History BREAK DOWNS ON THE ROAD TO OR FROM A EVENT.

If you have been into Hot Rods & Customs long enough you will probably have at least one story of a break down en route to a show or going home from a event.

Sometimes you can do a minor patch up and limp home or to the distillation other times you have to find some way to get off the road,roll back or a friend with a trailer.

I have some friends that are afraid to drive any distance for fear of a mechanical problem.

I lost a transmission in my 40 Ford sedan on my way to a show in Atlanta back in 87 and a month later drove on to the Nationals,I had to hitch a ride to the next off ramp and call a pal with a ramp truck,fortunately I was less than 60 miles from home.

There is no predicting if and when fate will rear it's ugly head...Sh!t happens.

Want to share any stories? HRP

 

I was traveling from Missouri to Calif one time and one of my closest friends told me to not breakdown for at least two days, "I don't want an all expense paid trip to Tulsa."

That said I called from Denver one time to tell a friend that I was having engine trouble and was going to try and limp it into San Francisco. Pretty slow going for me and I ran into him in Utah, he was driving a van with a trailer.

 

I had a alternator mount break on the Ranch Wagon on the way to Pigeon Forge a few years ago,sitting on the side of the Blue Ridge parkway I decided the best thing to do was take the alternator off and limp into Pigeon Forge on the battery.

I arrived and we were able to make some crude repairs to get me home,it's amazing what you can use to make repairs in a pinch, hardware store angle iron and a piece of threaded rod. HRP

...

 

Obie Wan HRP... didn't you just start another thread with essentially the same subject? Gary

 

This is a bit of a can of worms.... There's a lot of factors that can affect a decision of how far to drive your car. Not too sure of build quality? Obscure obsolete parts that would be impossible to replace on the road?

I'm like Danny; shit happens. But my car is somewhat 'generic', so there's very few running gear parts I wouldn't be able to buy on the road. When I bought it (out of central California), I tried to drive it home non-stop to Washington. I figured if it wouldn't handle that, now's the time to find out (I had a escort car). Almost made it too... LOL. A failed rear axle bearing in Portland Friday night caused a delay. I had more trouble finding someone to press the new one on the next morning.

 

No Gary,it was about carry a spare tires...sorry if what I posted offended you,slow day at work. HRP

 

I had a wire to my ignition burn up and left me sit on the way to a local show years ago. I was on the side of the road trying to rig up a repair to get the coupe back home. Lots of muscle cars and street rod just drove right past me, and did not even stop to see if I needed help, or was OK. A very nice couple on there way to Hershey Park stopped to help. I got my beast up and running, and they even followed me the 8-10 miles back to my house, to make sure I made it back. I offered them money for their trouble, but they would not take it. Very nice people!!

 

Funny how the most unexpected people will stop and help. isn't it. I was broken down in a rest stop once and all I really needed was the only box end wrench that I didn't have. I had tried borrowing one from all the car looking people who rolled in. I actually had one couple in a really nice '34 sedan tell me that they would pray for me as they were motoring off. This real June Cleaver lookin gal walked over from the restroom and asked me if I needed any help, I told her what was wrong and she went and got her husband. he said, "I'll bet I got one of those." Pulled his family sedan over, opened the trunk and in his little bitty toolbox just happened to have what I needed. He rolled the sleeves upon his white Sunday go to meetin' shirt and helped me with the repair. That was outside of Paducah, before we parted company they offered to follow me into town I said not necessary. They headed west and I headed east.

 

2006 Hot Rod Power Tour. Had the rear most exhaust pipe hanger break in Columbia SC, fixed that with a coat hanger in the hotel parking lot. What I didn't know was that I had enough "sway" in the pipe to start metal fatigue. Just north of Salem VA, the pipe broke at the exhaust manifold flange. I was able to secure the pipe enough to get to a muffler shop. I told them my plight, we were on our way to Harrisburg PA, and they put us at the head of the line. 35 min. later I was at the cashier ready to pay a hefty bill. $80 was all it cost and we were on our way.

 

Way back in the '70's I was driving my '32 pickup to the Lodi street rod reunion which was about a 40 mile drive. Just before I got to the fairgrounds my turbo 400 took a dump. We towed the pickup into the fairgrounds and as luck would have it, my cousin who lived about 10 miles away was building a '32 roadster with a T400. We yanked the T400 out of his roadster and hauled it to the fairgrounds where we pulled my transmission right on the grass and replaced it with his. The project went into the night hours and we had quite an audience. Had it up and running that night and the next day I got the Hard Luck Award. Still have it in my shop.

