Friday/Saturday

Friday was off to breakfast at Roadies in San Dimas. Its a great little cafe just a couple of doors from Early Ford Store. After we ate we drove over to the Ford store. It is always neat to see all the old parts and to see all the guys there. It is a real social event. I talked with many friends as always. Always a good time there. There was a van load of kiwis from New Zeland,they were fun to talk to. I told them about Thumpers and Flos back yard BBQ and gave them the address. Thunpers was our next stop....many many hot rods all over the neighborhood and a great BBQ with a marqurita bar in the back yard by the pool. More friends there. Finally met some facebook friends in real life....always fun! 1 o'clock and we were off to SoCal open house...we had VIP parking inside the gate...really cool. At 5 PM it was a short drive to Waldens open house...they always have a crowd and a freezer of ice cream bars...refreshing on a hot day. After Waldens we found a neat little BBQ joint in a so-so neighborhood....the food was outstanding! We will make that a repeat stop for years to come. ***************************************************************** Saturday....the big show. went to the fairgrounds about 7ish. Drove in, found a parking spot under a shady palm tree right by the main building. We headed to the swap meet...its huge, walked until we were hot and then back to the main building. Saw many more friends.....funny how most all knew about the broken spring....news travels fast! At 5PM it was another free BBQ beef dinner on the hill...all free from the roadster club. A real nice deal. It was warm but a fun day. Tomorrow it is Dennys for breakfast and then to the show for the day. As soon as we get the famous pewter mug it's off for Mesquite NV....320 miles 5 1/2 hours and the weather man says 110 degrees. Don't need no stikin top!" **********************************************

Thursday

WE LEFT Blythe at 6:30,right after breakfast. Plan was to stop in Indigo, 100 miles for gas, half way and we would hit town with gas yet. We pulled into a very nice station, gassed up, checked the oil, got more ice. It was getting hot. Dave reset the timing slightly on the purple roadster, when he restarted it it started, backfired and he shut it off. When we were ready to roll, it would not start. He put the timing back, still no start. We could tell he was getting gas becauce the fuel pressure gauge showed right. We checked the spark...twice...had good spark. Pulled #2 plug....gas pourded out of the hole. we cranked it over, crank crank, then more gas poured out.We pulled all of the plugs...cranked it over to dry it out. Went to the store and bought new plugs....put them in....no start. Finally we said....pull the hood off. Its just a hood top but sort of a pain to remove. Pulled the air cleaner top and ........the choke was stuck closed...from the back fire! Popped it opened...hit the key and fire! After 2 hours, what a dumb thing to find. Away we went. The first stop was to be Marcels Metal Works. About 15 miles from there, Dave came roaring up beside me to see if I could see the alternator was turning or not..it was but also squealing. I told him to just continue to Marcels. When we arrived at Marcels, we quickly found the problem...the bracket was broken in three places and was missing a piece from one of the breaks. We pulled it off and went into see Luc at Marcels. He welded it together, and made a new piece to replace the broken piece. We had a nice visit as always and then was off to see the guys at Fred's Custom Wiring in Onterio. Fred was gone but we got to visit with Jake. He also fed us several donuts and cold drinks. The next stop was SoCal to pick up the VIP parking passes for their open house on Friday. Next was the hotel to check in....we made it!!

Monday/Tuesday/Wed

We left Holbrook early Monday morning for Prescott AZ. We had a great drive and arrived about noonish. Jack Linden showed us several local rodders garages...some real nice cars and projects. Texas Road house was the dinner spot for Monday. Some photos are on Facebook of the garage tours. Tuesday was more garage tours....several more great place and a great lunch at a Mexican place. Taco Tuesday....taco for $2 !! Tuesday night it was go downtown for dinner night. As we were driving down main street my real main leaf spring on my 1/4 elepitcal spring broke, dropped down and acted as a pole vault, jumped me up and crashed down. Damn!! I called Jack to help me out. He and four other friends came down with the truck and trailer and hauled me to his house. They called a couple of the guys that we visited and decided one of them could weld the spring in the morning. I was up at 5AM, calling Posie's in PA to order a new set of springs and had them shipped to the hotel in Pomona. I willchange them out at hme...hopefully NOT before! The guys had the springs welded and reinstalled by about 10 AM when we got there. I added a safety chain so if the spring should break again the chin will hold it up so it won't be the pole vault effect again. I also had to replace a tail pipe hanger. By the time we went to the parts stors and finished the safety chain it was time for lunch. There was 15 of us at Five Guys burgers...I treated...the least that I could do! We hit the road at 1PM and headed for Blythe, CA for the night. We arrived at the hotel at 5 PM...the outside temp was 115 degrees....it was HOT!! We all thought we were going to die. Drank water, had wet towels around our neck...it was HOT!! We cooled off and then ordered pizza to eat in the lobby. We did not want to go outside again. Tomorrow we plan to leave at 6:30...right after breakfast. Pomona her we come...a short 200 miles to go.

