Featured Event Coverage Can Am Curmudgeons are Road Trippin' Again

The Can Am Curmudgeons are at it again! I should start by saying my road trip began last week on Thursday...and was a very easy and short day. It started by lining up for the 8:30 am ferry off our island.

This was followed by a second ferry line up and ferry ride to Nanaimo, BC and then a relatively leisurely drive down the Malahat highway into Victoria for Deuce Days.

My fellow BC Curmudgeons each made their respective way to meet at the hotel. The only casualty was a front wheel bearing on Terry's Crop Dusting pick-up. This was easily fixed the following morning. One of our Canadian group made his way from Alberta.

The real heroes were the American Curmudgeons that rolled in from various parts of Utah, California, Oregon and Washington. They rolled the miles. With the only casualty being a broken rear coilover mount on one of the California cars that was also quickly repaired.

We all had a great time at Deuce Days and because it's been well documented in other threads, I'm not going to include a bunch of photos. But I will say it was another very well organized, well attended (1300 registered attendees...and about a billion spectators, well maybe not a billion...but lots and lots!!).

We Curmudgeons set up our "camp", and put up a banner that kinda explains what we're all about.

And of course, at the end of the day, we gathered for fellowship, entertainment, tell stories, have laughs and generally enjoy great friendships.

There was also a surprise birthday song and cake organized for yours truly. A big surprise and the cake was fantastic.

One, other thing I'll add...it was cool for me to see my old roadster in our hotel parkade. It was pretty much in exactly the same condition as when I sold it 3 years ago. The current caretaker is looking after it very well.

Following Deuce Days, the Curmudgeons are planning a 7 day road trip together through areas of BC before we start heading to our respective homes. I plan to document our trip along the way. I hope you enjoy the ride along...I certainly do.

 

Saw your tent on Sunday. Looking forward to seeing your road trip!

 

I should also add, that during the very well organised Deuce Days poker run (thanks So-Cal!), another of our members experienced an overheating issue related to a failing electric fan...a patch repair was made, but the problem persisted. In the heat of the moment, without thinking about it, the owner tried releasing the rad pressure while the car was still hot! This resulted in a pretty nasty burn to his arm...it could have been worse and we are thankful it wasn't!

A replacement fan was ordered and delivered the following day and Curmudgeon Mike, aka "Mikiver" was able to get the wounded ride on the road again.

 

Monday morning, we hit the road.

Our first stop was near Duncan BC where our host opened his property to us. He had a fantastic collection of '57 Fords finished, projects underway and projects in waiting. He also had a cool FE powered Ranchero, and '64 Fairlane...not to mention a great shop, park like property and collection of carguy stuff!

And a couple photos of the Curmudgeon cars...

 

It was about this time that another Curmudgeon began experiencing a car issue. His steering box seemed to be getting progressively stiffer over the past few days and was suddenly developing a lot of free play. Thankfully he had enough caster that he was able to control the car while bringing it to a safe stop. A few phone calls later, and he was on a rollback with a fresh replacement Vega box on the way. Less than 5 hours later and he was on the road again (with 3 minutes to spare to make his next ferry reservation!).

Next up for the rest of the group was a 45 minute drive down the road to fellow Curmudgeon and fellow HAMB member (@40ply) Ed's farm where he hosted a fantastic bbq lunch consisting of fresh salmon, caesar salad, plus a few fixin's followed by carrot cake and leftover birthday cake. It was a great meal. Followed by some presentations poking fun at ourselves and some of the guys (the 2 on the left in the first photo below) that are hanging with us on the road trip...they were teased by being accused as "gold chainers"... so we all donned gold chains so we could fit in with them. And, we presented them with "rusty chains" so they would fit in with us...of course it was all in fun and many laughs were had.

And, the next photo with their new rusted chain decorations.


Our gracious host was presented with a new pair of "milking boots" (he runs and owns a dairy farm operation)

...and a new piece of artwork for his shop.

Then, the table got turned on the presenter (our own irreverent reverend Kenny Green)...who just happened to have a fresh roadster at the GNRS this year contending for the AMBR award. As we were pretty sure this might go to his head as a "high roller"...he too was presented with the appropriate jewellery.
The last presentation for the day was the Curmudgeon "bonehead or breakdown" trophy of the trip (so far) which was presented to Oak (on the left) for testing the temperature of an overheating rad!

