Historical images - Images that made history

[Chan Fan]

April 19th, 1993 - the standoff between the Branch Davidians and the ATF ends with the Mount Carmel compound catching on fire (a fire the ATF says the Branch Davidians started *eyeroll.) The standoff lasted 51 days. A total of 82 people (including 25 children) were killed.

Timothy McVeigh drove to Waco during the standoff. He was interviewed while sitting on his car. McVeigh was said to have cried when he saw the burning compound on TV.

Two years later, on the same day, McVeigh drove a rented Ryder truck to the front of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City. The truck was loaded with 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane. The explosives were detonated at 9:02 AM, killing 168 people (including 19 children.)

McVeigh was arrested about 90 minutes after the explosion for having no license plate or vehicle registration on his getaway car. He also had no license for the concealed firearm he was carrying. While still in jail, he was identified as the suspect the police were looking for. He was put to death by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.

 

[SparklyFetuses]

Félicette, the first kitty launched into space (and survived the 15-minute flight) in October 1963. 56 years later, her statue got unveiled in France.

 

[Answer]

King Fahd bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia (left) and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak wave to crowds from a Mercedes-Benz 600 “landaulet” convertible limousine during a tour of Egypt in 1989.

You weren't a proper Cold War-era dictator if you didn't own a Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser. Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Muammar Gaddafi, Papa Doc Duvalier, the Shah, Ferdinand Marcos, Jean-Bedel Bokassa, Mobutu Sese Seko, and many (particularly African) other dictators drove around in what was once the most expensive (it cost more than any Rolls-Royce at the time) and most technologically advanced car in the world. Though the 600 was a very bourgeois car, even communist leaders couldn't resist its charm. Leonid Brezhnev, Nicolae Ceausescu, Josip Broz Tito, Fidel Castro, Enver Hoxha, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, and Mao Zedong also owned the car, often several of them.

What is it about this car that made it so beloved of the dictator class? Well, alongside its sheer size (its 21 feet long, weighs 4 tons, and is powered by a 6.3 liter V8 so large it can easily anchor a cruise ship) and the fiscal incontinence required to buy one, the 600 is almost tailor-made for the endeavors of powerful and untouchable people.

First of all, it's built like a tank. Removing yourself from the wheeled bunker that is the 600 could cost you your life if you were, say, caught in a revolution. The chassis alone is made of such thick steel that it can easily survive a landmine. If you desired extra protection, you could order an armored bulletproof version from the factory. Another good job the 600 was designed to tackle was being able to drive over as much terrain as possible. It was no mud-plugging off-roader, but it had one of the most advanced suspension set-ups of its day. The fully independent design, which was cushioned by special air bags to sooth rough terrain, was so complicated and sturdy that Mercedes only ever fitted it to the flagship 600.

Second, it was packed with the most creature comforts and advanced tech money could buy in the 60s and 70s. Back in those days, the luxuriousness of your car's accessories was measured by the speed and noise at which they operated. The faster and quieter, the better. So instead of powering the adjustable seats, windows, sunroof and boot lid with whirring, slow electric motors, Mercedes created an engine-driven hydraulic system that powered everything silently, an endeavor so complicated and costly that no other manufacturer had applied it on this scale to a passenger car before.

It also allowed you to change the speed you raise your windows. Press the switch lightly and the glass creeps up slowly, adding to the sense of menace after you’ve scolded a minion. But the system operates at a nominal 3200 psi (the same pressure as an industrial pressure washer), so if you press the switch harder it shoots up with enough force to chop a person’s limb off. What better way to discipline an insubordinate on the fly or quickly stop angry peasant arms from reaching you?

Third, it has a horn loud enough to deafen and scatter proles, for when you need to make an unruly crowd move the fuck out of the way when you’re trying to make a getaway. There's a little rocker switch on the dashboard just above the steering column. On one side it’s blank, and if the switch is pointing to it you get the perky hoot of a normal 60s Mercedes horn. But if you click it in the direction of the pictogram of a cornet you summon the might of its on-board air horn. This special "move, bitch" freight train hooter runs off compressed air and it’s loud enough to shatter granite. No joke.

Mercedes made only 2,677 of these hand-built cars during its production run from 1963 to 1981, so they're pretty rare today.

 

[Distant Stare]

 

[uncleShitHeel]

Photos taken during the Great Depression.

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I wonder if photos of now and the next year or so will be looked back on in the same way?

 

[Big Boz]

View attachment 1275340
King Fahd bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia (left) and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak wave to crowds from a Mercedes-Benz 600 “landaulet” convertible limousine during a tour of Egypt in 1989.