Sunday

We left early Sunday morning for Durango for a late breakfast with a friend of Greg's. It was 42 degrees as we left...the heater, seat heaters, sweatshirt and windbreaker felt good. We drove up and over Wolf Creek Pass at 11,000 feet. Some pretty views.We got to Durango, had breakfast and continued on to Holbrook AZ. On I40 just outside of Holbrook we caught up with friend Randy from Texas in his red roadster...good timing! We found our motel...the WigWam Motel....old concrete teepees. A fun place to stay. Found a steak house, had a good dinner and went to bed.

Hot Rod Dirt Drags

The first Hot Rod Drags was a success! We arrived about 10. I had a slow start after a bad night and early morning. A cup of coffee and seeing all the neat hot rods quickly pushed out the rotten feeling in my body. Amazing how that can help. There was probably 60 or so cars that were racing. All shapes and styles. All really cool. I saw Craig and Trevor from Denver, Darryl from Colorado Springs...had a nice visit with them. We got to park on the show car area on the grass. Several vendors, beer tent, a rockabilly band, Hop Up magazine, event T shirt tent to name a few. The cars just paired up and ran. It was almost an eighth mile dirt track. A flag girl starter and twin towers with flag guys to show the winning lane at the end. Ron had his top off (it broke the day before) then removed the windshield, taped numbers on the side, put on his helmet and away he went. He paired up with a rolling bones built car, both had SBC with tri carbs. Ron came out ahead. There is a neat video I posted on my facebook page of the race. He made another pass against a lightweight T bucket and lost that one. He was in line for another run when a radiator hose blew of of a little fiat race car burning the girl driver with the hot water. The ambulence took her for medical care so the cars could not race. It was getting close to the ending time any way so it was called off for the day. Ron was bummed that he could not make another run. We leave at 7AM in the morning for Holbrook, AZ...staying at the WigWam Motel there. It is a cool old motel on I40 which is also rte 66. The cabins are concrete Indian tepees. Should be a neat photo op. It is a 400 mile trip so an easy day. I hope wolf Creek Pass is not too cool, it is 11,00 ft high...then its downtown Pagosa Springs...I'll be singing C W McCall's song Wolf Creek Pass all day!

Friday

We got up at 5AM, breakfast at 6AM and on the road at 6:30. We had 500 miles to get to Monte Vista CO. It was chilly...mid 50's so the heater, heated seats and sweatshirts felt good. By the time we got to Brush, CO it was raining. Ron's top broke and blew apart, so he har to go topless too. He got no sympathy from me! LOL!! We gassed up in Brush, Ron borowwed raincoat from Dave and away we wnet. There is a sign at the junction of I76 and state 71...no gas stations for 75 miles. I knew that, that's why we topped off in Brush. 71 is a straight, flat 2 lane 166 miles to Rocky Ford. It rained quite hard and then would go to light rain then back tohard. It was hard to see sometimes. It was cold and the rain was getting old. Finally about 20 miles from Rocky Ford it stopped raining we pulled into a little cafe for lunch and to dry off. I almost had to eat my favorite saying..."don't need no stikin top " We had a good lunch and was off again to finish the trip. It rained lightly again for a while, but was a beautiful drive...up to 9600 feet over the pass and back down to 7600 in Monte Vista. We found our motel, checked in and washed the cars. We drove to a Mexican place for dinner. Good food, STRONG marquritas and HOT hot sauce. It was great..altho I was sick most of the night!! All and all it was a GREAT day!

