Driving 1100 miles to pick up an F-1

Heading out this morning to Chippewa Falls, Wi. to pick up my eBay find 52 F-1. Chassis, suspension, and drive train appear to be all done. Owner says he needs his garage space back. I hope it looks as good in person as it did in the eBay pics. Haven't had a flathead V8 since the 60's in my 28 4 dr Sedan. Already told LowKat I'd be pestering him for help when I return.
I'm gonna try to post some travel pics enroute. It kinda sucks when you're retired ( 2 years) and all your friends still work. Gotta make the trip alone.
Hopefully the trip will be uneventful. Taking I-55 NorthBloomington, Il, then I-39 to Madison, Wi, then I-90-94 to Eau Claire, Wi. Probably won;t be there until Sat. evening.

Looks like the weather from St Louis North is rain, thunderstorms, and chance of tornados, and its a damn sight colder than down south.

I'll try and check in tonight and post some pics of the roadtrip. would rather be heading to the LSRU, but I've been looking for a good F-1 for a while.

BOutlaw

 

Sounds like a fun road trip, BOutlaw. I did that once - came home in an ice storm! Still a good trip, though. Be safe!

 

best of luck!

we'll be waiting to see the new truck

 

Stop by the Leinenkugels brewery if you have time...

 

Have a safe trip.

 

Post pics! Drive safe. Sounds like a fun trip.

 

Years ago, I took a road trip to pick up a project '32 3 window. My wife said I should take someone for company. One of the gals at work wanted to go so I told my wife. She said "Good, at least you'll have someone to keep you company". I told my wife the girl talks too much. A buddy, who's retired, offered to go so I took him. He talked none stop all the way. The good thing is, he likes to drive and drove there and back. We ran into a storm on the way back with the '32 on the trailer. My next trip, I went by myself,,,,,,,,ahhhhhh, peace and quiet. Good luck on the trip!

 

Road trips are always fun, usually also a good source for a story to tell for years.

I don't have the money to travel all over to pick up parts and cars but my neighbor does, what he doesn't have is a car trailer, which I do have. My deal with him is pay for the gas and a non-MacDonald's meal and I'll supply the truck and trailer. We've gone on 4-5 car runs in the last few years. Always come away with a good story and meeting some interesting people. My wife started giving me a hard time because although whoever I go with pays for the gas my wife didn't feel it was right that I wear out my truck and tires doing it. I told her that these "guy" trips are about the only recreation I have, I don't drink alcohol, I don't gamble or run off golfing every weekend, these trips are my form of recreation and the little cost of wearing out my equiptment is worth going with my friends in search of rusty, smelly half buried vintage iron. She still doesn't like it but she keeps her mouth shut about it.

Only tip I have for you is there usually is construction in the Madison area and it can be a pain but other than that your trip though WI should be very easy going.

 

I am always surprised when someone from the South goes to the North to buy a car/truck. Best of luck to you, enjoy the trip, and carefully inspect the truck especially for frame and body rot.

 

Made a road trip to OK from Socal just after I retired to pick up a '40 big truch chassis that I found on Ebay at a price I couldn't pass up. Drove non stop with a buddy. Great trip and we got out of OK just ahead of the tornados. Wife is still pissed but so be it!

 

1100 miles is just starting to get going.

I drove 4,588 miles for a 49 Mercury pickup.



Went from central South Carolina to Manitoba Canda.
Lots of fun.
Seen a lot of stuff I had never seen before.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=498255

.

 

I've sold sheet metal parts to a couple of people in the south. I always thought the best sheet metal part from the north is a lot worse than the worse sheet metal part from the south. I guess I was wrong, at least twice

 

Roadtrips to pick up projects are always fun. When we left a couple of years ago to pick up my '31 A coupe, I had my son and seven year old grandson as companions. We left at 5:30 in the morning, loaded the coupe and frame in the back of the pickup at 1:00 that afternoon, then headed off to look for more stuff on the way home. Found some wheels and other misc. bs, had a load of fun and got back home about 12:30 the next moning. Boutlaw, you drive safe and enjoy your next project.

 

How come it's seems hard as hell to haul your butt out of bed at 6 am to go to work but it seems a lot easier to get up at 5 am, or earlier, to go chase after tip there might be a piece of rusty old iron sitting in a patch of woods 200 miles, or more, from home? Also, why does it also seem less like work to trapse through dense woods and boggs for half a mile, getting scratched by every branch and then shovel 2 feet of snow to uncover a buried car in 10° temperature? But to go to a nice warm, dry shop to work on something with all the proper tools, and get paid to do it, is such a PIA?

I guess that pretty much sums up the old car hobby, we're a bunch of idiots I guess. Just ask my wife.

