Since most of my classmates were born in either 1936 or 1937 I wanted to drive my 37 Buick to the class reunion but fate closed in on me. All liquids were changed, halogen lights installed, and new radials put on a seperate set of wheels. It has a dual action fuel pump but decided the wipers needed tuned up so removed and cleaned motor, softened leather on paddle with brake fluid, and coated with a fresh film of Vasoline. It made a big change; went from working a little slow to not working at all and too late to send to Ficken. Also checked the computer and the weather was going to be unfriendly torwards something with no wipers and no heater. All was not lost because I scouted out an old car friendly northbound and southbound route. Basically it will be US 59 one way and US 75 the other from Texas to the Iowa/Minnesota border. A lot of highway 75 has been converted to multi lane but I know the old sections, kinda like scouting out old Route 66 roads. If Nates Mercedes wagon doesn't pan out I'm going to try to silver tounge him out of the electric vacuum pump and solve my wiper problem forever.
Road Trip Well ; The $400 Mercedes Diesel Wagon didn't pan out ,the seller is a total flake , I'll prolly be buying parts off it A Pick-A-Part next month after the City impounds it As it turns out , those W-123 chassis Mercedes don't use electrical vacuum pumps but the W-126's do , let me know if you need me to go look for one , all S Klasse Mercedes Diesels have them in the trunk , look in the right rear part of the spare tire well , underneath the plastic cover , encased in a block of foam as God forbid you'd maybe hear it whirring softly away in the truck otherwise.... I love those old roads , I travel them all the time in whatever old klunker I'm rattling down the road in .
Old Roads and old tin! Back in the day... My first "Oh hell yeah" find was a '47 F*&d pickup in 1970. You know the one, light green w/ yellow grille and bumpers. $25 and it was mine. Re-worked the brakes, started on the flathead 6. Some guy stopped at the house and offered me $50 for it. Done deal, it's yours! I miss those old roads, where, if you drove slow enough, you could spy an awesome car or truck, just sitting in some good ol' boy's barn or field and after shooting the bull w/ him for 30 minutes, you might be able to get him to put a price on it! But, I digress
Freeways(motorways) I do a lot of travelling out in the countryside to some big houses in quiet spots and while I use the 3 lane motorways to get there on time, usually at excessive speeds I like to come back the scenic route, down the roads that ain't arrow straight and dream I'm driving the ol truck, not my modern van
Next year Nate, I would love to but other things have got in the way this summer, so I will have to finish it over the next couple of months, if the weather holds out. I so wanted to go to the Goodwood Revival this year In it but it was not to be Had a great time anyway, me the misses and my daughter pitched a tent and dressed 50s style, what an event. Old cars and trucks, old planes, and vintage race cars hammering round the track. Cooking over a fire and no tv or mobiles to get in the way (I banned them) Not many places where you can grab pie n mash from an airstream catering unit, watch thousands pass by in 40-50-60s clothes while you eat, listen to bands playing big band and 50s music, then watch old ferraris, jags, ac cobras, BRMs and many many others including a host of old Norton's and BSA's, and the odd Indian screaming round the track in no holds barred racing then top the 3 days off having a P51, Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster buzz around with the P51 and Spitty doing an incredibly close and low display (at one point right over our heads at about 100 feet) happy days. A real petrol head weekend, and it was 19C and sunny!!!! (nighttime 5C!!)
