Good Ol' Fashion Hot Rod Road Trip!

Yep,,it got that modern look

 

Great coverage, much appreciated. How often do you pull something like this off?

 

It's an annual event. Gears start turning on the next event before the current one is fully complete.

 

I have heard the guys from So-Cal have made it home. I've also heard the Colonel lost 5th gear in his Tremec again! This was the reason the trans was repeatedly apart before the trip.

The Canadians (and one Oregonian) spent the night at the Nugget hotel in Wendover. A few of the guys tried their luck at the games of chance. Some broke even, others paid for their drinks, a few gave money that the facility can use at it's discretion, but one of the guys (Wayne) was up close to $800. He bought McD's breakfast for the team!

This morning we started westbound on interstate 80, before we headed north on hwy 93. The sky was a beautiful blue and the temperature was perfect for the window and cowl vent to be open.


There was construction and signs that said loose gravel (Wayne's windshield got a star)...but overall the delays were minimal as was the loose gravel. We stopped in Jackpot as a gas stop. Rick took the opportunity to refresh some of the coolers he had been borrowing beverages from. He took a pretty good ribbing from the boys. He wanted photo proof that he did on occasion buy the beverages.


The road appears to dissappear, but according to the pink line on the GPS, we're still on track.


There was a mine on the left side of the hwy. Not sure what they mined, but the switched back roads to and from the site looked steep!

While it's been close to or over 100 degrees, the mountains still had quite a bit of visible snow.

The clouds up ahead looked far more dramatic in person than this photo shows.

We gassed up once more before we rolled into Boise Idaho...and as we did, the dramatic sky turned into a very significant although short lived downpour! No photos, as I was concentrating on the road and traffic! Those of us that re-applied our Rain-X were happier than those that didn't!

 

Once in Boise, we had a shop tour of Kenny's Rod Shop. Wow!!

They have a great deal of equipment and a team of 6 guys working.

A Model A going together with a hemi...

A '32 glass bodied roadster with a flathead, quickchange and some outstanding metal work!! Oh yeah, and a very cool Hudson Teraplane instrument cluster! Check the metal work aroud the shroud, the headlight bars and motor mounts...very nice!


A '55 Nomad...

A Packard coupe with an unusual side opening trunk...this was a big car.

A '54 (?) Ford Squire wagon...

C1 Corvette in final assembly...

When I saw these wheels and tires and the flathead in the parts room, I knew these guys "get it"!

It was a great shop tour, so we posed for a pick with Kenny Jr. (Senior was taking the photo), before we once again headed on our way.


I'm at a shade over 3200 miles so far.

 

Country Squire is a '55 or '56 not a '54. But as Anthony would say, "I'd drive it"

 

Thanks for the correction.

 

With everything you saw, did, photographed, and reported on you're allowed to be off a year or two every now and then. Thanks for the ride and looking forward to reports of next years adventures.

 

I enjoyed that shop tour! Some nice work being done there!

 

I am now home and need to make an important correction. The transmission that has driven me crazy is a Borg Warner/GM T5,...repaired, rebuilt and modified more times than I can remember by a premier manual only shop in Orange County. I have lost faith in the transmission and maybe even the shop. A Tremec is looking attractive.

 

I must also add that upon leaving Henderson, NV on our last leg home' my car was dancing all over the road. I blamed that on a direct head wind,...silly me ! ! ! BROKEN SHOCK ! ! ! Guess I was lucky to be close to home.

 

Sounds like you want the trophy back.
T/F

 

Driving these hot rods on road trips wears things out over time. The more miles you drive it, the more stuff you wear out.
That 4,000 mile road trip you just completed is probably more miles then many of these HAMB cars might see in a year, or maybe even in a life time.
Driving them a bit hard compounds the wear. Over time, parts wear out and you have to replace them, its sort of expected. It is part of the price you pay for enjoying your hot rod.

Enjoy your hot rod. Replace the parts as they wear out, as you enjoy the journey.

 

Thanks for the correction...didn't mean to give Tremec's reputation a black eye.

Ouch! Easy fix I hope.

Today, first off our group went from 8 to 7 as the last American (from southern Oregon) bid farewell and proceeded in the direction of his home.

