Projects My '26 Roadster / Vintage photo search

Heehee...awe well thanks. Us women folk do pitch in a time or two

 

AWESOME pic Andy, I LOVE it! Clayton just texted me that they made it in to Ontario. Hope you have a safe trip home, and thank you for everything! It was such a pleasure meeting you.

 

"Bonneville or Bust"
Part 1

Forward

Chris and I have pushed hard, draining every resource of time, energy and extra cash to make our Bonneville "Speed Week" deadline and venture out on the trip of a lifetime. For the last two years We worked for this trip....working up to the very end, refusing to give up even in the face failure or setbacks.



Had it not been for our devoted friends and families who gave so much to make sure that we reached our dream....we never would have made it.

It is to all of you and our fallen heros (my Grandpa Thor and Chris's Dad Bill)
that this trip is dedicated.


The trip begins:

As Chris and I had planned, Wednesday was our "hit the road" date, but of course (as any good road trip has) we hit a few snags in final adjustments and staging making for a late Tuesday night. We already knew that both cars were going cold with NO road time....but hitting the road with less then 4 hours of sleep was just not safe....so we all chose to head out Thursday early.

3:30 am Thursday morning came all too early, but there was no shortage of excitement from all parties going. My best friend Dan was riding shotgun with Chris in the "Special", Andy Bolig (C5 rider here and tech editor for Auto Enthusiast Mag) was riding with me and watching out for us on the road as well as running the much needed "trouble truck" was Troy..our awesome machinist friend who put in many tireless hours making much needed parts to get us on the road.

We still had a few more small adjustments to make...but it was now or never, so we got to work with final prep...







With all of the finishing touches complete and H.A.M.B. tags present..







...we hit the road and made great time in the great Columbia River Gorge. Both car ran out famously...notably the "Special" who gave me a run for my money and looked great doing it..



Then, tragedy struck

Just 52 miles out of Portland, Chris put his foot into the throttle a bit and with a "BANG!" the "Special" just quit. Chris coasted to the shoulder and I pulled in behind. We pulled off the hood and hogshead cover to find that when the starter was hit, the flywheel and ****** was spinning....but the front end of the motor was not.



Fearing the worst, we dropped the pan to take a look...and our fear was realized, we had a nicely broken crankshaft.





And with that....the "Special's" journey was over

I began to have a second thought or two about continuing, but Chris urged me to press on...that I "couldn't quit now"...

So I got back on the highway, poured the coal to the roadster's strong new motor and pressed on into the gorge for Hood River, Cascade Locks and The Dalles.



...until running into a little snag....



Apparently the Arlington Co. Oregon Sheriff was none to happy with the roadster being licensed as a regular p***enger vehicle and having none of the required lighting for safe night driving...in the middle of the day. He told me that the car was not safe and should be on a trailer, to which I replied "she doesn't like trailers...she is a driver and I built her that way". I also told him that when I licensed the car (nearly 6 years ago) I had asked the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles if I would have a problem with that...To which their reply was "no, the car is exempt".

According to the Sheriff....it was not and he proceeded to read my the Oregon State Vehicle Code Book page by page....wasting nearly an hour of valuable road time. After issuing me a $160 dollar ticket, he told me to head back to the nearest town and get it on a trailer....Like hell I will.

I ran back to The Dalles (100 miles in the wrong direction) waited in the DMV for nearly 3 hours (the DMV employees were VERY helpful) before hitting the road again with the roadster licensed as an "Antique Auto" and a temp permit in my window..



We hauled *** for Pendleton, trying to make it to Ontario before nightfall, but we came up short and had to end Day 1 in Pendleton for beer, pizza and a good nights rest.



Stay tuned for Part 2!
​

 

"Bonneville or Bust"
Part 2

Friday morning at 5:00 am came just as early as Thursday had with a not so subtle wake up call from my childhood friend Daniel.....Should I have expected anything else?

After a hot shower and a decent breakfast, we headed down to the parking lot to clean off the bugs from Day 1 and service the car for the days drive.





As we rolled out of town, we encountered one of the steepest grade of the trip...Cabbage Hill just outside Pendleton.



the view from the top...



The T preformed flawlessly, making an average speed of 55 mph + up the grade the whole way..



Once we crested the summit, I opened her up in overdrive and we pushed on for Ontario and the Idaho boarder..



...and she ran out flawless over the next 100 + miles...





We triumphantly roared across the Idaho state line at about lunch time...



Many other travelers slowed down to get our picture as we rolled along..



...but I was about to be hit with another problem.

My original Ford fan pulley (an aluminum hub with two bronze bushings), which was not designed for the high speed abuse and the long mileage began to show signs of kicking the bucket in Ontario, OR with m***ive amounts of play and wear. I packed it full of grease with the hope of it making to at least Wendover where we could formulate a plan of repair for the trip home...but the hub had other ideas.

