms, nuts, and berries, were gifted to the fair haired woman.

The house, smelling sweet, had never been so happy for so long. Even the matriarch, Mary, had nothing rude to comment on.

[natreviewsbooks]

An Affair of Poisons by Addie Thorley is a captivating story of a young woman who is swept along in a plan to assassinate the king, and a bastard prince hiding in shadows brought to the light. Rebellion stories are the best, and 2019 is putting out some good ones. It's been a few days since I posted, but I'm back! #bookstgram #booksbooksbooks #yafiction #fantasy #bookcommunity #winter #reads #ilovereading #igbooks #instabooks #thursday #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #booknerd #booknerdigans #booknow #bookphoto https://www.instagram.com/p/BtUkp50Ha6S/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=vaburlx66y3r

[lotsofdreamb0ats]

@world-wide-west

[daniellethamasa]

Hey all, Dani here.

Greetings! I usually like to do these monthly wrap-ups on the first of the month, but I had a couple post office delays with the delivery of my OwlCrate and a Book Loft package, so I decided I would wait one more day since the shipment tracking said I would get them both today. Thankfully they arrived a few hours ago, so I was able to put the finishing touches on the post.

April was actually a really good month on the being in home and watching shows, reading books, blogging, and playing Animal Crossing. Granted, it was also a lot more stressful in terms of going into work, and I have a feeling that it’s only going to get worse on that, as more and more people are deciding that they are tired of the restrictions of social distancing and now with mandatory wearing of masks, so they are taking their unpaid leave and just not dealing with it. Unfortunately it means those of us who are left have to work even harder, which is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting. I’m now actually finding myself wishing that the factory would just close for a week or two until the manpower struggles lessen a bit, but I don’t think that will happen. It’s immensely frustrating. I don’t want to be there with everything going on, but I can’t afford to take two weeks without pay.

But today’s supposed to be a pretty nice day, so I think Damian and I are maybe going to go to a state park that has some pretty nice and wide hiking trails, so we can get outside and walk around a bit. We’re obviously taking our masks with us too. I bought some of Etsy, getting him a Slytherin mask and me a Ravenclaw one. I ordered a couple others but those haven’t shipped yet.

As usual with my monthly wrap-up, let’s start off by checking in on my overall goals for the year.

Reading: I read 30 books in the month of April, 10 of which were manga volumes, two were re-reads, and three were novella length. Overall that takes me to 101 books read already in 2020. Still, I’d say that is a pretty good month of reading. I should probably count up how many pages that is. Okay, I did the calculations, and only counting finished books I read 8,707 pages in April…but really I’ve probably read a few hundred more if you include unfinished reads. Overall though I’m super happy with that. I successfully completed my requirements for the OWLs Magical Readathon, so all I have to do is pass the NEWTs in a couple months and I’ll be a Trader of Magical Tomes. I also participated in Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon, and that was a whole lot of fun. Plus, I am currently in the middle of the Calendar Girls Springtime Whirl, going until May 11th, so I’m hoping to read a few more books at least for it–I haven’t achieved a bingo yet, but I’m really just having a good time trying to read to fulfill random prompts.

Blogging: It was the best month on my blog so far this year, and pretty close to being my best month in the history of Mousai Books, in terms of stats anyway. In terms of number of blog posts, this was definitely the best month overall…but I’m going to dial it back a little bit, because there’s no way I can keep doing like 10+ posts a week. It’s not sustainable for me right now. But I do still feel pretty good about continuing to have posts up pretty much every day. I wrote up 46 blog posts in the month of April, which is impressive, but it was also a whole lot of work. I did really enjoy the content though. I had a lot of books to talk about, and I especially enjoyed my National Library Week posts.

Writing: Well, I wrote a lot of blog posts, though that doesn’t count on the creative writing front. I was all excited about jumping into writing my book and then the world went to crap and I can’t get in a good mind set to write, so I’ve focused my attention on reading, and more study of the craft of writing. So it’s progress, but it isn’t progress in a trackable form such as increasing word count.

