Finally got to a local cruise-in

[BobT-47P15]

Seems as if we've either been gone or had other things to do every

Saturday night all summer.

This week, we had one place to go in the afternoon/early evening....and

when we got done, went home and got out the convert to attend our

local cruise-in, held every 3rd Saturday thru Oct. Some cars had left by

the time we arrived and some folks we know said this one was not as well

attended as last month.

The son of the man who painted the convert is advertising director for a

propane company in Kansas City. He brought a new Ford pickup that has

been converted to propane by Roush Racing, for his company. He takes the

truck all over the country for promotional purposes.

There was a 1957 Dodge sedan I'd never seen before. The owners said

they moved here from another state. Got the car back in the 70s after a

college student had pretty much worn it out, and it was about to be sent

to a salvage yard.

Not much there in the way of older Mopars.......were a couple "newer"

ones, including this nice example.

Don't know if we'll get to any others before summer is gone, but at least

we got to see some people we know and look at the cars on hand.

[randroid]

Bob,

I look forward to the day I'm able to drive 'Pigiron' to a local show and make new friends of a similar ilk. Thanks for perpetuating the dream.

-Randy

[John Mulders]

Bob, always good to get the car out and meet people.

We just don't do that often enough.

John

[Merle Coggins]

I remember my first service truck when I made the move from a shop mechanic to a field service technician. It was a 1984 GMC with a 454 that ran on gas or propane. There was a big propane tank in the front of the box with the fill hose in one of the tool box compartments. There were two switches under the dash for switching it over.

To switch from gas to propane you would have to switch off the fuel pump and let it "run out of gas", then switch on the propane valve. It was easiest to do this while driving down the road. There would be a slight lag until the propane would get into the engine and it would relight.

To switch from gas to propane you would switch off the propane and switch on the gas pump. Again there would be a lag until the carb would get enough gas in it to refire the engine.

I remember that it would run nice and smooth on propane, but it didn't have as much power. Also, in sub zero temperatures the propane regulator would freeze up unless the engine was at operating temp. I usually just ran it on gas in those temps.

Merle

[55 Fargo]

Way to go Bob, get out there and enjoy, always time for work at home during the week and winter time.

I am also in the same boat, a lot of cruise -ins/show and shines have been on weekends that I am working, or it has been raining so darn much, I cannot take the car out, as I have almost 3 miles of gravel road to the highway, and when it rains here it is like soupy clay all the way, and do not want my old 47 covered in this stuff, especially the underside......Fred

[55 Fargo]

Bob,

I look forward to the day I'm able to drive 'Pigiron' to a local show and make new friends of a similar ilk. Thanks for perpetuating the dream.

-Randy

Randy, get the roller out and paint, been waitng for some of your results.

Have you done any paint work this summer?

[james curl]

Norm, I drove dual fuel propane/gasoline powered cars for the State of Texas and yes they are hard to start first time on a cold morning if you forgot the switch to gasoline a few minutes before shuting off the engine last thing in the evening during the winter months.

[james curl]

Norm, did not matter if the tank was filled just before you shut it down for the night. It took a lot of cranking to start on propane if it even would. Would start every tine on gasoline.

[Merle Coggins]

Yup... if you forget to switch back over to gas before shuting it down the day before it would be a bear to start. If you tried switching it back for startup you had a dry carb and it would take some cranking to fill it up enough to fire. Or trying to start it on cold propane wasn't good either. Once the engine was hot it wasn't a problem. One of the heater hoses routed through the propane regulator to keep it nice and warm.

Merle