Merle Coggins

Also, for anyone that cares, next year’s WPC Annual Meet is planned to be back in the Detroit area (Auburn Hills) again. It is planned for August 13th - 17th in conjunction with the Woodward Dream Cruise. The plan is to have some tours setup for Wednesday, then do the car show on Thursday with an awards Breakfast on Friday morning. Other activities will be planned for Friday. Then on Saturday they are working on securing a parking area along Woodward Ave so that the club members can park there, hang out, watch the Cruise, or participate in the Cruise. They still have some details to work out, but that’s the basic plan at this time. Maybe we’ll see some of you there.

Day 10, the finale... We got on the road a little after 7:00 this morning. The sun was out but it was a bit cool at 57 degrees. The truck ran good and I didn’t push it as hard today. I kept it around 60-65 today instead of pushing 70 as I had been doing. By the time we got up around Madison, WI it was finally warm enough to roll down the windows, at least for a little while. At 70 degrees it was comfortable with the sun shining in the open window, but if you got into the shade at all it would be a little cool. Central Illinois scenery, We got within 100 miles from home and I started seeing things... If any of you have traveled I90/94/39 through Wisconsin you’ve probably seen this pink elephant too. She sits at a small gas station in DeForest. It’s been there since the mid 60’s. Overall the truck ran great. But I did see this when I got out of the truck when I got home. ? It seems to still be holding air. I’ll have to pull it out one of these days and see how deep it goes. The odometer logged 1846.6 miles over the past 10 days and it went through 153.58 gallons of gas. That equates to a 12.03 MPG average. However, my speedo is a bit slow. I have compared it to my GPS and have calculated that it is 4% slow. So, if I factor in the 4% adjustment that would be 1921.5 miles @ 12.51 MPG. The worst tank full was at 10.49 MPG, whereas the best one was the last one today at 14.07 MPG. All in all not bad for a 68 year old retired farm truck. We had a wonderful trip, despite the sweltering heat through most of it. The WPC meets are always a good time with many great people. It’s a bummer to think that I have to go back to work tomorrow. It’s going to feel weird driving the 2013 F150 again.

Pics from day 9 entry; The awards banquet was at the Towing and Recovery Museum. There were many cool things to look at, including this ‘26 Graham Brothers unit. Or this ‘29 Chrysler wrecker And a Big Boy too... 70 Ton Holmes Mechanical boom. The largest mechanical wrecker that they built. A little fog/low cloud in the mountians Sunday morning on the drive home.

It wouldn’t matter if you have a 3 speed or 4 speed trans. The top gear is still going to be 1:1. You would need an overdrive trans, like an A833 with OD, a T5, or similar. But any of these won’t be a direct bolt in replacement. They’ll require some sort of adapter, or modification. Another option would be to change the rear axle, or differential gearing. I have a 3.73:1 ratio differential out of a 50 Plymouth in my truck and I can cruise on the highway at 65-70 MPH without any issue.

Day 9 update; At the awards banquet last night I was awarded a 1st place ribbon for my class at the show, which I figured would happen based on the competition. But then when they got to the Longest Distance Driven for a classic vehicle they asked for some mileage’s from those that drove their vehicles. I offered up 800 miles and nobody could beat it. Many were either amused, shocked, or embarrassed that someone with a truck took that award. Longest driven in a modern vehicle went to someone that came 2400+ miles. There seemed to be a lot of modern vehicles there this year. Today was leg one of the return trip. Chattanooga, TN to Tuscola, IL. We finally had some cooler weather to drive in. 70 degrees when we left and cooled off as the day went on. We got into some fog/clouds as we went up the mountain to Monteagle. The westbound grade was a bit easier. I was able to keep it at 55-60. And with the cooler weather the engine temp stayed in a good range. We got into some heavy rain at Nashville, TN that stayed with us through Paducah, KY. I found that my windshield still leaks a little bit in a couple of spots. Not enough to worry about. But I also found that the door seals between the door and the floor sill needs to be addressed. We had water coming up between the door and the floor at the front edge of the doors. It’s the first time I’ve driven in this heavy of rain in quite a while. Once through Paducah the rain ended, but we’d still age a small shower off and on the rest of the afternoon. One more travel day tomorrow. It’s looking like it’ll be sunny and dry with a high of around 70 degrees, so it should be nice for driving the Ol’ Dodge. No pics today. I had the GoPro running for a while this morning but I haven’t extracted any pics from it today. When I get home I’ll work on uploading more.