Conventions: Right now we are waiting to see what’s going to happen with Gen Con in late July/early August. It is a massive convention, so we’re expecting there to at least be a ton of restrictions. Lexington Comic and Toy Con ended up being postponed again, this time to June 18-21, and then it was just announced like yesterday that the 2020 convention is being canceled. But we both really want to work with Colorworld Books again, so we’re hoping that Cincinnati Comic Expo in September will still be good to go. My friends at Colorworld Books are trying to continue with their business as a digital affair, but 99% of the profits were made from attending conventions, so this has been a struggle for them. If you want to go check out their online store, that would be great. They have metal art prints and bookmarks, geeky t-shirts, and books. Oh, and you can use ConLife30 for 30% off of all metal, or CORONACON for 10% off any shirts. Oh, and they have actually started doing Colorworld LIVE convention style events just about every week. They gather up three or four awesome voice actors, hold a livestream panel, then a VIP panel for anyone who buys some signed merch, and of course you can get shirts, metal art prints, and more with characters these actors have portrayed. It’s pretty cool.

Okay, I guess I should start with wrapping up my time with the OWLs Magical Readathon. I was going for the Trader of Magical Tomes career path, which required me to read 4 books. I ended up changing one of the books from my TBR out because it was taking me so long and I worried I wouldn’t finish it in time. But, other than that, I was successful in reading all four books, so I’m ready to continue my Magical Tome training in the NEWTs later this year.

I’m also in the middle of the Calendar Girls Springtime Whirl, which is a bingo inspired reading challenge running from April 13-May 11. Once the reading challenge is over I’ll share a post with an updated bingo board covering all the categories I completed.

All right, let’s run through everything I read in the month of April. If I have a review up, I’ll also include the link back to that post.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare — 4.5 stars

Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie — 5 stars

The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett — 4.5 stars

Manga Classics: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Po Tse — 4 stars

The Queen of Raiders by Sarah Kozloff — 5 stars

Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloane — 5 stars

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren — 4 stars

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle — 3.5 stars

The Library Book by Susan Orlean — 5 stars

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron — 5 stars

Hickville Crossroads by Mary Karlik — 4 stars

An Affair of Poisons by Addie Thorley — 4.5 stars

Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition Volume 4 by Natsuki Takaya — 4 stars

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman — 4 stars

Steering the Craft by Ursula K Le Guin — 4 stars

Witches of Ash and Ruin by E. Latimer — 4.5 stars

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone — 5 stars

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey — 5 stars

Fairy Tail Volume 8 by Hiro Mashima — 5 stars

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin — 4 stars

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer — 4.5 stars

Fairy Tail Volume 9 by Hiro Mashima — 5 stars (review coming May 4, 2020)

Fairy Tail Volume 10 by Hiro Mashima — 5 stars (review coming May 18, 2020)

Fairy Tail Volume 11 by Hiro Mashima — 5 stars (review coming June 1, 2020)

Fairy Tail Volume 12 by Hiro Mashima — 5 stars (review coming June 15, 2020)

Fairy Tail Volume 13 by Hiro Mashima — 5 stars (review coming June 29, 2020)

Fairy Tail Volume 14 by Hiro Mashima — 5 stars (review coming July 13, 2020)

Fairy Tail Volume 15 by Hiro Mashima — 5 stars (review coming July 27, 2020)

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold — 3.5 stars

The Honey Don’t List by Christina Lauren — 4.5 stars

Whew, that was quite the list of reads for the month. Seriously I had a lot of fun reading this month and definitely found some books that are contenders for my Top Ten Reads of 2020 from April to June, so that’s great. Unless something bad happens, I have a feeling that this will be my best year of reading in a long time.

All right, next it’s time for the book haul portion of things, starting with the OwlCrate unboxing.

I think I’m really going to enjoy putting together the Moony puzzle, and the book sounds rather interesting. Clearly I enjoy having another notebook, as those are handy to have around. Same with the tote bag. And Damian really likes the wooden phases of the moon banner, so I gave that to him to add to the decorations in his man cave. I actually do like the OwlCrate version of this cover better than the original. The people are a bit closer and bigger, and the cover has this wonderfully eerie glow to it, almost as if it is bathed in moonlight, which is great. Plus those sprayed edges.