LARS 2015

Wednesday morning I left about 8AM to drive to Mpls to pick up my son Rodney for the annual roadster trip. I have been driving to LA since 2004 and Rodney has been with me each year. It is a great father/son time. From Rodney's place we drove south to Lakeville to hook up with friend Greg from Wisconsin in his roadster and then it was off to Des Moines, IA. In Des Moines we met up with Dave, Don and Ron. Dave is from Iowa, Don from Ill and Ron from Florida. Our meeting spot was Bennigans Cruise night. A good start to the 18 day trip...a car show!! 6 AM this morning, Wednesday we hit the road with cloudy skies above us and headed west. The stopping spot was North Platte, NE. Within 30 miles it started to rain. Greg and me had the tops off...well Greg did, I don't have one to put up! It rained hard till we passed Omaha... a couple of hundred miles. Then it was on and off every few minutes. We had a lunch invitation at Dennis Saum's garage in Marquette. He and his wife had burgers, brats, fruit salad and drinks for us. Thanks!! Dennis is the mayor of Marquette, so we had a special holiday day! After lunch and back to the interstate for the night at North Platte. I had made reservations at my favorite hotel, LaQuinta. We checked in and proceeded to go to Whiskey Creek steak house. A couple of cold beers and a good steak was in order. In the morning it's up and out by 6:30 for a 500 mile jaunt to Monte Vista Co. Hopefully the rain will be over...if not we will just punt on the raincoats again and hammer down anyway. I wore for the first time a Cabelas windbreaker that worked well as a rain coat. I have had it for several years and used it for wind but this was the first time I used it for rain...worked well!

cell test

Test from my cell

GNRS 2015

We leave in the morning for the Grand National Roadster Show. Catch the plane at 11 AM and arrive in warm sunny CA about 4PM. I have eight shops on the visit list for Wednesday and eight more for Thursday. Two are official open houses the rest are just visits. There will be three couples and three or four guys in the group. I hope to post each night, hopefully some photos too. Sometimes I can't get this little notebook to work with pictures...if I can't the photos will go up when I get home. I will be posting on Facebook during the day too. My facebook page is just my name. Dale Grau If we aren't friends there yet...send me a request. Let the fun begin!!

Montana trip photos

Some pics of Dave's Mordor on the trip home from Montana

Montana trip

I just returned from a flying trip to Montana.....in a Dodge Ram! My good buddy Dave from Des Moines, found and bought a 32 fordor in Bozeman, I went along for the ride. I drove 300 miles to Des Moines to drive 1100+ miles to Bozeman and 1100+ back to Des Moines and then 300 miles to home. It was a great time...fun trip. A fast trip, I left home Monday and returned on Saturday. He bought a primered mordor, chopped, hiboy, sbc with a 5 speed, no interior,just a front saet cushion. It's finished in red oxide primer, has black steelies and bias ply tires. This is such a COOL car. I tried to buy it from him on the way home. We made it the first day to Billings and arrived in Bozeman the next day at noon. Finished the deal loaded it in the trailer and headed east by about 4 PM. As we hit the Wyoming state line, there was a nice parking area by the big "welcome" sign, we pulled over unloaded the car, took some photos and put it back in the trailer. In Wall SD we did the same thing...unloaded it drove up and down main street, took some photos and then drove out the two lane towards the badlands about 5 miles, turned around and he let me drive it back to town. A great driving, riding car. At that time I upped my offer to buy it....he still said NO! We got some neat photos in front of Wall Drug. I'm still working on the phaeton, kind of slow progress. My lift broke again. The cable jumped off of the pully, I did not notice or hear anything until I was under it working and looked over and saw the 3/8 inch cable all shredded and only as thick as lead pencil lead!! I got out from under it real quick. Dave had a new set of cables that he traded to me for some parts he wanted....that was good. Today I started to put the cable on and noticed the pulley bushings were shot and the spacer between the two pullies was worn thru as was the pulley axle. I called the lift mfg.....they want $400.00 for two pullies and a spacer and the 3/4 inch bolt that is the axle!! WOW! I guess I'm cheap but I think that is way too much. I re inspected the pulles and the only thing wrong with them was the bushings.....I went to my machinist neighbor, had him press the bushings out, went to the shop in town, bought two new bushings, (1.60 for both), had the neighbor press them back in, he made a new spacer while I was in town, paid him what he wanted...plus a $5 tip and I'm back in business. Tomorrow I will put it together and get back on the phaeton project.

Update...................finally.