You weren't a proper Cold War-era dictator if you didn't own a Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser. Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Muammar Gaddafi, Papa Doc Duvalier, the Shah, Ferdinand Marcos, Jean-Bedel Bokassa, Mobutu Sese Seko, and many (particularly African) other dictators drove around in what was once the most expensive (it cost more than any Rolls-Royce at the time) and most technologically advanced car in the world. Though the 600 was a very bourgeois car, even communist leaders couldn't resist its charm. Leonid Brezhnev, Nicolae Ceausescu, Josip Broz Tito, Fidel Castro, Enver Hoxha, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, and Mao Zedong also owned the car, often several of them.

What is it about this car that made it so beloved of the dictator class? Well, alongside its sheer size (its 21 feet long, weighs 4 tons, and is powered by a 6.3 liter V8 so large it can easily anchor a cruise ship) and the fiscal incontinence required to buy one, the 600 is almost tailor-made for the endeavors of powerful and untouchable people.

First of all, it's built like a tank. Removing yourself from the wheeled bunker that is the 600 could cost you your life if you were, say, caught in a revolution. The chassis alone is made of such thick steel that it can easily survive a landmine. If you desired extra protection, you could order an armored bulletproof version from the factory. Another good job the 600 was designed to tackle was being able to drive over as much terrain as possible. It was no mud-plugging off-roader, but it had one of the most advanced suspension set-ups of its day. The fully independent design, which was cushioned by special air bags to sooth rough terrain, was so complicated and sturdy that Mercedes only ever fitted it to the flagship 600.

Second, it was packed with the most creature comforts and advanced tech money could buy in the 60s and 70s. Back in those days, the luxuriousness of your car's accessories was measured by the speed and noise at which they operated. The faster and quieter, the better. So instead of powering the adjustable seats, windows, sunroof and boot lid with whirring, slow electric motors, Mercedes created an engine-driven hydraulic system that powered everything silently, an endeavor so complicated and costly that no other manufacturer had applied it on this scale to a passenger car before.

It also allowed you to change the speed you raise your windows. Press the switch lightly and the glass creeps up slowly, adding to the sense of menace after you’ve scolded a minion. But the system operates at a nominal 3200 psi (the same pressure as an industrial pressure washer), so if you press the switch harder it shoots up with enough force to chop a person’s limb off. What better way to discipline an insubordinate on the fly or quickly stop angry peasant arms from reaching you?

Third, it has a horn loud enough to deafen and scatter proles, for when you need to make an unruly crowd move the fuck out of the way when you’re trying to make a getaway. There's a little rocker switch on the dashboard just above the steering column. On one side it’s blank, and if the switch is pointing to it you get the perky hoot of a normal 60s Mercedes horn. But if you click it in the direction of the pictogram of a cornet you summon the might of its on-board air horn. This special "move, bitch" freight train hooter runs off compressed air and it’s loud enough to shatter granite. No joke.

Mercedes made only 2,677 of these hand-built cars during its production run from 1963 to 1981, so they're pretty rare today.

I know this is completely off topic, but I just wanted to showcase this kid's face I found in the picture.

 

[TowinKarz]

Mercedes made only 2,677 of these hand-built cars during its production run from 1963 to 1981, so they're pretty rare today.

Rolls-Royce and Maserati in the 60's and 70's also installed hydraulic controls for things like seats and windows, since at that point, electronics were not only noisy but kinda finicky.... and nobody who was going to buy a luxury-exotic would ever stand for a window making a buzzing racket and then stalling halfway down.

It's funny how German engineers lose sleep over vibration and noise levels that someone who owned a Chevy Caprice Classic wouldn't have batted an eye at.

There are two balance shafts loaded with counterweights on either side of the engine block of an old Porsche 944 I have that serve no other purpose than to cancel out engine vibration so the car has a nice, quiet, idle, they run off the accessory belt but aren't actually required to make the motor run or the car drive, just to make it smoother. They also put the gearbox in the back with the differential as a single unit, to get 50-50 weight distribution for better handling.

The downside is the whole rear end of the car has to come out to replace the clutch.... ask me how I know THAT.....

 

[Francis E. Dec Esc.]

Rolls-Royce and Maserati in the 60's and 70's also installed hydraulic controls for things like seats and windows, since at that point, electronics were not only noisy but kinda finicky.... and nobody who was going to buy a luxury-exotic would ever stand for a window making a buzzing racket and then stalling halfway down.

It's funny how German engineers lose sleep over vibration and noise levels that someone who owned a Chevy Caprice Classic wouldn't have batted an eye at.

