The Great Hershey Road Trip begins...

[Merle Coggins]

1550kg = 3417lbs. Pretty close.

[Captain Neon]

I-90 is a good road for old cars. Jake's Pizza in Albert Lea is good. Austin has Piggy Blue's BBQ and Steve's Pizza. After that, there's really nowhere to stop until Wisconsin. I will only mention that I-90 was supposed to go through Rochester, Owatonna, Mankato, Brookings, and Pierre, but for some reason that I can only speculate on I-90 switches gears just outside of Rochester and takes a strong turn south to go through Austin, Albert Lea, Luverne, and Sioux Falls SD. All huge meat-packing towns in the 1960s. Did I mention that meat-packing giant Hormel has their international corporate headquarters in Austin Minnesota and exits off I-90 conveniently go to the Austin Country Club, J.C. Hormel Nature Center (formerly Jay Hormel's home), Hormel plant, and Hormel corporate offices? I wouldn't accuse the Hormel family of graft in the 1960s, but it sure is interesting the path I-90 takes through Minnesota.

[bamfordsgarage]

Hello All, Day Three: 342 miles, Baker, MT to Rapid City, SD, via Devils Tower, WY, Mt Rushmore, SD and O'Reilly's Auto Parts.

I'm thinking it was maybe a mistake to mention yesterday we have had no car troubles. A big mistake, perhaps. Possibly huge. We may be OK now — early tomorrow we hightail it east on I90 and will know soon enough. I'm on a borrowed computer and have several things ahead of me yet tonight so am signing off but will post details and more pix tomorrow evening.

Chris

[1940plymouth]

Chris,

Hope all worked out well for you today, looking forward to your next post.

Bob

[oldodge41]

Hope everything is ok, really enjoying following your trip.

[bamfordsgarage]

Hello All, Day Four-Five (it was all one!), Rapid City, SD, to Hartford, WI, 944 miles (via secondary highways in SD, northern IA and southeastern MN). Trip total 2,239 miles, average 15.4 miles/USgal.

We’re still in the game, but a little less cocky than a couple days ago. Tuesday we had massive overheating problems in the Black Hills of SD, such that we lost all our coolant several times and, inadvertently, ran with nothing but fumes in the rad for an undetermined number of miles.

Clearly we were expecting way too much of the old tub in the 85 deg afternoon heat what with our big ol windblock on top, 1985 lb of cargo and crew, and the steep grades around Mt. Rushmore. After refilling the radiator we were not even able to drive downhill without boiling over — worse yet, we were being followed by an ominous cloud of blue smoke. Things did not look good for Team 47Dodge.

Later that evening we got connected with a Rapid City Model T Man by the name of Jim Johnson who invited us to his home shop and helped diagnose and deal with our overheating issues — turns out the thermostat was no longer opening (we probably fried it earlier in the day), so we ditched it then flushed the system twice, finally filling up with a 50/50 mix of ethylene glycol and water. I hoped the overheating problem was solved but was discouraged about the blue cloud out back. An engine overhaul appeared imminent and Hershey looked far far away.

First thing wednesday AM we got a quick oil change and lube ($23.25 tax in, for five quarts and 27 fittings, such a deal) and set off down I-90 heading east. Miraculously, our oil cloud had disappeared, but the temperature gauge started to climb once again, and we overheated a couple more times until we modified our driving style to avoid further problems — drive a little slower (40-45 rather than 50-55), a ginger throttle foot going uphill, run the heater full blast, stay put in the afternoon heat, and pull over to cool down before we reach the boiling point.

We didn’t stay long on the I-90... that’s no place for anyone going 40 mph. Fortunately there were roughly parallel roads along most of the route, and we decided to drive through the night to take advantage of cool air temperatures (hence no post yesterday, my apologies). We crossed the Mississippi soon after sunrise and chose to carry on to Hartford and make up some lost time. Despite taking turns driving and napping we were mighty tired — but relieved — on arrival here mid-afternoon.

I don’t know what happened to our oil cloud... perhaps the engine oil got so hot that it was being easily sucked past the rings during the intake stroke, and once we cooled the engine back to normal that stopped happening. Bottom line, there appears to be no permanent damage, nothing serious anyway, and we are able to carry on as long as we don’t demand too much of our long-suffering engine in the future.

You guys on the Forum are often bragging up the Mopar flathead as being one very tough engine — and frankly, I took those comments with a grain of salt (everyone likes to think the best of their particular brand). I’m a believer now what with all the abuse we heaped on that poor engine on Tuesday, with no apparent lasting effects. Yea Flathead!

Young Ed, sorry we never got connected, but the closest we came to the twin cities was Adams, MN about 5:00 this morning and I didn’t figure you would want a call quite that early.

