Arriving from New Zealand for a 6 week vacation and planning a road trip from California to Back to the 50’s in St paul Minnesota . Arriving in LA on the 5/25 and heading straight to Santa Maria for the West Coast Crusin Nationals . 5/29 will be San Diego swap meet , then travelling to Pleasanton for the Good-Guys show the following weekend . good-guys on the Saturday and back to LA on the Sunday for the Pomona swapmeet . Longbeach swapmeet the following weekend , plus a few cruise nights that we can fit in during the week . Will then be travelling over the next 2 weeks thru to Minnesota for the back to the 50’s weekend , heading up thru Nevada , Utah ,Wyoming ,South Dakota , to do some sight seeing on the way . Looking for any ideas of any car museums , junk yards ,local cruise nights , hotrod shops . Have most of the time in California planned thanks to socalcarculture .com But don;t be able to find a lot of info for other states across the U.S. Any information or help would be greatly appreciated
If you detour 180 miles south of I 90 in eastern South Dakota to Lincoln Nebraska you can find the world class Speedway Motors Museum. It is a must see for any Hot Rodder and you won't be disappointed.
Boy this is a loaded question. You will get many responses. If it was me and I'm just hitting the high spots, so here we go--- Nevada, hit Hoover Dam and take the tour. Las Vegas strip at night, then US93 north to Wendover Nev/Utah. There you can do Bonneville Salt Flats and on to The Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City. From there I would take I15 north to Jackson Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park and then Yellowstone National Park. From Yellowstone take Hwy 14 east to the town of Greybull then Hwy 16 south to Worland then Hwy 16 to Buffalo. The first town after you leave Worland is Ten Sleep, stop at the National Marker just east of town, it explains how the town got its name. Use to be only one bar in town but was a great place to stop for a brew. The drive from Ten Sleep to Buffalo is just great. From buffalo take I90 to Sturgis S.D. Plan on spending a day in the Black Hills. Take in Mt Rushmore and Custer State Park. There is a lot to see in this area but maybe Racer 29 will chime in and help with the "hills". From the hills you can pretty much blast it to St Paul. I have made the trip from L.A. to St Paul many times in the 18 wheeler to the motorcycle to the hotrod. There is many ways to do this trip and many things to see so do your homework. I hope I have at least gave you some ideas. Feel free to PM me and have safe and great trip!
I will add to MMM1693's post and tell you that in addition to his suggestions in the Black Hills is to drive Iron Mountain Road. I believe it to be one of the most scenic drives there is and since it was built in 1932, it has a Hot Rod connection.
The Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo South Dakota just off I-90 is a must see. See the link posted by Jesse1952
If you're going to "back to the Fifties" in St. Paul from California, there is a chance you might be taking I-90 east through Nebraska. If you do go that way, there are at least three excellent museums you should not miss that are right on your route. The first of course, is ""The Speedway Museum of American Speed" at Speedway motors in Lincoln. The second is the "Classic Car Museum" in Kearney (Kearney?; yep that's right). The third is one I visited once by accident and was blown away by what was there. Here is what I said in 2009 when someone made a similar request : " I was taking my daughter to school in New Mexico from Minnesota about 15 years ago, and stopped at North Platte the first night. I had dinner at the local Red Lobster (yep, in North Platte), and got talking to the bartender. When he found out I was a car guy, he actually pleaded with me to backtrack 30 miles the next morning, and go see this museum (I don't remember the town). It was in the middle of nowhere, but they had a very large eclectic collection of the greatest stuff. e.g, they had the only existing example of a Bell Airacomet (the U.S.'s first jet fighter). I was going to spend a couple of hours, but spent the whole day. The guy who started it was from the small town and went to Chicago in he '20's and made his fortune and came back to his home town to start his museum. They had about 3 large buildings with unrestored 30's 40's and '50's cars. The place was astounding." I don't remember the name of the place, but it was about 30 miles east of North Platte. When I went there, there were lots of signs for miles on I-80, so you can't miss it. I did a cursory search for it and couldn't find anything definite. It could be that it has shut doen in the intervening years, which would be a damn shame. The Black Hills are nice and all, but I find that once you leave them and head east there is nothing for about 600 miles and it is one of the most boring drives ever. If you are mainly tourists, see the Black Hills of South Dakota; if you're a "car guy", you have to see the Speedway museum.
