6.15.05
Maiden Voyage!
My goal this spring
for the car was to have it road ready for our
annual trek to Jackson Hole, WY, for the Eastern Idaho Early Iron rod
run. We make the trip just about every year with my parents and
brother, and I've been telling them I'd be ready every year for the
last five. This time, we made it! The run was Friday, June
10th this year, and is a three day event.
Thursday, when I got
home from work, I found a nice new G-78 Coker
Classic on my front porch. I had ordered the tire because my
local Les Schwab tire center couldn't find a blackwall bias ply tire in
the same size as my existing G-78 Coker WWWs, and I didn't want to make
the trip without a spare. I didn’t think it would get here before
we left on Friday, so I was planning on making the run without a spare
tire. I felt some relief knowing it would be in the trunk
for the trip.
Friday morning we
finished getting little odds and ends together, and
packed the car. I had time to take the new tire to the tire shop
and have it mounted, no worries about having a flat. We piled in
the car, stopped for road snacks at the quick stop on the way out of
town, and hit the wide open road under a mix of blue sky and collecting
thunderheads.
Our first stop to
stretch legs and move about was at Craters of the
Moon National Park, an area of ancient volcanic activity about an hour
from home. There are lava flows as far as you can see to the
south, in a serene and beautiful setting. We were there long
enough to let the kids run around and to take some pics before the
thunder heads caught up and the rain started to fall. It rained
hard for about a half hour before letting up. My Ficken wipers
were up to the task, working wonders for visibility in a total downpour.
The crew
Just
on
the other side of Craters, we hit
the dreaded road construction. The asphalt was being removed on
one lane, and the traffic was reduced to the other. It was a 15
mile jaunt over rough gravel, rubble, and freshly oiled soft
dirt. I was happy to see the end of that stretch, as we
rolled into Arco for a fuel stop. When I got out of the car, I
expected it to be covered with all manner of road grime from the
construction. But the only place that got much was the rear
splash pan between the bumper and trunk. The loose sticky stuff
that we’d driven over made it’s way between the bumper which acts as a
scoop, and the pan, where it collected in copious amounts. I
checked the mileage on the first tank, and was pleasantly surprised to
find that my full race flatty got 19 MPG, traveling at 60 to 65
MPH. This is as good or better than all of my daily
drivers… I also checked my odometer along the way to make sure my
mileage calculations would be accurate. The odometer is right on
the money, even though the speedo is off my 5-10 mph.
driving
in
the dirt, lots of big bugs...
We continued from Arco, ID, the ATOMIC CITY, at a leisurely pace
enjoying the scenic drive. We stopped again in Idaho Falls,
Id for lunch, and then journeyed on through Swan Valley, a very nice
drive through the foothills.
Swan
Valley foothills
I realized that I had forgotten to remove the coil wire from my OD
kickdown switch so that the fuse to the coil wouldn’t blow when the
button was pressed, so before starting the first series of climbs out
of Swan Valley, we stopped and cut the wire from the circuit. The
kickdown switch works now when the throttle is released, instead of the
other way round. This works well, and after driving the car like
this for several days, I kind of like it this way, and am going to
leave it as is.
The final stretch of the trip to Jackson Hole, Wy, was the killer pass
from Victor, ID over the mountain to Jackson. It is 19 miles,
half of it straight up, and the other straight back down. Most of
it is 10% grade, with runaway truck ramps all along the way. I
had two worries nagging me about this stretch, overheating and brake
fade… Turned out that the car simply chugged up the grade no
sweat, only increasing in temp about 10 degrees. And on the way
back down, I kept the car in first gear and took it slow. I
didn’t use the brakes once on the way down and used the engine
compression instead. The car handled the winding 8,500 foot
mountain pass like a champ.
Climbing
up the winding grade
Sucess! View from the top
Headed back down the other side
Once down the other side of the pass, we were in Jackson, our
destination. We motored to the Virginian Lodge, were the 29th
annual EIEIO Rendezvous rod run was held. We checked in, washed
the car, and had a few cold ones to celebrate getting there without a
hitch.
