My recent visit to the States~story & pics~

A little overdue but here's the story & some pics on our recent visit to the states.
After selling my roadster i was in a position to buy something i've always wanted, but was still unsure which model it would be.....but i did know it would be a late 30's Ford coupe. Eventually i came to the conclusion it would have to be a '39 std & the search was on, even though this model is pretty thin on the ground i found a few to look at.....but nothing that really stood out.
Fast forward a month or two & i get a message from Yorgatron on the HAMB telling me of this coupe he spotted at the Turlock swap meet & that i should give the guy a call.
Well as you know the deal was good & i ended up buying the car from Bob, who along with his wife Fran turned out to be the nicest couple you'll ever want to meet!
Bob agreed to keep the car until we flew out to collect it the week before Paso, he was also ok with me sending a ****load of parts to his place near Santa Rosa, it was around this time that i discovered our own AV8 is from the same area & he know's Bob too.

This is the only picture i had of the car prior to collecting it, the whole deal was done
on trust but i had good feelings about it from our phone conversations.

This is how it looked when we arrived

Will all this old junk fit in here?


Bob & Fran

 

The next day Bob took us over to Vern's place......& even though Vern was very busy he
still made time to show us around, mind you he did sell me a cam so his time wasn't wasted. ;-)
Later that day we headed for Campbell to stay with Dave (A32flathead) who had arranged some workshop space at his friend Willie's place in Sant Clara, i used his shop for four days & he wouldn't
take a penny!! without these guys i couldn't have done what i did...my hats off to them!
At Willie's place before all the work, some of you may have seen his Caddy.

Nothing major just swapping over to 5.5 stud pattern & some essential safety related stuff for the trip, all this stuff i had pre arranged so i didn't have to go hunting at the last minute.

 

4x16 rim & new rubber, thanks for the rim Sam!

On with the new de-arched front spring from Betts spring in San Leandro, thanks for the tip Mike.

Off with old drums.

On with the replacement after checking the bearing & a new seal.

'41 Lincoln/Mercury 5x16 rim & new rubber fills the gap.

Here's how it sits & pretty much how it'll stay, apart from a dropped beam & a hot
flatty over the winter.

 

Here's a pic of the new pumps just before the new rad went in. Oh & that damn
distributor that i would get to know so well!

Out with those fugly headlamps.

In with the original type lamps.......i like it so much more with these.

This is late thursday before Paso & nearly all the work was done which included,
front spring & shackle's, shock absorbers & links all round, 40's drums with new seals
& new front bearings,wheel cylinders, shoes, brake hose's, rims & tires, fuel sender & wiring, waterpumps hose's & radiator, headlamps & some wiring repairs.

 

So its friday morning & we head out toward Paso & everything feels good until i get a loss
of power & it dies on me, i have enough momentum to roll down the off ramp & into the
gas stn at King City.

I tell the others to go ahead without me & i would think of something,
i had a look at the problem & came to the conclusion it was coil/condenser that was causing
the problem but with no parts i was pretty helpless, so i remember the guy i bought my
Apache from last year in Arroyo Grande about 75 miles away who took me to meet a friend of his
with a collection of old Fords. A quick phone call to Dennis who hooks me up with Jack (Ford guy)
who has the parts & gets them on their way to me, a week i later find out Jack is Neals boss & was at Neals party in Atascadero......small world eh!
Eventually i made it a bit further but ended up being hauled by AAA to the Walmart parking lot in
Paso (now 11.30pm) where i proceeded to remove the distributor & take it back to our motel to
make one good one out of the two i now had, saturday i messed with it the best part of the day
until i was happy it would make the journey to Las Vegas.....yeah i know....you think i'm nuts!
So we leave early sunday morning & take the old 58 towards Bakersfield.......that was a stupid thing
to do, i knew i should have taken the 46!
Yeah you guessed it, here we are out of gas in the middle of nowhere but within a half hour we are being towed to a gas stn.

The car was actually running real well at this point until we had more condenser trouble at Boron but luckily i know Mike there (DocFrankenstien on the HAMB) who pointed me in the direction of a spare at a friend of his acrross town, who just happen to have a HenryJ.

Back on the road we make it to Primm where it overheats like i've never seen.........so i let it cool
off before topping up & making the last leg of the journey to LV 13hrs later!
Here's what happened the next day..........i'm not one to rush into these things but after 14yrs we
figured it was the right thing to do, & a drive through in this car made it perfect!

While in LV i ordered the much needed ignition parts from D Spadaro who shipped overnight, a quick
strip down & the new parts were in & we were on our way to LA, as i discovered getting the ignition right was a major contribution to the cooling problems too.......& the overheating was in actuall fact damaging the condensers, vicious little circle going on there!

 

The drive to LA gave us no trouble apart from a slow loss of water from one head but didn't affect
running & just needed topping up every so often, we checked into a motel in Claremont & early sat morning made a visit to the Early Ford store in San Dimas (well worth a visit)
Later that day we headed over to Rudy's place to hook up with him & Paul.........we had a real good time there & even got to take the little T roadster out for a spin, thanks guys!

We both didn't want to leave Rudy's place in a hurry but needed to head up out of LA toward Palmdale, & that car ran like a train pulling 70 all the way & staying cool. We arrived a little
late in the day but still managed a few beers & some good bs.

 

IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/LIMEYKEV/holidayinn.jpg[/IMG]
A great day was had on the sunday at the drags & it was real good to finally meet some
of you & put a face to a name.
I think Don took this pic because i stole it from his gallery!

