Denver R BUST!!!!!

Well as you guys know, Steve and I tend to jump into things with both feet and then swim like hell when realize the water is DEEP!

So a couple o'speedster kits show up on Samba the other day in Denver... Really a pretty good deal $6,500 bought the pair. Some missing parts for the second vehicle and definately need to redo the pans in one, but still. Everything is there for one and most everything for the other. Both are rollers with tires that hold air and nothing special wheels underneath them, transaxles in both chassis'.

We leave tomorrow morning for a good little jaunt across the western US culminating in Denver sometime Friday!

This is Todd (Steve's best friend) and Steve fiddling with the borrowed trailer. Todd borrowed it for us. Turned out he borrowed it from Steve's cousin Greg! What a small world!

Think Subie power, Fishcop color, light alloy wheels, disc brakes... Steve can do whatever the hell he wants with his.
angela

Sweet! No doubt you and the Mr. will put out a kick ass car.



Just makes sure not to put any emblems on them. ;)

Bitchin', Angela!
I can't wait to follow the builds.

Excellent! I can't think of anybody better to end up with them.

Future 3.2 in one of them?

Sweet trailer, by the way...

Now this IS going to be good ....great deal!
You're gonna have a lot of extra room on the trailer ...buy something else too:) ....You kids have a safe and fun trip ! ~Alan

Yeah our "borrowed" trailer options ranged from just a little to small to somewhat too large... In this case, size DOES matter - LOL!

And no 3.2's for either of them. One of these might wind up a turbo subie, the other naturally aspirated. Our spyder 3.2 is out in Colorado already at Injection Labs. You see, it's going to grow a turbo or two for a 904 project. One of the speedsters could help fund that! Probably mine. Sigh.

The speedsters are both going to sit for a while as we are finishing the blazer before we start on anything else. But at this price, it seemed like something we shouldn't pass up. Got to do something with that acre we bought for development... Use it to store unbuilt speedsters!

angela

Oh for love o' Mike why the heck did Steve take the pin for the receiver hitch out of the hitch? What the heck good is the hitch without the pin? GAHHH!!!

He's on parts chase right now, I think I found one at the local truck stop...

Oh I have a feeling this is going to be a long four days.

angela

Steve & Angela on a road trip?

What's that noise I hear?

Oh, its just a screen door banging in a tornado! :-)

Good luck on your trip, Angela!
Take time to smell the roses along the way.

"Oh, its just a screen door banging in a tornado! :-)"

BWAH HAH HAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Angela, when you get around to the builds of these cars you will have to document appropriately.

Angela

Good luck to you and Steve on this project.

Angela, Post photo's when you pick up the cars.

Should be interesting when you and Steve finish the car/s

Gee, I wonder what color he will paint them????

Love your spirit! This will keep the SOC interesting during these builds. I've got a few Porsche badges I don't use anymore if you need them.........have fun.

Awesome that the two cars are going to a good home.

I'm going to put a Folex badge on mine - BWAHAHAHA!!!

Believe it or not, neither car will be black. Well, mine won't be anyway! We left Medford this morning around 6:45am and took the scenic route to Reno through Susanville, CA. They've upgraded that road alot in the past few years and it's a pretty nice route. Some good grades, but alot to look at an excellent pavement surface.

We get thru Reno and jump on I-80 east bound. I have to go to the bathroom (again...) so we swing into a Travel America (TA) truck stop. This trailer is so darn long, especially behind our crew cab that you really don't want to even try a standard fuel station.

So... What does Steve do? You guessed it. Makes a left and heads into the car side. I suggest that maybe the truck side would be easier, but he says "Don't tell me how to drive!"

Remember that point. I know that I will make a point of remembering it!

I head into stop, take care o' business, pick up a few items he had asked me to get and then start looking for him. I find him and he is clearly distressed. Yeah. You saw this one coming. He had pulled forward and swung too tight, clipped a guys's pickup truck. He found the owner, then went back in to find the owner of the Xterra. Xterra moved, pickup pulled forward, just a scuff on the chrome bumper. Zero damage to his pickup. Nice dent in the trailer fender but Steve can fix that. Steve turns around, in front of both the guys and says "Why weren't you HERE to tell me how to drive!" I nearly choked...

Steve apologized to the fellas, bought the guys lunch and that was all there was to it.

Steve says he feels "pistol whipped" right now.

angela

Angela - that is TOO funny! In that particular situation, I'm sure it helped that Steve is one bad-ass looking dude. If that were me driving that trailer, I woulda got my ass kicked into next week!!

Have a safe trip and Keep us posted.

I have never seen a flat bed trailer that long (that didn't have a Kenworth pulling it)! I have probs parking between yellow lines with my 8' foot Coleman utility trailer on a Yota 4 Runner. My solution is to jump out and pick up rear and scoot it over - probably not an option with that one. Guess fast food drive thrus are out too! Do you need a CDL to pull such a long trailer?

