About 46 minutes into this one. Long ass video but it’s got a lot of footage of the cars cruising the last stretch of main road before you get to the fair grounds that’s kind a cool edit! Around 12:55 he drives by and you can see how much louder it is than every thing else That’s driven by Must have been a heck of a show from the coverage I’ve seen each video or photo thread shows completely different cars
About 3:37 into 4 you see the car and Joey talking with his hands shit tons of video of the show on YouTube already just search lone star round up 2023
@travisfromkansas shots and a link to his photo coverage https://royboyproductions.com/2023/04/25/2023-lonestar-round-up-photos-and-video/
Alright! as you guys are already aware, I made it there, and home. but unless you followed me on instagram stories (and even then not fully) you haven't seen the whole trip. It started at 4:30 on monday morning. I had a goal. @redzula house in Ft worth. It's 600+ miles in a car that I've only been an hour away from home in, but it will surely be fine. This part was less than pleasurable. have you ever been so bone chillingly cold your muscles don't want to move? It was close to that. I stopped in Atchison Kansas so I could figure out what sort of milage I was getting. I was rewarded with a nice number in the 20's. I think this is the best I did all trip. Did I mention it was cold? Finally made it to Topeka, where I stopped at a Macdonalds to warm my hands and drink a terrible cup of coffee. I picked a table in the playplace, so I could stare at my car out the window. Once I convinced myself that drinking the nasty coffee was no better than freezing outside, I went back to the car, and walking up on it happened to see something under the deck. a little bit of red, where there shouldn't be. I was surprised when I found my LED light stuck to the underside of the trunk. it had traveled over 100 miles stuck there, and had gotten scraped up on the face by the rearend moving up and down. Oh, and this is why the coffee sounded good. by the time I made it a little further south, it had (thankfully) warmed up a bit. But the reason I stopped there became a theme of the week, this little motor uses oil. The number 4 cylinder didn't fire the whole trip, and the oil sneaking past the rings, and dumping out the exhaust, made for an oil leak on Exxon scale. by the time I got to Oklahoma, my stops were determined by where the dollar generals were, so I could pick up more oil. at one point when I was driving hard in the heat of the day, I was averaging 50 miles per quart of oil. but regardless of all the oil, and the couple times I stopped to check spark plugs, I made it to ft worth. driving in on 377 through Denton is still a nightmare to me. My legs were sore, my butt was sore, I had been on the road 13 hours so far, and it said an hour to go like 38 miles? that can't be right... It was. traffic was horible, but the T did great. Once I was at Adam's house, him and a couple neighbors checked out the T and noticed a weird wear pattern on the passenger side front tire. upon closer inspection, the inner wheel bearing was starting to fail, causing the wheel to lean out, wearing the tire. Luckily, Adam still had some original ford bearings from his 47 ford sedan, and he graciously passed them on to me, quite literally, keeping me rolling. I went out to dinner with Adam and his lovely family, then settled into my couch for the night. I had planned on updating from the road, but the 14 hour/600+mile first day was a hammer, and i'm sure Adam can attest, I was out of it.