On the monday we left Palmdale & headed for Santa Barbara to meet up with Paul who showed
us a good time & looked after us.....thanks again. Tuesday it was back on the road with a stop
at Hearst Castle & a steady drive up the PCH.

By Wednesday evening we were in Sacramento where we had more ignition trouble, one of
the new contact breakers had cracked in half just where they pivot! a makeshift fix & i collected some spare sets at Sacramento Vintage Ford the next day........which i fitted later that day at the
side of the freeway heading back to Campbell.
Friday morning i loaded the car full of all the junk i'd collected along the way & headed to Hayward
where i dropped the car with the shipping agent, as of now it should be half way here!

Now driving a boring reliable air conditioned hire car we headed back to Santa Rosa to meet up with
Bob & collect the cam Vern had ground for me. Saturday we headed back to Dave's in Campbell for a surprise party for us.......something to do with getting hitched i think.
Monday saw us at the airport & the airline was overbooked as usual so we offered to fly 24hrs late & was given free tickets for next year & put up in a nice hotel.
Rather than sit in the hotel we grabbed a rental & shot over to Livermore to see Sam who showed us another great evening.
Sorry its taken a while but work has been fairly busy since i've been back, & its been real difficult getting back into this old routine. You'll have to excuse me if i've missed anything but after 3 1/2 weeks of having way too much fun there was so much more to tell.
Kev.

 

Bout ****** time you posted something about the trip!!

 

jesus what a cool trip...
i am speechless...

 

Right on you Limey's must be RICH! haha What a great story. I saw you in the bowling alley parking lot at Paso.

FONZI

 

Haha i was trying to find a space & the motor was sooooo hot i gave up, parked up accross the street & went in for a much needed beer.

 

It all about the journey, great story !!

L

 

Ha, glad I'm not the only dumb ******* to take 58 to Bako, we went across to see Squeak via 58 highlight was there looked to be a couple of 59-63 Chevs in some ranch's yard way up top on the plauteu..... that is one crazy road great big long straights with 90' conrners at the end of em !!!

Looks like you had a blast I love the PCH, rode a push bike up it years ago.

 

A little update on the '39 since it arrived safely two weeks ago today, been doing
all the little fiddley jobs, but on monday i decided i had better pay some attention
to the head gaskets & give it a little freshen up (temporary till the winter stripdown)
but as usual i got a bit carried away & put in some crazy hours to get it finished by
lastnight.
On Friday we set off to the Hotrod Hayride which is a new get together for us Brits &
promised to be one of our premier events, as it stands i think eneryone i know is going
plus a strong attendance from europe......check out the Hayride post!

Here's what i started with.

Couldn't help myself but offer this up......another day...soon!

A little green to brighten it up.

Job done......now to drive it & have some fun.


Kev.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/scott657/Antiqye Nationals/4228150-R2-011-4.jpg


smile!

 

What a great picture Kev...who took that one then

 

Scott i forgot you took that pic, we look sooooo happy don't we!

Kev.

 

I wonder?

Also i forgot to mention late thursday night before Paso & round at Yorgatrons place for a bit of emergency welding!
Thanks George......you are a lifesaver.

Kev.

 

What a GREAT post! Sounds like that was a well planed trip before you left home. Glad the car had a nice boat ride and is enjoying its new home.

 

Boy.some guys have all the fun!! Great meeting you folks at Paso. Glad the ride made it home OK. Looking forward to seeing you guys again! AL

 

It sounds like a great trip.

Bob and Fran are about the nicest people I've met in the early V8 club.
I am the youngest in the bunch with a rusty model A, but they welcomed
me like family. that is a great car you got, I am glad it is going to a good
home.

I wish I could take a vacation like that.

 

Here's a shot of you in action in king city:

 

Oh, that Damn distributor indeed... we ALL got to know it well!!
In King City...San Ardo....at the side of 101 with the CHP....Paso Robles...and San Luis Obispo, eventually. Dang Kev...when's the test????

Even I can field strip and rebuild a flattie distributor with my eyes closed and a few sammies down me...on the side of the road... in the rain... in the dark...
in WalMart parking lot....

*muaaahhahahahahahaha* Send more chocolate or the cat's completely out of the bag! >;p

 

What a great adventure. Thanks for the pics and the story. You sure put alot of miles on that car. Very nice by the way. Love that stance and look. Hope you keep it just the way it is. Keith

 

Damn Im envious of the trip AND the ride. Thats what im gonna be lookin for in '07 when I come over to grab a ride aqnd bring it back.

What a righteous/score !! Its always great when the people u buy it from are extra nice to boot. Glad your gonna keep it Flatty powered and more or less the way it is.

**** im jealous !!

Rat

 

man I have just given you 5 stars !!!

I cant beleive that no one else has, if this post isnt all what its about, I better sell my roadster!

congrats on the wedding too

 

Got to give it to ya Kev you have balls of steel,cool story.

 

Kev- What a freaking amazing remember for the rest of your life trip. The stories, 3.5 weeks, the car, getting hitched, the scenary, and all the people you got to meet. DAMN! I'm so envious!
Thank you for sharing the stories and pics they are incredible.

 

Thanx a LOT for sharing COOL story & Car ..

 

This thread should be the benchmark for how we share trips on the HAMB.
Congrats on the nuptuals...the car looks great...the story was perfect.
I'm jealous!