Road trip: making it there and back
I took the truck out for a run from KC to Barltelsville and back last weekend for the Stray Kat 500 show in Dewey. Had quite the adventure and smiled most the way. Thought I’d share the story.
9 years ago I started assembling a chassis for a fenderless, per-war roadster. Engine was an unknown rebuild. with new babbitt, .40 over and never ran but stored since the mid 80’s. I added the usual stuff: reground touring cam, lightened flywheel, dual Zeniths plus a Simmons head. Chassis updates were typical: friction shocks for the front, custom springs front and rear, mechanicals with new drums from Mel. I paid attention to bushings and tolerances, some things got the full service while some parts (like trans) just received new bearings and gaskets. everything was nice and shiny until... I found the truck cab.
I always wanted a truck and finding a local rust free cab pulled from its 40 year indoor storage was alright. Once the lettering on the doors and hood hinted at its tow truck history, I knew it was right for me. I tracked down the original family and got the full history and photos of the station. Even took the original owners son for a drive, giving him his fathers old steering wheel in exchange for stories of its work in the depression and his driving adventures. Truck became a Midget race car hauller and solt to the local scrap yard in ‘56!
That changed a lot, the new pretty stuff was swapped for used, the chassis was hit with satin body bolted on. I accumulated 40k miles of gravel roads a few cross state drives. So I might as well make another trip and talked my neighbor into going in his flatty powered ‘35. Only difference was I wanted to rough it as much as possible, I packed several vintage items re-purposed for the trip and decided to camp. Routed the perfect Kansas City to Dewey line through back roads and parts of old 66. With an oil change I was off.. so here’s some of the adventure...
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