20 Miles west of Boise, ID the engine temp was climbing abnormally high, the engine working too hard against the damaged fan hub, so I pulled over in the shade of an underp*** to let her cool down and remove the fan belt.



We got back on the road and the motor stayed plenty cool..as long we kept moving...

...Until we hit traffic through Boise. In the stop and go gridlock...the temp rose way to high and I was forced to pull off and wait for the Chris and Jay to run back to the last town and pick up a double axle U-Haul trailer and the parts needed to convert the T to an electric cooling fan. By the time they got to us...it was after 5:00 pm and our chances of making Wendover in the daylight were long gone.

I was forced to make the call (the right one I felt) to load her on the trailer and "U-Haul ***" for Wendover...



This worked out...because even at 65-70 mph we still got in at 2:00 am



...for a good nights rest before our first day on the salt.

The next morning, most of us slept in 'till 9:00....lord knows we needed it, whilst Troy and Chris had an early start and headed out to the salt on a "do and don't" mission. The rest of us joined them later for our first sight of the salt...and what a GLORIOUS sight it was..

We had FINALLY reached the salt!



We were also lucky enough the meet Andy's friend, fellow photographer and Bonneville regular Jeff Conger who graciously gave us the full "$5.00 tour" which showed us all that we would need to know....things that we would NOT have known with out such a tour.

After our first day, we headed back to the Hotel for dinner and a shower before heading out to the parking lot to commence repairs on the T along with her 500 mile break-in oil change to have her ready for her day on the salt in morning.





After that....she needed a night out, so I let her go "clubbing" at the nugget ....



...Meet a ton of great H.A.M.B.ers (many I have known but never met in person and many new people too)....


...and gave plenty of rides (like this one, seen here with H.A.M.B.er Rapid Rob)

Part 3 coming soon!
​

 

"Bonneville or Bust"
Part 3

The next morning...with yet another not so subtle wake up call from Daniel...we awoke at 5:00 am just before sunrise, loaded up the T and headed for the salt...

...and this is what Dan and I captured with our cameras...




















After the light came up a bit more, Andy and I wandered off for a bit into the un-driven parts of the salt in search of the perfect location for a photo shoot.
...here is a sample of what he and I captured..









A great panorama that Dan took..



Troy and I collected a bit of salt in little gl*** jars from my tired treads as a trophy that I had made it..





Then...it was off to the races!







Stay tuned for Part 4!
​

 

"Bonneville or Bust"
Part 4

Over the next three days on the salt, we all enjoyed the almost overwhelming array of sights...taking nearly 10 GB of photos and video between us...

(The Matrix Machine Model T powered streamliner ...turned 214 mph!)






...we also meet plenty of great H.A.M.B.ers on the salt as well...

(chatting about my Police problems with HotRodPackard)


(also stopped by Tim McMaster's camp to say Hi)


Also ran into Malcolm and his '29 A roadster. Both of our cars were built up specifically for the trip to "Speed Week" and both made the journey cold...

..so I thought it was only fitting that we capture both cars together since we both made it!



With that...it was time for us to head home.

We p***ed the Bonneville Speedway sign for the last time...



..as we headed back to the hotel for dinner and good nights rest. Tomorrows drive would start early.

We started early and made great time....



...with a few stops along the way..





We rolled into Boise, ID at about 5:00 pm and dropped Andy off at his hotel to catch an early morning flight home, then pressed on for Ontario, OR...the half-way point. we made it to Ontario at about 8:00pm. As we pulled into the Motel 6, another car pulled up belong side me with two younger guys who proceeded top chat me up about the car....something I am used to. He then began asking me about the market for Model Ts, who might be interested in buying one and that he had one to sell (fibergl*** '27 roadster with a blown 350). He then asked if we were from around here...to which I replied "no, we're from Portland and we are headed back in the morning. They left and we headed around the building to our room.

As we are unloading the truck not 10 minutes later...he shows up again, this time in this gl*** T of his and starts looking over my car again...in depth. He askes me If I want to sell it..."No, it's not for sale" I reply......He askes me if there is an offer I would take...."Absolutly not, the car is NOT for sale." I reply anoyed.

He then starts pointing out specific parts (the radiator shell, the gl*** Moto-Meter, etc) saying that "those are so hard to find and are worth tons of money...like $1,800 bucks"...then he just leaves with out another word.

Troy and I emmediatly looked each other thinking exactly the same thing.....He was casing the car and gave us a shopping list of what he plans to steal. We re-grouped and decided to call in help for the Law...not our best friend on this trip. However, the Ontario Police were VERY nice and super helpful. The officer they dispatched to speak with us, Rig Medford was a car nut and gave us some great help....

