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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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 Hi guys Thought it would be good to share our trip around the USA on the forum.
We started four weeks ago driving down to San Diego with the rental and proceeded to look for a trailer and a truck to pull it. It took me over two weeks to find a truck and trailer and another 5 days to check and fix things to get ready for the trip so hopefully to not have any breakdowns. Yes I know it is a Chevy pulling it, but I've had a good run with them in the past. The plan was to get started a week earlier but pickings were very slim.
Our first stop was Joshua Tree NP. After crossing into Arizona we had a tire go with tread separation so at the next main town we got a couple of new tires for the rear. After getting everything sorted we went to Jerome an historic mining town then up to Grand Canyon later that day. A couple of days later we went to Canyon De Chelley and we just arrived today in Albuquerque NM. In a few days we will be heading to Santa Fe. Hopefully will give an update next time I have time to stop in at Starbucks for the internet.
Ian. |
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By rick55 - 10 Years Ago
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Good stuff, Ian. Hope you're enjoying yourselves. Rob is in California at the moment as well, I think.
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By MoonShadow - 10 Years Ago
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Ian,
I doubt if you will get as far east as New Hampshire but if you do let me know. I will be heading to the Bonneville salt flats the first week in August for speedweek. There will be several of our Y-Block land speed record friends there for the week so if you're still around it would be a great stop both to meet people and enjoy some races. Chuck
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Hey Rick, I think Rob should be in San Diego now, the week after we left there.
Chuck we wont be making it all the way over to New Hampshire, there's just not enough time to go everywhere. We originally planned to go to Georgia and South Carolina way as well but it doesn't look like we can get that far east as we got started later than I was originally hoping to. We're hoping to get about as far as Chicago in two to three weeks then we will be heading back west to time it for Hot August Nights in Reno. After Reno we'll be up to Washington to visit my aunt. It would be great to visit Bonneville but it probably will have to be on another visit.
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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We spent the 4th of July in Santa Fe and went to see the big fireworks display that was held at the Santa Fe high school. The local Walmart was our accommodation for the evening, nice and quiet at that particular one and comes highly recommended. Walmarts also come at a great price, FREE.
We are just near the boarder of Texas this morning and spent the night at Russels travel center truckstop that has a fantastic 50's style diner that is well worth a look. Heading to Amarillo in the big state Texas today.
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By Rono - 10 Years Ago
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Ian;
You are really making the rounds. GREAT looking RV to tour the States in. I just got out wireless modem unpacked today so I am now back on line in our new place in Bishop. It's been really hot here, but probably not any hotter than where you are in Texas. Safe travels my friend and if I can connect with you at Hot August nights I will.
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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After I did the last post I went back into the truck stop and there was a free car museum open that was closed the night before. It had a quite a few special cars and an amazing collection of memorabilia. Russel's travel center truck stop is a must see if you are travelling on the I-40. I was going to post some more photos of the museum but the wireless where we are is hopelessly slow.
The bad news is later that morning the car stopped on the I-40 heading towards Amarillo. I had to get it towed to an RV park and I think it is the fuel pump that is not working. The relay in the fuse block is still clicking when the ignition goes on but the pump is not making any noise at all. Worse still there is 15-20 gallons in the tank and no access panel above the tank so the tank has to be dropped and I'm not allowed to work on it in the RV park.
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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   Some more images from the truck stop,
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By lyonroad - 10 Years Ago
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Sorry to hear about your tow vehicle Ian. A few years ago a lot of people were having fuel pump issues in their RV's. Seems the pumps were over-heating on long trips when the fuel levels were low. A lot of guys now fill up before the gauge gets to the 1/4 mark. Hope you're back on the road soon. Dead RV's are no fun at all.
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By GREENBIRD56 - 10 Years Ago
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Ian - hope your pump probs get settled soon! I've had the same troubles with an outfit of my own - not fun.
On the trip from Salt lake across toward Reno - you will drive right past the "Bonneville Salt Flats International Raceway" exit. Even if you miss the speed trials date - its worth getting your picture taken with the BLM sign! About three clicks north of the freeway...............
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By MoonShadow - 10 Years Ago
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I don't know if anyone has mentioned but Flying J truck stops have dump stations and water fill for traveling RV's. They also encourage parking overnight. Great service and you see them often. Chuck
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Thanks for the tips/advice guys I'll definitely take them onboard.
