Okay, I realize that most of you have already done extended road trips and special drives to events, etc, but I get few chances to grab the road in a hot rod for hours at a time. Even more important, I get rare opportunities to spend hours on hours with my sons due to their schedules and certainly, my stupid work requirements.<O</O <O</O SO, this is a thread that hopefully provides you a glimpse at our unique, fun-filled experience this month. It is a LONG thread, but hopefully worth your time! Pardon me for all of the detail and bad language, but it kind of gives you a perspective on our trip and I figure the Moderators can always delete this. <O</OBackground: Here is the background of the thread: My son Brett (25 years old and out on his own) has always been appreciative of traditional hot rods, has wanted one of his own and since he has been out on his own for a few years I have been URGING him to "bite the bullet" and get a starter driver! But, Brett has two "troubling tendencies"...he is tight as a drum (even though he makes great money) AND he cannot drive a stick. Yep, I have tried to teach him on my stuff, but he never really has gotten the grasp. But, he desperately was ready for his first hot rod and after trading pictures, listings, etc for over a year, I found a listing right here on the HAMB on August 6th that I thought he would love...and with an automatic! Turns out that this "was the one" and we agreed to put in an offer together at 50/50 ASAP as, we all know, if you snooze you lose.
Thursday: Spoke to the HAMBER who had it for sale (BADFUN) who is a helluva guy and told him that we would try to set up an appointment the following week to look at the car. He told me that this would not be possible due to him being in Sturgis for his annual trek. So, we had to act NOW. With Brett being at the Mid-Ohio IndyCar race that weekend, it would be ME who had to get there on Saturday or possibly miss the damn car. I HAD to be there and I called BADFUN (Drake) and he told me he would pick me up at the Minneapolis airport on Saturday although they were expecting rain. I didn't care, because if we made a deal, I had a return flight already arranged and we would just would ship it back! Well...here is where it gets interesting. With Brett in Ohio, my 19-year old son, Paul, has heard all of my conversations with Drake and he said..."Dad, can I go with you tomorrow?" Paul, a college student and athlete, was having a difficult summer as he had shoulder surgery due to an athletic injury in the Spring and was restless to say the least. Plus, with all of his athletic camps, workouts, etc for the past three+ years, we had not been able to spend much quality time together in any duration. Plus, Paul really loves hot rods and I am thinking that this would be a great trip to show him what is all involved in evaluating a car and maybe even buying one. So, I invite Paul to come along to meet Drake and the chopped '31 sedan that had no wipers, one tailight and no front or rear turnsignals which is all legal in Minnesota. Then Paul asks me the proverbial question..."Dad, if we buy this thing, can we road trip this thing home tomorrow?" Ah....I told him that we would not be able to due to the wiper deal, no turn signals and that we would be going through 9 hours of bad weather but told him that "we would see" to at least keep him interested in the trip!<o></o>
Saturday: Well, we get out of Chicago a little behind on time on our flight, but get to Minneapolis around 10:00am with effing storms and rain abundant. As we taxi to our gate watching the rain, Paul asks..."Well, Dad, it doesn't look too bad...let's GO FOR IT!" Looking at the damn sky knowing that we would be driving East into the **** weather and having done some silly drives before, I said "Paul, it doesn't look good. We can always take her on a trip later." He dropped his head in disappointment and I knew THEN that we had to drive her home somehow (as long as the '31 met our review). So, the seller (Drake) picked us up at the airport and we headed WEST to a little, really cool town about 45 miles west of Minneapolis…still raining like **** the whole way. The story gets better! On the way, Drake tells us that his little town is having their annual “CornFest” parade which is scheduled to begin at 11:00am which goes right in front of his house and will “last at least an hour.” We got to his house at 10:45am and quickly knew that the car was totally cool and OURS! He told Paul and I that we could “hustle you out of here now” or we could stay to “make this transaction go the right way.” As much as we wanted to hit the road ASAP, I knew he was right. So….we stayed at his house, shot the ****, went over the car like we SHOULD have and watched some of the damn parade. Interestingly, the damn rain stopped right at 11:00am!!!!!