Another one in the books.

This is the LAST time.  I mean it.  5 years ago we towed our ’48 Manor to Milford behind the (then new) ’51 Pontiac wagon, which had previously only been to the muffler shop, and brake shop to repair the seized up right front brake caliper.

On Thursday, we hitched the ’46 Spartan to the Diamond T, and once again headed out into the great wide open.   True, we’d towed the little “Tini-Home” canned ham trailer to Pinckney a week ago, but that hardly counted.  The truck had less than 300 miles on it, had spent the previous three weeks in body rehab and the shop (once again, my friend Ron Penny’s shop, who always seems to be able to bail me out) to make it actually run, before we hitched a 25 foot long travel trailer to it and  hit the road.

No more last-minute, down to the wire thrashing.

It performed flawlessly.  Effortlessly towing the trailer at traffic speed, and delivering, as near as I can figure, almost 16 mpg with the trailer on the hitch.

Confident of my inability fix anything that might possibly to wrong, I packed only a spare tire and lug wrench, figuring anything that happened I couldn’t fix with those things would need a roll-back, we headed out on Thursday afternoon, cell phone in my pocket and credit card in my wallet.

Which I left home in my work pants back pocket…

My eye was glued to the temp gauge, and ear to non-existent noises that would bring us to a grinding, screeching, halt, but none of the above happened.  The truck performed exactly as it should, keeping up with traffic, immune to cross-winds, bow-wake from passing semi tractor trailers, garnering “thumbs-up” from passing cars and delivering us to Milford without a single hiccup.

The truck was a big  hit at the TCT gathering, and at the Bakers Restaurant “Cruise-In” on Sunday.  Several people asked me if it had been “…some sort of fire truck…”, and more than one person asked “What did people do with them?”

Really?  What do people do with pick-up trucks nowadays?

I’m still basking the afterglow, ears ringing a little from the (glorious) exhaust note, but had to share a little of the weekend.

Enjoy!

I needed another project…

It may be big, but it sure is ugly!  Actually, I kinda, OK, I REALLY like the ’62 Del-Ray we bought from fellow TCT member Brandon.  He was kind enough to deliver it for fuel money this morning, and I was happily surprised to see the camper looks better in person than the pictures he had of it.

While it’s not the “Sky-Lounger” model, it’s still pretty tall, as the picture shows.  The front overhang has the cool panoramic windows, similar to our Spartans, which is what I like about it.  And, it’s pretty “Over the Top” in a funky, early ’60′s way.

It’s what Don Draper would go camping in, if Don Draper camped,  and there were an ample supply of Crown Royal.

We tucked in my Dad’s shop, setting on 55 gallon drums and the three jacks, until I can make some jack extensions that’ll allow me to get the GMC dually under it, then, we’re going camping somewhere!  The interior is all birch in very nice shape, the original dinette cushions are intact and useable, although the mattress in the bunk needs replaced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news, the Diamond T is all gassed up, bikes in the back, and ready to roll to Milford, Spartan in tow.  I polished some of the paint on the truck yesterday where I’d hung a curtain in the clear, and the back of the cab where the clear was orange peel-y.  It looks better.

The bikes fit the mounts very well, and the spare tire (fits truck and trailer) lays on the bed floor under them.  Plenty of room.

I filled the cab’s hide-em strip at the roof with some taupe vinyl which matches the interior this morning.  I had gotten used to seeing the open seam, with screw heads showing, and sort looked past it, but it looks MUCH better now.  I can’t think of anything else I have time to do except pack my bag, and we’re off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will be ready for a G & T when we get to Milford, the official TCT beverage!

 

Brian

Cool McCool’s finishes a project!

Well, OK, maybe not QUITE finished, but it’s done enough to hitch up to a trailer and head out on a trip!  I brought the “Tini-Home” trailer back from winter storage Wednesday, in anticipation of tomorrows journey first to the Gilmore Car Museums Spring Dust Off, then it’s off to Gregory MI for a party with some of our TCT friends.

In typical Cool McCool’s fashion, we are heading for uncharted waters, as the truck has exactly 2 days (TWO DAYS) of driving and less than 100 miles on it.  The trailer only has to tag along, and it’s already road tested, so that part of the combo is road-ready.

It’ll be fine.

The truck had its unofficial “debut” at the Gilmore Car Museums Wednesday night cruise in this week, and was big  hit.  I’d gotten the bumper on that morning, a beautiful diamond plate storage box from Tractor Supply that fits the box like it was made for it, and bicycle carriers mounted on that, after picking it up from my buddy’s shop.  I did a quickie wash, and it looked good enough to draw crowds at the event and lots of compliments.

Tomorrow morning we’ll clean up the interior, run the duster over the exterior, fill up the tank and hit the road on its inaugural trip.

See you at the Dust Off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s BACK…

A friend of ours in Las Vegas emailed the other day to ask if I’d seen the ’36 was listed on eBay again.  I didn’t, so I followed the link he sent to the ad.

It’s listed by an  exotic car dealership in KY, for the staggering price of $44,900.  I’m not sure if a guy browsing a showroom of Lambo’s is going to be attracted to my chopped down old Ford, but good luck to them.  The car looks the same as it did, with the exception of a cheesy “street-rod-y” Dolphin tach in the dash waterfall (that doesn’t go with any of the rest of the dash) and the addition of LOTS of over-wrought  pinstriping.  I have to say that the wheels do look better, with the center spiders and striping, but the rest of it is a little overdone.  It’s supposed to be simple.