You probably have heard the saying "rules were meant to be broken" so I ignored the rule of not working on vehicles in the RV park, as I was a special case anyway. So I got the truck running today which was a big load off the mind. There was still some fuel in the tank, I estimate between 5-8 gallons after I syphoned about 12 gallons out so it was a bit heavy, found a few muscles I haven't used for awhile. I did get a couple of cans from Walmart but it wasn't enough. I got O'reilly's to deliver to the the RV park the fuel pump and the plastic tool to get the fuel lines off, which was handy as I had no transport.
We just checked out some of what was the old route 66 though Amarillo this afternoon, some old buildings but not a lot to see. We did glimps the Cadillac Ranch on the way in, riding in the tow truck.
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By lyonroad - 10 Years Ago
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Glad you are back on the road. What turned out to be the problem?
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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As I suspected it was the fuel pump that failed.
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By Rono - 10 Years Ago
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Ian;
Hope the rest of your trip is trouble free!
Rono
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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I especially hope there is no more problems as well Ron.
When to Minter's Thunderbirds yesterday to check out a few things. I was looking at getting a soft top for my T Bird but in the end decided against an original type. Not only was it going to work out a lot more expensive but I didn't realize how much heavier than the reproductions the originals are, not as practical to use in the real world. I picked his brain a little bit as well and it was enlightening so I feel the detour was well worthwhile. We saw lots of very nice cars including his 57 Fairlane E code convertible that had just been sold. As nice as the T Birds were, I couldn't see the $100 000+ value in them. Only for the people where money is no object.
On our way to Little Rock Arkansas today. We're heading north from here on until we get to Chicago.
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By MoonShadow - 10 Years Ago
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If your headed to Illinois maybe you could check this one out on EBAY. Chuck
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Chuck the TBird sounds interesting but maybe suffering from neglect a little the way it sounds.
We ended up driving in a wild thunderstorm on the way to Little Rock, Lightening hit the freeway about a 1/4 mile in front of us, not seen that before. The fridge had stopped working but thankfully it was an easy fix, I took the shroud off the burner and lit it by hand and it was all good when it dried out with its own heat.
Little Rock is a nice town to visit, Great downtown waterfront area and not too big for getting around.
We have just arrived in St Louis this afternoon and by chance stumbled on a car get together at burger King on the south side where we're at now. Quite a few nice cars turned up here.
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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    Some pictures from Minter's Thunderbirds.
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By MoonShadow - 10 Years Ago
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That's why the Minters get the big money. They are probably the best T-Bird restorers in the world. Anything they do is first class all the way. Chuck
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Interestingly he told me to not take the body off the chassis as it will not be as good after and that it is very difficult not to crack the original panel seams . They rotisserie restore them but only separate the cars that are being used for show judging.
I still couldn't see $110 000 value in a D code 57 though, even if they do a very good restoration. I don't think the resale would be there. It's only for the people that can afford to lose the money.
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By Ol Ford Guy - 10 Years Ago
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Ian,
I want to pass along something you may not be aware of. If you can't find a camp ground or want to save a little money , you can park in a Wal Mart parking lot over night. You will usually see some trucks parked and a few motorhomes or trailers. Usually far away from the store entrance.
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By snowcone - 10 Years Ago
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And while you are there amuse yourself on this website
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Since my last post we spent the day in St Louis looking at the sites near the waterfront and the big arch of course, very impressive. After St Louis we headed north up the I-55 on our way to Springfield checking out some of the route 66 sites.
Probably the biggest thing to see in Springfield was the Lincoln neighborhood before he was president which is national park. We toured the old Lincoln house and other houses in the streets. The streets have been maintained/restored period correct and they even had a President Lincoln and his wife lookalike's there to take a photo with, quite interesting to visit and worthwhile if your going that way. A few blocks away was capital building and also impressive to see, very ornate.
We continued north on the I-55 stopping at various route 66 sites, looking at old petrol/gas stations and other things. We stopped at Pontiac for the night and went to the visitors centre museum and military museum that is connected. The museums are free and I would highly recommend them, they had lots of great stuff to see. Pontiac is a great little town and a must see if you are doing Route 66.From Pontiac we looked at a few more sites and stayed the night at a Walmart on the south side of Chicago.
I found that Illinois promotes and sign posts Route 66 the best of all the state that we visited.