 

In 1976 a friend and I were heading home from Tulsa, Oklahoma in my '55 Chevy. Outside Ardmore, Oklahoma I heard a 'tapping' noise from the engine. Pulled to the side of the road, pulled a valve cover and discovered a broken exhaust rocker arm. The noise was the valve bouncing off the piston. Removed the rocker arm nut, slid a piece of rubber gas line on the valve stem, held it off the piston with a small hose clamp. Pulled the spark plug wire and plug. Drove home to Houston on seven cylinders.

 

The wife and I were all cleaned up and going to a cruise night in the '32. About 20 miles away, we decided to stop at a book store real quick on the way. We got what we needed and took off.

The engine sputtered a little, so I got on it to clear it out. All of a sudden it just quit like I turned the key off! We coasted into a gravel driveway that lead up to a trailer park. I had a gut feeling it was the coil.

I barely got stopped and this bunch of tobaccy chewin', beer drinking, slobbering drunk red necks (Nothing against red necks, I was just out of my comfort zone with all the excitement.) came over to the car and started telling me what was wrong with it. Before I knew it they were ready to rip the distributor out to try and help us. I wasn't interested!

I was NOT going to let them work on my car, nor leave the car unattended, nor leave my wife there while I went to find parts! Finally, I convinced them to back off and help me find a coil and see if that would fix it. It would be an easy test and it might get us going.

I had a Jacobs Ignition box in it, and If you know anything about them, they are in a class of their own when it comes to the wiring. NOTHING interchanges without a complete re-wiring job, and this was NOT the place to get into that!

With all that said, a young fellow ran off and in about 60 seconds he came back and handed me a brand new MSD coil still in the plastic! He told me he bought it for his SBC powered air boat and didn't need it, so he tossed it under the seat of his pick-up about a year ago. I asked him how much he wanted and he said 25 bucks. I gladly gave him $40!

I changed it out in about 5 minutes, fired it up and we were on our way! WOW!

 

Only twice and the cpe has been all over the country many long trips alone. Including 2 trips to Ca. 2 to Vt and 2 to Fla. The trips to Fl. were made without even another person in the passenger seat. Remember he who travels alone travels the fastest. I also don't mind my own company. LOL The first time I was lucky in being only about 15 mi from when I hit a deer on the way to Louisville and wiped out the front end. The second was in Maine and the HEI ignition module went out. Before I even had a chance to start diagnosing the problem the owner of the motel we'd stayed at the night before stopped to help and told us to call her if I didn't get it fixed and she'd come pick us up and take us back to the motel. Before she left a fella stopped took me into town to a parts store to buy the module then back to the car where he waited to make sure it was fixed. It was and he refused to take any money for his time and trouble. I really can't understand why some are reluctant to drive their rod/custom any distance alone but would think nothing of it doing the same trip with the daily.

 

2nd trip to the Nats in the Roadster (Fitz still owned it at the time) we had just pulled off the main drag to meander down to the show thru the side roads when the engine quit.
Because he had been having some ignition switch issues earlier, fitz assumed it was the switch acting up again so we called up some friends who were also at the show to help us out.
Fitz went off to get a replacement and I waited with another friend to keep an eye on the car.
We set up two folding chairs on someones lawn under a shade tree while we waited.
After about 10 minutes or so the home owner came home and gave us a bit of a look. Guys...whats going on...the show is down at the park! LoL Once we told him our troubles it turns out he was a Jeeper with a love for mechanical stuff just like us! No worries!
He went in his house for a few minutes and then came out to hang with us while we waited. Cool guy.

SUDDENLY his wife came running out saying the house was on fire!!!
Seems Jeeper had left a pan of bacon or something on the stove and didn't tell anyone when he came out with us! Lots of smoke but no damage thankfully.
A few minutes later he had things under control fire wise...perhaps not wife wise...but anyway, around that time
Fitz came back and we discovered that the switch wasn't the actual problem!
We dove into it deeper and came to the conclusion it was the all too common HEI ign module.
We had a spare assembly back in the luggage trailer at the hotel so once that was retrieved we simply tossed in the whole distributor and were on our way again.

The breakdowns are just a part of the story you get to tell later...

 

Holy crap, Danny...I have a few, but I'll spread them out as the thread grows.

Misadventure number 1: First out of town road trip in the '40 coupe

I just got my coupe on the road on the road back Father's day weekend of 1995, and had been running around town in it. For Labor Day weekend, I planned to catch up with Dad, at Lake of the Ozarks, and hit a car show in Jefferson City, about 150 miles northwest of home.

