...after nearly five years of wrenching in the garage. My goal this year was to have the car ready to drive to an annual gathering in Jackson Hole Wy, on June 10th, a 600 mile round trip. It was a full court press, but I made the deadline. Following is a recap of the trip, if you follow the P15-D24 forum, you've already read it as I posted it a couple of weeks ago there...
Friday the morning of the 10th, we finished getting little odds and ends together, and packed the car. We piled in the car, stopped for road snacks at the quick stop on the way out of town, and hit the wide open road under a mix of blue sky and collecting thunderheads.
Our first stop to stretch legs and move about was at Craters of the Moon National Park, an area of ancient volcanic activity about an hour from home. There are lava flows as far as you can see to the south, in a serene and beautiful setting. We were there long enough to let the kids run around and to take some pics before the thunder heads caught up and the rain started to fall. It rained hard for about a half hour before letting up. My Ficken wipers were up to the task, working wonders for visibility in a total downpour.
Me and my little helpers, they both turned wrenches with me every step of the way and are very proud of their effort.
Just on the other side of Craters, we hit the dreaded road construction. The asphalt was being removed on one lane, and the traffic was reduced to the other. It was a 15 mile jaunt over rough gravel, rubble, and freshly oiled soft dirt. I was happy to see the end of that stretch, as we rolled into Arco, ID for a fuel stop. When I got out of the car, I expected it to be covered with all manner of road grime from the construction. But the only place that got much was the rear splash pan between the bumper and trunk. The loose sticky stuff that we’d driven over made it’s way between the bumper which acts as a scoop, and the pan, where it collected in copious amounts. I checked the mileage on the first tank, and was pleasantly surprised to find that my full race flatty got 19 MPG, traveling at 60 to 65 MPH. This is as good or better than all of my daily drivers… I also checked my odometer along the way to make sure my mileage calculations would be accurate. The odometer is right on the money, even though the speedo is off by 5-10 mph.
rough road, and lots of large bugs...
We continued on our merry way, at a leisurely pace enjoying the scenic drive. We stopped again in Idaho Falls, Id for lunch, and then journeyed on through Swan Valley, a very nice drive through the foothills. I realized that I had forgotten to remove the coil wire from my OD kickdown switch so that the fuse to the coil wouldn’t blow when the button was pressed, so before starting the first series of climbs out of Swan Valley, we stopped and cut the wire from the circuit. The kickdown switch works now when the throttle is released, instead of the other way round. This works well, and after driving the car like this for several days, I kind of like it this way, and am going to leave it as is.
The final stretch of the trip to Jackson Hole, Wy, was the killer pass from Victor, ID over the mountain to Jackson. It is 19 miles, half of it straight up, and the other straight back down. Most of it is 10% grade, with runaway truck ramps all along the way. I had two worries nagging me about this stretch, engine overheating and brake fade… Turned out that the car simply chugged up the grade no sweat, only increasing in temp about 10 degrees. And on the way back down, I kept the car in first gear and took it slow. I didn’t use the brakes once on the way down and used the engine compression instead. The car handled the winding 8,500 foot mountain pass like a champ.
going up the steep winding road
Victory! at the top...
headed down the other side...
Once down the other side of the pass, we were in Jackson, our destination. We motored to the Virginian Lodge, were the 29th annual EIEIO Rendezvous rod run was held. We checked in, washed the car, and had a few cold ones to celebrate getting there without a hitch.
Saturday there was a poker run, show and shine, and free beer and food. There was a steady stream of lookers poking their heads under the hood of the Plymouth, and lots of complements. A couple of fellows started asking questions about the car, asking where I bought it, and mentioning that it looked familiar to them. Turns out they nearly bought the car a few weeks before I did, in a little town about an hour from mine where the car had spent many years in a barn. They couldn’t believe the transformation, and just stood there looking with big grins. The one that had wanted to buy it said he remembered sitting behind the wheel falling in love with the dash… That was a satisfying moment for me.
at the show and shine amongst all the rods...
I also had the NSRA gang inspect the car, and it passed all 23 points of inspection with one exception. I had forgotten to install the new 12v bulb in the license plate lamp. I walked about a half mile to find another bulb, since most places were closed, put it in, and got 23 point inspection sticker. The inspectors really dug the car, as they own a ’34 Plymouth. The were very enthusiastic about the inspection, and actually asked me if they could do it before I had a chance to ask them.
Sunday was time for participant voting awards, raffle drawings, etc. It was raining like mad, and cold. We stayed for the awards, got recognition for the NSRA inspection, and then packed up for the journey home.
We filled up at the gas station on the edge of town, and headed back up the pass. The Jackson side is the steepest, and once again, the ‘ol ’50 chugged right up and over. The rain didn’t let up for about 3 hours, only to be replaced with gale force head and cross winds for the rest of the trip home. I checked the mileage again at the next stop, and got 16.7 with the pass and wind in the mix, and traveling faster on the freeway. Not too shabby. The wind noise in the car at 70 mph in a serious head wind was deafening. I couldn’t wait to stop for a little QUIET. Sound insulation in the car will be the next improvement, before another long trip. Even with the bad wind, I had no problem maintaining speed on the freeway, and could easily accelerate to go around slower traffic.
We took a longer route home, mostly freeway, to avoid the 15 miles of dirt that we’d crossed on the first leg of the trip. Ironically there was another stretch just as long with the same resurfacing on the alternate route. Luckily the lane we were traveling in was paved, and there wasn’t much traffic going the other way to toss rocks in our direction. We were showered with stones a few times though, but no chips…
Just after we made it through the construction, my Dad’s ’40 Chevy broke a motor mount crossing railroad tracks, and was done for. We were 40 miles from my house. He had to call a rollback and have the car delivered to Hailey. He then trailered the car back to Boise (150 miles) to my brother’s shop for repair. The only sour note of the trip.
I totaled the mileage and we drove the car 584 miles round trip. We drove through torrents of rain, hail, mean wind, mud, gravel, dirt, sun, over snowy mountains, through green valleys, and loved every minute of it. The only thing we didn’t drive through was icy roads, luckily! The only problem the car had during the trip was a seep of coolant from the top radiator hose when we arrived in Jackson. A couple of turns of the clamp and it stopped. Not even the slightest issue with anything else, but a couple of irritating rattles in the passenger door.
It feelt good to be home, but also a sense of Sunday blues lingering in the air now that the trip is done. This run has been an elusive goal for me for the last five years, and it all seems like a blur now that it finally happened. My kids don’t remember a time when we didn’t have the Plymouth to work on. It’s a little weird now that the car can be driven without first fixing something, and when I go out to the garage, I don’t know what to do with myself… On the other hand, it also felt really good to put the car to bed tucked in under it’s cover, knowing it can stay there for a while till the urge to drive it hits. I’m going to leave it there for a while, and start the honey do list that I’ve avoided for months….
All in all, I’m couldn’t be happier with the way my 55 year old car performed on it’s journey. It kept up with all the modern cars effortlessly in just about every driving condition possible. We were warm, dry, and comfy all the way. After this trip, I wouldn’t hesitate to drive this car coast to coast. If I didn’t have to work for a living, I’d be packing for a cross country jaunt...
Plymouth built great cars…
That’s it for now, happy motoring.
Pete
What a journey, what a