Getting the bugs off
Saturday
there was a poker run, show and
shine, and free beer and food. There was a steady stream of
lookers poking their heads under the hood of the Plymouth, and lots of
complements. A couple of fellows started asking questions about
the car, asking where I bought it, and mentioning that it looked
familiar to them. Turns out they nearly bought the car a few
weeks before I did, in a little town about an hour from mine where the
car had spent many years in a barn. They couldn’t believe the
transformation, and just stood there looking with big grins. The
one that had wanted to buy it said he remembered sitting behind the
wheel falling in love with the dash… That was a satisfying moment
for me.
Teton
Mountains in the
background of the poker run
Parked in the yard at
the Virginian for show and shine
The plymouth, my dad's
'40 chevy, and my brother's '56 chevy
I also
had the NSRA gang inspect the car,
and it passed all 23 points of inspection with one exception. I
had forgotten to install the new 12v bulb in the license plate
lamp. I walked about a half mile to find another bulb, since most
places were closed, put it in, and got 23 point inspection
sticker. The inspectors really dug the car, as they own a ’34
Plymouth. The were very enthusiastic about the inspection, and
actually asked me if they could do it before I had a chance to ask them.
Sunday
was time for participant
voting awards, raffle drawings, etc. It was raining like mad, and
cold. We stayed for the awards, got recognition for the NSRA
inspection, and then packed up for the journey home.
We filled up at the gas station on the edge of town, and headed back up
the pass. The Jackson side is the steepest, and once again, the
‘ol ’50 chugged right up and over. The rain didn’t let up for
about 3 hours, only to be replaced with gale force head and cross winds
for the rest of the trip home. I checked the mileage again at the
next stop, and got 16.7 with the pass and wind in the mix, and
traveling faster on the freeway. Not too shabby. The
wind noise in the car at 70 mph in a serious head wind was
deafening. I couldn’t wait to stop for a little QUIET.
Sound insulation in the car will be the next improvement, before
another long trip. Even with the bad wind, I had no problem
maintaining speed on the freeway, and could easily accelerate to go
around slower traffic.
We took a longer route home, mostly freeway, to avoid the 15 miles of
dirt that we’d crossed on the first leg of the trip. Ironically
there was another stretch just as long with the same resurfacing on the
alternate route. Luckily the lane we were traveling in had just
been paved, and there wasn’t much traffic going the other way to toss
rocks in our direction. We were showered with stones a few times
though, but no chips…
The home stretch back into our
little mountain valley
Just after we made it
through the construction, my Dad’s ’40 Chevy
broke a motor mount crossing railroad tracks, and was done for.
We were 40 miles from my house. He had to call a rollback and
have the car delivered to Hailey. The next day the car was
trailered the car back to Boise (150 miles) to my brother’s shop for
repair. The only sour note of the trip.
I totaled the mileage
this morning, and we drove the Plymouth 584 miles
round trip. We drove through torrents of rain, hail, mean wind,
mud, gravel, dirt, sun, over snowy mountains, through green valleys,
and loved every minute of it. The only thing we didn’t drive through
was icy roads, luckily! The only problem the car had during the
trip was a seep of coolant from the top radiator hose when we arrived
in Jackson. A couple of turns of the clamp and it stopped.
Not even the slightest issue with anything else, but a couple of
irritating rattles in the passenger door.
It felt good to get
home, but also a sense of Sunday blues lingering in
the air once that the trip was done. This run has been an elusive
goal for me for the last five years, and it all seems like a blur now
that it finally happened. My kids don’t remember a time when we
didn’t have the Plymouth to work on. It’s a little weird now that
the car can be driven without first fixing something, and when I go out
to the garage, I don’t know what to do with myself… On the other
hand, it also felt really good to put the car to bed tucked in under
it’s cover, knowing it could stay there for a while till the urge to
drive it hits. It only stayed in the garage for a couple of days
though, I've been driving it daily since….
All in all, I’m couldn’t
be happier with the way my 55 year old
Plymouth performed on it’s journey. It kept up with all the
modern cars effortlessly in just about every driving condition
possible. We were warm, dry, and comfy all the
way. After this trip, I wouldn’t hesitate to drive this car coast
to coast. I can't wait for the next road trip!
Plymouth built great cars
That’s
it for now, happy motoring.
Pete
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