So one of the things this olelongrooffan has been doing to keep myself out of trouble these days has been gathering up random images for freelance publication in some local print publications. The other day I happened upon the unloading of an old ferris wheel a local multiple go kart track theme park owning company has purchased for assembly on the grounds of one of their speed parks. This ferris wheel has been in use at the Chicago Navy Pier for the last 20 some years. The transportation of this 150 foot tall, 240 seat ride required the use of some 45 flatbed semi trucks which have been unloaded by that huge ass crane over the past week. It has been a pretty cool sight to see and I look forward to photo documenting the reassembly of this thing over the next few weeks. But wait, what is that even older ride seen just to the left in this image? As I was focusing on the unloading of those flatbeds, this olelongrooffan is ashamed to admit I almost missed the arrival of this 31 year old Omega Skylark until it passed directly in front of me. This, despite the fact I spotted a 62 Chevy post a distance away a week or so ago while documenting a similar crane setting an underground petrol tank down south a bit. Having said that, once I did recognize that X body for what it was, it captured the almost undivided attention of this olelongrooffan. It has previously been spotted over near my pad on Laughing Lane but it was always in motion and the opportunity to capture images of it eluded this olelongrooffan until this very day. Yeah, the owner’s of this ride proudly display the fact they are parents of a member of the US Army on the rear bumper of this sweet old ride. And as I would suspect my fellow Hoons know, this olelongrooffan just had to take a moment or so to chat it up with the elderly ice cream eating couple situated on the front bench seat of this almost luxury offering by that company now so popular in China. I asked them how long they have owned it and they mentioned they got it in 1997 but that the car had been driven off the showroom floor of Vincel Buick by the wife’s Mom way back in 1985. “You ever heard of a one owner car?” the old man driving it asked this olelongrooffan. He was so proud of it that I didn’t even bother to clarify what a “one owner car” is. He was just a cool old guy and clearly proud of his daily driver showing 144K on the odo. While we were chatting it up, the old dude driving it mentioned that once he could scrape together a few bucks , he was going to have the rust repaired and new paint applied to his old ride. I inquired as to whether this was his daily driver and he responded in the affirmative. “Leave it like it is,” this olelongrooffan suggested. “If you get it all gussied up, you’ll be afraid to drive it anywhere.” Both he and his better half got a chuckle out of this and he shot back, “We never thought of that. I suspect we will be leaving it as it is.” Oh yeah, that son of theirs who is the soldier? He is a 52 year old Lt. Colonel and is based out of Fort Benning, Georgia. Seriously, this olelongrooffan just can’t make this shit up. I can’t wait to document the rebuilding of this old ferris wheel. This olelongrooffan only hopes a Citation is not issued as I watch this Phoenix erector set being reassembled. Image Copyright Hooniverse 2016/longrooffan