We left the caravan/trailer at the Walmart and visited the Volo Auto Museum. The museum was more than I was expecting, a room full of Duesenbergs, lots of theme cars from movies and TV programmes, a room full of celebrity and famous peoples cars and all the cars for sale (all I thought over priced). We went to the field museum the next day to see the biggest T Rex and other great dinosaur fossils, aswell as many other things to see. All my daughter talked about for the next day was how she wanted to find a big dinosaur fossil. We headed out from Chicago that night and went to Byron the next day (Saturday)where I met a lot of the Y guys and joined them at the Melt Down nostalgic drag meeting. The drag meet was great with all the classic and original style drag cars. Thank you to everyone for being so hospitable and especially Tom who showed me his toys later that night at his house.
Paul we're way ahead of you with the Walmarts, most of our nights are spent in the parking lots. It was a nice quiet one you suggested yesterday, thanks. It was great to meet all you guys. I forgot to give you our cell number while we're in you US, 619 761 2309.
Yes Gary you do see some interesting people at the Walmarts
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Some pics from the Meltdown drags. 
 
Tom waiting patiently to race. |
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By Ol Ford Guy - 10 Years Ago
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Hey Ian,
How was your visit to Madison County, update us a little on your travels. I Hope you and your girls are having a great time.
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By Talkwrench - 10 Years Ago
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Hi Ian hows it going? today is my first day back at work ; ( California was great, filled our time very well, however didn't do a lot of car stuff again ; ( I did spend a whole day driving around with my mate to Blairs, SoCal, Waldens, Moon eyes and Prestige Thunderbirds. But no Donut derros' or Garden Grove runs ..Pfft! Was good to be a passenger for a change, I could actually relax and look around other than gripping the wheel and focusing so hard on just trying to keep up with traffic and avoiding the maniac drivers! Think I did more aviation museums..? I see you did Joshua tree, After leaving Big Bear we also went there and then onto Palm Springs and back the Anaheim.
Ahh had such a great time, the trip over and back sucks..
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By Jimz Bird - 10 Years Ago
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"the trip over and back sucks.." Tell me about it.
I once flew from Hickam Field in Hawaii to Sydney in a C-141. Nylon jump seats only and no stewardess to bring me coffee.
The upside was I got to stay 3 months. I stayed at the Coogee Bay Motel. Loved every minute of it. Especially the RSLs. and King's Cross. I was a young bloke then though. The best 3 months of my life.
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By Talkwrench - 10 Years Ago
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Nice one Jim lol Kings Cross ; o P ...
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Hope you enjoyed yourself Rob.
Yes as Paul mentioned we had to go to see the bridges of Madison County, I had no. choice. It ended up being a nice place to visit with lots of interesting things to see, not what I was expecting.
From Idaho we kept heading west through Nebraska but did not see anything interesting there, then north to South Dakota.
We went to Mt Rushmore and Keystone the little town nearby. Watch out they want to screw you $11 for parking at Mt Rushmore, was free when I went there in 1997. From there we went to Deadwood before heading west again to Wyoming. In Wyoming we went to Cody to see a few things then to Yellowstone NP to see Old Faithful then down to Grand Teton NP. I'll leave you to do the interpretation of what that means in French.
We are in Idaho Falls about to start a big day's driving heading to Reno for Hot August Nights. We need to get there tomorrow and it is over 600 miles away so a lot of driving today.
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By lyonroad - 10 Years Ago
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ian57tbird (7/29/2014)
In Wyoming we went to Cody to see a few things then to Yellowstone NP to see Old Faithful then down to Grand Teton NP. I'll leave you to do the interpretation of what that means in French.
The origin of the name is controversial, but this photo leaves little doubt, in my mind at least.
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By Talkwrench - 10 Years Ago
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OOhh the grand titties!
Might have to have a "slide night" Ian ..Lol!
Keep the pics coming!
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By Meandean - 10 Years Ago
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ian57tbird (7/29/2014)
Hope you enjoyed yourself Rob.
Yes as Paul mentioned we had to go to see the bridges of Madison County, I had no. choice. It ended up being a nice place to visit with lots of interesting things to see, not what I was expecting.
From Idaho we kept heading west through Nebraska but did not see anything interesting there, then north to South Dakota.
We went to Mt Rushmore and Keystone the little town nearby. Watch out they want to screw you $11 for parking at Mt Rushmore, was free when I went there in 1997. From there we went to Deadwood before heading west again to Wyoming. In Wyoming we went to Cody to see a few things then to Yellowstone NP to see Old Faithful then down to Grand Teton NP. I'll leave you to do the interpretation of what that means in French.
