Here are the pics Chase and I took along the way on our 3,746 mile Road Trip from Kalifornia to Kentucky...

We left for the airport at 2:30 AM the morning of 19 June. Chase hadn't gotten all of his beauty sleep, so here he is at the airport in Houston catching up... :lol:

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/32/houstonnap.jpg/][IMG]http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9035/houstonnap.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I'm having issues with Image Shack... More later... :roll:

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Trying again...

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Okay,... seems to work now. Here we go...

Earl picked us up from the airport in Sacramento and took us to the car near Stockton. Here's our first look at "Stella".



Here's Earl going over all of the cool little "thingamabobs" with Chase. Yes, she has a working Map Light!



And,... The initial start up and burble of the Thrush mufflers dumping out right under the driver seat. That's Chase's, "Oh yeah!" look.



When we went to back her out for the initial test drive the driver side seat belt would NOT release. So, we took it apart and adjusted the tension spring just a tad. Good to go!



Earl is one stand up guy. The car was everything he said it was and he went out of his way to take care of us! I need to go over to FABO and post some of this stuff. Thanks a ton Earl!!



Chase and "Stella".

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Earl said that the car had belonged to an elderly lady for many years. Receipts in the glovebox and these parking permit stickers attest to that.

The oldest legible permit was from 1996, but there were a couple others that had all but fallen off. It looks like Stella lived in a retirement home for quite some time. She only had 74,613 miles on her when we picked her up.





When was the last time you saw one of these intact?

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

For those who may have missed it, Chase turned 16 on Sunday the 17th of June, got his driver's permit on Monday,... And was driving on California freeways in the Bay area in an unfamiliar vehicle on Tuesday! Yeah,... we like to live life on the Wild Side!

We left Stockton enroute to Sunnyvale to spend the night at Dutra Headquarters and have Team Dutra go over the car with us. On the way there the right rear tire lost a chunk of tread. Luckily, the tire didn't lose air (we didn't have any lug nuts for the spare ). Chase pulled off the freeway and I took over driving on a wing and a prayer into Fremont to find some tires.

Here's Stella going up on the lift at Firestone. One lug stud snapped and another lug nut was stripped, but we soldiered on to Doug's where he went to his "magic buckets" for replacement parts.



One other little fixeroo that was needed was the wiper arm linkage bushings... There, um,... weren't any! As we were cruising down the freeway the wiper arms slowly and independently climbed up to the vertical position...



We didn't stress too much about it until we stopped for the night in Roseburg, OR and woke up to a drizzle. I assumed the bushings would be one of those "hard to find" parts, so Chase and I cut a couple plastic bottle tops to use as snap rings to hold things together until a more permanent repair could be made.





It was a bit noisy and clanky, but they worked fine. Luckily, it didn't rain that much on the drive up to Woodburn. It waited until we got there to really hit.

When we got to Woodburn CJ came over and tossed me a set of the plastic bushings. He had stopped at a NAPA on the way in where they are readily available. What a guy!

When my Battle Buddy from OIF showed up (DusterIdiot) and we gave each other a big hug he reached into his ashtray and pulled out another handful of the bushings.

Them Oregonians know the importance of functional windshield wipers! Thanks guys!!

I'll post some more later. Gotta take Mike to 4-H Trap shooting practice. We have a professional shooter that competes all over the world coming in to give us some pointers!

Later!

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Awesome pics & a great story too... Some if the best road trips have been with my son!

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BIG T
1967 Dart "Six Shooter"
Girlfriend Rhonda... 66 Valiant
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I've always been told that wiper arms in the upright position is for aero....

Anyways, glad ya had the leathermans, and btw what DID we do before said tool? And breakin' in a 'green' driver in the Bay area is a brave thing to do.... ( I used to drive OTR truck for a living) But then again I CAN think of worse places... Looks like ya'll hada ball and keep the pics coming...

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MRO....

Cheap, Fast, Reliable.... Pick 2...

Which "sin" is "your sin"?

Sam

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That is Terry for you he has BIG fingers, so his typing suffers.

Richard

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Road Trip Sin is like......Radar Love

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

LOL at Terry.....that is supposed to be "son!" His son is in GA he just joind the Army.

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Wife's: 64 Valiant
My: 70 Road Runner, 67 Barracuda, AND the 62 Valiant drag car!!

Your going to miss the weather out here!

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

OOPPS Thanks guys.. I have Corrected my SIN to SON..


HAHAHAH

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BIG T
1967 Dart "Six Shooter"
Girlfriend Rhonda... 66 Valiant
[/URL]

Road trip with Sin is what happens to me.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

What happens in Vegas....

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing