Projects UPDATE: Am I nuts? - I guess not after all...

Yeah.... Hand signals = Cursive

 

Looks like a great trip, beautiful car too! Have fun, be safe and post lots of pictures.

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Weather for your route today looks clear and dry!!!

 

This trip will be watched as much as Squirrel's !
Good luck and happy motoring

 

Drive it

 

Awesome car.

Looking forward to following along. When you hit Missouri, wave at us as you cruise on by!

 

If you decide to cross the Mississippi River at Hickman/Dorena be sure to take and post pix on the ferry.

 

Good going man! Brings back memories of my trip in the (new to me) '36 3 window from Longville, Texas to the twin cities about 20 years ago. Made it in two days.

 

Wow.Sweet ride.Keep us posted.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Lucky guy! Have fun!


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Did the same thing when I bought my 48, Flew in, the guy said it was full of gas and a roll of toilet paper in the trunk. 1480 miles without a problem!

 

Melon, where are you?

 

Awesome!!

 

That's so AWESOME, I love the confidence level!

I'm surprised nobody asked for pictures of the engine?

That was the only thing that made my hand sweaty!

I would have brought the special Flathead parts, but other then that I think you are doing the best thing for you and the car!!!

And if it was me I would have brought 20 white Tshirts and rocked that car like it was 1951 all over again!

Best of luck, and I dream of more pictures and wish for a safe trip!!!!

 

No news = Good news???

 

We need an update and some pictures!

 

He was posting regularly - hope nothing bad happened. Maybe just no internet connections.

 

I spoke to Steve earlier today. He will be posting his adventure when he gets rested up.

 

Is he home?

 

Thanks for the update, Was hoping that was the case.

 

Alright, Steve, how long do you NEED to rest?

Ben

 

5 days

Must be running great, takin the long way home.

 

If he's like me, he has to work 23 hour days to make up for taking days off.

He'll get around to us.

 

I am glad I am retired. If something comes up, there is tomorrow.

 

Fly in and drive it home. Nice to have spare parts but if something goes wrong invariably its a part you don't have. Besides how many parts can you take with you a commercial aircraft. They already charge you through the nose for baggage.

 

Guys,

I am working on getting caught up. I will write up a conclusion tonight with a few more pictures - I wasn't able to take very many. It was a long trip but worth it. I learned a lot about the car and about myself. I appreciate all of the comments and your patience.

Steve

 

Nice to hear you're home safely.

 

Brother, the money shot is ..... that car arriving to your driveway. Cruise worthy indeed.

 

Glad that both you and the car are safe. It will be an adventure that you will never forget.

 

Well guys, here is the end of the story...this is going to be a pretty long post.

I made it home with the car at 3:30AM Thursday morning. I had been up since 6:00AM Wednesday and on the road since 7:00AM. The old coupe made it 1275 miles under its own power and the last 123 miles on a roll back - there was/is nothing wrong with the car and I will explain at the end.

I talked to the owner on Sunday night before I flew down on Monday morning. During the call he told me that he had last driven it in late June or early July and that the car had developed an oil leak after sitting over the past few months. He said he wanted to disclose everything before I came down. When I inspected the car there were some drips on cardboard that was under the car but the bottom of the car was really clean and there was no oil on anything under the car. My guess was that the main seal had dried out and that was where it was leaking from.

So once I got on the road again on Tuesday I was being pretty paranoid and checking the oil pretty often. My caution was slowing me down enough that I only put on a little over 400 miles for the day. It was good to be cautious as the car was losing quite a bit of oil every 100 miles or so - like 1/2 to 3/4 quart at each check. Adding to my apprehension was the fact that the oil pressure was pretty low on the gauge when it was running at temperature. The graduations and scale on the stock oil gauge are really pretty goofy but I was estimating it was running around 20 psi. When it idled the pressure would fall to almost zero. Otherwise the car was running great. No noises from the engine and very smooth at speed with plenty of power in the hills.

I stopped for the night in Dyersburg, Tennessee and thought long an hard about folding up my tent and finding a U-Haul location and towing the car the rest of the way home. After a lot of back and forth I decided I was going to go for it so I got some sleep and got up on Wednesday morning determined to see this deal through to the end. The big change from my original plan was to move out to the big interstate highways instead of the smaller two lanes and state highways. I wanted to have consistent, regular access to gas stations and if the motor ended up grenading on me along the way I wanted to be "easy to find" for someone that might have to tow me..

Wednesday was long but pretty uneventful. The car was eating up the miles and I decided to do an "iron man" run and try to get home in one day if possible. Somewhere along the way the oil use almost completely stopped. I guess the seals must have come back to life - at least a little. The further north I got the colder it was getting. It wasn't bad in the car but pumping gas and checking oil was really cold.

Finally, at about midnight or so with only a little over 120 miles to go I stopped at a wayside off I94 to check the oil one more time. It needed a little bit added but at this point all I had was a gallon jug that I had bought at a WalMart along the way. In the dark and in the cold I didn't want to make a mess by trying to pour oil from a gallon jug into the fill tube at the back of the engine so I pulled the lid off the filter canister at the front of the engine instead. When I put the lid back on I didn't notice that the gasket hadn't located properly and that the canister wasn't really sealed. So I jumped in, fired the coupe up and took off.

I only made it about a half mile down the road before the trip went sideways. I was watching the oil pressure climbing on the gauge and then it started to fall - quickly. Simultaneously smoke started pouring out from under the hood. A little oil must have gotten on the fan belt too because it started to squeal as well. I quickly pulled off the highway and onto the should as far as I could get and shut the car down. I grabbed my flashlight and opened the hood and there was oil all over the driver's side of the engine. I pulled the filter canister lid off and discovered the gasket and figured that was what the problem was. As I tried to add oil the semi traffic was blasting by non-stop. The air temperature was around 38 degrees but there was some wind and the drafts created by the semis made it much colder. So between the cold, the darkness, fatigue and my mental fog from being up for 18 hours and under stress, I decided to try out my new Triple A membership (that was money well spent!).

The roll back driver literally unloaded the car right into my garage and after I paid him, I got the my stuff in the car unloaded and everything shut down I went to bed at about 4:00AM. The next day I cleaned up the engine compartment as best as I could in the short term and I filled up the oil. The coupe started right up and sounded great and was holding good oil pressure. I took it out for a short drive with my beautiful wife and everything checked out. It was a good thing that I got home when I did too - the next day the weather turned to crap with rain, freezing rain, and snow.

So...I made it. Not exactly how I would have planned it but I got home nevertheless. Would I do it again?...yes, I probably would but I would for sure do some things differently the next time around.

I would like to thank everyone here that offered words of encouragement. I would also like to thank those guys that sent me PM's with offers of help, tools, trailers, etc. You guys are awesome and true blessings to me. And I would like to thank my friend Gary for calling and checking on me a couple different times during the trip. Your care means a lot to me brother.

I attached a few photos. I am sorry there aren't more. The first is a bad picture of the oil pressure gauge when the engine is at temperature and running at speed. The next is my helper in the garage - Abby. The third is the sign my wife made for the car (she is calling it "Cooper" or "Coop" for short) and me when we got home. While I was driving back home she spent two days cleaning the entire garage - the thing is spotless! The final picture is the car out on its test run after I cleaned it up and refilled the oil.