Anyone going? Ive been working every day for months. Up til 4am, go to bed, up at 8am work, and back in the garage at 7 the last 2-1/2 weeks and 15-20 hrs on weekends trying to get my junk ready???? Maybe…maybe not? Just a bucket list thing for me.
not much interest here, apparently...but you've probably been working to hard to have noticed this recent post https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/hot-rod-power-tour.1238576/
Well, the 50 pontiac isnt going to make the trip. Finally finished it Saturday at 3pm. Took out for its first time on the road since 1965. Drove 35 miles. It ran great, shifted great and steered great….there is an obvious BUT! Could smell gas occasionally and heard sn occasional chirping sound. Stop at gas station filled up tank and leaking fuel. Drove home, drained and dropped tank. Fuel sending unit gasket bad. The chirping was rear tires rubbing the rear frame extensions. I thought this could be an issue beause they flare out but didnt think so. With no inner fenderwell room for wheel spacers I started notching the frame at 7pm. Finished it at 12pm and set the toe on the front. I was concerned about making a weak frame even weaker so this morning I started boxing it in. No room at all to weld, but finally finished it around 5pm. Made a sending unit gasket and installed it. But, at 6pm I would still have to install the tank, the exhaust again and try to get an hr test ride in and leave at 6am for 4 days. So I finally threw the towel in and said this is nuts. so I will be going on the tour sitting in my buddy’s very HAMB friendly 2012 challenger with only 15K miles on it! This sucks a$$ bad, oh well at least the 3 month madness to try and get it on the trip is over.
The bright side is, when you get home your ride will be ALMOST ready to hit the road. Maybe a goal of a Labor Day trip to the Lake. Have fun, stay safe on Power Cruise.
They are going to be on town tomorrow and would like to do it one day but will have to be after I retire.
I have done 3 power tours, it was a mix of old and new cars back then. I think now you will be a lot more at home in a 2012 challenger, from what I have seen ( mostly newer cars now ). Driving cross country in a new car some with warranty, big deal. Now doing that in my 39 Pontiac or your 50 Pontiac that IS a big deal and a lot of fun.
it's joke now, there should be 2 power tours, one for 72 and older or 65 and older and one for all the new stuff....anybody can drive a "new" car across America.
Not this year. Timing and family problems. Maybe next year. I’ve done a few, and it’s a nice road trip. There’s new cars, old cars, and some weird cars. Looking at the pictures, there’s a lot of muscle cars and new rides, but plenty of HAMB era stuff too.
A couple years back, Georgia and Alabama were on the route. Lots of Dollar Stores. Can’t get much more southern than that.
for a long time now, they've been staring the route where it ended the previous year. Back when it started in the mid 90s, it started at the Petersen museum in LA, and ended near Detroit. it was like that for several years.
Was there today. Looked to me 30% Hamb era, 70% mustang , camero , muscle car era. One hell of alot of cars so you have to hunt.
View attachment 5154230 View attachment 5154233 View attachment 5154234 View attachment 5154235 View attachment 5154236 View attachment 5154239 Im back. Overall it went well. Norwalk was the best organized and there was a ton of interesting and different cars or cars you just dont see. Dayton was really bad. It was just a field and no activities. Only two food venders for a few thousand people and I heard they ran out of food at people had waited in line an hr? Indy was ok. They did a great job getting the track dried and running at approx 2pm. They let it run late. I could not believe they let a moron in an AMG with two bikes ratchet strapped vertical on the roof go down the track. If one of those would have came off it could have killed somebody. I was surprised how disorganized Indy was but it was still a good time. The interest is really up for the station wagons. I could never imagine I wouldve said this 30 years ago, but they were some of the more unique and cool cars. I really liked the early 60 chevy and pontiac wagons. Allot more modern (say 1980 and up) than I would have ever expected. Thats probably 60% of the cars there, still neat. I was surprised that the majority of the muscle cars had late model engines. And there were allot of, well, basic late model cars. 3 year old commuter cars? Not so much Hamb stuff. I thought that would be a big percentage, but probably 10-15% tops. There was a 54 Chey 4 door very similar to my 50 pontiac. Great guy and somehow he booked the same three hotels as us. It wouldve been so neat to have them side by side. I never saw a single 49-52 pontiac like mine. Yes, sorry to admitt, the Challenger was nice for 100+ heat index days and 1100 miles. We just installed a 3.92 rear end (was 3.08) and that changed the car from hohum to what it should have been. It was good for almost 5/10ths in the quarter and mileage only dropped from 24.5 to 23.2 mpg. So it was a win win. They best part of the whole thing was the drive between venues and all the people that staged along the way to see it. The route was nice and to old towns and farms where great. I got all the stuff on the 50 fixed today and drove it around a few miles. Plan on getting a couple hrs on it this weekend.
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