We are in Idaho Falls about to start a big day's driving heading to Reno for Hot August Nights. We need to get there tomorrow and it is over 600 miles away so a lot of driving today.
I think you mean our great state of Iowa, not Idaho. Like the tee shirts say, "Iowa, home of Famous Potatoes and the Buckeyes"
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Sorry my mistake. Too many I's and too many states. I was in Idaho when I set the message, I think!
Surprised the Tshirt doesn't mention the corn.
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By jrw429 - 10 Years Ago
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The T-shirt is a joke. Idaho = potatoes. Ohio = Buckeyes. We have presidents who visit Iowa and say "it is great to be in the Buckeye state." (G. Ford) Iowa is confused with other states all the time, and we just take it as "oh well, there they go again". I grew up in Iowa.
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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   We did Hot August Nights and it was an amazing display of all types of cars. Thought you might like this Yblock, the detail was amazing and the photos can't do it justice. The owner has a shop in Texas that builds cars.
We are now in California on our way to San Francisco.
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By lyonroad - 10 Years Ago
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Wow that looks nice. It looks like it has dual water outlets to the rad and is that the oil filler tube at the back of the engine?
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By Talkwrench - 10 Years Ago
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That's a great lookin rig. Just needs slightly wider rears,.sorry that's just me ; o )
Ian, very jealous ..we loved San Francisco.. enjoy!
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By snowcone - 10 Years Ago
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More than slightly, those rears need to be at least twice as wide as those plough discs on there now
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By miker - 10 Years Ago
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FWIW, this car has 4 pages in the October 14 issue of Street Rodder. Including the details on the Y Block. It's a Hilborn unit, converted to EFI, with custom stacks. I've seen three Ridler cars close up, and one of the owners told me the car really couldn't be driven on the road, the body gaps were too close, and the paint would chip. They imply this one was a runner up. Good for this one, he's using it.
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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It's been awhile since the last post but we did a couple of days in San Francisco. I was glad to get out of the big city and all the traffic that goes with it.
We missed out on a once in a life time buy on the way up, it was a 1966 GTA 390 convertible Fairlane with original paint. The interior was getting tiered, it had a scrape on one side and the paint was all wearing through, but it had not been molested and had all the correct parts. He called someone else who was interested because it was going to take a week for me to get the cash from Aus and organize transport.
We are now in Washington visiting family, I especially wanted to see my aunt as she is having health issues and I suspect I wont see her again after this visit. I have been looking for cars up here and called a 1966 GT 390 Fairlane but I was a bit late for that one. Nothing else near to where I'm staying has really grabbed my attention.
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By Talkwrench - 10 Years Ago
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He couldn't wait a week..pfft!
I didn't see too much for sale either Ian.. even at the Long beach swapmeet Wasn't that much that caught my eye. We did drive past a car yard near Garden Grove and there was a 57 Thunderbird in there.. I said to my mate go back so we can have a look " yeah later" ..never happened.. He did go back to see it when I left . Said they wanted 25K for it and the paint was shot.. Prestige had some good ones as usual but top dollar..
If you have money to burn Crevier classic cars http://www.crevierclassiccars.com has some top class car there, stumbled on it ; o P drool ..
You really are getting around... Hope your Aunt is well.
Rob. |
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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I haven't posted on our trip for a while but we finally returned home to Australia last Wednesday. Quite a bit has happened since the last posting.
We decided to sell the trailer/caravan in Washington rather than worrying about it on the last week before we left.
While we were in Washington we went to Mt Rainer as it was going to be the last chance that we might have for our 5yo daughter to finally get to and experience some snow. There was plenty of snow up there but we had to climb to it. At about 7000Ft we found some good snow fields and she had a ball, we made a little snowman and she did lots of sliding about. My daughter has lots of energy and she was wanting to go even higher but was enough as we had to get down again (my wife turned back long before we got to the snow).
Also while in Washington I met up with Marc another member of the forum. Towards the end of our stay in Washington Marc took me to a couple of friends houses to see their car collections. The first house we went to was Marc's friend Jim where there was a great collection of low mileage original cars(mostly Fords), some still with original paint on them. Interestingly most of the cars belonged to Jim's wife who had been buying up good original cars many decades ago long before they met. One of Jim's own cars was an early Ford coupe hotrod with overhead valve hemi cylinder heads on the old side valve V8 and didn't that make an incredible sound.