Everything was going great, for the first 25 miles, when I decided to get on the gas and see what the old '58 283 would do. When I backed off the gas, the harmonic balancer jumped off the crank. I was able to get it to a garage that helped get me back together with gouging the inside of the balancer and using some locktite to help keep it pressed in place.

Hit the road again, and got another 15 miles, when the fan belt shredded on me. I didn't realize that it had a cut in it from my aluminum fan. That was 15 miles either way of the nearest parts store on a Friday evening, back when the town of Lebanon rolled up the sidewalks at 5pm. Finally got a belt back on the car and finished the drive up to the lake without any issues the rest of the day.

The next morning, Dad and I took off on the 50 mile trip to Jeff City, and even though I had filled up with gas before we got on the highway, we made it about 1/4 mile when the engine died, starved for fuel. I figured I had a clogged fuel filter, so I got under the car, pulled the filter loose, blew it out, and put it back in. No more fuel issues to Jeff City, but I did start to have a rear wheel bearing making noise.

Car show was a car show, no big thrill, other than the fact that I actually made it to the event. The ride back to the lake was when the fun REALLY began. We'd go a ways, have the engine die of starvation, pull the filter and have no blockage, put it back in, go a couple hundred feet or a 10 miles, and have to do the same thing again!

The next day, I used one of those drill operated pumps and ran fuel from a hose down the filler tube back through the fuel line and into the tank, to try and blow whatever was stopping up the line back into the tank. Figured it couldn't hurt, and I certainly didn't have a place to pull the tank out or enough gas cans with me to drain it. Drove home from the lake without a single issue.

The following week, I dropped the tank (which, by the way, I did have sense enough to have boiled out before I ever ran the car), so I could flush it and put in some Eastwood tank sealer. As I stood the tank up and drained all the water out of the filler inlet, that's when the pea rolled out of the tank, and I remembered something that happened about 25 years earlier. I was having a pea shooter fight with my buddy in the basement garage were we had the coupe stored, and he told me about him dropping peas in the tank of the coupe!

Since then, I have not had a tank related fuel delivery issue since (at least in the coupe!).

 

Several Years ago, my wife, my son and daughter-in-law were on the way the a show, and my roadster started making serious noise from the bell-housing area. I was able to get back home in 2'nd gear. When it was pulled apart, it seems that the PO had put the clutch in with the wrong side against the flywheel. It made a lot of noise, no major damage. But a new clutch, pressure plate and throw-out bearing solved the problem.

 

Didn't mean to send any offense... just wondering. Gary

 

Breakdowns is my middle name
1. Tri power 327 four speed in my 40 pickup
a. Paso something went wrong spent the night in Buellton next morning bought a new 4 barrel and intake and swapped it
b. LSRU same tri intake, carbs took a dump in Stockton Texas, 12 hours later rebuilt two carbs in a shop
c. on the way back from LSRU the home made clutch rod bent at Quartzite and drove home with no clutch
d. different Paso, broke the clutch pivot ball and no one had one so jammed in a large bolt an nursed it home power shifting
e. another Paso, lost the starter on the way up changed it in the front of the NAPA, who lent me a jack - 100 degrees
f. swapped in an auto, drove for years until coming back from Pomona,, when I lost 3rd gear
g. the home made wiring burned up the day before Chick was to drive it to SpedWeek
I love that truck,,,,,,,,
(I almost forgot when I brought it down from Nevada as a semi stocker, lost the flathead before Independence CA on the 395)
OT vehicle at SpeedWeek, (87 suburban)lost the starter on course 4, got into town and back forgot the tools, the wife had a gold plated snap-on set she won at a raffle, 1/2 and 9/16, it was all I needed.
OT but don't buy old motor homes, they are just like hot rods,,, they break down

Or Is It Just Me???

 

Heading to the MSRA Back to the 50's a few years back I broke the camshaft in my '55 Studebaker with a 259.
Studebaker people will tell you a camshaft will NEVER break.
I am the Master of the Unpossible
Not one person stopped.Was right near a popular turn off from the interstate.
Everyone was either A)eager to get to the show(it was 6:15am)or B)must have known me.
Called a friend with a rollback and hauled it home then went back to the show by noon.
Still had a good time at the show.Wasn't going to let a minor calamity ruin the day

 

As a young buck rodder my buddy and I took off in my 40 coupe to the mini nats in Omaha with a few friends.
about 150 miles into a 400 mile trip, my car started running really rough. With the help of the grey beards we were with, it was determined that my cast iron intake manifold was warped, causing the 4 inside plugs to foul out. We swapped the inside plugs to the outside and outsides in, and took off. About 50 miles later, it acted up again! We did the same drill the rest of the way to Omaha! It was about 100 degrees outside, so along with a very warm motor, it made for fun changing the plugs! We got to the show, found an auto parts store, and bought 2 sets of hotter plugs. With a full plug change before we left, we made it about 1/2 way home, swapped the plugs and made it the rest of the way. 2 out of the 3 guys we were with were very patient and stayed with us the whole way. The other d-bag left us after the 2nd stop and went on without us! I managed to put a nice dent from the inside on my trunk, thanks top a misplaced jack! It's a reminder of a trip I'll never forget! I finally put a new edelbrock manifold on it, and the problem was solved!