"if you like, we can just take your T over to the City Hall and park it in with all the Police Cruisers....the lot is monitored 24/7 by camera...They will think twice before messing with it there"

We accepted and ran it over to city hall with a police ****** and dropped off the car and headed back for a good night sleep.



We went over and picked up the T first thing and picked up some spare ignition parts (just in case) from the local NAPA, grabbed a bite to eat and hit the road...making good time through Baker City to Pendleton.



On our way out of Pendleton, Chris noticed that one of the headlight fork welds on the p***enger side had failed and I was about to loose my headlights! We pulled over and had to remove them for fear of damage..





We pressed on in to the Columbia River Gorge...on the home stretch with our daylight beginning to fail. We were forced to stop at Multnomah Falls to re-install my only good headlight for rest of the trip.

35 miles out, she started running poorly, suffering from a bad high speed miss. We had already switched out coils, checked everything and cleaned plugs when it started developing this problem, but now it was getting worse and with no light or time...all we could do was press on and she refused to quit. Both car and driver were exhausted and when she would start running really bad, I would pat her on the outside of my door and say "come on old girl...just 30 more miles...just get us home safe" and she would pick up and run great for another 15 miles..

She gave me everything she had left and we heroically rolled into the shop at 10:00 pm on the nose. When I shut the engine off for the last time, she looked pretty sad...





We had logged a grand total of 1,732 miles across 4 states. We had done it.

And what a hell of a ride it was!

Left to right: Troy (InkedForLife), Chris (Powerwagonmaniac), Clayton (MrModelT), Dan and Andy (C5 Rider)

Fin~


...The T will roll again in all of her former glory.

​

​

 

GREAT story. Thanks Clayton!

Sounds like Part III of the build thread is coming up!

And your photos on the salt remind me of this iconic image that just turned 60:





I wonder if your grandfather saw Multy's car in '52?

 

A journey of epic proportions.

 

I wouldn't be surprised, his T was there in '52

Brings this whole thing closer to home...

 

So did you figure out why she started running poorly? E vs W run is a few weeks out

 

Not yet. Gonna crawl through the ignition system again, clean and re-gap the points, new plugs, new hot coil, etc.

Also gonna give Mike a call, I think he has a few suggestions for me too.

I know ...trying to decide if I have the stamina for that, lol! Right now...I might have trouble convincing myself to climb back in that driver's seat...

 

C'mon man, you promised It aint that far

 

Hence the '52 plate, I figured.

 

That is true. It would be a walk in the park compared to Bonneville.

...okay, dumb response, I know But I think it was on the salt from '49 to at least '52? Do we know when the last time "Multi" ran this car was?

 

Ok with 1700 miles in the seat.... What would you do to make the seat more comfy? Or was it easy on the bottom asis?

Glad to see you made it with only minor issues

 

Whoa, whoa.. First an alternator. Then using your iPad as a speedometer. Now an electric fan? Please don't tell us that you're turning to the dark side and becoming a street rodder.

[/QUOTE]

This is my favorite shot of the whole trip. That T looks so right on the money and the salt flats suit it perfectly! I'm ***uming this is the longest trip you've taken in your T, right? If so, then what was the longest trip before this one?

 

This is my favorite shot of the whole trip. That T looks so right on the money and the salt flats suit it perfectly! I'm ***uming this is the longest trip you've taken in your T, right? If so, then what was the longest trip before this one?[/QUOTE]


Okay, just take a breath and calm down...lets not say anything we'll regret now

..there is no need for name calling

The electric fan was a necessary addition...and far better then the original hub ***embly. It pulls far more air and I can shut it off when I don't need it. Next step is to pull it off, remove the plastic housing and make a new one (from an old '30s or '40s electric fan) so that it looks period. The alternator may also get a "mask" as well, but don't have a plan for it yet.

As long as she doesn't over heat and has a working charging system...I don't mind much

That has to be one of my favorites too, though I like it better with the top up.

This was the longest trip by far...1,732 miles. The previous "record holder" was ironically about where the "Special" left us...Cascade Locks, OR...52 miles from Portland.

Her 4 month vacation to Sacramento, CA doesn't really count because we trailered her down and back. She was on loan to So. Cal Speed Shop and the California Auto Museum and I had to have it to them in a week for the Rod & Custom photo spread, not enough time for a trip like that...in April (it was still nasty here weather wise and that car is NOT FUN in the rain)

 

The seats that Chris's Mom Karen and wife Melissa made were actually deceivingly comfortable....Not bad for a piece of plywood and a 2" foam pad with old Army canvas stretched over it!

They did great sewing work on the cushions, which really finished the interior off for the trip. They also gave us memory foam pads for our backs which REALLY helped as well.