Hey TM, Was that Classic Car Collection inside of Cabela's Sporting Goods store or at least attached to that big building? Doing some research for a future trip I came across these sites and photos. The Classic Car Collection banner is on the far right side of the building in the large wide photo. This google map shows a Classic Car Collection inside of the giant, Cabela's Sporting Goods building. Jnaki If it is, that would be on our highway trip itinerary. Just off of east/west Highway 80 and N/S Highway 10 in Nebraska. THANKS FOR THE TIP...
French Lake auto parts -Annandale, MN about 2 hrs west of St Paul MN. 20's through 70's cars, arranged in rows, neat as a pin, on gravel or carefully mowed. http://www.frenchlakeautoparts.com/ google videos out there for French Lake Auto parts there's drone footage etc..on the web. Mute the background music it's better that way. https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-SGMedia-sgmedia_emailmoji&hsimp=yhs-sgmedia_emailmoji&hspart=SGMedia&p=french+lake+auto+drone+video#id=1&vid=0f2432e2f4c1034af4a69281147ca1f9&action=click 100 acres of great iron!
Phil, Right you are! I checked their website and it's the same place and it's still open. I checked a few of the reviews and they only complaint anyone had was that it was a little "rustic". I take that as a recommendation. Thanks for reminding me and congratulations on a good memory.
great info here , looks like Nebraska is on the list either on the way or on the return trip , plenty of info to do some research on tonight , thanks guys ,
Southern California places to visit, (2018 update). They are: Donut Derelicts Car Show, Huntington Beach, CA. Corner of Adams and Magnolia. Every Saturday morning from 5:30am-8:30am. Best FREE car show on the West coast. 200 vintage cars and trucks every Saturday morning. Trust me; it's worth your time to see this car show. NHRA Drag Racing Museum, Los Angeles County Fairplex. 1101 West McKinley Ave. Pomona, CA. More than just drag racing, this is an excellent museum. Automobile Driving Museum. 610 Lairport St. El Segundo, CA. 90245. Don't be put off by the funny street name or the plain drab brick facade. This is a great museum that is non-profit. They ask for a modest $5.00 donation. It's worth it. Very close to LAX Airport. Peterson Museum. 6060 Wilshire Blvd. $15 entry plus $12 parking. Autobooks-Aerobooks bookstore. 2900 West Magnolia Blvd. Burbank, CA. 91505. Outstanding selection of automotive and aircraft books. Closed on Sunday & Monday. Irwindale Speedway. 500 Speedway Drive. Irwindale, CA. 91706. Freeway off ramp is Live Oak Ave. Starting March 10th, every 2-weeks on Saturday night there is NASCAR short track racing with 5 different divisions on the paved ½ mile & 1/3 mile oval track. On-track autograph session and freebies at 5:45PM, racing at 7:00PM. Great entertainment. $15.00 plus $5.00 parking. Also at Irwindale Speedway, NHRA drag racing every Thursday night starting February 15th on the 1/8 mile drag strip, starting at 5:00PM until 10:00PM. $10.00 to watch and FREE parking. In-N-Out Hamburger. Mighty tasty burgers, fries, and shakes. The Habit Burger Grill. Great burgers and the best shakes on earth! Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Get the warm glazed doughnuts and bring plenty of cold milk. It's a great experience!
I should be visiting Lincoln NE in mid May and already have Museum of Speed on the list. Good to have those other ones also. Will be on Lincoln Hwy and going through Kearney and Minden is a short diversion and then back to Lincoln Hwy. Thanks Phil for your input. Hopefully all is still going to plan but will have a major announcement tomorrow on my other thread. Hopefully the wheels haven't fallen off this plan. See my thread here on the trip. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...eded-anyone-interested.1097897/#post-12472299 Will know tomorrow about resolving major stuff-up by shippers with container sitting in New Zealand and being transferred to a different ship that gets in Long Beach 8 days later than planned. We have a long weekend here for Easter and can't get any sense on this until tomorrow. Also check Stray Kat 500 thread later for more details.
Sounds like some good suggestions have been made and quite an adventure. Hope to see you there, my blue and white Nomad 1959 should be easy to spot, me by the car, less likely.
If you haven't been to Kearney yet there's a nice museum there. Classic Car Collection 3600 E. Highway 30 Kearney, NE 68847 Phone 308.234.1964 http://www.ccckearney.com/
132 mi south of Minneapolis on I-35 is the Surf Ballroom where Buddy Holly played his last concert, in Clear Lake, IA...they have museum tour hours available, also drive out to the crash site...my car at both, its about 1/4 mile walk to the actual crash site from the road.
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