Our planned route from Boise to Post Falls was supposed to be via hwy 55 and then 95. For some strange reason my GPS decided in Lewiston that we should take 195...and I listened to it rather than double checking. As a result our day was about 25 miles of unnecessary interstate driving in rush hour longer than it needed to be (and we'll need to retrace those 25 miles again tomorrow in morning rush hour! Doh!!)

Hwy 55/95 was scenic and an active drive, with lots of traffic and construction, so I didn't get a lot of photos...too busy driving.

The next 2 photos were taken while stopped and waiting for a pilot vehicle to take us through another long construction zone.

Then, at our lunch spot, 7 became 6. Rick's '36 coupe had a poorly shimmed starter which resulted in ring gear damage. Rick decided to high-tail in one long day of driving to get home in order to make repairs in the comfort of his shop.

Today, we added 400 miles to the trip for a total so far of 3620 miles.

 

I’ve never heard of anyone with a custom car or hot rod with the number of miles on it that so many of your group have logged over the years. I like a good road trip, but I’ve never dreamed of going as far as y’all do…. until now. I’ll need to make some mods…. I better get started.

Thanks for sharing with us all.

John

 

Ben

 

You should've been here years ago. There were quite a few who drove many miles per year. One in particular was BobK. I know he had over 200K on his convert

 

I'm a little tardy to the party with my contribution to this thread, but better late than never. Tim (@anothercarguy) asked me to document the Southern California contingent's travels after our split up at Salina, Utah. He is a tough act to follow, especially his photo skills, and the Canadians had planned an excellent path home with great stops.

For us, our final two days on the road were pretty focused on getting "back to the barn" through a lot of 110+ degree desert. Since our official CanAm Curmudgeons tour started in Auburn, Washington, the SoCal group had traveled as much as 1300 miles more than our northern cohorts by this point and were getting a little road weary! We still enjoyed good times and a couple of road adventures.

After regretfully bidding goodby to the Northern guys we hit I-70 westbound in perfect weather which for us roadster drivers was very welcome. We were still around 5,000 feet elevation so the temperatures were very comfortable and traffic was light.



We then turned southbound onto I-15 enjoying the beauty of central Utah with the freedom of traveling legally at 80 mph! Ya gotta love it!

We passed through St. George, Utah and descended to the desert floor through the dramatic Virgin River Gorge. I wished I could have taken some pictures, but that is a section of road that requires my full attention with lots of curves and truck traffic. A stop in Mesquite, Nevada for lunch and fuel and we were on our way to Henderson, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas.
They call this area the Valley of Fire for good reason. It was 112 degrees and felt even hotter! I was raised in the southern California desert so knew enough to carry lots of cold water to keep hydrated and the rest of our group was equally aware of the danger.

People aren't the only potential victims of the heat. After almost 4,000 problem free miles on this trip, and less than 400 miles from home, the fuel pump on Bob's '32 decided it didn't want to play any more. We were able to round up a local tow guy who delivered the car to our hotel in Henderson. I offered Bob the opportunity to ride with me for the 60 miles to Henderson, but he looked at the air conditioned tow truck and my windowless roadster and said he really needed to assist the driver!

As it turned out, once we arrived in Henderson our ace mechanical genius, Mike Rockwood, was able to perform his usual magic and patched up the offending fuel pump sufficiently for Bob to drive his deuce the rest of the way home. The manager at our hotel in Henderson was extremely accommodating, allowing Mike to work on the deuce in the covered area in front of the main entrance and suggesting we all park directly in front for security purposes. A great lady.
After a nice "last supper" at a neat little family restaurant next door to the hotel we all retired early so we could make a departure in the morning before the real heat kicked in. The only actual difficulty we experienced was navigating our escape from the crazy traffic in Las Vegas. There are only two types of drivers in Vegas, locals who all drive like it's the last lap of the Indy 500 and tourists (like us) who have NO idea of where they're going. We survived to continue southbound on the I-15 for the last (in my case) 355 miles.


Our last group stop was at "Eddie World" just north of Barstow, California, which claims to be the "Biggest Gas Station In California". Here we said our goodbys as folks would be peeling off of the I-15 as we continued south.

