Event Coverage *EL MIRAGE - June, 2009 + CA BBQ + Roadtrip. PHOTOS & VIDEOS!*

Back in May I contacted Royalshifter (Skip/Mark) about a '68 Chevy pickup he had for sale. In pretty short time we made a deal and set up a date for me to fly out there and drive it back to Omaha.

Fast forward to the weekend of June 13th. I flew into Fresno on Friday evening and Mark picked me up in his '32 5-window hot rod. Very, very cool car that he drives the wheels off of!

(photo from his profile)



Mark and his wife, Kelly (LadyShifter) took me out for a great dinner, showed me around their awesome house and shop, and put me up in their guest room for the night.

When we went to dinner, Mark took me in his T and Kelly drove the '32.
After dinner they let me drive the '32 back to their house. Wow!.. talk about cool. That's one of the many things that is pushing me to get my 'A' Roadster together and on the road.

Here's the T



I didn't take any photos of their house or shop, as it seemed like I'd be invading their privacy, in a way. (plus there's a 'secret' project going in the shop )
Besides, you can see much of what I saw in Mark's albums here:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/album.php?u=6424


What a great couple - couldn't ask for nicer people!
Mark and Kelly, thank you very much for the hospitality and letting me spend the night at your house - very nice of you!!

On Saturday morning, I had to be on the road by 7:00 to pick TJ (Junkboys) up at the Burbank airport.

Here's a quick photo of Mark and Kelly with their old Chevy pickup






Malcolm

 

I hit the road towards Burbank and took a few photos along the way.
There's quite a bit of farming in Central, CA, as seen in some of the photos....

 

Ohhh, this is going to be a good thread....the Shifter's are super nice!

better get a beverage..go Malcolm!

 

After I picked TJ up, we stopped at Hollywood Hot Rods for a bit. Always cool to see what's going on around there!

















We also peeked over the fence at the Old Crow shop next door

 

Our next stop was Bad Bob's HAMB BBQ. He, his son, and a few others worked to put this together and it was a great success!
We met a ton of new people and enjoyed BS'ing, checking out the rides, and the great food.

Thanks alot guys!


It's been over a month, so I'm not good at remembering who's car is who's, at this point. I'll try to get some of them right.








Great little RPU with a 'banger and 5-speed






Weasel's cool Willys

 

This is now Bad Bob's car (wasn't at the time)








Dig the wagon

 

Does this one even need a caption?




Goozgaz's pickup




Eric's cool Ranchero

 

Coby's car (Road Apple)




KJSR's nice Chevy pickup

 

We then went with Abe (Abe Lugo) and Mel to stop and look at her car.

Abe's Fairlane wagon



We had dinner with them and stayed at their place that evening.
Thanks alot, Abe and Mel, for having us!! Very nice couple, if you never met them.

A quick shot of their cool place and neighborhood view...





It's Sunday morning at this point and we made the 1-1/2 hour drive down to El Mirage to check out the land speed racing.

Going through L.A.

 

And a couple shots on the way to El Mirage







We made it!!!

 

It really is kind of in the middle of nowhere... SOOO Cool, though!!

 

This belly tanker was really cool. I think it was running a blown Flathead and had just broken a record. The speed was 198, if I recall correctly.

 

Nick, you've done a bunch to keep us entertained and I for one appreciate it. I hate to ask, but do you ever work or are you just independently wealthy? Again, thanks for sharing!
Later,
Dick

 

Very cool 'A' Sedan. (I also met 'Beef Stew' while checking out this car -- nice to meet ya!)

 

Gene Winfield was there racing and it was his 82nd birthday!




Gene doing some wrenching


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Being the lady's man that he is, he let a girl sit in his car for a bit

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Nick, THANKS Man I was feeling bored, but now you've made me feel better!Great pictures, looks like you had on hell of a good time, Lucky Bugger!

Nick.

 

223 6cyl powered '53 Ford. Looked like fun!







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It was getting to be time to head for home. We had a long day and a half ahead of us! It was about 1,700 miles to get home from there, I think.

We stopped to say goodbye to FADED (It was great to meet you!) and then snapped a few photos of the pickup.
It didn't miss a beat coming home. It has Vintage Air and it sure did come in handy!
Great pickup that drives great down the interstate at 80mph.





I've, unfortunately, had to sell it since I've returned home. It is now owned by a good friend who loves it just as much as I did. More on that later..

 

The rest of my photos are from the road trip back to Omaha -- Through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska.

I'll put a few random ones on here and the rest can be seen here:
http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/MalcolmIsNick/2009/El%20Mirage%20CA/?start=all






Vegas!

 

7:00 AM Monday morning. Time to hit the road again. We put on 1,000 miles that day!











Ran across Megan and Matt in the middle of Colorado!




Eisenhower Tunnel

 

Went through some nasty weather in Eastern Colorado and through most of Nebraska.

I think TJ was a bit more nervous than I was











Well, there you have it. A bonzai three day trip from Fresno, CA, through L.A., El Mirage, and back to Nebraska. I got home around 12:30 AM on Monday night, and I'd do it all over again in a heart beat.

Thanks for going along for the ride, TJ!

 

Ha!! Far far from it! I happen to be at work right now!
Really, though, I get three weeks of PTO per year and use every minute of it. If you do the trips right, they don't cost that much. Especially this one - only one night in a hotel, gas, food, and a $100 plane ticket out there. Oh, and just one day of PTO.

 

Great trip! Thanks for letting me tag along. Always ready for a good road trip. Too bad the two inches of standing water on the road doesn't show up in your pictures.

TJ

 

good read. nice to have met you too nick. see ya on the salt in a couple weeks.