I love road trips. Road trips to go get cool hotrod parts are even better. I bought this chrome 40's ford rear end from Grimlock and it was a great excuse to go on a "mission" to retrieve it. Grimlock lives in Kansas City, about 300 miles south of Omaha, where I live. I'd planned to drive the Rocky Goodtime Van down ther to get this axle but with mid 90's predicted and no A/C in the van, driving my little ****box winter beater cavailier was lookin pretty attractive. It has great tunes and cold air andd the back seat folds down to transport early ford axles. I started out bright and early on Sunday morning after washing and detailing the cavalier to impress Grimlock and his neighbors... After about 30 miles of restful cruising with the A/C on, I called ol Grim up on the cell.....told him he'd neeed to remove the torqu tube and coupler to get the driveshaft loose so it'd all fit in my car.... "Uhhhhhhhhhhh, last time I tried that, it took 3 hours to get it all apart. "Sides, what do we do about the split bones?" oh ****.... I hadn't thought about that. I turned off the interstate at the next exit to go back and grab my van and got about 5 miles back up the freeway before it struck me...........I don't need no steenking torquetube or original driveshaft! Nor do I need any bones.......already got a nice pair. I callled the Grimiester back up and we devised a plan to simply cut the unwanted **** off in his garage... I skillfully turned the ****box around again and headed south once more. I was fleeing along when mother nature called so I hearded the mini-chevy into a rest area where the 55-57 T-bird club was standing around a red 57 with the hood up. I hid my POS behind a line of semi's and walked up with my Goodguys T-shirt on [2005, DesMoines]..... I was listening to a typical Y-block sob story {sorry Ford guys...I have no respect} whan suddenly, without warning, this pickup and trailer with a rusty 36 flatback 2 door body strapped on rumbles past and parks. I immediatelly abandon the T-bird guys to investigate, bladder pounding and bowels screaming... I'll be dipped, it was Jim C from Webster, Mo. He was just coming from Plan 9 and Tuck's place, delivering some HAMB parts to HAMB buyers.... It was really great seeing Jim since I hadn't seen him since the HAMBdrags last summer. After taking care of pressing bidness, we both moved on.........
After runing outa road where they're doing m***ive construction on the bridge [thanks a ****in lot, mapquest!] I wound around KC until I finally ended up on the Kansas side. I called for directions adn Kevin talked me in. We shot the **** adn loaded up my parts after cutting off the uneeded junk and we both got hernias loading the 500 lb axle into the ****box with about 1/4 inch to spare. I strapped it safely down to a seat bracket with a piece of twine and we got to the important bidness........riding in the roadster!
Grim wanted to install his hood sides to keep the fan outa the radiator so we did some mechanicin' before starting out through the 'hood.
I love riding with Kevin in his roadster.'specially since he put seats [?] in the car. Oh, sure........there's still a hole in the firewall rivalling the entrance to the Holland tunnel with the fan blowing radiator heat back on us with temps hovering in the mid 90's but all that is forgotten when the flatmotor fires up. He's got both carbs hooked up and we were testing them out when we happened upon 2 of KC's finest......Kevin says "Oh ****" and I asked him how legal we were. He just said "Not" The po-leese were hot on the trail of a criminal donut or something and couldn't be bothered with rabble like us.....they stopped in front of this house and...........we moved on.
We pulled in and bought some gas and laid about 59 feet of rubber when we left, open exhaust and all--to impress the blue light shoppers. Grim did this about 3 blocks from where the poleese were parked...he made a right turn and I was thinking this may take up back to where the gestapos were last seen interviewing a criminal donut but I didn't say anything.....it was his town, not mine.... Imagine Grimlocks surprise when we saw both cop cars parked on the side of the street...DOH!
They were still inside the house beating hell out of the mischievious donut and didn't see us idle past so we decided we'd used up all our good luck and slowly cruised back to the house without further drama...except when Grim made a right turn through water on the street from some ***** watering the street. Do you'se know who gets wet when you make a right turn through water with a non-fendered car? Yup.......ol Rocky gets wet... At the house, I hadda get some photos of Grimlock's groovy tailite...a fitting end to a Sunday summer adventure in the steamy midwest... The end
Thats some cool war stories Rocky- whens that criminal gonna spend some of the protection money from the KC mob -and get that short legal? Hell -I even have tags now,so he gets to say he held out longer than a poser-wimp*** did......!
Cool story Rocky.....except the part about no respect for the Y-block. The reason it wasn't running right is because it needs to be freed from that ***** T-bird and slapped into a real Hot Rod!! That rusty turd on the trailer looks remarkably similar to the heap I sold Stressed-Out over there in Omaheehaw. Where's it going now?