 

Great comments, I guess the first of which that needs an answer is why drive North to pick up an old car........because I just could not find anything worth a crap locally or eBay or HAMB classifieds, or even Craigslist. The guy with the truck seems like a great guy, pics look great, so here I go. I just stopped for the night in BFE, Wi, (not sure where actually), but its 958 miles from home, so I only have about 70 miles to go tomorrow. Did not see ANY cool cars on the road, but north of St. Louis there were a couple of "Classic car" places, both of which had lines of mostly mid 60's stuff along the Interstate. Would have loved to stop and look but it was pouring down rain, so couldn't even get a window pic of the places. weather supposed to be moving in from Kansas and Ok tomorrow per the weather channel this morning, but the local stations don't seem to upset about the weather tomorrow and Sunday, so maybe it won't be to bad. The chassis on the car is done, but not the body, so I had the owner temp bolt the body and bed to the chassis, but not fenders/hood. The engine looks great so I'm thinking I may have to bolt on some fenders tomorrow so I can get a hood on this thing. How much trouble is it to temp bolt some front fenders on a 52? so I can get a hood on? I'll check for replies in the AM before I check out. got a wakeup at 8:00. Its 1:00 AM now. Trips going great so far.....
Hittin the rack...............

BOutlaw

 

cool!

 

If you live any where near the Gulf coast the humidity will be high & the sheet metal parts will be very rusty. That is why we head west to find decent bodies.

 

Up Sat morning (8:00AM) , will post some pics of todays events this evening. Can't wait to see the 52.

Outlaw

 

Enjoy your road trip - I love 'em. I just drove to western PA to pick up an oil bath aircleaner for my 50 F4.... ok, I did have some family stuff to do back there and I got to meet a couple more internet friends along the way. Great times!

If you need a truck forum for your new rig, we're building a BonusBuilt group at http://www.fordtruckfanatics.com/ - check it out if you get a chance.

Drive safely and enjoy the stares you'll get with the old one!

 

yes thses trips are adventures. I could agree more it does suck when yor are doing alone. After a safe trip.

 

What is the guys name if you don't mind me asking? There aren't a lot of F-1s around this neck of the woods.

 

I FINALLY got home yesterday (Sunday) around noon. I was so tired I immediately hit the couch. Didn't unload anything from the truck except dirty clothes. I had driven 33 1/2 hours over 2 1/2 days. I stopped for a one hour nap eatly Sunday morning at 2:30, then a 2 hour nap at 5:00AM. Don;t remember ever being this tired. Lot of driving for an old man like me. Finiall arrived in Chippewa Falls on Sat around 11:00 or so. It took us till 2:00 to load the trailer and truck. Two sets of fenders take up a lot of room in a pickup. There was no more room for anything by the time we were finished. 35 Dodge asked for the guys name. His name is Jim Welch. Really nice guy, very helpful, and the work he did on the truck seems as if it was done well.

 

Couple more pics of the 52 loaded.....

 

Heres the only "hot rod" I saw on the entire trip...a 55 somewhere in Mo. Weather was nice the entire trip. Never even had a shower. Wish I could had unloaded it yesterday as it is pouring rain here today. I've got to shuffle the shop around to get the 52 in. For now, I'll put the 66 Mustang on the 2-post, park the 31 coupe under that and use the one left over space for the 52, at least for now.

 

Here's a couple pics that Jim (PO) took while redoing the chassis.....

 

Heres a pic of the front of the truck before disassembly....

and another of the flattie after installation.....

 

Thanks MTFLAT for the truckfanatics site. I'll be sure and check that out.
OK, now the work starts. I have to starft unloading as the rain has let up a bit.
Thanks for all the support and comments. I'll keep posting when I get something accomplished.

 

Hey Boutlaw, nice truck but the guy forgot to put the valve covers back on the engine!

 

I do have a question. the Master Cylinder visible in the previous picture is the stock MC, and is new. Should I change to a dual pot, run the new one or what? If I go to a dual reservoir, is there one that will fit without much modification. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

You'll get definite opinions both ways on the single/dual system. It's personal IMHO

I run the stock single on my daily driver - that's worked for over a decade now. Lots of panic stops for deer on the road where all four wheels lock up. I don't tailgate and keep my e-brake in good working condition... there is probably a reason they called it an 'emergency' brake.

I've looked at the dual setups at Sacramento Vintage. Some I like and may try one in the future. Using the stock location with a dual will put the lid for the reservoir under the seat. Another option is to go with hanging pedals and put your reservoir on the firewall.

Glad you made it back safely - the truck looks like a lot of the hard work is done. Nice!