The sparse description, mostly “Runs and Drives GREAT”, while maybe not an outright lie, is wildly optimistic at best.  It DOES look stunning, and it runs like scalded cat, but “…Drives GREAT!”, uh, no.

More apt would be, “This car could KILL you in a heartbeat!”, but, why spoil their fun?

But, it’s not mine any more, so what do I know.

My friend Bill McGuire, who was responsible for it getting published in Hot Rod, offered that the extra embellishments just distract from the car, and that it was “complete”, as I’d built it.

Thanks Bill.

I’d add that while it’d have been nice to have gotten more for when I sold it, my feeling is that whoever buys it, for whatever amount, isn’t going to enjoy it as much as I did.  Either in planning, building, or driving it.  The statement that the car makes, and I humbly submit it’s a car that NO ONE has ever done anything like before, will be an influence in the Hot Rodding scene for years to come.  Buying it isn’t the same as building it.

I had a great time with the car, I tripled my money on it, got a little notoriety with it, and let it move on.  It’s a Win/Win, as far as I can see.

And like my buddy John said,  ”Brian, that’s always going to be YOUR car.”

True that, John.

Good news!

Just got off the phone with my friend Ron Penny (who is now my BEST friend!), and the truck will be done by noon!  Turns out, it had a completely dead 02 sensor, on the right side, and, surprise, I’d missed plugging in an important something or other in the wiring harness when I built the harness.

Imagine that, roughly 200 little plugs, on a harness I built from 2 junk yard harness’ and I miss one…

“How big a shoehorn did you use to get that thing in there?”, he asked, “That thing is PACKED.  You did a REALLY nice job with that build.”

Coming from Ron, a guy who’s a very accomplished builder, on a pro level, and someone I’ve known for 30 years, that’s a real compliment.  Made me feel pretty good!

So, I’m heading in after lunch to pick it up, I’m excited to drive it, and plan on a “Debut” at the Gilmore Cruise night tomorrow with the truck and a VERY shiny Spartan trailer behind it.

How to polish your vintage aluminum trailer.

Step 1.  Open your checkbook and hire someone else to do it for you.  Since I don’t have an extra $4,000 lying around, and I find myself with an extra couple of days worth of time, I’m once again tackling it myself.

It’s actually not bad, since it’s been polished three times prior to this.  It’s been two years on the last polish, and while it looks pretty good, it does look better with a quick polish.  You can see where I quit (from exhaustion) just aft of the rear wheel, where the swirl marks end.

Since 10:30 this morning I’ve done the entire street side, front below the windows, and the curb side to here.  Have yet to do the back panels and the front cap.  I’m not touching anything above the drip rail or below the side rub rail.

Tomorrow I’ll finish up the side and back-end, then I have to rub those areas down with a towel sprinkled with flour, the best thing I’ve found to get the polish residue off, and then hand polish with Nuvite “Nu-Shine” final glaze.  Those two steps get rid of 90% of the swirl marks, and I can live with that.  It doesn’t have to perfect to be fun.

“Shouldn’t” you be working on the truck, now that it’s all fixed?”, you ask?

The answer to that is that I’ve exhausted my limited diagnostic skills, even with the new scan tool I bought.  I’ve replaced the MAF sensor, the plug wires, the fuel pump, the 02 sensors, cleaned the plugs, replaced 4 of them, and it still runs ragged, fussed, fuddled and worried myself sick, with no real improvement.  I give up.

This morning I drove it in to Kalamazoo to my friend Ron Penny’s shop, “Woodward’s Garage”, and left it there for them to fix whatever boneheaded thing I’ve overlooked or screwed up.  Actually, it didn’t run too badly, but following me Kim said it was occasionally puffing black smoke from the right hand side, and it was missing.  Which explains why I can actually watch the needle on the gas gauge going down…

So, it’s been left overnight in Intensive Care, while the trailer goes into rehab here in the driveway.  The Big Brown Truck delivered a shiny new bumper and the hood corner rubbers today, so when Ron is finished making it run, I can put that stuff back on.

Time for a beer.

Start with the simple things.

Last night I drove the Diamond T to the Gilmore Museums first “Cruise Night” after I got home from work.  It runs terrible when it warms up, but I figured I could make it 2 miles to the museum.

I did, but it was running awful, and again it had yakked up some coolant onto the right front fender.   Sigh.  It still drew a crowd among the few remaining there, and I made it home, so I guess it was a success.

When I got home, I quickly found the source of the antifreeze was the lower radiator hose, which has a pinhole in it.  With thermostat in, the engine comes up to temp, pressurised the cooling system, and, Viola!  Spews coolant.

Plus, it runs TERRIBLE once it warms up.  Misfires, belches black smoke, but only from the left cylinder bank.  (Note, I replaced the 02 sensor on that side too, with no improvement.  In fact, now it’s worse).

So at 0700 I was out in the shop, pulled the right front wheel, drained the coolant, pulled the (almost inaccessible)  thermostat housing, and gutted it.  I then jacked up the left side, cut an access hole in the inner fender, in order to change plugs.  (Remember, start with the simple things first.)

Guess what?  Three of the 4 plug wire boots nearly fell off the plugs.  What the…

It seems that when I changed plug wires, back long ago, it was impossible to completely push them onto the plugs.  I THOUGHT I had them on securely, but no.  So, the plugs of course are black and fouled.  They must fire intermittently, but not once it warms up.

Could it be that simple?

Anyway, off to the parts store for a new hose, a new ‘stat and we’ll still go get a diagnostic port to wire in for scanning it, but I may have solved the problem.