Incidentally, Oak also experienced a throttle cable issue which was also quickly repaired by "Mikiver".

Ed is a bit of an artist...and has his Curmudgeon shop door of fame. It's quite an honour to have your car sketched on the door (including our '38 club cabriolet that is the subject of my build thread).

And, in the spirit of poking more fun at ourselves...a temporary adjustment was made to Oak's rendering.

The ring of the Curmudgeon fleet on the farm

And finally a group shot before we head down the road again.

 

We made our way to Nanaimo to catch the ferry to Horseshoe Bay.

How often do you see a current year AMBR Contender cruising down the highway? Kenny built his roadster to be driven...it looked good rolling down the road.

And, a bunch of hotrods in the ferry line...

And, on the ferry...

Once docked in Horseshoe Bay, we headed up the Sea to Sky hwy to spend the night in Squamish.


Tomorrow will bring more great scenery, fun miles, and enjoyment of this cool hobby.

 

WOW 32's Rock, and so do Curmudgeons.
Quite the great endeavor for the Deuce,,, and our board. Thank You.

 

You guys have the greatest adventures!

 

We met up you in 2019. Had a great time. Say hi to the Reverend Green for me. Was Tom Whiffin with you this year. Bunch of nice guys Eh .

 

Will do, and indeed Tom is with us this year.

 

Great pictures. I always say the party doesn't start till the Canadians get there.

 

Thanks for taking us along, I envy your groups camaraderie!

 

Like our trip last year, I'll add a short bio on Curmudgeon cars that have not previously been featured on one of the HAMB travel threads.

So first up is Dave's '41 Ford convertible. You may recall, last year Dave drove over 4500 miles in a model rpu...without a top! Dave has owned the '41 for 15 years and has rolled over 30,000 miles on the car. It's sbc powered and very reliable. So much so that his wife Joanne uses the car as her summer daily driver.

Next up, is Bill's (aka B3, we have so many Bills, we number them, who is also HAMB member @SkyDriver) chopped badass blown sbc, 5 speed stick powered '34 3 window coupe. B3, was also a roadster driver on our last trip. He's owned the coupe since 1973, and rolled over 200,000 miles on it since then. This former race car was chopped in1951 and was raced in California at that time powered by a Cadilac and B&M prepared Hydromatic. If this car could talk, I'd listen to the stories all day long!

Next up we have Dale's 1954 Olds Super 88. It's still powered by a 324 Olds, tri-power equipped, and a rare for Olds manual 3 on the tree trans. Dale has owned the car for 16 years and has rolled over 30,000 miles.

And, our last feature car for now is Kenny G's (aka the "Reverend") 1931 Ford roadster. This is a new build and fresh off the GNRS AMBR contender floor. Ken rolled in to Deuce Days with 10's of miles on the odometer. While it looked great on the GNRS floor...it looked fan-fargin-tastic rolling down the road!!

On with the road trip...we had our driver's meeting in the hotel parking lot at 8:30...where the driving plans were laid out.

 

Shortly after the drivers meeting, we hit the road up the Sea to Sky Highway. And, the rolling Curmudgeon parade was on.

Our first gas stop was in Pemberton...where we pretty much plugged the 2 gas stations.

 

We then carried on down the road enjoying the fantastic scenery on our way to Lillooet.

I'll continue this post later as we're off for dinner.

 

I'm following this adventure.

 

TIM
fantastic job keeping track of everyone and everything and every car on this great tour. Words can’t really convey the fellowship and shared experiences.
A true band of internal combustion brothers and sisters. Everyone wants to help when the need arises.
Somebody back home said
What if a car has a problem
We’re all mechanical “geniuses”
We know how to solve ‘em
MikeIver Rocky always lends a hand
Those that don’t drive ‘em
Just don’t understand
The CanAm Curmudgeons
Long distance annual cruise.

 

Thanks for all the likes and comments guys...it helps make the effort worthwhile.

