On The Road

Lee Pratt and I left Dripping Springs, TX yesterday morning at 7am. Lee was driving his fabulous shoebox Ford while I rode shotgun and played navigator. In Austin, we were joined by the Kontinentals – namely Steve, Reggie, Gary, and Norm. The goal? Salina, KS for the Kustom Spectacular. It’s a 650 mile trip straight up I35 and it all seemed innocent enough.

Much of my morning was spent day dreaming out the chrome garnish mouldings in Lee’s ’49. The Oklahoma and Texas country side blended beautifully with traditional custom’s flathead Ford and the early R&B that Lee played through its speakers. For a few hours, it was euphoric… Just perfect.

And then, we hit a bump. A very big bump… The oil pan relented and released its oil. Lee thought quickly, killed the motor, and let the car coast to the next exit. After a couple of hours and some help from some Oklahomans, we got the oil pan patched up and refilled with 30 weight. Once back on the road, we realized we had other problems. Oil pressure was low and a death knock was evident. We popped the hood and noticed a sloppy fan belt and a wobbly crank pulley… It’s sad so see a flathead die.

Of course, this group doesn’t leave anyone behind. We dropped Lee’s car off at my in-laws in OKC (Thanks Jay and Nancy!), piled into the remaining the cars, and got back on the road. After one hell of a day, we arrived in Salinas at 3am… 19 hours after we left home.

I’m going to try to keep tabs on the rest of our trip from the “on the road” blog. If you’re interested, you can follow us here. I’ll also be uploading the occasional video here.