When I woke up from my slumber Tuesday morning, I was greeted with this view walking down the stairs... Now that I was alive enough to make conversation, I offered a ride to Adam, which he accepted. Then I promptly ran out of gas about a mile or so away from his house. So while he started walking back to his house to get a gas can, I decided to clean the fuel filter, to make sure it wasn't that again. Thankfully(?) it wasn't, but it was just out of gas. sorta unsurprising, as I had went around 200 miles since my last fuel stop. thankfully one of Adam's neighbors brought him back to the car with gas in tow. We then went to the gas station to fill up, and it promptly flooded the carb as soon as we got to the station. that prompted a quick carb disassembly, and that carb is the cleanest carb I think I've ever seen. sadly this became a theme of the week as well. still unsure what is causing it. Once we got bak to Adam's house, I loaded up all my stuff, and set out for the Race street garage. @Anderson Posted the pictures in post #405 that he took of me when I finally went to right way around the block and found the shop. I had a great time getting the tour and seeing their neat shop. tire truing anyone? really nice roadster.. with top tier sbc stuff. When I left there, I headed to Murrays, to see @TexasSpeed I got there right as he was at lunch, so I hung out and answered messages while I was waiting. Before too long I heard a rumble in the distance, and here came Matt! I may have guilted him into driving his roadster that day so I could see them together. After I gave Matt a tour of the car, and he gave me a tour of the shop, I was off again. this time across town to @Bass shop. Sorry my phone is a potato in low light. I did get good pictures of a couple things though.. The land speed roadster.... and one of my favorite things, Bass' bike, "Little Egypt" before long it was time to hit the road again, cause I had another goal for the day. Hempstead Texas! I filled up and took off, down some more two lane blacktops. I stopped on a hill outside Jewett, Texas to see this neat huge dragline near the NRG powerstation. Oh, and I checked my oil for the 14th time that day. but my GPS kept telling me later and later numbers so I had to make some time. at one point I missed a call from my wife, and so I sent this photo as proof that I was still alive, and still driving. I kept my foot buried and made some time, I almost got lost a couple times, and at one point had to backtrack a mile or two to find a gas station, but the 75 mph speed limits let me reach 5th gear every time. But finally at 9:45 I pulled into my buddy Florian's shop. Another long day on the road, over 300 miles, and boy was I tired. Of course that didn't stop me from chatting with florian till almost 2 am before finally getting to bed.
An adventure so far and you haven't even made it to Austin yet! Can't wait to hear about the rest. Super neat car and great memories!
Wednesday morning we got out to the shop and soon after, florian's neighbor Kenny showed up. he took a look at my car and said "you've got an axle seal leaking" and sure enough, the source of the strange sticky substance that I had seen on the back of my wheel, was in fact gear oil from the rear end. This also explained the subpar braking that I had experienced the night before, due to the pads being soaked in oil, the driver side, gear oil, and the passenger side, motor oil from the header. Florian on the left, Kenny on the right. We made a trip to the parts store and ordered some parts to be there in the afternoon. namely an axle seal and brake pads for me. Florian had a really neat shop setup, with a house attached to one side, and had been kicking butt with his fellow 'Korsairs' club members, getting his '29 chevy running and driving for the LSRU. One of the things florian had me do was touch up his 1929 patina texas plates, so he could get them registered to the car. while I was neck deep in trying to color match near 100 year old plates, they went and got lunch, and brought back some for me! Unfortunately, after we got my axle seal installed and the axle back in place, I started cleaning out the rearend so I could install new gear oil, and found this... and then after more cleaning, found another. we started rolling the rear end around and found this.. the top gear has two teeth chunked out, and one about to go, and the side gears were showing the wear from having chunks of teeth go through them. So a quick call to the local parts store got us a new set of gears ordered and ready for pickup Thursday morning. with that on hold we moved back to other things. About 3 minutes after I got to florians shop on tuesday night, he looked at the rather hacked hole that was in my cowl for the clutch linkage, and told me "I don't care what else happens, I'm gonna fix that" marked out, and ready to cut.. Florian made this neat dimple die'd panel. then welded it in as I kept everything in the car from lighting on fire. Sometime in here, Matt, another Korsairs member that flew in for the show, showed up. another late meal and before we knew it, it was 2am again.