I have been very lax on blogging. I will try to to recap the high lights of the past few weeks. After leaving Wendover on Saturday, Barry and I drove to Salt Lake City to visit some friends. First it was Dick Rodwell, the maker of the cool windshields that we both run on our roadsters. Dick is cool old hot rodder....he has done it all. Has a killer roadster, a bonneville roadster and a 34. He makes the windshields in his basement shop....a one man show. Pretty amazing. Next is was off to see Stanley Wanlas, he is an artist and specializes in bronze sculptures of cars and people. He designed the windshield that Dick now makes. Stan also makes some awesome bronzes of 32 Ford hot rods. Google his name and find his web and checkout his art. Joy, his wife and him had a great lunch all waiting for us...what a nice thing. We ate, talked, checked out his art gallery and his garage....always a fun time there. Sunday morning it was on the road again, Barry headed north to Idaho and then Yellowstone, I headed east to Cheyenne for the night and then on towards home. I spent Monday night in Pierre SD. Tuesday I left early on Rte 14. About 40 miles out I decided to stop and take of my coat, as I pushed on the clutch it slapped to the floor....oh oh.....that's not right. I pulled to the side of the rod in this little tow, don't remember the name...I felt under the car and could feel the slave cylinder hanging in two pieces. There was a repair shop about two blocks back, so I started the car in first and drove there. It was a nice, clean spacious shop, two lifts and both were empty. I went in and told the guy my problem. I drove the car in and we put it on the lift. Raised it up, I screwed the slave back together, we had to rebleed and adjust it and it all worked. I had no brake lights in Salt Lake, changed the switch and still no lights except for a flicker, we tried to bleed the brakes in the hotel lot but could not get a wrench on the bleeder....so I said heck with it. Since it was on the lift I could reach the bleeder. So I asked the guy to help me bleed the brakes as long as it was in the air...he did and the lights worked....fixed two things in one stop. I was back on the road and headed for home. ****************************************************************************** At home we had the "Topless Tour Completion Celebration" at my house........just a big party...lots of people, something like 180 showed up, had hot rods parked all over the neighborhood....a fun day. ******************************************************************************* Just a few days after the party, I got a lead on a real nice deuce tudor body in Missouri....long story short, I bought it and did a quick road trip to pick it up. Real nice, no rust, decent paint, complete interior....80 years old but complete...all glass, garnishes, dash, good top insert...plans are to order a new Cornhusker chassis, sbc, 5 speed, pop the body on that, add steel fenders that I have and drive it! ****************************************************************************** A few weeks later we went to The Race of Gentlemen in Wildwood NJ. On the way we stopped at Steadfast hot rod shop in Ohio, then the big swap meet in Carlise, PA, the Hot Rod Garage in Denton MD then finally the race. It is a race, 1/8th mile drags on the beach, right by the Atlantic ocean....and only three classes....motocycles, flatheads and fourbangers....thats it. It was a GREAT time!! I think I need to get that flathead running, put it in the Modified lakester and go racing next year...that's the plan anyway. **************************************************************************************************** On the drive home Greg and I heard about an auction in Ohio coming up in a few weeks. We got a pickup with a topped and turned back around and headed for the auction. Its a good thing we did not take a bigger truck,( we did discuss that,) because the truck we brought was FULL, that sort of held us in control!! I brought home firewalls, gas tank, grille, tires and a bunch of small parts.We had a great time...meant some new friends too. **************************************************************************************************** I have been working on the phaeton, got the body on, fitted the floor boards, shifter, fenders and going to start the wiring in a day or so. Oh yes, made steering column bracket, and orderd a ton of more parts, like wheels,steering parts and so on. THis next two weeks should really get it close to being done. The fordor will be next, unless I get side tracked on the new tudor....or finish the paint on the panel,,,,or put the fttie in the lakester.....all I know is that I will be busy in the shop!!

Friday/Saturday

We pulled out of the hotel about 9 AM. There was 4 roadsters and a coupe running together. We decided to stop for breakfast at a truck stop on the west side of Salt Lake City. Three of the roadsters decided not to eat so they went ahead. That left Bart from Vermont , me and two trucks with trailers. After breakfast Bart and I left first and let the trucks follow behind. The speed limit is 80 MPH and we did all of that and sometimes more. It was a great 120 mile run. We arrived at the Nugget casino and hotel about noon, checked in and found a place to park for the nights activities that night. The racers were pulling in and parking in the back lot. The salt was wet so no one could go to the pits yet. We all hung out in the lot until night time. A reaally cool car show....many cars for a Friday night. The announcement came that everything was moved out one day to give the salt time to dry. Saturday morning Barry and I decided to drive to the end of the road to check the salt condition. It was not good....it was water evey where...not just wet but under water.....6 inches or so at the black top end and who knows how deep farther out. At that time it was announced that Speed week...100 anniversary was officially canceled! We scooted back to the hotel to check out before the deadline of 11AM and headed to Salt Lake City.