Angela,
Dare we mention this to Steve? or just keep out mouths shut?? Anyway, remember the shoulder in front of our place is wide and the county is used to me having big trailers impeding traffic. See you tomorrow. BTW, I had a change of plans and we will be available all day.

Happy Trailering,
Dusty and the LMS

All that speedster stuff on the trailer will make Fred Sanford ....proud !

Hi everyone!

Now you can ALL give Steve flack about that one. Don't bother keeping it a secret - what are friends for? BWAAAAHAHAHA!

So we switched driving duties and a couple of hours into my shift, the truck threw a CEL. Shit. Temps all good, running fine, that exhaust leak IS getting pretty obnoxious though.... Hmmmm... I actually debated a few minuts. Tell Steve or not?

I tell 'em and we decide that it would be prudent (as all on the dash otherwise indicates well) to drive to a place where there are some facilities. There's a lot of lonely spots on Nevada's I-80 where the off ramps are marked "no services." That's Rural-ese for - just keep on trucking baby 'cause you're on your own.

At Wells Nevada, we pull over. Fuel up, check fluids, top off the oil, make sure the fuel caps are tight etc. When I fire it up, the CEL is cleared. Such is the nature of them, let's hope it doesn't come back. Before fueling, I was having a little trouble picking where I needed to fuel and wound up driving around the huge lot 3 times.

When I finally got the truck and trailer pulled into a fueling spot (RV spot, which required me to back up - I did it surprisingly well), we get out of the truck. Steve makes a few disparaging comments and I yell "WAIT A MINUTE! WHERE'S THAT FORD THAT I HIT? Oh wait a minute - I DIDNT HIT ANYTHING YOU DID!"

We just went through Wendover (bendover - hahaha!!). We've decided to get to the east side of Salt Lake and then pull over and sleep for a few hours.

Steve wants to know all about brake up grades for an IRS/balljoint front beam car. Dang. We just passed the sign for hte Bonnefville Salt flats ande it's too dark for me to see anything! GAAAAAHHH!!!

angela

Steve, the crew cab and 40 feet of trailer negotiated the Salt Lake City concrete high speed puzzle of freeways with flying colors. Boy talk about make something simple complicated... How about remember that I-80 is an INTERSTATE and marking a couple of lanes "Thru Traffic Only".

The highway curls up to Park City Utah. As we were driving through that mountain range, we could see a big light ahead around the curve of a ridge. Assumed it was somee big industrial complex or mine. It was waaaaay cooler than that!

It was the moonrise! The most spectacular one I've ever seen in my life. The big half moon filled the sky and lit everything up light day light. It looked close enough to touch! Undid my seatbelt, crossed over the bench and gave Steve a smooch. Never, ever waste a sight like that...

Slept near Evanston (which has fireworks stores all year round!). My turn to drive and I rolled through most of Wyoming in the dark. Just a good radio station and big trucks for company. We traded off about 50 miles from Laramie. I was dead asleep in the back seat when Steve ammounces "HEY! Where the hell's my wallet!?"

Tell you what, 1000 miles from home - that comment will wake hyou right up. We found it a few tense minutes later. Got to tell you, there is never a dull moment traveling with Steve. Between you guys and me? I think it was me that dropped the wallet under the seat...

We've gotten shitty fuel economy. The wastegate on the Ford is busted. We had our buddy Todd put in a new spring but we're not getting full boost. So whereas the truck is running perfectly smooth, it's effectively missing it's nuts. Nuts are good dragging this trailer through the mountasin! Without good boost we're fire-walled hard in alot of places and only getting about 12-13 miles per gallon. Normally, I can tow a full sized barn shaped camp trailer and get 17, so this really sucks.

But not as bad as 12 miles per gallon and no wallet... That would have REALLY been bad!

angela

Angela,

You guys have a good trip. Just wondering why you didn't take 140 over thru Klamath and then Winnemuca. Would have saved you several hundred miles, Maybe try it on the return trip! I am headed that way in about 10 days, heading back to Illinois and my High School reunion.

Happy Trails, Bruce

Bruce, they had "High Schools" back then?
Angela, I would love to go on an adventure with you some day....

Did she say she was "missing her nuts"?

Does anybody here remember the Lucy & Ricky Ricardo movie "the Long, Long Trailer"? They had a very long mobile home and a series of mis-adventures across the country. Well, Lucy & Ricky (alias Steve & Angela) stopped in Loveland this morning to say Howdy on their way to pick up TWO Speedsters and we had breakfast and got to listen to their own stories of Loooong, Loooong trailers and mis-adventures. Great fun !!!!!!!! You two come back anytime.

Drive carefully and be sure to post pictures of those cars ASAP

Happy Trails,
Dusty and LMS

So...size does matter after all......

Well of course size matters - duh! LOL!

Bruce- if you take 140 across through Denio you run into a stretch of length restricted highway. It is restricted to truck/trailers no more than 50 feet in combination. We're solidly over 60 feet...

