What Did You do Today - Car Related?

[sixball]

In the late '60s I had a '49 Chevy pickup with wide street tires on the rear. Once I pulled too the side of the road on damp grass and got stuck. Just not enough weight to get those smooth treads to get through the dampness.  I had a shovel and threw some dirt and gravel from the edge of the road in front of the tires and was only way. 

[chopper526]

Haha! I got stuck in my own driveway with my truck. I shoved a piece of plywood under the front of the tire and gave it some gas. That plywood took off like a frisbee, I almost took out my son who was standing near the back of the truck

[sammons]

I remember as a kid, when Grandpa and Grandma would make the trip back here from the west coast. He would always tell of how wicked the desert could be, always have good tires and battery and always be prepared. He always told me most people under estimate the desert and the power of the ocean.

Rattiac that about looks like what i carried when heading to the coast in one of my old cars, plus I always carried a complete drop in distributor, extra waterpump, gen/alt, belts and start solenoid. It came in handy many times.

[sixball]

The stretch of 66 across the Mojave Desert or even the more southern highway 60 were unforgiving in the 50s. Over heating, vapor locks, and blowouts happened often. Once we broke a distributer shaft in a '52 Dodge in sight of Amboy Crater. Mom, my brother, and I stayed with the car while Dad hitchhiked into Ludlow and got a used distributer from a wrecking yard. We played license plate games and How Many of of something would pass in a a certain time. It took several hours and it was getting dark when we got back on the road. The most serious roadside fix was when we were about to lose a rod on a '42 Dodge near Peach Springs. Dad pulled the pan and was able to get the rod loose and pull the piston down far enough to remove the pin and shove the piston back up the cylinder. He had to drop the tie rod to get the pan, with oil, off. He put it back together and we 5 cylindered our way to Hackberry where he payed a gas station/shop owner to use his shop and tools. The guy had parts like all those places did back then and Dad picked out a rod bearing. He pulled all the plugs and used the starter, the shop battery charger, and emory cloth to smooth the crank the best he could. Then he fitted the bearing and we were on our way to California once more. There were more than a dozen trips before I40 took all the fun out of it. In the old days there were car hoods along the roadside that had been removed in the hopes of better cooling. People often stopped to help each other and there was a certain criminal element that preyed on that. Hitchhiking was common but still dangerous. Truckers often stopped to help travelers. Sometimes you sorta' got to know fellow travelers who were making about the same progress as you for a day or two. My brother and I made the trip in the summer of '58 in his '39 ford coupe when he was barely 18 and I was barely 13. Got stuck in the sand near Belen, New Mexico. I stayed with the car while he went for help. A farmer pulled is out for $5. We had to replace the carb with a junkyard one in Kingman and cash the "emergency" $50 dollar check Dad had given us in Barstow. Probably wasn't much more than that in his account.
Next month we are headed for a reunion in Texas that we attend every 2 years. We almost always drive but this year I had a hard time finding a house setter so we are flying. Hate the thought and I will miss the memories the drive always brings. My wife won't miss hearing them all again. 

[sammons]

I still remember my first trip out west on 66 and across the desert in early fall 1963. Something about it i liked. Dads '58 Bonneville trying to overheat, him running around 100mph to get enough air flow. Grandpa catching up at the next stop chewing his butt for running so fast. We had to stop at the old steel trussel bridge over the Colorado to get more water to cool off little brother. He was almost a year old and the heat made him sick as all get out.

All the Whiting Brothers gas station/ motels seemed about every 50 miles. When I-40 opened all the way (think New Mexico between Tucumcari/Albuque was the last) in the early 80s, all the new (now abandoned)  Stuckeys popped up.

[chopper526]

You guys are talking way over my head. I'm about the same age as most of you guys, but the east coast where I grew up, we just didn't have roads like that... or I never experienced them. I do remember once as a little kid my Dad's 52 Chevy struggling and overheating to get up a hill as we were going down the shore.

[Rattiac]

Love the stories guys.   

The jeep hasn't been starting right away like usual.
Tested the fuel pressure on the rail.
1st test. ) key only on. No pressure.
Started. ) 50psi,  normal
Shutdown. ) it's supposed to hold 30psi for 5 mins.
Went to 0 immediately. 😐

Napa has a new one on the way. Might have to swap it out when I get back. Taking the old pump with me just incase.
Also grabbed a new relay.  Be Testing that after dinner.

[sixball]

Yeah, the Whiting Brothers gas stations had signs showing how far to the next gas. Usually a lot of miles maybe near 100. The Giant Jackrabbit had signs, usually a black jackrabbit silhouette with yellow numbers, telling how many miles away you were. They started hundreds if miles away and were placed from the roadside to to mountain tops. When you got there, if your dad would stop, there was a big lumpy black concrete jackrabbit, not the cute one in pictures now. Burma-Shave signs were looked forward to.

The bridge in your picture was near Needles and is where you crossed into California, a true mile stone. Before there between Kingman and Oatman there was one of the steepest crooked grades. It is still there on the old road and still scary. On one trip we got there just before dark and as we started down my dad said he hated driving at that time of day when it was so dark that you needed to turn on the headlights but still light enough that they didn't help much. He laughed when I asked if we could pull over and wait a while.
There were lots of bridges on Route 66 some absolute wonders for the time. We mostly drove it west of Amarillo but on one trip my dad, brother and I took it to Chicago in 1957 in a '53 Ford pickup. The grain dryer we pulled back From Crystal Lake, IL to near Happy, Texas is still sitting outside the abandoned grain elevator where Dad was running a shop back then.

https://www.google.com/search?rls=en&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=Old+bridges+on+Route+66&client=safari&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiH-M3SxZzxAhXFqZ4KHdNvARQQjJkEegQIEBAC&biw=1280&bih=647

[Rattiac]

https://youtu.be/8qaJpxkamsE

[sixball]

Thanks! Any fuel pressure news?

[chopper526]

That video is great! That 5 minute video took me 10 minutes to watch it, I had to keep pausing it so I could read the signs.

[sammons]

I remember those😁 and the curios, souvenirs and indian trading posts. There was all the "See live" from Buffalo, Moutain Lion, Rattle Snake, Bear etc. mostly in NM and AZ. Lots of trips and memories for me out there. Never could get Dad to stop for the night in the TeePee Motel. 😫

[sixball]

It is surprising how much is still there Two Guns and Twin Arrows just remains but the Meteor Crater is still operating and worth a stop Route 66 Caverns is still there. I think the TeePee motel is open again. Seligman, Arizona got a big bump from the Cars movie as did many town along the route. There are lots of little shops and great food. There is still a spirit there and I'm very happy that people too young to have seen it in it's glory and infatuated with it's ghost. So much is still taking place along road. Even some of the old motels are being remodeled and reopening in just the last couple of years. On our last trip we stayed in the El Vado and the Monterey next doo was still a wreck. Both are done now and we had planned to stay at one of them next month.
https://elvadoabq.com/stay/ They are near the old town in Albuquerque. Not cheap but nice. We also spent a night at the La Fonda hotel in Santa Fe, expensive but really a neat place. Lots to see in the old parts of these places.

[Rattiac]

Thanks! Any fuel pressure news?

I'm pretty sure it's a bad check valve.
I'll have to ride it out this weekend and do the "poor man's prime" jeepers call it.
Turn the key once or twice before starting.
Bought an extra relay just incase.
Picking up the new pump Monday

[62131]

Checking out the videos there is a lot to see, I really want to drive out through that part of the country