True Brush but since they are both NA, which one gets the other drunk to finish the "date"? "I know with a little more diet Dr Pepper Rocky will be buzzed enough for me to cop a feel?!" Grim
And Rocky, that looks like the Southbound side of the rest stop we taped a Frito bag over the dollys tailight?! Good times with KC HAMBers, thanks for the tale!
Rocky glad you got that axle, I really wanted it, but didn't want to drive to KC this weekend so I'm flying. Yeah the KCI security and the Southwest Flight attendants wouldn't have known what to do with me. Anywho's awesome story, why don't I ever run into HAMB'rs on all of my H-town to KC trips? I do love hauling old stuff though. On the way back from Choprods with my 40 cab, got lots of trucker thumbs ups.
Have to get some proper sized tires on that thing. Those are actually my old rear tires (600) and I was running 450's before the blowout. I think I was pushing the limits of proper caster before and the bigger tires shoved it over the edge. Combine that with the janky dropped tie rod I built as an experiment to gain more clearance and things got pretty sketchy in the bumps. Smaller tires and a proper job of dropping the steering arms should have me back where I was before the blowout and spring settling. Thanks for hanging out.
Kevin, I talked to Sonny about getting legal, I will chat with ya' later. It is right down the street from where I work. Oh yea, you missed a hella' night on Sat., very cool shots that gave me chicken skin. And a few lookers out there as well. Chris
To my house. **x Brandy ***Rocky's a Pontiac man, not a Ford man. They say if you look closely at him, you'll see his Indian head tattoo'd just above his left moob! ***
Nice story...I did the same thing w/ my shoebox. Found a loose plate, stuck it on and had the bro-in-law follow to get the car to the local show. It was a blast but nerving. When the streets opened up, I stood on the gas to see the flatty come alive w/ the new 2x2 setup I put on it. I think I was burning double the fuel it was so fat....lightly toasted smoke in the rear view mirror. Im glad it was a blast, long drives w/ and end like that make it all worth it.
...............ah yes........what the HAMB is all about! Roddin', ridin' and good friends. Great adventure, thanks........
Trent....That may well have been the same rest-stop. I'd forgotten all about taping the frito bag over the tailight after we lost the lens off it. It was a tacky repair but it worked! I should get some advertising money from Frito-Lay because everytime I hit the brake the rear lit up with a "Fritos" logo...
So, on saturday night, I found myself in Omaha, Nebraska loading a slant back Ford Body and about 10:30 pm thinks "Wish i knew rocky's phone number, I'd call him up" I did get to meet Stressed_out and his brother. If you ever need somethin heavy loaded, call on Ben. Good to meet him and his brother. Ben's directions are easy to follow, he just says "follow me" and leads the way. Sunday morning, I am leaving Omyha, and thinks to my self "Sure would have been cool to see ol' rocky whilst I'm here". Well, it was not gonna happen (got to get me a phone list), so I set sail for my home town and am cruising allong I 29 when Mother Nature places an urgent call. I delicately park the Dakota and trailer with real goodies a**** the Rolling Highway Warehouses. I am sort of ambling/running towards the Aid to Motorists house and glancing towards a bunch of Thunder Birds (Ford's name, not mine) when, to my astonishment, this same Rocky walks up and begins telling me about his trip down to Grimmie's place. Wish I had the time to go with him, but Raven61 was expecting mme to show up for a rendevous. Rocky, It is always a distinct pleasure to meet up with with you, even if it is a brief encounter. Robin, it was my pleasure to meet you, as well as, Fordman75, Stressed_out, Tuck and his family. You all have to get by Tuck's place and see what he has going on. I got to meet Bored and his brother. Eyeball and Brian(forgot his HAMB handle) but did get to bring his Caddy from Grumpy's place to Moorehead in time for him to head out on a road trip with Eyeball. All in all- a real gratifying trip. Now on to Plan9's place with his baby.
Rocky that was an awesome story... ps thanks for the info on poncho rears yesterday! Grimlock your modified is by far one of my favorites all around- The details where they count and the simplicity make it RULE ALL. JIMC your one COOL dude! So glad we had plenty of time to shoot the bull sat morning! Looks like that body fit right over those flattys- I couldve talked to you guys ALL DAY!!! Tuck
Man Rocky, You blow into town and don't even give me a call. I had some Poncho questions for you. A ride in Grim's modified is a hoot. Driven only the way Grim can do it. JimC, It was good to finally meet you. Thanks for picking up my stuff. Sorry that you had to drive all over hell's kitchen to finally find a place to meet up. r
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