They restrict because you physically can't keep the vehicle from crossing into oncoming traffic and because the woman in the passenger side (me) has a screaming hissy fit looking off of side with no guard rail, no shoulder and a 500 plus foot drop. Scare the snot out of you when a truck or RV comes the other way. Spectacular drive in a car though.

Got both speedsters and all their assorted bits on the trailer and in the back of the truck. We keep moving the speedsters around to change the weight balance. Though it looks a little nose low now, it's towing very nicely. We it too light, then too heavy, now it's about right.

Headed to an exhaust shop to get the leak fixed on the truck. That was no-go. On Friday afternoon, everybody wants to go home. Imagine that. So we gave up, headed for a hotel and are bunking quietly in something that start with an F and end with a D!

Dusty and Sharon - thank you for breakfast, your humor and hospitality are becoming legendary on the SOC! Steve will probably frame the picture you took (above) so he can show everyone that he posed with a REAL magazine cover girl- the Lovely Miss Sharon!

We are going to take two days to drive back. If you take the route Bruce mentioned (140 through Denio) then Mapquest gives it 19 hours in a car. The route we took actually encompassed 23 hours of drive time (with fuel stops) for us. We did sleep for 2 or 3 hours, but didn't count that. Doing this as a 15 hour and an 8 hour seems much more reasonable.

Besides, Steve says he wants to stop at the Bunny Ranch on the way back. That seems a little silly to me, they sell bunny rabbits at the grange co-op at home. Why do we need to stop at the Bunny Ranch and why do I have to stay in the truck?

angela

angela

Steve,
Here's a better picture for your "print and frame". I took this up in Rocky Mountain National Park when I had my camera handy and LMS just "happened " to have her sequined dress on!!? This is the Excalibur Phaeton I told you about. Not the Roadster you saw.

You two have a safe trip home and be sure to take lots of picturs of the process of making these two Speedsters fantastic. We can't wait to see!!

Happy TGrails,
Dusty and LMS

Angela... make sure you don't fudge the "log book(s)"
Safe trip! ~Alan

Hubba hubba!!! Er, sorry Dusty ;-)

I don't see any decals on the speedsters!

Good God, has LMS ever taken a bad picture? Ever?

We're passing through Wyoming right now. I wrote on the back of the rear speedster "His and Hers" with hearts. The truck drivers think this is pretty cool. Two thumbs way up all around! AT the last fuel stop in Laramie, one driver had me take pictures of him with the cars and I also gave him the SOC web address. He thinks these just might be the coolest things a guy cificould ever have, especially if a couple of buddies have them too (spot on)!

Boy we sure needed that night of rest last night in a real bed. Feel entirely human today. By the time we got settled down to sleep, we had been awake (aside from a couple of hours of semi-napping) for about 36 hours. Incapable of higher math.

We've adjusted where the speedsters are on the trailer three times now. A professional driver would have nailed it the first time (for weight distribution for towing). But it took us a couple of tries to get it right. It tows terrific right now.

Exhaust leak aside, the truck is running great, no ominious CEL. We put in a diesel fuel additive in Laramie and the difference is pretty amazing. We're pulling these high rollers in overdrive at 73 mph. Altitude here is very high. We're not in the mountains but the last two "hills" have been at over 8,000 feet and 7,000 feet. Don't think we've gone below 6500 anywhere. Should start dropping a big though as we've crossed the Continental Divide.

angela

I like the "His & Hers". You better apply for those license plates right away. You will be the only true Speedster couple on the site.

Maybe I should make you a set of straps to bind the cars together whenever you stop??!

Drive careful.

When you get home, have someone plug into the computer of your truck and find out why the the CEL (Check Engine Light) illuminated???

Be safe and continue to have good trip!!!!

Angela,

You are right, Laramie is the high spot on I-80, higher than the infamous Donner!
Should be a straight shot into Reno now! Just steer clear of the Mustang and Bunny ranch's around Reno. Steve doesn't really want to stop there, just yanking your chain!

Happy Trails, Bruce

Way cool, this is an early christmas. We never realize just how big the damn place is until you need to drive there.....

Exactly! You just don't have a perspective of this country (or Canada) until you drive across it! When I was a little kid, we made the trip from northern CA to Pennsylvania and back. Many adventures on that trip.

We just passed through Elko, Nevada and intend to stop in Winnemucca for the night. It was my turn to drive for a while and I got to drive through Park City, UT (site of a winter Olympics), and through Salt Lake City. But best of all, I was behind the wheel when we got to the Bonneville Salt Flats.

I think I first heard about Bonneville when I was in high school. I've wanted to go there ever since then. Today, I stopped!

If you are a motorhead, then this is your mecca. The no bullshit, no excuses, STF and run it TWICE, once each way to prove it's fast (within one hour). This is THE place...

Also, the water level is about 6" under the salt. No kidding.

angela

And of course, lest you guys think we forgot all ya all!

Let it not be said that we (SOC people) have failed to make our mark on the salt of Bonneville!

angela

That is too cool! We're going to try to make the next Speed Week at the Salt Flats.

Have fun and be safe!