So here's a few more scenic shots with hotrods sprinkled on them from the road to Lillooet...

We stopped at a roadside turnout for a family portrait...

And, the perch from which the photo was taken...

 

We carried on to Lillooet where we were greeted by Wendy Ann Williams (the daughter of local drag racing legend Jack Williams) at the Syndicate Scuderia House of Horsepower.
This is the view from the driver's seat through the blue tinted bubble windshield...

 

We rolled into 100 Mile House for the night. Denny had some driveline trouble enroute and arrived on a flat deck.

The local car club, the 100 Mile Cruisers hosted the Curmudgeons at the local legion for a dinner gathering. Many conversations came naturally, and new friends were made. We made a point of mixing our group with theirs to encourage conversation opportunities.

The 100 Mile Cruisers are a very active club with about 150 members holding an average of 52 events (car shows, cruises, bbq's etc) per year. Thanks for being great hosts!

 

Great coverage Tim. It's a lot of work to document and edit everything to create a thread like this. It's very much appreciated. Thank you sir!

 

Great stuff. I met some of these guys at Pueblo Co. in the past. They are the real deal deluxe.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys...

I'll start todays post with a few words about Ed's Chevy pick-up...powered by a 4 barrel equipped 6-in-a-row tower of power and T5 trans. It was purchased in 1989 out of Saskatchewan from a John Deere dealer and was intended to be a farm truck. It quickly became a father son project (Ed was only 15 at the time). When Ed turned 16, his dad gave him the keys and title. Ed has continued to make improvements to the truck.

The next Curmudgeon vehicle is Terry's 51 Mercury (Canada only!) patina pick-up...now, to say Terry is a character is an understatement! And so is his truck. On the passenger door is the name Crop Duster...Terry advised that it has nothing to do with farming. Terry describes crop dusting as wandering past a crowded gathering breaking wind as you go.

The truck is powered by a flathead with 4 barrel, Wilson & Woods heads and a T5. And, just to mess with people he's incorporated a "noise maker" under the truck (a windshield wiper motor that bangs its arm against a piece of metal) powered through a switch under the dash. When turned on (mostly when entering car events) it sounds like a combo of bad bearings, noisey u-joints and a jam can full of bolts being shaken.

Terry has owned the truck for 19 years, about 9000 miles and claims that he's never washed it.

Next up is Tommy W's 1930 model A coupe. Tommy has owned the coupe since 2006 and has driven the car 163,000 miles. Tommy is our self appointed tailgunner and pretty much carries a combination of a parts house and hardware store in his trunk. A few of the guys have teased Tommy about his jam packed trunk, but that's quickly silenced when a particular sized bolt or screw is needed on the side of the road. Tommy is one of the OG Curmudgeons.

Next up is Keith's '32 roadster. Equipped with a 425 Buick, tri-power and 5 sp stick. Keith has owned the roaster for 15 years and over 40,000 miles. He too is an OG Curmudgeon.

And, the last Curmudgeon car for today is Bill G's (aka B-1, remember, I said we number our Bills) '32 roadster. It's also a highboy but powered by a 331 hemi and 700R4. He's owned the car for 6 years and 4200 miles. B-1 has provided much of the Curmudgeon wear over the years for which we are very grateful.
This morning started with the usual drivers meeting...at 8:30 in this case. It can be a bit like herding cats to get everyone at the same place, at the same time, with ears open and mouths closed...but it seems to work out none the less.

Instructions were delivered and we were on the road again...key things to know were the few turns we needed to make, their approximate location, the 10km (about 6 miles) steep downhill grade, and the McLure ferry signage. Then we were on the road again.

 

Well Tim is doing an awesome job at documenting this trip but I feel bad leaving him to do it on his own so I'll try to not make a mess out of it by adding some of my pictures and videos. Here's a quick video from the other day. Let me know if the link works.
https://youtube.com/shorts/rkO6MMFZD1c?si=BfPu_m9XMin4Gh5I

 

As we cruised our way through and out of the area of BC known as the "Cariboo"...the scenery was once again breathtaking with natural forests, lake and cottage country.

