Hot Rods Downpour!

I took my T roadster on an errand about 16 miles from my house. On the way home the sky darkened and about 5 miles from home the skies opened up and it POURED and the wind picked up like crazy. So...what's a guy to do, no shelter to be had anywhere and do you really want to be under a tree if there's lightening around, so I slowed down, way down, and kept going. I would just guess that the wind was 40-ish MPH gusts. When I got home I found out we had about 1" of rain in about 10-15 minutes.

Now, I'll admit, my T did need to be cleaned up, but I would never have considered taking it through an automatic car wash, but that's about what the storm was like.

Got it in my shop and pulled the seat cushions and carpet, draped my soaked registration papers over various things in the shop, soaked up water out of the seat bases and floor pan and wiped the whole car down, so at least it's clean now.

I've been through several rain storms with a friend in his '27 T roadster years ago, but I don't think any of them would have held a candle to this rain and windstorm.

Glad to have made it home and even though I was concerned that the rain would start messing with ignition and soaking the air filter I was pleased that the car was still running fine. At least it never started hailing!

Lynn

 

Now you can call yourself a real Roadster guy.

 

Been in a lot of those in Colorado, in the roadster and on a bike. It is what it is when you have a roadster. It is surprising how cold you can get when you are wet and doing 65. Being splashed from trucks on the hiway is also a great experience.

 

not "real" rain until when you open the door and water runs out - yep, tough way to clean your ride

 

When it pours down here, my wife sends me out to do the shopping in my roadster......It's the only time I have a bath....
And if we're so smart, who has installed a 2'' bath plug in the lowest point in the floor? Something to think about for your next roadster build.

 

Lynn, a couple of weeks ago, my wife and our friends rode our Harleys up to Milwaukee and then to Anamosa, Iowa to see the motorcycle museums. We had to detour through downtown Chicago to avoid rain. However, on the way home we rode through 250 miles of rain with hail and a torrential downpour north of Lincoln Illinois. I know exactly how you feel. My wife and both had rain jackets, but not rain pants. We now have pants. I feel your pain!

 

Heck, it's been so dry here we'd be so excited to have a little rain. we'd probably go out and dance in it. Send it our way please!

 

Since my T doesn't have doors, if it rains so much that it fills the whole body, I'll be on the lookout for a large boat with a lot of animals on board.

Lynn

 

We've had some rains here in Southeast Michigan in the last month that flooded our basements.. what a freakin' mess.....

 

I have been caught like that but only once in my '29 Roadster but I had my top up and wind wings. I had some drops come in the bottom front of the windshield but I was very dry!
My friend had his Model T roadster but even with his top up he was soaked.

 

Drain holes in the floor for the win!

 

Got caught in a down pour on my bike. Lasted for what seemed like forever. It rained so hard that I had a puddle form from my belt to the tank and seat. Could of kept a dozen goldfish alive for hours. Walked like John Wayne for a week.

 

Holes in floor. Indoor outdoor carpet to hide the holes. Papers in a zip lock bag.

Standard practice in Seattle.

 

Glad you made it !

 

Water was dripping out, so I guess it has some holes.
Marine carpeting so it should be able to handle being wet.
Had papers in a zip lock bag but they still got wet. Defective bag? Or maybe it's exceeded it's service life. New heavy duty bag now for sure!

Lynn

 

I've had old trucks with a roof and all the glass installed that I've been wet riding inside of in a rain storm. Getting dripped on in a rain storm in what is supposed to be an enclosed cab pretty well sucks too. I did drill holes in the low spots on the floors, and the paper work in Zip lock bags help too, but you still have to keep the zip lock bags sort of protected, they can leak too. Gene

 

Pretty much what i was thinking...
And Papers in zip lock bag is standard procedure for roadsters.
With no windshield wipers on a roadster you pretty much hafta just pull over and take your beating during a downpour.lol

 

I thought I heard my Roadster friends tell me, 'if you drive fast enough you hardly get wet'.

 

Hell, some of my garbage is so rusty I get wet from the water blowing up through the rust holes in the floor!

 

I couldn't see well enough to drive fast! Beside that, I have a pretty short windshield on my T and the rain was already stinging pretty good.

Lynn

 

weeds on here (Steve Osborn; RIP) on the way to the first R&C Americruise, 1993:



He was in his '29 roadster PU with no top or side curtains. He told me that the faster he went the drier he stayed. I took this pic somewhere between Kansas City and Joplin. We were travelling considerably over the posted 70 mph speed limit.

b-t-w; this was the first trip in Clarence after chopping the top. It had only the windshield. No side or back glasses. I'm pretty sure I was wetter than Steve & Jack (his son). And in addition to the lack of glass what was left of the 45 year old cowl vent rubber was about as soft as an anvil.

 

I ride my motorcycle year round. I keep rain gear in my backpack from November til May. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Like condoms and fire extinguishers.

 

I do use the Smart thing to determine my travels in fairweather Hotrod even being a Coupe and to date have managed to avoid anything torrential...I have enough issues in dry weather...

I can't imagine flying along at 70 on bias plys with no wipers or fenders...someone might think I was a Hoodlum...

 

Been there, done that and the bad part that time is we started out in it and if we had waited an hour it would have been gone. I'd imagine that some guys in Texas have photos of me drying the T out at Fort Fisher after the rain storm in the mid 70's.

 

I drove my 36 Cabriolet for about 8 years with no top and I got caught in a downpour a few times. I was at the Rust Revival car show when a big storm came through. I was standing under a porch watching my car get soaked. The guy standing next to me started laughing and said something about the dumbass that didn't put his top up. I told him I was that dumbass and that the car did not have a top. I think the guy felt bad for saying it and he went and got a couple of golf umbrellas out of his car's trunk and put over my car.

 

In my first old truck Only your feet got Wet!

 

Saw a couple at a car event pulled off the side of the road with what looked like a patio or beach umbrella covering the interior and them in a roadster. They kind of looked like a turtle.

 

I'm glad over here they don't require you to carry rego papers, only engineering certification paperwork if modified. Saves on zip lock bags.

 

Atch....are you sure that wasn't taken just yesterday between Old Appleton and Uniontown, MO? But then again with my rain speckled glasses and my baseball cap pulled down as far as I could pull it, I'm not sure I could even see that well!

Lynn

 

maybe you need to get a bilge pump