L-R, Given('39 Ford), Oak('34 Plymouth), Gene('65 Cobra), Colonel Bill('32 Ford), Bob('32 Ford), Mike('56 Ford), Carol('56 Ford), Bill('34 Ford)

Then it was back on the road for the run down the Cajon Pass which can be a white-knuckle drive due to the high speeds, heavy traffic, and LOTS of heavy trucks. Everyone played nice and it was and uneventful trip.
As we crossed into San Diego County our convoy was down to just two, Given and me, so we stopped at the Rainbow Cafe, a popular car and biker hangout. There we met up with Given's brother (owner of a beautiful '36 Ford roadster) and fellow Curmudgeon Steve Spiker who had to miss this year's trip for medical reasons.




After an excellent lunch we all headed out and I finished the last 55 miles alone. As I pulled up my driveway I could only give thanks for a safe and beautiful trip with wonderful people.

 

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, we were part of a car club the honored the guys that drove their cars. They even had a club jacket patch they would give to anyone that could document they drove their hot rods over 10,000 miles in a calendar year. You needed to have the mileage at the beginning of Jan, and the mileage at the end of Dec, and the club logged those end of year miles.

In the 7 or 8 years I was a member, I received 6 of those jacket patches (each year was dated). Gas was cheap, and the club gathered at a designated location every Saturday and every Sunday morning from May through Oct to cruise to a car show, or go on a cruise someplace. The huge gas price increases in 08 killed it for my family, we lived 80 miles from the club's monthly meeting place. It was great fun while it lasted.
When I got my 48 Plymouth coupe together, we had several years with near or over 10,000 miles a year, and my 49 pickup got driven nearly 9,000 last year. We are not going to be anywhere near that many miles this year, if we break 5,000 miles I'm going to be surprised.

We miss cruising with a group of cars. This thread reminds me how much we enjoyed that. Thanks for taking us along.

 

Glad you guys all made it home safely. That was an epic trip and very fun to follow from a far. I'm curious as to what the average MPG was for you guys? Was one car the weak link causing all others to stop sooner than required or where you all averaging about the same?

 

What an awesome trip to follow along! Seems like the Canadians are still making their way home?

It has been too long since I've done a big trip like this. They're so much fun!

 

One of our guys had a 10 gallon tank and probably our longest leg was 150-160 miles and he was running on fumes! That said, we tried to stop every 2 hours + or - to gas, stretch our legs and "rest" as almost no one is our age group can go longer than 2 hours without having to pee

 

Thank you so much for taking us along! What a super trip

 

Thank you Bill (@SkyDriver ) for documenting the American's ride home.

The last day on the road for most of the Canadians was today. I say most because Dave in the RPU, took the opportunity to jump off from Post Falls Idaho to head 425 miles further North and East into Alberta to visit with family. The 5 remaining, had 2 different ideas. Wayne ('36 cabriolet) and Gordie (red '32 roadster), were interested in getting home as soon as possible and elected to go Interstate all the way (I-90 west, and then I-5 north). Gordie's car experienced a minor alternator hiccup, but they were able to make it home without further issue or delay.

Neil (Plymouth pick-up) and his dad (one of the Bills)('32 roadster with numbers on the doors) and I chose to extend the leisurely drive and pace as long as possible. We chose to travel west on Hwy 2 into Everett before heading north on I-5. The day was the perfect temperature with vivid blue sky. I took the "tail gun" position as Neil and Bill tended to drive a bit more leisurely than the rest of us and I didn't want to influence their pace. The scenery was once again nothing short of spectacular. I should add that I do not have an overdrive transmission (T350)...the more leisurely pace (60-65mph) resulted in a 3-4 mpg increase in my fuel economy over our 70-80 mph travels.






We stopped just sort of Wenatchee for one gas stop. With the 2 '32's parked side be side while we all took our turn in the restroom...it seemed to be almost a perfect photo-op.

After all the tanks were full and our bladders drained we carried on westward to Leavenworth (a Germain tourist town) for a great lunch. Bill proclaimed his to be the best BLT he had on the trip (and maybe ever), Neil enjoyed his beef-dip sandwich and I opted for the lunchtime schnitzel sandwich (also top shelf). After lunch, we carried on to Munroe where we did some "man shopping" (Harbor Freight Tools!)...it's a good thing Neil had a truck! The box was full as we rolled out.