And, before I get into the rest of the books for my monthly haul, I want to talk about some other purchases I’ve made lately.

The stickers I bought off of Redbubble and they are from a dozen different artists. A few of the stickers are for Damian (and he already put them up in his man cave) and the rest are going on my art wall collage. The metal art prints are from my friends at Colorworld Books, and I love the metal art, but it is not easy to capture their beauty in a photo because of the reflection of light. Maybe I’ll think of doing a little video of them in my Instagram stories or something. I might pick up some more art this weekend. We’ll see.

As part of the bookhaul portion of today’s post, I need to do a shout out to The Book Loft of German Village in Columbus, OH. After some requests on social media, they complied and decided to offer a Malamarkus Mystery Box. You pay a single price for the box, tell them in your order comments what genres you would like, and then they fill the box with items such as books, a tote bag, bookish pins or stickers, etc for you. I have purchased two of these boxes, and it’s really fun to get a package where you have no idea what books they will select for you. The first box I ordered I gave them the genres of Epic Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, and Manga, with a couple examples of authors/series for each. I loved the selections so much that I picked up a second box, asking this time for fiction that makes me feel like I’m playing Dungeons & Dragons.

What’s really fun about both of these boxes is that they ended up having books for both Damian and myself. In the first box he got Dr. Stone because he watches the anime and wanted to try the manga, and The Starless Sea because I already owned a copy. In the second box I gave Damian The Last Wish, Heart & Shadow, and The Shadow of What Was Lost, again because I owned all of them already. What is really funny is that I had just bought and received that last one from my Barnes & Noble order a few days ago. Oh, and Damian also got the tote bag because I already have one–in that exact same color.

Okay, now for the standard bookhaul segment of the post.

Along with picking up the two books in her Dasreach Council series that I didn’t have, I also was able to buy that lovely Beauty and the Beast stained glass cloth mask from author Josette Reuel as well. We are now required to wear masks while at work, and I wanted to have a selection of cloth masks instead of relying on the disposable paper ones they are going to hand out at work. Though I’m still trying to figure out a good/easy way to be able to get a drink while also working on the factory floor, because the masks make you overheat even faster and that means you dehydrate even more.

Finally I guess it’s time to talk May TBR. I am sort of participating in Moody May, hosted by Kathy from Books and Munches and Destiny from Howling Libraries, and the whole point of Moody May is to read whatever you are in the mood for, which is perfect for mood readers who don’t like TBRs. But I’m sort of a mixed reader, because I enjoy having a somewhat planned TBR and then picking up mood reads to supplement my reading. So, I have made a rather ambitious TBR, which will probably be supplemented by shorter mood reads.

See what I mean? This stack of books is massive. Why am I doing this to myself? Honestly it’s because I seem to pick up thick fantasy reads as the weather gets warmer. I don’t even know how many pages are in these 10 books. So, yeah, I was curious and checked and those ten books are 6,276 pages.

Now that doesn’t include the fact that I’m in the middle of three or four other books that are also around 500 pages each. What can I say? I do love a good lengthy read, especially right now when my weekends are not filled with running around or playing D&D for hours and hours.

April Wrap Up and May TBR Hey all, Dani here. Greetings! I usually like to do these monthly wrap-ups on the first of the month, but I had a couple post office delays with the delivery of my OwlCrate and a Book Loft package, so I decided I would wait one more day since the shipment tracking said I would get them both today.

[muscle-cars-aesthetics]

1948 Studebaker M5 1/2-Ton Pickup --------------------------------- Facts ⬇️‼️‼️‼️‼️ Frame: Studebaker with boxed framerails Rearend / Ratio: Winters 10-bolt rear fitted with 2.74 gears. Rear suspension: Fatman four link, RideTech ShockWaves Front/Rear brakes: GM disc brakes Front suspension: Flaming River tubular A-arms, RideTech ShockWaves Steering box: Flaming River Front/Rear wheels: Billet Specialties, Velocity rims, 18×8; Billet Specialties Velocity rims 20×10 Front/Rear tires: Cooper ZEON RS3 245/40-ZR18; Cooper Zeon RS3 265/45-ZR20 Engine: GM LS3 crate motor Valve covers: Painted with Studebaker logo Manifold / Induction: Factory EFI Headers: Doug Thorley stainless steel Exhaust / Mufflers: Dual Flowmasters. Transmission: 4L85E four-speed automatic Shifter: Lokar tall shifter ---------------------------------