Here’s a link to my complete photo gallery if you are interested... https://postimg.cc/gallery/uzfwzwna/

This other Lil’ Red rolled in a little later and I immediately heard a Diesel engine. So after it got parked I went to have a look... Yup... Looks like it fit pretty well. Apparently he purchased it this way and said it’s a nice running truck. It came out of Canada and still has the KPH speedo

SUV’s get lumped in with the trucks. I believe it may be “Class 13 - Truck, SUV, and Commercial Vehicle, ALL”. So if you opt to drive to the national meet in your modern SUV, to have a nicer/cooler drive, and you decide to participate in the car show, this is what we get. I happen to be the only one with a vintage vehicle for that class this year. The other trucks at the show were part of the Cruise-in and were not judged with the WPC show.

Day 8... Show Day!! Nice hot humid day for a car show. I worked up a good sweat polishing up the truck this morning. My competition for the Truck and Comercial Vehicle class was a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Dodge Durango. A few others that I liked... This show was run in conjunction with a local All Mopar Cruise-in. Some other nice ones from that side of the show...

Yes. Kevin and Kristin are here with their ‘88 Chrysler LeBarron GTS Turbo.

Day 7; I skipped out on the morning event. They went to the Coker Tire museum. I heard it was pretty good, but small. I opted to stay at the hotel and give my truck a bath, to remove 6 days of road grime, in preparation for today’s car show. In the afternoon we drove over to the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway and rode the train up the mountain to the top. We then walked around Point Park to see the views, and a little more Civil War history. Then back down the mountain in the rail car. In the evening we were all invited out to a local club member’s home. They have a nice place with several garages full of Imperials and other misc. Chryslers and etc. A few pics from the day...

That’s actually a Dart. But there is a Polara convertible here too.

With all of the starts and restarts on this tour I eventually had a couple guys come to me to “settle an argument”. Some were convinced that my truck was converted to 12 volts because of it’s cranking speed. Others believed it was still 6 volt. I assured them it was still a 6v system. When asked how it cranks so fast on 6 volts I replied, “Big battery cables, and clean connections.” They’re getting a kick out of my truck, and the fact that I’ve driven it down here from Wisconsin.

Day 6; Another driving tour day. We headed down to the Chickamauga Battlefield in Georgia. First stop at the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Park Visitor Center & Fuller Gun Collection. We got a history lesson on the battle for Chattanooga in the Civil War. Then we continued on through the park and into Chickamauga, GA for lunch and a tour of the Gordon Lee mansion. Then back up through the battlefield again with stops along the way for more history lessons. At one point I ended up behind the leader of the tour, and the Battlefield historian, in his ‘57 Plymouth Savoy Other dash cam (GoPro) pics showing a few of the cars in the group. Right now is relax time, and a chance to cool down before dinner on a river boat.

Day5; Not much to report today. We visited the Tennessee Aquarium in the morning and saw a lot of fish. We also watched a movie about the ocean at the IMAX theater next door. Then after lunch we did a driving tour down to Cloudland Canyon State Park, in Georgia. I had a couple in a ‘32 Dodge rumble seat coupe in front of me. They kept up with the group fairly well. He was a little worried about the downhill run as he mentioned the freewheeling trans and the inability for engine breaking. I don’t know what they used for a transmission in 1934 but having a full time freewheeling transmission seems rather strange. Seems there would be a way to disengage the freewheeling part. We then realized that we only saw half of the aquarium exhibit. There was a second building. So when we got back from the park we went back to the aquarium (it’s only a few blocks from the hotel) to see the rest. After dinner I went with the group to a brewery beer tasting thing. Michelle stayed at the hotel. She wasn’t interested in it. I wasn’t impressed. It was a micro brewery in town. It was very noisy and I didn’t like any of the beers that they offered for sampling. Wishing now that I’d have stayed back too. I didn’t take many photos today. I did have my GoPro on for a bit during the driving tour, but I left it out in the truck so I don’t have anything to share from that.