Merle, will send you a PM later this evening about getting together tomorrow after we leave Hartford.

Today’s Picture Post:

- Devil’s Tower, WY, Tuesday AM;

- At the Devil’s Tower Visitors’ Centre we met this fellow, Scott Parker, who recognized my T-shirt and struck up a conversation — turns out he is from our hometown (we have several mutual acquaintances) and, incredibly, was one day out from completing a 16-month ‘round the world tour on his 2007 BMW F650 single. He started from Edmonton, rode to Cape Spear, Newfoundland (as far east as one can go in North America), then down through the US and central America to the very tip of South America. From there he rode back up to Buenos Aries and flew, with bike, to Cape Town, South Africa, then rode up through Africa and the middle east to Russia, Mongolia and again Russia to Vladivostok in the far south east. From there it was travel by ferry to Seoul, South Korea, air to San Francisco, and again by bike up to Alberta Canada via Wyoming. Total distance, rubber on the road, 78,000 km (49,000 miles). Absolutely amazing — and makes our run to Hershey look like a drive around the block!

- Team 47Dodge at Mount Rushmore;

- A small fraction of the mostly-Mopar yard at Moore’s Auto Salvage in Rapid City, SD (thank you ‘40Plymouth). What a great place to wander for a day or two. They are selling parts and pieces world wide — Mark Moore the grandson told us they had calls the last few days from Austria, Australia, and many other places both in and outside the US;

- Approaching the Missouri River on Hwy 44 in southern SD yesterday about dinnertime.

[Young Ed]

Young Ed, sorry we never got connected, but the closest we came to the twin cities was Adams, MN about 5:00 this morning and I didn’t figure you would want a call quite that early.

No big deal. Glad you are still making your way across the country on your big journey. Keep sending the updates we are all enjoying your story!

[jd52cranbrook]

You guys on the Forum are often bragging up the Mopar flathead as being one very tough engine — and frankly, I took those comments with a grain of salt (everyone likes to think the best of their particular brand). I’m a believer now what with all the abuse we heaped on that poor engine on Tuesday, with no apparent lasting effects. Yea Flathead!

I had heat issues the first time to going to Detroit one summer, till I got the heat issue settled, next year it was just dandy.

Flatheads forever,,,

[fstfish66]

nice trip,,ide love to take a ride like that,,in any vintage or new vehicle,, good luck in your travels,,,maybe ill be at hershey,,hope to see your long haul dodge,,

[1940plymouth]

Chris,

Good reading your post at 3:30 this morning, glad that you guys have the bugs worked out, here is to an uneventfull trip the rest of the way. 2,239 miles in the Dodge is AWESOME. Looking forward to more photos and your next post,

Bob

[Eneto-55]

Just wondering where you will be coming through Ohio - Will you be on US 30 through Indiana & Ohio?

If you have any extra time to kill, come on down to Amish country. We get a lot of old cars through here on their cruises. Usually at least one group of brass era, too, and sometimes Stanley Steamers.

Neto

[BobT-47P15]

Thanks for the posts and pictures........great story.

Happy you recovered from the problems.

You've gone back to what people used to do in the old days

when high heat took a toll on their old cars.....travel at night

and other times when it's cooler.

[bamfordsgarage]

Thanks everyone for your comments and good wishes. Here'e hoping for an uneventful trip (bad events, at least) the rest of the way.

Eneto-55, we will be on US 30 out of Chicago but likely move up towards US 20 or similar roads through Ohio — and regrettably "extra time to kill" is no longer on the menu.

[Don Coatney]

Just wondering where you will be coming through Ohio - Will you be on US 30 through Indiana & Ohio?

If you have any extra time to kill, come on down to Amish country. We get a lot of old cars through here on their cruises. Usually at least one group of brass era, too, and sometimes Stanley Steamers.

Neto

Where in Ohio are you located?

[Eneto-55]

Where in Ohio are you located?

Right in Berlin, in Holmes County. US 62 goes right through town. We're roughly half way between Columbus & Cleveland,

[Don Coatney]

Right in Berlin, in Holmes County. US 62 goes right through town. We're roughly half way between Columbus & Cleveland,

Back in the early 70's I was going to school in Wooster and I lived in Apple Creek on RT 250.

[Arthur1947]

Ahh..the road less travelled.Have a great trip.

[ATTACH]20916[/ATTACH]

Is this the Hershey Highway:D Oh man someone had to go there. Sorry.

Best.

ARTHUR

[bamfordsgarage]

Good morning all, Day Six, Hartford, WI to Ann Arbor, MI, 382 miles.