[thorleyxgreengrass-blog]

♔

Lyall Lupin and Thorley Greengrass Headcanon(s)

1. Lyall brings photographs to their study sessions each time and tells artful stories about each one, secretly trying to entice Thorley to model for him. Thorley hates to admit it, but he is impressed with Lyall’s photography skills and is flattered by the attention.  

2. The main reason Thorley denies to be taken a picture of is his own insecurities about looking awkward and not knowing what to do, the idea of being out of his comfort zone freaks him out. 

3. The day that Thorley finally agreed to be taken a picture of was a beautiful snow covered winter day. They had walked out to the old oak tree where they had first met and Lyall convinced Thorley to climb the tree with him. The picture was stunning. Thorley, surrounded by snow covered dead branches, looking as if his limbs were growing out of the tree like a mystical fae creature being born; the frozen lake in the far background mixing with the sky creating the feeling of flying. 

[itsworn]

Classic Car Studio Takes a Chrysler 300 and Invigorates it with a V10 Punch!

Brian Schnuck just wanted to build a car, something he’s done at least a dozen times during his hot-rod-infested life. “I’ve constructed everything from muscle cars to hot rods. But then life throws in a bunch of obstacles, and things just don’t go the way you planned. This last project—this one almost made me quit being a car guy. Well, almost,” says Brian.

Mo-Parts

Brian’s adverse auto-adventure started one night after he planted himself in front of his computer for some hot rod hunting, cold brewski in one hand and mouse in the other. After a few selected clicks, it appeared: on the screen in front of him popped up a pixelated image that drew him in like a moth to a flame. What he was looking at was his next new project, and an interesting one at that. It was out of the box for sure- a needy, sunburnt 1962 Chrysler 300. All he had to do now was win the auction.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Though he was outbid, things worked out for Brian somehow. “I ended up making a deal with the seller when the original auction winner couldn’t pay up. I was more than happy to unload my bank account for the right to take it home.” With that transaction executed, Brian had the project Pentastar shipped from its home in Washington State to his then-current address in wintery Wisconsin. He christened his new Chrysler “Doris,” after his beloved grandma.

Mo-Questions

It was shortly after his purchase that Brian thought to himself, “What exactly am I going to do with Doris?” He had dreams of building a car for Bonneville, a ratty rod that could pull off some runs in the salt, while still handling most of his daily driving chores. He already had a same-year Chrysler Newport to call his own. That car that had been customized with the look of a well-thought-out SoCal custom, so this 300 was supposed to be a workhorse, a driver, a runner. Not so pretty, just pretty potent.

But then Brian’s family life changed dramatically. While in the process of planning the Chrysler’s metamorphosis, he got married and started a family. Those Bonneville dreams went south pretty quick, and the 300 was now third in rank when it came to his daily duties… well behind the needs of raising his two young boys.

The next major blow to the project came one extremely frigid winter. While Doris was in her dormancy out back in Brian’s yard, the mighty Midwest cold got to her innards and busted a hole in her 361 powerplant. So Brian searched for a replacement, which he found in the form of 440 wedge-headed cubes. “I drove around with that motor and the matching trans in the back of my truck for some time, figuring out my next step,” says Brian.

Mo-Problems

That next step turned out to be two steps backward for the car owner. Not having much time—or garage space, for that matter—he found a local mechanic who was willing to take on the job of getting his Mopar back on the street. Brian soon found out that this guy’s job title was a poor description at best. “I really just wanted to bolt up the drivetrain and get it roadworthy,” Brian forcibly chuckled. “But basically he disassembled Doris, started making excuses, and kept asking me for more money.”

Brian ended up chasing the now-christened Evil Hillbilly mechanic from one temporary shop to another. During the constant runaround, the guy did manage to get the 440 in place and the disc brakes on. To keep the ball rolling, an Edelbrock intake, an MSD setup and some vintage Doug Thorley headers were then added to the mix. However, Brian was wary about setting him up with too many pertinent pieces—or cash advances.