 

Took the coupe to Nashville in 2015. Stopped for the night in Medina Ohio, when we pulled onto the highway in the morning the car stayed in 2nd gear (350 Turbo) I nursed it to the next stop and checked the fluid and found it was a bit low, but nothing bad. Of course I also found out that I had forgot my aluminum adapter for the lokar fill tube...ended up buying a bottle of gas line antifreeze to cut up and make a funnel. Pulled back on the high way and the car hung in 2nd for a long time then finally shifted. Drove it all the way to Nashville ok. Got up to go sight seeing and once again only 2nd gear. Took it to a trans shop in Franklin and left it with them for the day. Got a call while at a restaurant with my buddies for lunch. The owner said it was all fixed. Went there expecting the worst.....credit card in hand. He told me the govenor shft had thrown a vane. he honed the walls, replaced it and the fluids....then had the nerve to ask me if $95 was enough! I just about fell over, was prepared for a much bigger dent in the vacation fund.

 

Remember this Danny.

 

Well it musta worked, that other fella had the correct wrench?

 

That's what I'm thinkin'.

 

I've had a few trials and tribulations with the 48 since but the first trip in it headed to a show (1973 Street Rod Nationals in Tulsa) was an experience. I had had one of my buddies paint the truck the week before and had swapped out the trans and rear for an open drive trans and rear just a night or two before leaving for Tulsa from our home in McGregor TX.
I had had a buddy paint the truck gold the week before and had swapped the stock trans and torque tube rear axle for and open drive three speed and 61 Chev car rear axle a couple of nights before leaving.
The truck had been a brush painted green 75.00 beater with a 194 Chevy II six and stock running gear three months before when I bought it complete with tires so bad one blew out the sidewall on the way home a week later.
A fast 3 months of work because my T bucket was not going to be ready for the NSRA National in Tulsa in time and I had a painted, upholstered, truck with open drive, floor shift and Z28 rally wheels.
We headed out from our home in McGregor Tx early in the morning and up I 35 we went until we got past Hillsboro Tx and the truck sputtered a bit. Checking the fuel filter showed gold paint clogging the filter and a bit of road side cleaning got it cleaned out enough to make it to a parts house to buy a couple of filters and head out again after changing the filter. A few miles up the road it acted up again and this time I had to flush out the carb with a can of carb cleaner I had picked up with the filters and change the filter again.
That seemed to fix the problem and away we went until we crossed the Red River into Oklahoma and it quit. I was under the hood and Bob Davis of Waco stopped with his 56 F100 and helped figure out that the coil had crapped out. He chuckled while he pulled a spare Ford Coil out of his parts stash and we got it fired up and away we went running better than ever. Just about the Marietta exit a big cloud of smoke came out from under the truck and a bad squeal developed at the same time. Looking under the truck the front yoke was red hot and smoking. We limped in to the Texaco at Marietta (a real gas station with service bays then) and borrowed a floor jack and worked on the truck on the side of the building pulling the trans and drive shaft as one unit. No amount of beating would get the yoke out so I popped the clips and took the U joint apart and we loaded the trans in his F100 and headed to a little wrecking yard the guys at the station told us about.
The owner of the yard was an old gent who said he didn't have a good trans but he had a core that matched my trans that had a good tail shaft and output shaft. He told me the price I paid him and he handed me a small tub of grease to hold the needle bearings in place and said lock the gate after we got the tailshaft switched as he was going home to dinner.
A while later we had a working trans, gate was locked and we were headed back to the station to put the trans back in, change yokes on the drive shaft (I had one in the truck with a new U joint. and after having the guy at the station fill the trans with grease we were on the road again. Spent the night in Claremore in the old Will Rogers Hotel and headed into Tulsa the next morning finding a room in a motel on the old strip of motels that was nice an had a pool an was only about a mile from the fairgrounds. Had three day of fun at the event and even had a great moment when a young kid was having his buddy take his photo next to the truck as he had one like it.
The trip home on Sunday was pretty event less as we just wheeled along, filled up with gas, grabbed food and as we were headed south and my wife was laying in the seat with her head on my leg an her feet out the window, she got the bottoms of her feet sunburned.

