Thread: Going on a little road trip.

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Tomorrow morning I am leaving to drive up to the Atlanta Ga area to meet with one of our members who is building a '46 Ford coupe. He is tricking it out with Chris Alston suspension, a 9 inch rear, and a turbocharged Chevy engine. The reason I am going is because I am getting all of his left over parts, like flathead, transmission, banjo rear, torque tube, front axle, brakes, etc. Pretty much everything but the frame.

We started talking about this way back in February and he has now gotten the car into the shop that is doing the suspension work, and has stripped all the unneeded parts off. He has proven to be a super nice guy and a true hot rodder who wasn't out to get rich off of the parts, just wanted to see another hot rodder on a budget benefit. We talked on the phone today for a long time, and it was as if I had known him for years. Rodders are really special people.

So, I am heading to the shop to pick up my utility trailer and some tools, and tomorrow am I will start out. It is 600 miles each way, and now that gas prices have dropped a little some of the sting of getting there and back will be out of the trip.

I'll be sure to take my camera and take lots of pictures of his '46 project and some of the other cars in the shop. He tells me they are very impressive and the shop does top notch work.

Plans for all of Pau'ls "cast offs' are to have Dan and I whip up a frame and build a little modified using Dan's old roadster pickup body. I haven't had a flathead powered car in years, so this will kind of nice to do. It will be a low buck, build what you need car, and I have already found one that I like a lot and will try to copy. I won't be getting started on this one till at least the Dodge is done, but with all the parts I am scoring from Paul I will have a good start when I do.

I did a few things to my Crown Vic to try to squeeze some better gas milage out of it for the trip, like inflating the tires a little more and substituting Mobil 1 synthetic oil. It isn't bad on the highway, but not sure what the trailer will do to the milage............especially loaded on the way home.

Here is the car that I want to pattern mine after when I get to it.

Don

I wonder if you can do it for around $3000.00..........No I think some one tried that already.
BradC

Originally Posted by BradC

I wonder if you can do it for around $3000.00..........No I think some one tried that already.
BradC

Hehe, on this one I just might make it. All I have to do is keep getting handmedowns and stuff I can get deals on. So far I have a free body and some very inexpensive parts, thanks to Paul.

Might have a chance to redeem myself here.

Don

We had a real nice time, I'm just not to good at relaxing. So after a week I'm ready to go, I miss my garage .
Ken

I bet 99 % of us guys are just like that. Only thing worse than going on vacation and relaxing is sitting in that stupid chair they put in the womens section so you can sit there and wait while they try on a hundred outfits. Every time I had to do that I would see some other poor schmo like me, sitting there bored out of his mind too.

Glad to see you back.

Don

Don,
The new project looks interesting, do you know what you are going to do for a frame?
Ken

Well, be careful don't get any tickets and be home early
Papa Ken

Hey, YOU'RE BACK!!! Welcome back to the non-vacation world. Did everyone have a nice time?

Don

Im sure your headed up 75, but if for some reason you get by jville give me a call. Or if you need help on this side of the state.

Well guys....... Don arrived at my house this morning & we "toured" my garage.... a bit messy & I refused to let Don take pix (top secret stuff inside) so..... we were off to Sheppard Race Cars to load all of the donor parts onto Don's trailer. (Which I will let him post those pix).

For all that have meet Don you already know this - this guy is a hot rodders hot rodder!

Like Don said I could have sold these parts a few times between when it actually got into the shop & when it arriived at the shop. But.... I'd seen Don & his son, Dan's, work & figured these two would put my cast off parts to good use.

After all the hard work Don insisted that he buy lunch (thanks Don!!) and we B.S.'d for a while. It was if I'd known him for years & we'd just not seen each other for a while.

We rechecked the packed trl. of"scored" items & he followed me to the on ramp towards Fla.

I don't think a better gentleman could have gotton these pieces & I know they will not go to waste.

I'm sure Don will have some progress story by the time I meet up with him at the TRR in November.

I'm sure Don will update us on the trip back in a day or two.

Ratty 46 aka/ Regs

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!! And am I beat!! 1200 miles in two days is further than I thought it would be. But thank God, the entire trip went well, no mechanical problems with my old Ford, or the trailer, which probably had 1500 pounds of '46 Ford on it.

Thanks Paul for the nice words, and I really have to say at least that much about how much I enjoyed meeting you and your beautiful Wife Donna. I really wish I could have stayed longer, but I had the long trip home facing me, so I had to get going. We will make up for it at Daytona. There are a bunch of people you know from the forums, like Gastrick, Hotroddaddy, JRobinson, and others, so we will all have to get together up there and swap some lies.

It has been one long day. I got up at 7:30 Sunday morning and just got home at 2:30 am Monday. I'm heading for 20 hours of being awake, but I think I am too tired to sleep.

As Paul mentioned, we got to tour the race shop that is doing his suspension work on the '46 coupe. From the work I saw on other cars in the shop, Paul is going to have one fantastic hot rod..............and turbocharged to boot. The car came from Kansas, and is as solid as they come. With the Alston stuff Paul is going to put under it, and discs all the way around, it will be a wolf in sheeps clothing.
I got to meet Jerry, one of his friends who works at the shop, and he went to lunch with us. As far as me paying for lunch, it was the VERY least I could do. Paul and Jerry gave up their Sunday to help load my trailer. Paul had some ideas how to pack it tight and tie it down, and it worked. Not one thing moved in the entire 630 miles coming home...........not one inch!!

I didn't know it, but Paul is involved with fabricating some motorcycle parts. I mentioned to him the Ken Thurm also has a company that builds bike parts. Paul showed me some of his parts that he tigged.............top notch all the way.

Well, before I fall asleep I better get some pictures posted. The first one is the sign on the shop where Pauls car is located, and then there are some pictures of his coupe (now all naked and missing lots of parts that are now living in Florida! ) Last picture is Paul and Jerry, that's Paul on the right.

Don

Here are some cars in the shop. The quality of their work is fantastic. When you see how pros do it you really realize what a hack you are.

Don

And this little baby is a Cadillac something or other (I don't know one new car from another ) , but it is a 2005, and the tab for them to do it is $180,000.00!!!! And that doesn't include the motor. Must be a lot of money in Georgia.

Don

And finally, here is my trailer, all loaded and ready to make the trip. Do you think we have enough straps on it??

Thanks again Paul for the nice time, and for spending your Saturday tearing all the stuff off of your car, and Sunday packing it all up. I really appreciate it.

BTW, everytime I stopped for gas people were asking me what the heck that stuff was on my trailer!!

Don