By Deartháir
In yesterday’s Name That Part, I gave you two pieces of scrap metal, each about the size of my fingernail. I got messages from people who weren’t playing telling me I was being mean, or that I wasn’t playing fair.
And Mike the Dog got the right answer. Yes, they were indeed two contacts from a starter motor from Nippon Denso, used in, among other things, vehicles from the Borg Toyota. The tie in to the hint should be obvious to anyone who’s driven a Toyota car: spend enough time in one, and eventually it will drain your soul, your spirit, and your very will to live, leaving you an empty shell of a human being; just like women the Borg.
Oh… and the countertop was Formica laminate. Congratulations to whoever got that one right as well… weirdos.
On to today’s Name That Part!
In Magnum P.I., Tom Selleck’s character, Thomas Magnum, has access to a fantastic assortment of toys resources with which he is to… fight crime? Or something? I’m not quite sure. Mostly he seems to just drive around and chase women who, I assume, were considered attractive in the 80’s.
Simply put, the show relies on you suspending your disbelief a fair bit, and accepting the possibility that someway, somehow, a wealthy benefactor, or sugar mama, or black-ops government program, is paying for and supporting the “work” that Thomas Magnum does. Oh, and said wealthy source of limitless funds also provides a car, house, helicopter and his own pet Higgins.
The only possibility I can come up with is that all this power comes from Thomas Magnum’s amazing moustache. Clearly it has the power to bring wealth and fame to any who possess it.
It is for this reason that I’ve decided to sign up for Movember. And I strongly suggest that many of you should as well, if for no other reason than to show your support, and raise awareness of the cause.
If you’re nice, I’ll even document the progress, as well as any fame or fortune that arises as a result of my Tom Sellecky moustache. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll change my theory, and see how Nuthugger-Shorts December works out for me.
What does any of this have to do with today’s Name That Part? Not much, really, but that’s for you to figure out.
Thanks to CaffeineFuelled for going on an expedition to find me more parts for these articles! This one is from her.
Tim Odell 
Robert Emslie
Is a part of a transmission or differential? Those are scary to me so I've never cracked one open. The bearing is big. Maybe it belongs to a truck or semi.
I'm going to guess the ring gear bearing for an automatic transmission, or maybe a helicopter swash plate bearing from Tom's Hughes MD 500?
Something is fishy…I am quite confused as to what car that huge bearing assembly would go to. And being that there was reference to Magnum P.I., I will say it's either some weird Ferrari part, or it is some weird part for a Hughes 500D…either way I lose.
To help with the sense of scale, it is 6 3/4" in diameter.
Inside or outside?
Yes!
Somehow, I expected that…
Pffft…Y'all are wrong. It's the bearing for a 20" spinner wheel. How do I know this exactly? Easy.
Tom Selleck played Magnum PI in the 80s. Tom Selleck's moustache is 20" long. That's a little known fact, but it's easy to find on the interwebz. Now, Magnum PI was funded by a rich dude, who as theory has it was actually Higgins. Higgins was played by John Hillerman, who is actually a Texan but played an Englishman on the show. People who ride on spinners are trying to prove they are rich, but are as fake as Higgins' English accent.
It also looks a lot like the friendship bracelet I gave Dearthair.
I don't care if you're right or wrong. You win!
Oh… that was a friendship bracelet?
Crap, I've been wearing it wrong all this time…
As a hat? Silly Canadian, not everything is a toque.
Oh, no. You mean…
…ewwwwwwwwwww!!!!
So it's wider than it is long? We call that the tuna can.
Bearing for the most aggro Engine cooling fan ever? Like, for a Cold-War Era Chrysler Hemi V8-powered Civil Defense Air Horn? Whatever it is, I guess it needed to be slippery and ball-bearing-y. Would go nice in providing a lazy susan for a kitchen project. Maybe it's the basis for a new garage cabinet for the man-cave (er, person-cave.)
Oh geez. Now I'm sitting here listening to sound clips on this webpage, of these sirens, recorded from up to five miles away. Spooky.
Is it that?
and for some reason I can’t log on to intense debate…
Another good post. Home based businesses is becoming quite a phenomenon around the USA.