 

Headed for the West Coast street rod nats in Merced, Ca sometime in the 70's. Zooming down Hwy 99 in my SBC powered '40 when it develops a solid miss on one cylinder. Pull off on the frontage road and look for some civilization. Turns out I'm in the bad part of town somewhere below Stockton. Determine which hole is dead and pull the valve cover. Busted rocker on the intake. Feeling pretty desolate when a car (lowrider) pulls up with a bunch of seedy hoodlums in it. They scope out me and the car and ask if I want to buy a battery. No thanks but could use a phone. They direct me to a nearby church. Sent my wife up the road to call my cousin and I stay with the kids and the car hoping I can protect them. Eventually my cuz arrives with a replacement rocker. Bolt her up and head off. Car smoked like crazy for about ten miles but finally cleaned out and we made it. A lot of scary places along the freeway.

 

It's probably been 10 years or so when Randy Nash (Deuce Roadster) had invited us to a show he was sponsoring,the show was great and around 6:30 PM we decided to head back home.

Everything was fine until Brenda notice the voltage had dropped and I eased over to the side of the road and opened the hood hoping to see a wire had come loose,no such luck so we started heading on down the road watching the voltage drop ever so slightly until we had gone another 30 miles and the car died...no houses as far as the could see.

Will was driving his '32 cabriolet and had the tools need to take the battery out but we didn't have a jack so I slid under the car as far as I could and could hardly move.

The battery was in a street rod style aluminum drop tray and when I released it the slides on the sides prevented us from getting to the battery....we need to raise the car up at least 4 inches.

ill started walking the edge of the road hoping to find a board or some flat stones....

About this time a guy pulls up beside me and ask if we need any help or did we need anything? my reply was," I sure could use a couple of jack stands and a floor jack."

the guy got out of his truck and he was covered with dirt and grime and said, "I have just finished helping my dad change a engine in his old truck and I got everything you need.

I no time we had the car up in the air and he had several piece of 2x6 and we let the car down with enough room to spare to get a new battery back in.

I thanked him and tried to give him a 2o for the use of the tools but he wouldn't take it but if I had a cold soda he would appreciate it,and as quick as he had it he was off and told us there was a auto parts store about 20 miles down the road so Will and I beat feet in his car and left our brides on the side of the road with the sedan.
low in the sky and we just got to the parts store as he was preparing to close.

I bought a new battery thinking if I can go just 40 more miles on the battery I can make it home and worry about the alternator later.

i was doing pretty good until I was forced to turn on the lights,I only had to drive across town,about 8 more miles and the lights were taking their toll on the battery.

When I got about 3 miles from home I turned off the lights and kinda eased my way down the road and within a 100 yards from my hose the car died and I was able to roll up in my front yard,just a few feet from the road but I was home and that's where the car sat overnight.

The next day I found that the inline bullet fuse to the alternator under the dash had a frayed connection.

Within a hour of trouble shooting the problem was corrected. HRP
By now the sun is getting

 

This one didn't happen to me, but to Jim Pike, on the way to the Stray Kat 500. I was cruising along solo in my flatty powered 40 stake truck, when I spotted Jim and Mike Meeker pulled over on the shoulder of the 2 lane highway outside of the little town of Chetopa, KS. Jim lost spark and thought the coil went bad in his A roadster. A local guy stopped, and took Jim into town, where they pulled a coil off of a truck the guy had in his shop. Didn't work.

They wound up pulling Jim and his roadster into town on a tow strap, where the serious diagnostic thinking took place. Come to find out, the rotor bug was burned through on the '42 flatty distributor.

After a little more discussion, A fellow hot rod guy dragged Jim the rest of the way to Bartlesville, OK on a strap! About 70 miles, at highway speed!!!

When I caught up to Jim the next day, I asked him if he had to special order his pants, because he obviously had a large pair to fit in them.

 

Yeah Harry,the Deuce Run & Praying to the Hot Rod Gods.

I also part remember it was hotter than a 4 balled tom cat and how fortunate we were that the guy that stopped to help had a shop & the part we needed and wouldn't take a dime...he was a saint. HRP

 

I broke the left rear axle in the pickup at a stoplight in Middletown CT (about 15 miles from home) right in the middle of the street. When I went to let out the clutch, nothing happened except the motor raced. Pretty quiet break! A couple of guys behind me in a Metropolitan helped push the truck off to the side of the road and a person who lived within a half mile of home, who we just met at the show earlier that day stopped and brought my wife home while I rode back in the wrecker. Thankfully the rear wheel did not fall off--kind of ignorant as I did not realize at the time what happened.