I am relieved as well. I knew we would have issues, but I am glad they were all obstacles that we were able to over come to complete our journey.

 

Yesss!

 

Thanks a thousand times for that coverage, Clayton and the boys! This story made my day with all its high's 'n low's! great pics, i can nearly feel what u felt on that long trip, the T sure looks pretty tired but proud after having made the last miles home! very very nice, boys..

damn, the salt is very far away, but some day we'll meet there.

Carsten

 

Hahahaha. I actually understood the whole situation with the electric fan. Just had to poke you in the ribs some. It's all in good fun. For the alternator, I was thinking the same thing. A mask would be real nice as well or find an more "rugged" looking alternator. Mopar came out with the alternator in 1959, I believe. They actually look pretty vintage and would blend in well with the T engine - just an idea.

Congrats on upping your longest trip in the T by 1,680 miles! That takes some balls to actually do..

 

I know...was just giving you a hard time back my friend!

I don't think I will switch out alternators because all the work has already been done to adapt this one to bolt up in the stock T generator housing and is direct gear drive off the cam. I will most likely just build a case for it to give it the right appearance. I might be able to use one of those early Mopar alts or an early generator housing for that...but will have to be cautious of getting enough air to it for cooling. Don't want to burn it up.

 

Gotcha.. Keep us updated. Love this T.

 

of course I will...how could I not keep the updates coming?

 

UPDATE
A trip to the beach...goes poorly
​

I the wake of our Bonneville adventure, I found myself....lost. For the first time in a long time I didn't know what to do with myself, what to do next or where to start. For the last two years all we had worked for was Bonneville..

...and now it done with. Now what?

I piddled around fixing stuff damaged from the trip like welding up the broken headlight fork:



..and installing my new Antique Auto plate I received from the state..



But not much else.

So Julia and I decided to drive the T to the beach over holiday weekend. It is nowhere near the trip that Bonneville was (only about 65 miles) and will be "a drive around the block" I thought.

So I went through the car, tuning and checking with everything okay. I drove it to work Friday with the intent of picking Julia up from work on the way out of town.

We had a great drive..... until we hit approx. the 25 or 30 mile mark from the beach. The high-speed miss that had developed on the return home from Bonneville which I had diagnosed as a loose distributor and believed that I had corrected, began to return...getting worse and worse as the miles flew by.

By the time we reached our destination, the T was nothing more then a rough running, sputtering hesitating mess at cruising speed. She would smooth out if I mashed the throttle wide open or if I let her back down below her cruising rpm....but at her favorite cruising speed it was a sputtering, un-drivable mess...even though she was still able to keep up with traffic at 55.

The next morning I tore into it to try and solve the problem... Plugs were clean and gaped, points were clean and gaped right, coil was new (switched it anyway with no change)...so I suspected the battery must be low (had done this in the past with a low battery) and possibly the new alternator had quit. I put her on charge all day with certain feeling that was the cause and went off to enjoy the beach..





We had great weather!

The next morning we loaded up the T, said goodbye to the beach..



and headed for home. The T ran out GREAT down Highway 101 and was sure that was the problem, low battery...

Until we got about 25 - 30 miles from Portland when it started doing the same damn thing...starting with a single hesitation every 5 or 10 min and becoming a constant, almost un-driveable sputtering mess at cruising speed. I knew it wasn't that battery at that point because with a full charge I should get about 100+ miles out of it before it gets that low and we had only made 30 or 40 miles at that point. I limped her back to my wife's work to pick up her car , so I ended up letter the T idle in the parking lot for a few min as she found her keys. For the rest of the trip home (25 miles or so) the T ran out flawlessly...with only one sputter the entire way.

Knowing the battery could not have been drained in that amount time and mileage, I checked it when I got back....showed 12.75 volts so I know that the alternator is doing something.

I sent out an email or two to Uncle Max and GMC Bubba about this and they gave me a few pointers, one of which was add a dab of Marvel Mystery oil to the fuel which should help if the intake is icing up. I have seen that before and took her out for a test run and found the intake to be ice cold, but still running fine after just a quick run around the neighborhood.



I guess I have something to do again

..stay tuned.

 

Condenser breaking down when hot? Good luck!

 

That's the fun part of owning an old car.. Isn't it?

 

That is what I thought at first, but I never shut the car off and after a short time at idle while getting the other car, it was fine....and it wouldn't smooth out at lower RPMs or when I mashed the throttle wide open. A coil or condenser would run bad at any RPM and I would have had to shut her down and let her cool down enough for it to straighten out again.

This is true, I just didn't think I would be having this "fun" with my new motor just yet

 

It's those ****py Strombergs. You should send them to me.

 

...Nice try Jim