Thursday morning we were awakened by Kenny pulling up outside the shop in his parkwood wagon. after some chit chat and a list making session to try and reduce the trips to the part store (didn't work) we headed out for town. after buying the party doughnuts (and chorizo breakfast, pigs in a blanket- type things) We went back to the shop and took the gears out. the bad gear, and the tooth on the other side that was about to go. one of the other beat up gears. Florian helped reassemble the new gears, then I buttoned it up with a coat of goop on the diff cover and later on a bunch of gear oil. once it was all assembled, I re-attached and repacked the trunk florian cleaned up the patch in the cowl, and I shot a quick coat of primer and paint on it. florian also stole the shifter from my car and finished it out, he welded and smoothed the shifter and then added a bit of welding rod to the front edge, welded it in then tapered and smoothed it out. after we reassembled the shifter and buttoned the rest of the car up, Matt showed back up with Jason (@32fenderless) in tow, as he had just flown into Houston from Des Moines, to ride with me to the roundup, and then ride back home. We then needed to go back to the parts store to get a couple things for Florians car, so we decided to go to lunch. Florian took his truck, and we were momentarily joined by Kenny in his wagon. I wish I had videos of the events that followed, cause it was some of the best memories of the week. It started pouring while we were in the dairy queen, and after we waited long enough, we decided it wasn't gonna get better, so we went out into the rain and drove to the parts store, getting soaked and laughing the whole way. Once we reached the parts store, I wanted to turn around in the parking lot, and it being empty (and wet) provided a perfect opportunity to do a doughnut in front of the store. After the guys gave me grief for "showing off", we gathered our parts and continued to Walmart for rain gear and more cheap oil for my car. I followed florian into the parking lot and parked away from the rest of the cars, after we had exited our cars Kenny came down the drive with his parkwood wagon, on the wood, and slid a giant doughnut in the open end of the parking lot, ending up parallel to us and shouting "you ain't the only one who can do that!" needless to say, we about died of laughter and forgot all about being wet. once back at the shop, we worked on getting Florian's car ready to go, and made some wind wings for the T. After a road test to see if they would work as expected, and a stop to fill up the tank for the next morning, it was dark enough to adjust the headlights a bit better. this is the point where Matt (left) overtightened my headlight mounting bolt and it snapped off, while Jason (center) offered some humor to the circus we had going on. As I fixed the headlight, using a normal bolt to mount it, and drilling a hole in the back of it for the wires and a grommet to exit, Florian signed my dash, and Jason shot some paint on our wind wings. And with that, we had it as ready as it was going to be for the roundup. we spent the rest of the night loading up cars and applying Rain X on them hoping the rain would slow down from the downpour that was happening.
thats Florian, hes a chevy guy 100% His 29 coupe is all chevy parts, different year hydraulic brakes, dropped later truck axle, open drive conversion using a early truck rearend and later center section, later motor, s10 T5, ect, ect.
You are a brave and adventurous man Joey! I drive the heck out of mine, but would never venture out on a cross country drive in a largely untested car. Kudos!
We slept in a bit on Friday, as we didn't have to meet the rest of the group till 9 at the local Buc-ees. we rolled in fashionably late, and instantly drew a crowd. the rest of the club members from the Korsairs had heard about me from florian, but hadn't seen the car yet. Before long it was time to depart, and we took off down 290, towards Austin. A stop in Giddings provided an opportunity to check the cars over and for me to top off the oil. Before we left, the leader of the group, informed us that due to traffic we were gonna take the "back way in" Que a very scenic, but ridiculously rough next half hour of winding through the countryside and going over the railroad tracks at least 10 times. (never smoothly) But despite the rough trip we got there, picked up my registration, drove right up to the front, parking by my buddy Mark. like an idiot, I got my thumb in the way, but no bother, other people managed to take good pictures of it. We had a great time walking around and talking to people. then it came time to go to the hotel, and on the way out of the show, it flooded the carb again. bad enough we had to pull all the plugs and roll the motor over, shooting fuel everywhere. once we finally got out of the event center, we got checked into the hotel and worked on finding a parts store to get new plugs and try to find a new light switch since we discovered mine decided not to work. We didn't find a switch, so I wound up installing the headlight and taillight wires on the power stud, and then taking the fuse out to shut it off. also got some goodies at the swap meet. Jason and I skipped the evening festivities in favor of dinner at waffle house, talking in the parking lot, and an early bedtime for the first time that week.
