Event Coverage Oct 11, 2014 - Hot Rod Hundred Reliability Run - St Louis

Hitting the streets. My flatty powered stake truck couldn't hardly keep up with the pace, on the highway, being at the back of the pack. I began heating up, and later discovered I had a cracked upper radiator tank.

 

I don't know how Big Ken got such a smooth ride with those oval front rims. (dang iPhone camera distortion)
A few more shots from the road. I was chasing Jeff Smith (@guthriesmith ) for a little while
A shot of Dad's '34 and my '40 stake truck (shameless post)

This afternoon's ride home. If you could read the sign, through the water drops on the windshield, it said 194 miles to Springfield.

I've got a bunch more photos from when we were leaving the V8 Speed Shop, but the shots left some quality framing on the table. I also tried not to post any shots from the parking lot of the final destination, since they were pretty much already covered.

Thanks to Clay, for all of the St Louis arrangements, to Chris and Kim, for taking care of the T-shirts and driving up to help, as well as Super Dad (Jeff Smith) who loaded up his 4 kids and solo parented while helping with the event, too!

BTW, while the Hot Rod Hundred events are not "car shows" and we don't do any trophies, we do give some awards.

The "Long Haul" award was given to Gary Henry, who drove his Model A sedan up from Spicewood, TX, just to participate in the event.
The "Road Hammer" award was given to David Hay, who drove his '40 Ford pickup from Des Moines, IA, to the Southwest MO, OkC & Texas events, and also to the St Louis event.
The "Hard Luck" award was given to Big Ken McClure, who also participated in the SWMO, TX and StL events, but got scooped on the "Long Haul" award by Gary.

As things happen, after receiving the "Road Hammer" award, David shredded a fan belt just short of his StL area hotel. I called him and was trying to help him locate a new one when I remembered I might have one under my seat. When I got to his hotel, sure enough, there it was. We had him back in order for his trip home. I'll count that one as a minor miracle!

Unfortunately, David had a few other issues before getting back home, including a new oil hemorrhage and a broken torque arm. Thankfully, he made it back, and the highways back to his place are freshly oiled.

 

Looks like it was a great time, congratulations in the first one in the St Louis area. Glad to see the rain held off.
Maybe next year I can run at for the long distance award, just couldn't get there this year.

 

Great day, thanks for planning such a neat event. I'm looking forward to next years event.

 

Amazing stuff...sad I missed it. But got a HUGE start on pulling the 283 SBC out of the donor truck!

 

It was a great day and a great trip. Along the way(Market Street) a bunch of us made a wrong turn going through a small town. As I headed back cutting through the center of this small community every street we looked down, there were either hot rods going North, South, East or West. If you've ever seen the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World" that's what it looked like. There couldn't have been a person in that town who didn't see a hot rod. I remember a covey of Witches standing on the corner waving at us. The second time we got lost, a bunch of us turned around in the middle of the road out in a bunch of corn fields. We probably were about 15 miles in the wrong direction that time. Between Perryville, Missouri and the Vance Vineyard in Fredricktown, Missouri, the route took us(some of us) on "J" highway. "J" is a small country winding two lane. We were out in the sticks. I was in the back of the pack. Folks were standing in their yards watching us pass. I'm sure some of those folks had probably never seen a real hot rod-for sure not 60+ old vehicles in a group. The rolling thunder must have brought them outside. It was a great day. I made some new friends and got to visit with old ones. Following lunch at the Winery, my wife and I continued north to Farmington, Mo. From there we took two lanes through Park Hills, Potosi, Steelville and St. James to get home. My truck never missed a beat. Thanks to everyone who made it happen and hats off to those folks in the fender-less roadsters with side curtains(you're women are tough). Sam

 

Looks like the run was a great success! Thanks for posting the pics.

 

Just made it back home! I will post some more pics soon that haven't already been posted and am considering writing up a "road trip" thread about our whole trip. One unproven 56 Ford + 4 kids + 1500 mile road trip + meeting lots of new friends and seeing some old ones could make for a good story with lots of pictures.