This is where the final separation of the group occurred Neil and Bill planned to drop in to visit with a car guy friend in Tulalip and I was encourage to join them. My concern however was related to the Canadian long weekend and the possibility of border line-up and severe ferry line-ups (you can't book a reservation for the ferry to Bowen Island), so I elected to carry on solo.

As it turned out my fears were unnecessary, the border line up was less than 5 minutes with most of the question related to why I drove the car down, and didn't trailer it to the show. Lol! Also I was able to make the ferry with ease...well not exactly ease, I was the 3rd from the last car on...otherwise I would have had to wait another hour or so (not the end of the world, but I too was eager to get home).

I pulled up to the house, and admired my new flat bug collection...I'll probably clean the car tomorrow, or Sunday.

Oh, and I rolled 4076 miles door to door...and wouldn't trade the last couple plus weeks for anything!

 

For those keeping score: All told there were a number of starred windshields from flying debris, many new rock chips, one screw in a tire, one battery that required boosting (lights left on), a couple of brake light pressure switch failures, one A/C that got charged, one front wheel bearing that required adjustment, a couple exhaust hangers that needed to be re-welded or re-tightened, one hinky steering column turn signal connector that made for erratic turn signal operation, one loose steering wheel nut (and I don't mean the old joke about the nut holding the wheel), one dead Garmin (service was held), one power steering hose fitting that required tightening, one electric door latch that decided to act up (door needed to be opened by removing the hinge pins...not the first time for this exercise), a fuel leak scare (me) that turned out to be a leaky sending unit in the tank, made worse by a yours truly overfill (I can ge another $2.00 in, I prepaid for it after all!), one broken wire at the crimp on terminal for an oil sender (resulted in sudden unexplained zero oil pressure!), two hinky fuel pumps, one alternator issue and a poorly shimmed starter that put the fear of possibly not re-starting the engine in the owner, a lost 5th gear in B/W trans and a broken shock...otherwise all went smoothly! In all seriousness, the cars did very well...and all made it home under their own power. Bravo to all the road warriors!.

 

Glad everyone made some good memories and also made it home safely. A big thank you to Tim and Bill for your coverage. I'll feel better now not having to constantly see all the fun I'm missing. I'm also thinking I can guess who's car had to have the door hinge pins removed to get in.

 

Thank you for that as well. Not many will tell you about the things that come up on long drives. The puts the wrong perspective in many guys minds. When they have a small issue, they think their ride is unreliable and are afraid to take it anywhere because everyone always tells them they have never had any problems. Most of the guys that drive all over in their hot rods expect little things to pop up, so they deal with them without even considering them a problem.

On my 35 Dodge sedan, if I rolled the driver door window down too far, it would fall off the track. I had created the entire window track system, it was caused by something I missed in my design and would have required an entire new design to solve the problem. I knew it had done it as soon as I rolled it down too far. It wasn't a problem, unless you got caught in a rain storm. All I had to do was pull the back edge of the door panel out far enough to get your hand in there, lift the glass back in place and reinstall the door panel. It took about 2 minutes to "fix" it. As long as I didn't have to roll the window up, I would just wait until I got home (or we stopped for the night) to put the glass back in place. If we got caught in a rain storm and the window was off track, I would jump into a car wash and pop it back into place. Most of the guys we cruised with knew the car had the problem, and it didn't bother them much either. It was a great car.
Other then that, I've never had a problem.. oh, except that one time.... but then there was that other time...
All the cars and trucks I've had have never failed to get me back home, that trip home may have taken a bit longer, and been a bit slower, I may have had to stop and pick up a few parts along the way, and I may have needed a little help from a towing company a time or two, but I always got home with the car or truck..
I dirt track raced for many years, I'm pretty good at improvising. I'm one of those guys you wouldn't mind having cruising along with you if you have a problem on the road.

 

This was a great journey you took us on and storytelling and writing at the same time!
Thank you guys!

 

It's been too many years since I've done an old car long -haul adventure. Thanks for the reminder.