While all this was going down, Brian dropped off Doris’s front and rear seats at a well-known local upholstery shop. Even though it was in a sketchy area, the shop had been around for years and had done some nice work. He ignored the trashy look and shady characters lurking around the premises and just crossed his fingers and waited for the shop to contact him when they finished.

The next call he got was a tip about the upholstery shop. It seems that the owner and his son went Breaking Bad, starting a chemistry lab in the basement of their building and cooking up meth for an eager local clientele. The DEA raided the joint and closed it down. Soon after, the EPA came in, claimed the place was a hazardous waste site and confiscated all of its contents—including Brian’s seats and interior.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Brian then lost the Evil Hillbilly’s trail. This time, the mechanic disappeared for good. Doris was gone, and so were all of Brian’s parts. It was a dark period in the 300’s timeline, and Brian was down to his last straw. He mustered up a search of sorts, following hunches and a possible trail of tears and gears leading back to his ride.

Acting on a tip from a tow agency, Brian located the Chrysler in an impound lot on the outskirts of town. Title in hand, he went to claim his beloved Doris. Sadly, it didn’t go as smoothly as he expected, but he had a plan. “After an unsuccessful attempt to get her back, I ended up putting on my repo man’s hat and actually stole her back from the storage lot. I had a flatbed at the ready and gave them a crisp $100 bill and told them to tow her to Classic Car Studios,” states Brian. That’s when things finally turned around for the better.

Mo-Answers

Brian has a mutual friend with Noah Alexander, head honcho at CCS, so he figured that this would be the place where things finally got done right. The St. Louis–based shop had recently gained notoriety for their restorations and forward-thinking custom builds. They immediately took a liking to Brian’s patina-skinned ride. Noah had a hunch that Doris would be a great build for their new Velocity Channel TV show Speed Is the New Black. Brian was down with the idea of bringing the ’62 back to its faded glory right there on national TV.

As far as the build goes, “I had some ideas, but I just told them to go crazy,” Brian admits. There was one thing that he wanted above all: to keep the natural, worn look of the Chrysler’s exterior. Once lead fabricator Scott France and crew had a full concept of what they were going to do, the ’62 was wheeled in for a teardown. Luckily for us, it was all caught on film for posterity.

CCS knows that when transforming a land yacht into an eye-catching fare, attitude is everything. “Stance is king here, so we set out to slam the 300 on the ground while making it a very reliable and unique cruiser,” says Noah. Once the build commenced, Scott redesigned the suspension that would carry this Chrysler.

Mo-Mods

“Since nothing is made for this particular ride, we had to make it all from scratch and fabricate it to make it work,” states Scott. Front suspension is a modified Mustang II, with a widened crossmember to fit the substantial width of the Chrysler’s front end. Control arms were custom-built to get the correct track width, and rack and pinion was added to keep this boat sailing in the right channel.

To batten down this cruiser to handle the power curve of one of many possible powerplants, all frame rails were boxed up, and a set of “through the floor” frame connectors were fabbed to tie it all together. Out back, a 1969 Camaro triangulated four link from RideTech was modified to handle the duties. To get the overall look they were after, Scott built the car in Pro-Street style, mini-tubbing the back. From there a complete RideTech air suspension setup was installed, using their Full Management system along with Airpod bags at the corners. The installation points were set as high as possible, to get Doris as low as possible with a flick of a switch.

Once the suspension was sorted out, it came down to the motor-vation of this ride. Though a stout 440 was planned, an alternate idea had been brewing in the shop for some time. Looking for something different, they turned to a local salvage yard that carries the largest selection of used Viper parts in the country. It made sense: big car, big engine, no problem. “We got a nice Gen II engine, complete with its six-speed trans, and its computer, harness and fuel system,” states Scott.

From there the engine was torn down, inspected and cleaned up. The final touch was to make the modern V10 match the look of the rest of the car. “Since we were going to keep Doris in her original skin, we wanted to make the engine appear to be as old as she was,” says Scott. CCS brewed up a custom paint blend, which they used on the engine, wheels and trim, to give them all an aged, anodized effect. Once completed, the 8.4-liter behemoth was installed, but not before the team built a custom firewall and set the engine back a total of 6 inches. Of course, CCS made sure there was room for power-adders if needed.