 

On behalf of the CrossMembers and personally, I would like to thank all that came out to the first annual StL-Hot Rod Hundred. The weather was a little sketchy, the event was planned by a couple of rookies at event planning, and you all still came!! And brought some really cool cars!!! I also want to give a huge thanks to my CM bros and some honorable mentions that came from points far to help: bchrismer, Springfield, MO; roothawg and his lovely wife, Mustang, OK; guthriesmith and his crew of kids from OKC; and David Hay down from Des Moines….. without you guys it would have been a bust. Thanks is not enough, but it’s all I’ve got, so here it is: Thanks!!

It had been raining non-stop for 3 days, and the weather wasn’t looking good. But Friday afternoon, the forecast started to change, and we have a relatively rain free day (it spit on us just a little before we got to our destination) rolling 120 mile – well about half of us went 150 or so, but we won’t go into that right now – down some nice two-lanes to our lunch destination. Turned out to be a great day……

Here are a few pics. I'll try not to do a lot of duplication, and I'm not photographer or editor....

Preparations at my house the night before. My drive rarely sees this many cool cars at one time....



Welcome to the first annual St. Louis Hot Rod Hundred.

Arrival and sign-in


MOJUNK made his second HRH event of 2014

 

Check-in Parking

This '37 p/u is dang near perfect.

BigKen's '33 next to His dad (Bigger Ken)'s '58 Nomad.... a really cool wagon.

 

BigKen, his dad and Bret (bchrismer)


And they're off....
Long Haul Award Winner all the way from Austin.

Really nice Buick... apparently so long, it won't fit in the picture

The Road Hammer '40

I realize that its OT, but its the only one, and he drove it down from DesMoines following his dad in the Road Hammer 40.
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Jeff (guthriesmith) and up from OK with his 4 kids.... dad of the year, right here.

 

First Stop V8 Speed and Restoration Shop, Red Bud, IL

Shots from the Road... best part of the day for me was following the 58 Nomad.

So we're rolling down the road, minding our own business, when we end up in the middle of a convoy of old Army vehicles. There was a staff car and a couple of jeeps in front of the Nomad, and several jeeps and a Deuce and a Half behind us..... you can see them in front of the Nomad
Not long after these shots, we came to a T-intersection, they went left and we went right.... from the smiles and waves from the folks in the jeeps, it was a really cool coincidence for both groups.

At the final destination, Vance Vineyard & Winery in Fredericktown, MO

and finally, the award winners.... Gary Henry and his wife got the Long Haul Award, all the way up from Austin to drive another 120 miles with us. David - Road Hammer - Hay got his award for hammering his 40 up and down the road all summer from Des Moines. He made the SWMO-HRH in April, OKC-HRH in June, and from there headed to DFW, so he's the only guy that gets credit for both OKC & DFW, since they were the same day and met in the middle. He also hit Joplin for the HAMB Drags, and finished it out here for the StL-HRH. We had no roadside casualties, so since everybody thought that BigKen had a lock on the Long Haul Award, he received the Hard Luck Award, for driving all the way from DFW and it not being far enough to get the Long Haul....

After the event, I ran down the road a few miles to my mom & dad's place. The '37 had never been to the farm before, so here is the last shot of the day.
Thanks again to all that came out... lets do it again next year.

 

Looks like a great event.
Thanks to all that shared their pictures!

 

Just a few more pics that show some of the scenery along the way. It was a beautiful drive and pictures don't do it justice.

 

And one of Bret (bchrismer) following me. Could have been about the time he was taking pictures of the back of my car.

 

Looks like an awesome turn out guys!! Sorry I missed it, but I gotta say the Grand Canyon was pretty awesome too!! LoL!


Posted from the throne room using the Wicked kustom H.A.M.B. App!

 

...looks like a nice time with some great old cars; more of this kind of events should be happening. Our club just had a Fall cruz, it was a good time; mite still be time for another one yet this Fall.

 

Out of curiosity, I checked the V8 Speed & Restoration shop's web page, since they provided a "hospitality stop", and found some pretty cool photos. We appreciated their willingness to provide us a place to stop, some refreshments and especially the facilities!

http://v8speedshop.com/index.php/latest-news/59-cool-rod-run-at-the-v8-speed-resto-shop

 

Man o man, I cannot wait to be there next year!!!

 

I would love to see people talking about parking lot shows, as a thing of the past, in 20 years.