Thursday

We had breakfast at the hotel about 8AM and left for Orem Utah about 9ish. It was a nice short and beautiful ride. We arrived at the hotel about noon, had lunch at the hotel, cleaned the cars and then headed to the Salt Flats Speed Shop. Chris does some real nice work there. He had a deuce roadster, a 34 tudor, a 34 phaeton all under construction. He served a great BBQ sandwich for dinner. There were maybe 40 cars parked outside the lot up and down the street. We had special parking in the lot by the front doors....cool! I saw some old friends there and had a good time. Then it was back to the hotel. The next morning it was off to Wendover.

Wednesday

I woke up to some rain....waited till 11 AM for the skies to clear. To the west was clear blue and that was where I was heading. I80 has lots of construction. Many miles of one lane each way. Next year it should be a great drive with all the roads repaved. I was going to Rock Springs for the night. About a 100 miles out of Cheyenne the skies clouded up. I got the rain poncho on and kept going. The skies opened and it poured for for 20 or 30 miles. I did not get that wet but it was really hard to see. I made it to Rock Springs hotel about 4:00 PM. I was to meet the Rolling Bones there. They showed up about 8 PM finally. I ate dinner earlier but went with them to have a drink while they ate. The plan was to leave the next morning for Ogden about 9 AM.

Monday/Tuesday

I left Lincoln Monday morning for the drive to Cheyenne. The skies were a little cloudy but dry. Within 70 mile or so it looked like rain ahead. I checked the radar and it showed it just to the north of I80....but it sure looked like it was right ahead of me. I stopped and put on the rain poncho. I think that was the magic trick because it never rained a drop.......until I pulled into the hotel lot in Cheyenne! 400 and some odd miles, a good drive, a little warm the last 100 or so miles. It rained off and on all night. When I got up this morning it was still raining lightly. The radar showed it should be gone in a couple of hours. I only had 250 miles to drive today so I hung out until 11 AM to leave. The skies were beautiful and clear of rain clouds. The car did get muddy leaving the lot. I80 was more 2 lanes than 4 lanes west of Cheyenne. Lots of construction. Next year the road should be great! I stopped for gas somewhere about 150 miles from Rock Springs and found a car wash next door. A quick wash and the car looked good again. About 40 miles from Rock Springs it rained like I was driving thru a car wash for about 10 miles....10 long miles! I made it here, went to O'Riley's to buy some rainx!! The weather report for Salt Lake does not look good. I am not going to wash the car. It looks like several rain storms all day tomorrow. I am waiting for the Rolling Bones guys to show up. It is 6PM now. They are driving from North Platte NE....a long day for them...probably a wet one too.

August 3rd

I left this morning at 8 for day one of the Bonneville trip. I made it to Lincoln at 4:30, 502 miles. A good drive. No excitment. Cruised 70 to 75. In Lincoln I met with my sister and family for tacos and margaritas ...there were 10 of us....fun night. Its out of here at 7ish for Cheyenne Shor4t story tonight.....but nothing happened to report!!

Catch up

Well I made it to Goodguys Des Moines and on to Columbus Goodguys....had a great time. No time to post...or did you notice. I did do a few facebook postings...thats so quick from the phone. This Sunday...August 3rd I leave for Bonneville in the roadster pickup...for about 2 weeks. I promise i will post more often. I will meet with the Rolling Bones in Rock Springs, WY, go to the Open House at Salt Flats Speed Shop and onto Speedweek in Wendover. It will be a fun time. I will meet up with buddy Barry from CT and friend Jerry from Albuquerque in Wendover. I will be driving to and from the flats by myself. Those of you staying home are goint to miss a fun trip.

Home for a few days and gone again

The topless tour is over...had a great 4888 miles and lots of fun. I drove back with the Street Rodder magazine tour to Back to the fifties. The only time I got wet was just before Hdqs hotel in St Paul and the last 25 miles from home on Sunday. In the morning we will be leaving in the 32 fordor for Goodguys in Dse Moines and onto Goodguys Columbus the next week. This will be the first trip in the fordor except for the drive home from South Carolina last fall. I hope to blog along the way. You can also follow me on facebook, that is so easy to post pictures and a quick note from the phone....check it out. It's under my name....Dale Grau

Fixed the laptop

The laptop was infected with some junk......I took it to my computer guys, Digital Majik in St Cloud, they fixed it again...they are the GUYS!! Yhe photos I published was Barry's bent wheel and the gravel road of Moki Dugway in Utah. The first pic here is Colorado snow, then Dennis' place in Marquette, NE, then more of Mokai Dugway.