<O></O> <O> </O> By noon, the old firetrucks, Corvairs with young beauty queens and local politicians were GONE and the skies were BRIGHT!!!! How lucky can you get with a wiperless, chopped ride!! Paulie and I say goodbye to Drake at Noon and head for Minneapolis!!!! Our first stop was about 35 miles into the trip…west side of Minneapolis and filled up the tank! Drake told us up front that the gas gauge does not work and that he “gets about 22mpg on a tank that is 11 gallons.” WTF? <O></O> <O> </O> We attack the Interstate to and around Minneapolis which has a ****load of traffic. I would have paid ten grand for turn signals as we fight SUVs and construction traffic and delays. <O></O>
We make our second stop an hour East of Minneapolis and as I weasel myself out of the driver’s door, I ask Paul how long we had gone and he looks at the GPS on his iPhone and says “70 miles.” I must admit, it felt like we had driven 300 miles. I have felt less spent getting out of a 3 hour stint in a race car at Sebring. I realize that the winters in Minnesota and Wisconsin are ****, but what in the hell have you done with your “TARP” funds?We get to the pump and we fill her up... we had used about 3 gallons. Now we knew that we could go longer between stops! We hit the highway and go TWO hours….only use 6.9 gallons and it is about 3:00pm and I am sweating like a ***** in court and we have the windshield and all four windows open (Drake did a great job so that the rear windows go ALL the way down). We had more airflow than a Boeing windtunnel. While the car tracks straight as hell on normal surfaces, it is a bit of a handful on uneven bumps and potholes...most of all because Drake and I agree to bring up the pressures for the highways on the way home. But let me tell you, we hit one of those "swell ridges" in the pavement/concrete about every 20 feet...usually with one side "high" and one side "low" or even a pothole. You hit the damn things and you are almost sideways. Paul tells me that he wants to drive and I must admit, even with years of racing experience…it was a little treacherous at times on the drive thus far and as we know, one can “overdrive” cars that get a bit skittish on the highway. But here is guy who wanted to EXPERIENCE the deal!!! So we made a deal…I would see how he does for an hour (or less!) and then I would take over. We hit the road and old Paulie does a fantastic job!!!! He is having a ball, we are getting our pictures taken by people p***ing us and he is howling. Okay kid, keep going! He does a 2 hour 15 minutes stint over some really ****TY roads and we head to the gas pumps!<O></O>
I relieve Paulie and we keep having a ball…laughing about having to "dirt track her" over the bumps/holes and just good old Dad/Son talk. The old girl is roaring without a problem!!! PRICELESS! I have to admit to saying “*other *ucker” more than I have EVER in my life as we hit some really ****ty pavement, asphault, concrete and rubber fill. The car has NO issues….really great response and power. We hit a bump so hard in Illinois that it drops the ****** into 2<SUP>nd</SUP> gear…thank God we caught it FAST with no motor or ****** issues. We make two more stops and after 3 states in 8.5 hours, here are our rankings on the respective drivers per state: • Minnesota: The WORST *UCKING TALIGAITERS in the world! Totally disrespectful!!! • Wisconsin: Even though we encountered a lot of vacationers from other states, probably the best drivers! Nice folks! • Illinois: Total ****. Always in a hurry, but where do you need to go in such a hurry in *ucking ROCKFORD? Between Minneapolis and Eau Claire, we saw at LEAST 6 cars on our side of the road (p***enger cars!) that had flat tires!!! Lucky us and GREAT advice from Drake! DAMN ROADS!!!
We get home with a windshield full of bugs and **** and the first thing we hear my wife say is...”You guys drove THIS thing 8.5 hours?????” and says ...“Honey, it doesn’t have air conditioning (knowing that I sweat like a pig)?” Then….”Oh my God……you guys are crazy!!!! That is why we DID it!!!!!! THANKS DRAKE!!!!! Looking forward to having my son Brett and our family REALLY enjoy it like we have already! GREAT car and an even better experience to remember FOREVER!!!! I know Paul and I will never forget it! Now, its time for Brett and I to drive her to the Pileup for another great father & son adventure!!!! Thanks for listening to our rant
The Jalopy Journal