The next stop was friends of Marc's, Frank's and Cathy's house with an amazing collection of 57 Tbirds and a couple of other cars as well. (Frank restores cars for a business) They had four supercharged 57 Tbirds, one of those is in the process of being restored with the other three all finished, an E code that is Cathy's daily driver, a D code that is completely original including paint (it was pointed out to me how rough the were at the factory on the finish of the cars with all the lead splatter in the engine bay that was just painted over and other things not finished that well). The most unusual car in there collection was a supercharged 1957 stationwagon, from my recollection Frank said they believe there were 7 made to his knowledge and it is the only one known to still exist. Frank and Cathy also had a great collection of memorabilia with the huge collection of model/toy cars with about 90% of them being 1957 Thunderbirds, and there were hundreds of them of all different types. I'm sure it must be the most comprehensive collection of 1957 Tbird toys in existence.I really appreciated everyone showing me their collection and Marc for taking me to visit and giving me the opportunity to see it all. My only regret was I forgot to pack the camera before I left.
That was about it for Washington as we left the next day on our trip down south back to California.
More to follow later.
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By Talkwrench - 10 Years Ago
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Welcome home Ian.. Your gonna get the "come down" soon .. wishing you where doing it all again.. Hemi heads on the flathead..? Ardun heads? Im going to kick you for not taking your camera !!
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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They're the ones. I'm kicking myself.
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By pegleg - 10 Years Ago
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This frank is Frank Stubbs?
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Yes Frank and Cathy Stubbs.
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By pegleg - 10 Years Ago
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He's well known in the Y-block world, reproduced the F code air cleaners (like the one on my car) . He's been written about in Hemmings.
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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    In Tacoma Washington with Fords, Mercurys and Marc's red convertible.
   Some pics of the one that got away.
 One of Frank's supercharged Tbirds at a car show in Washington.
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By ian57tbird - 10 Years Ago
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Well we have been back over a month now so I should probably finish off this post. Getting back to reality and not being able to get on the forum for a couple of weeks is my excuse for not doing this earlier.
It was a quick trip down to San Diego from Washington as we were heading back to Australia in less than two weeks and there was the last minute shopping and packing to be done for shipping back home.
We were stopping at the motel 6's on the trip, one was in Weed northern California that we later heard on the news that they had the forest fires go through and burnt a lot of the town. The next night was in Fresno, that was interesting with all the hookers and pimps in the neighbourhood.
The next day we drove up to Kings Canyon NP to see the big Sequoias and the later that afternoon we were invited to stopped buy Charlie Burns's place for a wonderful meal and live music. Charlie's farther inlaw is quite a talented fiddle player. It was a great afternoon and we really appreciated the hospitality.
We stayed at a motel on the I5 that night then headed down to LA the next day. We did look at a couple of cars on the way but they were duds. We stayed in Riverside that Sunday night as it was near buy where I had to pick up my roof from Larry's Thunderbirds the next day.
After stopping in at the shipping warehouse to check on packing options we headed down to San Diego. It was a strange feeling coming to the end of the big trip after two months on the road.
I did lots of ordering the next day as I had to get it packed and up to LA by Friday as we were leaving on the next Monday and it was also the holiday weekend. We packed everything into boxes Thursday night and loaded the Suburban for the drive the next day. I took the 3rd row seat out and the truck was full to the top. Remember my wife had nearly three months of shopping so it was packed full.
We were making good time on the way up on Friday then when we were 2/3rd's of the way there we were involved in a pile up on the I5 and the front of the truck got quite bent. The bumper was pushed back and touching the front tyre and the fan shroud was touching the aircon pump pulley so it couldn't be driven. My biggest concern was I had to get to the warehouse that day followed by the fact that I still had to sell the truck. When we had finished with all the police formalities and the tow truck finally arrived I got him to hook his winch to various points on the front of the truck and pull the front out, much to the amazement of the police officer who seemed quite surprised that I was able to straighten it so that it could be driven again and made the comment that he had never seen anything like that before. Finally we got to the warehouse and built the pallet plastic wrapping it and tying it all down before heading back to San Diego but with the delays earlier we ended up picking up some of the afternoon traffic.
Fortunately someone who rang me the night before was still interested in the truck and came and bought it that night but probably for about a thousand dollars less than I would have got for it before it was bent.
The rest of the trip was not very eventful, just some last minute shopping, packing bags for the long flight home and saying our goodbyes.
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By Talkwrench - 10 Years Ago
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All that way and it happened just before you leave! lucky the van wasn't on the back too.. phew!
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