The interior was definitely a challenge, as the original dash, gauges and steering wheel were going to be left intact. “I’m usually the crazy one, and I came up with a design, mimicking the dash,” says Scott. To start, CCS used a set of ProCar seats and then wrapped them in raw metal to skirt the tracks, giving them almost a modern “bomber seat” look. Next Scott built an extensive, exposed transmission tunnel, quilted in bead rolls to give it strength and a cool vintage look. The shape is an extension of the bulbous speedo and bezel up on the dash.

It was more of the same for the exposed seat mats, which are raised bead-rolled bare metal. The carpet was designed to bare these pieces and make them a part of the interior.  One final addition: rear buckets to match the front, making this a wild four-seater. “It all came together so fast. Randy Thomas was my helper. I was fabricating and he was welding,” say Scott. To finish it off, Paul Jones worked on wiring all the vitals together in this beast.

Mo-Fun

In just five weeks, this rags-to-riches ’62 was finished. The crew at CCS did what they set out to do: They took a ho-hum, full-size land yacht needing an injection of attitude and turned her into a full-blown “life of the party barge” with bravado to spare.

Future plans? That’s to be determined, though Scott left the door open for more firepower. “I pushed the firewall back a few more inches than needed just in case Brian wants a dose of twin ­twisties up front. We can still move the engine back to make room,” says Scott. We like that kind of forward thinking.

As for Brian, he couldn’t be happier. “The crew at CCS built Doris so quickly, I didn’t think it was possible, and I was in shock the first time I got a peek at the build. The level of craftsmanship, engineering, and artistry that went into Doris is unbelievable. It was pure custom-car Shangri-La, and she was going to be all mine!”

We think he likes it, and we are sure Grandma Doris is smiling down with her overwhelming approval.

The post Classic Car Studio Takes a Chrysler 300 and Invigorates it with a V10 Punch! appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/classic-car-studio-takes-chrysler-300-invigorates-v10-punch/ via IFTTT

[thorleyxgreengrass-blog]

Thorley Bio 0-17yrs

0-10: Thorley’s childhood life was full of wide eyes and brilliant smiles. Listening to his mother sing to him in Italian, folk songs that her mother had taught her, and playing wizards and dragons with his father, in which father always was the mighty dragon, Thorley was a happy and adventurous child. Then he discovered another way to view the world, books. He consumed words faster than his favorite lemon bars, devoured letters quicker than his fastest broom. How the world worked, why people did the things they did, no question was unknowable, no equation unsolvable. These books were like guides on how to solve the puzzles of the universe, limitless knowledge in his grasp. Instead of going outside and exploring the forests, Thorley spent his days inside the family library reading. His sun-kissed skin faded, his bright smiles and sparkling wide eyes dimmed as he learned the sins of humanity, his mother’s songs lost their comfort and his father’s imaginary games became pointless. On the one hand, his parents were proud of their prodigy but on the other they mourned the loss of their warm-hearted child.

11-13: As Thorley entered Hogwarts, he became acutely aware that he was not like other children. Sure, there were studious and book loving children, but they didn’t see the world like he did. He saw the truth of the world. It was full of magic, yet it was stark and grey. Surprises felt like they didn’t exist anymore, or rather, they were pointless. It wasn’t that Thorley was an unhappy child, he just understood that happiness wasn’t the highest priority in life. Solve the puzzles, do the homework, score high on the tests, this was his world; a person’s worth was measured by test scores, and he wanted to be worth something.

13-15: It was in the winter of his third year that he discovered something that sparked a passion within him, gone was the dull tick-tock of his life and in its place a crackling fire began to burn. He knew that empires rise and fall, that powers overturn, this was the way of the world, but… his new found revelation was unacceptable. Magic, the constant force in the world that has been around since before the dawn of time, was dying. Poisoned by the non-magical humans in this world, their blood mixing with ours was dampening magical power and bloodlines were thinning. Not to mention sacred traditions were being replaced, rituals overwritten and forgotten, and pure magic was being tainted through poor regulation. He’d done the arithmancy work, if this intermingling with the muggles continued, magic would die out. Thus his mission started, to save the magical world. We would collect as much evidence as possible, do and re-do all the research, and read the data over and over until he was satisfied that it would change the world.