No more overheating, thanks to level terrain and cooler temperatures. We didn't get out of Chicago until 6pm and cruised the I-94 all the way in to Ann Arbor. There's a 55 mph minimum on the Michigan portion of that road, and while we didn't always obey, we averaged nearly that.

Today's picture post...

- Many folks in the Model T community swear by Water Wetter, which is claimed to aid heat transfer from the engine to the coolant and then to the radiator, resulting in coolant temperatures up to 20 Deg lower. We tried it yesterday in WI — ran for an hour with basically stable temperature of 200 deg, then put the bottle of WW in the rad and ran again for an hour. Ambient air temperature, terrain and vehicle speeds were basically the same before and after the WW was added. Our results? No change, good or bad. We stayed within a half a needle of 200 deg on the the gauge.

- This morning in Hartford I installed new (old) decals on the rear quarter window for the states we've travelled on this trip. The ones on the roll-up window reflect the states driven on the trip to CA in 2008. All manner of these vintage travel decals are available on E-bay priced at $5-$15. I think they add a nice period touch to this sort of car.

- The Hartford WI stop was to visit the Wisconsin Auto Museum, which features WI-manufactured vehicles (KisselKar, Nash and American Motors) plus many others makes including Tucker, but, unfortunately, very few Mopars. Ancilliary displays range from stationary engines and Lionel trains to an operational Soo Line 2-8-2 mainline steam locomotive. We really wanted to get a close look at this particular car, a 1912 KisselKar Model 4-50 Touring. This utterly original, unrestored (and running!) Kissel is one of only three 1912 Model 4-50s known worldwide. I have one of the other two, which Jerry and I restored over an eight-year period. It's a great car to drive — 373 in3, 4-speed overdrive, and capable of 60 mph. We finished the restoration in 2002 and I've worn out a set of tires since.

- Also at the museum is this cool 1946 Teardrop trailer, homebuilt from plans in a Popular Mechanics magazine. Wouldn't that perfect great trailing along behind a P15/D24?

- Rolling into to downtown Chicago on the I-94

[Andydodge]

Just been following your exploits in my Rand McNally Travel Atlas.......lol........thats a neat trip, looks like a great way to see your country.........this is the sort of thing that makes this forum such a pleasure.......anyway best wishes for a continued safe trip and I'll keep checking your progress, regards, Andy Douglas in Oz

[1940plymouth]

Thanks for the update on the trip and also the photos, glad to hear that your guys are in Michigan, getting closer each day to PA

[Merle Coggins]

Glad to hear things are going well now. I spoke with Chris briefly a couple of times yesterday (Friday) as we attempted to meet up while he was in my area. Unfortunetly my work took me out of town and I wasn't able to get back in time. Oh well, maybe next time.

Had I been at the office I would have attempted to source a new thermostat for him and offered to have him stop at the shop to throw it in. I feel that his current heating issues may be due to not having a thermostat now. But it was a cooler day yesterday, and will be through the weekend (here at least) so they may do OK for now. It sounds like yesterday's drive went OK, but 200 degrees on a 70 degree day seems a bit high. Hopefully it'll get sorted before the return leg of this trek.

Merle

[TodFitch]

Good to hear things are going reasonably well.

This is the shortest tear drop trailer I've every seen or seen a picture off. I think I'd have a problem getting in and out of it.

One of the people who toured up to Portland with us found that he could scan those old window water transfer decals then print them onto static cling material. He made up some for all of us that were on the tour. There might be some loss in print quality but they look pretty darned good. Since they are static cling they can be easily removed if desired.

[55 Fargo]

Hi Chris, glad you were able to forge ahead, and too bad your engine got to running so hot.

I can help to ask, isn't running at a consistant 200 degrees, a little on the high side of the equation?

I would think 180 to 190, would be a normal temp with a load on the highway, or am I interpreting your last post incorrectly.

Nonetheless, you Guys are doing great with that old Girl, and east bound and down, loaded up and truckin..........Fred

[Captain Neon]

Good to hear things are going reasonably well.

This is the shortest tear drop trailer I've every seen or seen a picture off. I think I'd have a problem getting in and out of it.

When my wife saw that photo she told me that if I managed to shimmy through that door, I'd probably suffer from claustrophobia.

[Captain Neon]

One of the people who toured up to Portland with us found that he could scan those old window water transfer decals then print them onto static cling material. He made up some for all of us that were on the tour. There might be some loss in print quality but they look pretty darned good. Since they are static cling they can be easily removed if desired.

Maybe in stead of dash placques, the Tall Pines POC could have static cling stickers made up for their Labour Day week end national tour? I usu. end up losing my dash placques, but clings, I'd display for a while. Just a thought.