Ahh... The Allman Brothers... ?

There should be a rubber bumper on the radiator cowl to support the front, and the hood lace across the windshield cowl supports the rear. The center shouldn’t even touch the fender. It’s close, but doesn’t touch.

Yes, Monteagle is what I’ve learned is the moniker for that hill. So you are saying the west side of the hill is the steeper grades? That’s good to know that the homeward bound run will be a little easier. I thought about running 41 down from Nashville yesterday, as an alternative to the interstate driving. But I had already booked 12:00 tour tickets for Ruby Falls and I didn’t want to risk missing my assigned time slot and have to purchase new tickets. So we stayed on the super slab. As it turned out, they weren’t busy and asked us to join the 11:30 tour to try to fill it up. I’m sure they would have shuffled us into a later tour without an issue. But without knowing that we took the less scenic route. And heading home we have a lot of miles to log, so we’ll probably stick to the big road again too. I’d love to have the time to stay off the interstates, but alas that is not the case on this trip.

Day 4... 3rd leg of the journey; Just a short 130 mile drive today. Nashville to Chattanooga. Not quite as hot this morning either so it was a little more comfortable driving. One long hard uphill pull the temp was running high again. The needle hovered a little below the 212 mark. I estimated it around 200-205. The Ol’ Dodge could only maintain around 45 MPH in some sections. Then once we crested the summit and started the downhill run (6% grade warnings were prevelant) the temps came way down. With very light to no throttle input for the next several miles the temp needle almost got to the 160 mark. Normal running has it slightly above that mark, where I estimate 180 for normal operating temps. We dipped into Plymouthy’s territory briefly. ? I-24 drops into GA for a short distance, then back up into TN to get to Chattanooga. Then we “acted like tourists” again with a visit to Ruby Falls underground water falls. If you are ever in thes area I highly recommend this attraction. It’s pretty amazing. We are now relaxing at the hotel. Plenty of “tourist” activities scheduled for this week before the show and banquet on Saturday. All in all we’ve driven a little over 800 miles so far. The truck is using a little more oil than I anticipated, but I have been pushing it harder than it typically sees. I’m getting 12-14 mpg on this trip so far. It could probably be better, but I can live with it. I’m considering going through the carb again this winter to inspect the function of the step-up plunger and idle-delay plunger. Maybe I can squeeze a little more MPG out of it.

Day 3; Not much driving today. Just a little bit around the Opryland area, near our hotel. Visited Madame Tussaud’s wax museum and The Grand Old Opry. Then took an Uber downtown to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Historic RCA Studio B, and the Johnny Cash Museum. Busy day. Lots of walking. But enjoyed it all. Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Louis, and Elvis Presley. (The Million Dollar Quartet) To keep it car related... Here is one of Elvis’ Solid Gold Cadillacs. And “The Bandit’s” Firechicken It was hard to get good pictures of the cars due to the museum lighting, and the glass that surrounded them.

Speaking of armadillos... I saw this one at the Country Music Hall of Fame gift shop and almost bought it for you. But I just tooka picture instead.

You going to replant the poison oak along a new hedgerow to keep your neighbor out? ?

Day 2; Brownsburg, IN to Nashville, TN. Truck ran fine, but the temp gauge was running a bit higher than normal. With temps in the 90’s, and some long pulls up the Kentucky hills, it was understandable. It never approached overheat territory, but I kept an eye on it. My fun moment of the day was watching the odometer roll up all 6’s. To bad we weren’t on Rt 66. 1 number off... we were on I-65. ? EDIT: Now that I look at the picture I can see that the first digit is a 5. ? Check back in another 10,000 miles...

With the marks like that you will have #6 in firing position. Rotate the crankshaft 1 full revolution and both marks should be at the top fo their respective sprockets. They will all line up through the center lines fo the shafts. This will be #1 TDC on compression stroke.

I’ve seen a couple of those in some DeSoto’s