15-17: With his research nearing completion, Thorley finally admitted to himself that he was not going to change the world single-handedly. With all of his knowledge, his logical mind, the two things he lacked to make his project soar were: charisma and power. Although he was the heir to one of the sacred twenty-eight pureblood families, he did not have enough power to hold much sway over the magical community; in both political and magical power. He needed a charismatic captain to man his precious ship. Thus, his search began. At last, Thorley turned to a radical figure that was changing the world with terrorism; the Dark Lord Grindelwald. Honestly, he would rather change the world with a saner and less ruthless individual, but in order to accomplish his dream he needed the power and voice of a Dark Lord. Tracking Grindelwald’s movements wasn’t easy, but he was getting close to finding a pattern amongst the chaos.

17: Now in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, Thorley has completely given up on appearing like he cares about school work; not that he lets his grades drop of course. Putting all his energy into finalizing his plan for presenting his research to Grindelwald, he waits for the perfect opportunity to make it all happen.

[itsworn]

Denny Merritt’s Salvaged Studebaker Pickup

The path to becoming a true automotive enthusiast can begin in several ways. Some folks embrace it as a fun way to pass time after retirement while others get bit by the bug when they first get their driver’s license. Then again, there are some who are born into the sport.

Dennis Merritt, owner of this beautiful 1948 Studebaker pickup truck, says he can trace his love for vehicles back to when he was about 8 years old. That’s when he first modified his bicycle to impress the girls. Now retired from his railroad career, Denny devotes full time to his business, Merritt Auto Repair in Georgetown, Indiana, first established back in 1987. Denny enjoys building custom cars for clients and creating unique additions to his own collection. Over the years he estimates he’s built more than a dozen for himself and has several current favorites, including a 1970 Barracuda, 1950 Buick sedan, 1940 Ford, 1971 El Camino, 1972 Avanti, and more. Did we mention that Denny likes to stay busy? He also runs a full-time wrecker service!

About the same time he discovered that he really didn’t need sleep, Denny decided that there was a gap in his collection that could only be filled by a vintage pickup truck. Believing that true creativity can only begin with something genuinely different, he eliminated the standard Ford and Chevy options, finally tracking down this 1948 Studebaker M5 pickup in Otter Tail, Minnesota. It was in such rough shape however that he had to continue the search, buying a second truck to make one good one. Denny’s original goal was simply to create an old shop truck but somewhere along the way, the truck spoke up, dictating an all-new plan. Obviously, Denny listened, saying with a smile, “I like to do it right and I can’t stand people putting junk together and calling it good.”

Work began on the Stude by boxing the original frame, adding RideTech air suspension front and rear, tubular A-arms up front, and a Fatman four-link to hold the Winters quick-change rear fitted with 2.74 gears. Denny swapped the original Champion 169ci flathead six and T9 Crash Box four-speed for a tried-and-true GM LS3 crate motor (376 ci with a 4L85E trans, a combination he’s used many times in the past. It was a tight squeeze but it fit. PRC created a custom radiator to keep the motor cool and Vintage Air FrontRunner pulleys energize the accessories. GM electronic ignition creates precisely timed explosions and Doug Thorley stainless steel headers follow up, dumping spent gases into a 2.5-inch polished system with dual Flowmasters. The V-8 sends an estimated 515 hp to the four-speed automatic, protected by a BeCool trans cooler. Everything is stainless steel underneath, including the shop-fabricated 18-gallon gas tank. Batteries and reserve tanks for the air suspension are hidden from view under the bed. The Flaming River rack-and-pinion steering teamed up with GM disc brakes create a potent handling package. The truck rolls on Billet Specialties Velocity rims, 18s up front and 20s in the rear. Since Denny is a Cooper Tires dealer, Cooper rubber puts the power to the ground.