There are two balance shafts loaded with counterweights on either side of the engine block of an old Porsche 944 I have that serve no other purpose than to cancel out engine vibration so the car has a nice, quiet, idle, they run off the accessory belt but aren't actually required to make the motor run or the car drive, just to make it smoother. They also put the gearbox in the back with the differential as a single unit, to get 50-50 weight distribution for better handling.

The downside is the whole rear end of the car has to come out to replace the clutch.... ask me how I know THAT.....

I had a Chrysler LHS with the battery mounted behind the right front wheel well. You had to jack up the car and take the wheel off to get to it.

Speaking of Mopar, here's some promotional material for the 1955 Dodge la Femme, a car made just for women:

 

[CWCchange]

Soong Mei-Ling, aka Madame Chiang Kai-Shek reading an American newspaper about the Japanese surrender. I love how smug she looks. She's like, "Yeah, how'd you like those two atomic bombs, Nips?"

I can only imagine the look on Madame Chinkess' face less than five years later...

Flappers Dancing the Charleston atop the Sherman Hotel, Chicago, 1926.

It was bought by the State government and sadly demolished in 1970s for this monstrosity:

Ironically, it's now subject to redevelopment under the current Governor, whose namesake shares an architectural award given for this kind of crap.

 

[Niggernerd]

 

[Wraith]

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

It was bought by the State government and sadly demolished in 1970s for this monstrosity:

Ironically, it's now subject to redevelopment under the current Governor, whose namesake shares an architectural award given for this kind of crap.

Wow.
That's a real shame.

 

[Кот Бегемот]

Famous "interrogation and execution of red army men", one colorized. These are very famous photos from German archives, but backstory was not knows. Only until fairly recently, 5-10 years ago, autistic people found the actual place and the remains of the two defenders of hill 122, who were captured, interrogated and executed. Supposedly Germans took heavy losses and were out of blood, but their's is the only account left. One of them was identified and his remains were sent to family. The balsy guy is still unknown.

 

[Monika H.]

Famous "interrogation and execution of red army men", one colorized. These are very famous photos from German archives, but backstory was not knows. Only until fairly recently, 5-10 years ago, autistic people found the actual place and the remains of the two defenders of hill 122, who were captured, interrogated and executed. Supposedly Germans took heavy losses and were out of blood, but their's is the only account left. One of them was identified and his remains were sent to family. The balsy guy is still unknown.

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The guy doing the excavation in the current-day picture is a current-day German soldier?
The camo looks German.

 

[Кот Бегемот]

The guy doing the excavation in the current-day picture is a current-day German soldier?
The camo looks German.

no, surplus Flektarn jackets were dumped wholesale sometime ago and cheap half of Russia wears them for outdorsy things, even I got one and I'm in the states. The jacket is really nice and was dirt cheap. For the price, they are unreal value, very warm and hold together real well despite abuse.

 

[A Grey Cat]

Behind the scenes photo on the set of the shinning. Trivia note; by the time this scene was finished Jack Nicholson and Shelly duval had climbed the same amount of steps as the Empire State Building

 

[Slimy Time]

Last time that Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai Shek met in Chongqing after victory over the Japanese. Talks lasted for 43 days, which eventually fell through and kickstarted the Civil War between the two again, ending with Mao's victory, the Chinese Communist Revolution and millions of deaths that followed afterwards.

To this day, I wonder what China would look like now had the man on the right won.

 

[TiggerNits]

View attachment 1298561
Last time that Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai Shek met in Chongqing after victory over the Japanese. Talks lasted for 43 days, which eventually fell through and kickstarted the Civil War between the two again, ending with Mao's victory, the Chinese Communist Revolution and millions of deaths that followed afterwards.

To this day, I wonder what China would look like now had the man on the right won.

Taiwan, but bigger

 

[Fougaro]

To this day, I wonder what China would look like now had the man on the right won.

• No 5 year plan that buttfucked China's economy into the dirt and lead to Germany and Japan becoming leading export nations instead of China.
• A unified Korea.
• No cultural revolution that set China culturally, socially and intellectually back to the stone age of which they still haven't fully recovered.
• No Great Leap Forward.
• No Vietcong and no Khmer Rouge.
• No One-Child-Policy that irreparably damaged China's demographics.
• The possibility of China being more or less an oversized Singapore.
• The possibility of China's GDP overtaking the US' long ago by now.

One can only imagine...

Edit: Then again, China itself might not be unified as the Soviets could have kept Manchuria and Xinjiang as puppet states instead of returning them, so who knows?

 

[Billy Budd]