We saw the signage that warned of the steep (8%) sustained grades along with the runaway lanes. The runaway lanes looked scary enough, but they'd be a welcome sight no doubt if all else was failing!

Fortunately, none of our group needed to test that theory! With a careful eye, everyone found the McLure ferry turn off sign (it wasn't a big sign!) and we did the slow cruise to join (or become) the ferry line.

 

It works!! Cool video, well done Ed! Thanks for adding it to the thread.

 

The McLure ferry is a small 2 car "reaction cable ferry" that uses the current of the water to provide the forward motion...it was very cool! The captain worked very hard to get us all across working into his lunchbreak so as not to break us up. We gave him a standing ovation and a little something extra for his hard work.

Now, a side story...as we live on an island...it guarantees that we would have 2 more ferry crossings than anyone else on the trip (the crossing to get us off, and back on to our island). This has been a bit of funning amongst a few in our group. Well, one our guys, Bob rode as a foot passenger back and forth on the McLure ferry for almost every sailing (so much so, that he was dubbed the first mate of food service on board). After we were all across, Bob exclaimed "there, now I've taken the most ferries on this trip!"

We pulled into Kamloops and had lunch in a small pub on our way to the hotel. We'll gather again for an evening cruise-in car show at the local A&W for the evening.

 

It was good to meet you guys at A&W tonite. Your cars really made the night!

 

Nice Cruise night at the A&W...met and spoke with fellow HAMB'r @Jethro and his cool channelled model A coupe powered by a tri-powered GMC 6 cylinder.


Some of the other cars at the cruise night. A few photos of the cars had to be taken at angles to conceal some of the non-HAMB friendly features (mostly wheels).

And, a couple rows of Curmudgeon hotrods...

 

So a couple more Curmudgeon vehicles. First up is Ed's 1936 Ford Pick-up. Ed drove his truck up from Utah rolling 17,000 miles in the 6 years that he has owned it.

Denny's '32 5 window is a very clean ride. He's owned it for 6 years and has 15000 miles on it. Denny had a U-joint fail on his way into 100 Mile House, but a few calls and one day later the U-joint was repaired and the car was heading down the road catching up with the rest of us before dinner.

Carle has owned this '32 highboy roadster for 30 years and 54000 miles. It's powered by an sbc and 700R4 trans.

And the last car for the day is Tom's '32 full fendered roadster. While Tom is not officially a Curmudgeon (he took a ribbing as a gold chainer, and was given a rusty chain to fit in with our crowd), he certainly qualifies as a fellow road warrior having owned his car for 15 years and 60,000 miles.

It was another great day on the road! Clear skies and warm (ok hot!) temps. We drove from Kamloops to Abbotsford...but again, not on the Coquihalla Hwy (Hwy 5...think Hwy thru Hell), or the TransCanada (Hwy1)...We again took the road less travelled, Hwy 5A...and it was a great drive with fantastic views and scenery! Including a few wildlife sightings...there were a couple groupings of big horned sheep.

They were not at all impressed or concerned by the parade of brightly colored hotrods passing them by. One of the coolest animal sightings was this too cool for school dog on a motorcycle. He had his own helmet and goggles and seemed to be living his best good life! (photo credit to Les G.)

As we cruised our route...the GPS confirmed that we were indeed on track...and the gauges confirmed all vitals are in order.

Following behind Keith's roadster...we decided that we could stare at his rear end all day long!

And here's a few random shots of brightly colored hotrods having fun and cruising on some fantastic roads with breathtaking scenery.

Now don't get me wrong...there was construction as large portions of this road were affected by a major fire a few years back...followed by significant rainfall the following year which created major flooding and landslides. Large sections of the road were being rebuilt and were covered in gravel...but we took it all in stride. Many of the construction workers whipped out their cameras to film the slow rolling parade passing them by.

We stopped for a break at the Nicola Ranch which was established in 1919. This is a significant ranch tied to the early gold rush days in BC. There was an old church next door complete with a cemetery showing lives that were lived in the early and mid 1800's. We pulled off to the side of the road for a photo op and received many honks and thumbs up for passers by.

Lastly, we rolled into a dive bar in Spences Bridge for lunch.

More fun to be had tomorrow!