Although everything went together nicely, Denny realized that his new powertrain created a unique situation. Blisteringly fast with the current tall rear end, he estimated the top speed of the rejuvenated truck could easily exceed 140 mph. With characteristic humor, he decided to rectify the situation.

“I figured that gear would eventually kill me so I swapped in a 4.11 instead!”

Now, he buys lots of new rear tires but fortunately having the dealership makes that issue a non-starter.

Body mods were next on the list and since the vintage lines were what attracted him to the Stude in the first place, Denny left most of the external design cues untouched. All four fenders however, were beyond reasonable repair and were replaced with 2-inch wider fiberglass versions. The distinctive Studebaker grille was painted body color and the bed was outfitted with curly maple planks separated by stainless steel strips. The firewall and inner fender panels were smoothed to showcase the modern LS and the valve covers now boast the Studebaker logo. Denny had the talented team at S&W Collision in Georgetown, Indiana, complete the bodywork and spray the custom mixed shade of “DeMerritt” Red.

Moving into the home stretch, the interior was last on the list. The dash was painted to match the exterior and feature custom gauges that blend the old with the new, thanks to Dakota Digital. They kept the vintage look on the outside while adding modern technology underneath. Lokar pedals and tall shifter, A/C from Vintage Air, and Alpine four-speaker stereo make the cab a fun place to be on road trips. The bench seat is a repurposed backseat from a salvage vehicle with the armrest retained and the dimensions cut to fit the Stude. The team at Ace Rod Shop in Fairfield, Illinois, added the dark brown and beige leather to the seat, headliner, and door panels, along with brown carpeting on the floor.

Denny’s original goal was to create an old shop truck but as you can see, he’s one of those who can’t settle for good enough.

“Everything I do eventually expands into something that I wasn’t planning on doing!”

The build took two years but he’s not complaining. It’s one of his favorites in an already-pristine collection and a regular Best of Show winner. Denny enjoys giving his trophies away to kids in order to get them started down the same path that he chose years before.

FACTS & FIGURES

1948 Studebaker M5 1/2-Ton Pickup | Dennis Merritt

CHASSIS Frame: Studebaker with boxed framerails Rearend / Ratio: Winters 10-bolt rear fitted with 2.74 gears. Rear suspension: Fatman four link, RideTech ShockWaves Rear brakes: GM disc brakes Front suspension: Flaming River tubular A-arms, RideTech ShockWaves Front brakes: GM disc brakes Steering box: Flaming River Front wheels: Billet Specialties, Velocity rims, 18×8 Rear wheels: Billet Specialties Velocity rims 20×10 Front tires: Cooper ZEON RS3 245/40-ZR18 Rear tires: Cooper Zeon RS3 265/45-ZR20 Gas tank: 18-gallons, hand fabricated

DRIVETRAIN Engine: GM LS3 crate motor (376 ci Heads: Factory Valve covers: Painted with Studebaker logo Manifold / Induction: Factory EFI Ignition: Factory Headers: Doug Thorley stainless steel Exhaust / Mufflers: Dual Flowmasters. Transmission: 4L85E four-speed automatic Shifter: Lokar tall shifter

BODY Style: 1948 Studebaker M5 Modifications: Mostly original Fenders front / rear: 2-inch wider fiberglass Hood: Steel Grille: Painted to match Bed: Curly maple planks separated by stainless steel strips, Studebaker logo on the tailgate Bodywork and paint by: S&W Collision in Georgetown, IN Paint type / Color: Custom-mixed shade of “DeMerritt” Red Headlights / Taillights: Halogen headlights, LED taillights Outside mirrors: Custom fabricated by owner Bumpers: Chrome front with classic bumper guard, none in the rear

INTERIOR Dashboard: Painted to match the exterior Gauges: Dakota Digital in the original gauge housing Air conditioning: Vintage Air Stereo: Alpine with speakers in the kick panels and behind the seat Steering wheel: Flaming River Steering column: Flaming River, adjustable, stainless steel Seats: Repurposed bench seat with center armrest and mini console. Upholstery by: Ace Rod Shop in Fairfield, IL Material / Color: dark brown and beige leather Carpet: Dark brown loop pile

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