Got the event center in plenty of time to twin with this patina-ed version of my T... His was nice, had a sweet black interior. It was akin to easter with all the bright colors. More good stuff from other people.. and a shot of me and florian right before we hit the road. the weather was forecasting rain in the evening, and the next morning, so we determined to get head start on the trip. we headed back to the hotel and snagged a spot right out front to load up. once loaded up, we topped off with fuel and hopped on the highway. somewhere between Austin and Dallas on I35, the car burbled and died, flooding the carb and the engine with fuel for the 5th time. we had some fellow hot rodders stop and help us de-flood it, taking the plugs out and rolling the motor over, tightening all the header bolts again (unrelated but humorus), then adjusting the float to see if it helped (hasn't flooded again.. yet?) it still wasn't running right, but it was suggested we move the troubleshooting off the shoulder of the interstate and onto the access road. So one of the guys walked through the ditch and gave me the all clear, so I drove into weeds as tall as my tires, netting one of the best photos of the trip: Jason dubbed it a bob ross, "happy little hot rod" however we weren't out of the woods yet, as I noticed during my off roading, that the car wasn't charging. after trying to find any loose wires on the alternator, and finally tracing it back to the starter (where the power wires converge) and finding all the threads had striped on it. So commenced some roadside hackery, with one of the guys donating his tiny needle nose vice grips to clamp the stud. we wrapped it in tape (cause its now part of a power circuit) and zip tied it so it wouldn't pop off. with that fixed and the car running marginally better we thanked our friends and took off. cruising a lot in the left lane, running the 75- 80 that felt good. right at dark we hit Dallas. we went on East I35 to try and avoid the looming rain. we only got sprinkled on once or twice. photo's via Jasons potato this time. We finally called it at Denton. we stopped at a little motel 6 and after trying to park it between the buildings in a covered walkway, the owner came out and told us we couldn't park it there, but he would move his personal car out from under the carport for us! our room wound up being right in front of the spot (with the door open) knowing it was gonna rain I tarped the car up. loaded all our stuff inside, and went to bed.
We woke up at 7:15 and pretty quickly agreed that according to the weather, the time to leave was right away. It was cold and miserable loading up. we went across the street to get gas and something to snack on. Jason was super excited. Did I mention it was cold? we also got tired of the rear trans seal leaking on our stuff, and solved the problem. we eventually made it to oklahoma, after stopping a few more times, and having to convince ourselves to get back in the car. It wasn't until Perry, Oklahoma that we found sunlight, and for a couple moments, warmth and happiness. but maybe that was just because we stopped at Braums and had ice cream and chicken. the next 4 hours were spent at no less than 75mph, just trying to get home before it got cold and dark. we beat the dark, didn't beat the cold. Our last leg was Ottawa Kansas to Home, about 140 miles. it was pretty miserable, somewhere in KC my phone mount broke, and from that point on just drove whatever felt right. at 7:30 pm we rolled into my driveway. 12+ hours and 600+ miles later. Overall I did over 2000 miles in 7 days. I had so much fun and once again realized how blessed I am to be a part of this hot rodding community. Now go build something, and drive it cross country! you'll make memories for a lifetime.
It sounds like a great trip! I have driven my rods a LOT, but never felt I was a tough enough rodder to drive a roadster, with no top.
There’s lots of guys out there who should take a lesson from your stick-to-it-iveness. You had a goal and made it happen. With a wife, a fresh kid, full time job, and still got this thing knocked out in about 6 months. The kind of stuff the HAMB was built on.
Thanks again for letting me tag along. There were enough laughs to compensate for a couple hundred miserable miles. Why is it that the best part wasn’t the show, but the laughs with new friends broken down on the side of the road?! My local friends(all one of them) told me that this trip would cure me of wanting a roadster. The whole trip home was thinking about how I would build one. I had visions of a Cal Tanaka, Tom Prufer, Bob Bauder, influenced car. Thanks again Joey
There’s something very special about putting in hours on end in your old cars that you just can’t “get” unless you experience it.
What an amazing trip! Thanks for all the details! And, I can’t believe you stopped in Perry...that is where I work. You could have seen my work from Braums...just a little bit east and across the road. The sign on the highway (circled) is for my workplace...
By the time I got to the electrical taped and zip tied vice grip on the starter, I was like "well, yeah..." LOL Thanks for taking us along Joey! I did have to laugh a bit when I got to the pics of the valve covers and and steering wheel you bought and thought "where on earth is he going to put that to get it home?" LOL
The Jalopy Journal
