Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

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I'm always struggling to get videos to display when I want to share them. I uploaded a few clips to my facebook account and here are the links. I'm not sure if they will work. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=910142912337913 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=909958122356392

They work fine but when they load you need to expand to full screen in order to see them lol!! They worked fine for me after expanding to full screen! Great clips! Miss the good old days!
 
I've been sufferin' for the last few days with the mother of all tooth aches. It's my own dang fault. Too many sweets. Too little dental care. I've been needing a set of dentures for years already. All I know is that pain killers are my bestest friend right now.

Regardless of the agony I still have to try to progress on the garage cleaning. It's already been sub-freezing at night. I brought the Hemi into town. As much as it might have been a real ***** for them thieves to take, I'm afraid they would have found a way. You can see now how fast this 2 stall garage is filling up.

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Tomorrow is the Fall swap meet in Wahoo, Nebraska. I wish now that I'd fixed the heater in the Ford truck. I'm not really planning on buying anything but you never know. I'd hate to show up in a car and find out that someone's selling big stuff cheap.


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The Wahoo swap meet was sort of a bust. There never is much for Mopar at these things but even less than usual this time. I only saw one vendor with Chrysler stuff. A guy I know out of Milford, Nebraska brought down a crusty '69 Roadrunner along with various '68-'72 B-body parts. I heard that he sold the Roadrunner for $4200.

I purchased a couple of Hot Wheels to set up in the basement next to the drag strip. - A Sox & Martin Super Stock Duster and a Gary Densham Challenger Funnycar. I hadn't mentioned it in this thread before but I have a 30 foot long HO scale drag strip that I've been building. It's got a working Christmas tree and even displays e.t.s on a billboard on the far end.

I started working on it last Winter when the weather got bad. I have a long way to go before I'm finished. There are a few hundred trees that need to be planted. I still haven't installed or wired in the street lights. I'm debating putting in a return lane so that a person doesn't have to run down to the end to retrieve his car. I realize that the strip is longer than what it should be for scale but I wanted the e.t.s to look more realistic. The cars are too fast to accurately mimic the e.t.s they should be running. I did make an animated THUNDER VALLEY billboard which (combined with the street lights) should look awesome for night racing.

I'd also like to set up a camera combined with a 42" screen to give a real time display of the action. I may try to limit the style of tires on the cars to give them less traction. - Then you might be forced to feather it off the line in order to 'hook up'.



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LOL Did you work on the model race track before or after you donated the kidney to Don "Big Daddy" Garlits? The local utility should tap you and put all your energy on the grid! By the way, get your teeth taken care of. I married into a family of dental people, so they have convinced me,or maybe brainwashed me that it is best to avoid dentures at all costs if you can. And you thought mopar parts were expensive!
 
LOL Did you work on the model race track before or after you donated the kidney to Don "Big Daddy" Garlits? The local utility should tap you and put all your energy on the grid!


The truth is Scott that I get very little done each day. But I became fully resolved to make a little progress every day. If I'd made this resolution years ago I'd have finished those older projects a long time ago. Whenever I'm asked for advice on someone's stagnant build I tell them to try to devote at least a few minutes each day to it and they'll eventually get them done.


[/QUOTE] By the way, get your teeth taken care of. I married into a family of dental people, so they have convinced me,or maybe brainwashed me that it is best to avoid dentures at all costs if you can. And you thought mopar parts were expensive![/QUOTE]


It turns out that this is the ideal time of the year to get new teeth. Heck, they're even selling them at Walmart now.

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I'm afraid that any of these would be an improvement over my actual teeth. I'm dreading going in to see a dentist. For one thing, I've got a needle phobia. The sight of that syringe heading towards my mouth really freaks me out. I hope I get a competent dentist this time. With my luck he'll be some sadistic maniac that wants to teach me a lesson for not flossing.

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:toothy10::toothy10::toothy10::toothy10:

Ackkkk! After looking at hairy naked bunny man dentist, please disregard previous statement on dentures!
 
All the while that I was putting up with the cold and the heat and the bugs, I still was able to make progress on things around here. But now things have come to a grinding halt. This tooth problem has migrated to my lymph glands. Last night they were slightly swollen. Today... WOAH!

I made an appointment at the local clinic. It's apparent that I've gotten an infection that will call for antibiotics. With luck, this will settle down before I go to some oral specialist to see about some dentures.

As much of a pessimist as I can be, I'm trying to look on the bright side about this. I don't need a pillow when I lay on my left side now and I won't be needing a Halloween costume this year.

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Yesterday I had a chat with one of my neighbors. He's got a red '71 383 Superbee that he wants to sell. I haven't seen the car yet but he said that he installed a pair of N.O.S. quarter panels on it and bought a full interior from Legendary for it. It's a 4 speed car. He said he's got close to $25K in it and has lost interest in finishing it. I think he might part with it for under $15K. It'd be cool but I've already got too many here. If it was one of the cars on my dream list I might've been interested. I'll try to post pictures if I get a chance. Anybody out there interested?


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Hi Bob.
I've just sat here for about 6 hours and read every one of your 31 page topic. I don't know how you do it! Your passion for Mopars must run so deep, I admire you. Yes the story went off topic now and then, but it was like a personal diary. Well done for getting most things finished, sorry about the break-in, and go and get your teeth done! Now if only I could find one of those project 68 Barracudas.
 
Hi Bob. I've just sat here for about 6 hours and read every one of your 31 page topic. I don't know how you do it! Your passion for Mopars must run so deep, I admire you. Yes the story went off topic now and then, but it was like a personal diary. Well done for getting most things finished, sorry about the break-in, and go and get your teeth done! Now if only I could find one of those project 68 Barracudas.

Thanks Mike. By the way, my name isn't Bob. It's John. Oh well. I've been called far worse. Now if I could only get Teresa to get my name right when we're in the heat of passion. A couple of hours ago I showed her the portion of your post where you said you admired me. It's good to see her laugh but you'd think she'd be done by now.
 
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As expected the doctor prescribed an antibiotic. I'm supposed to take one capsule every six hours. The pain medication I've been taking keeps me groggy 24/7 but seems to only kill the pain for a few hours. So I don't have to worry about sleeping past my scheduled antibiotic dose.

I think that the swelling in my neck has starting to go down. If not, then my head is getting bigger.
 
As expected the doctor prescribed an antibiotic. I'm supposed to take one capsule every six hours. The pain medication I've been taking keeps me groggy 24/7 but seems to only kill the pain for a few hours. So I don't have to worry about sleeping past my scheduled antibiotic dose.

I think that the swelling in my neck has starting to go down. If not, then my head is getting bigger.

Infections.suck ***. Went through that with a root canal six years ago.Anti biotics,made me useless for two day swing....
 
Infections.suck ***. Went through that with a root canal six years ago.Anti biotics,made me useless for two day swing....

I'm sure my doctor thinks I'm an idiot. I've been battling these recurring sinus/tooth infections for over a decade. He's certain that the problems would go away if I'd just get the dentures. But every time I get things to settle down I put off having anything else done. When I say that I've got a needle/dentist phobia I ain't kiddin'. It may be irrational but combined with the extreme cost - I chicken out.

It's not like they make it easy for me. Am I the only one out there that thinks that the dental tools they lay out in front of you look a lot like the stuff used to torture people? I did a Google search for images of dental tools and a search for torture tools. They're virtually the same!!

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Maybe I've just had bad luck when it comes to seeing dentists. I think that one of them here in town may be a certifiable idiot.

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And although the second one seemed nice enough, I should have been wary when I saw the whips and chains in the back room. Dentists wearing leather is not a good sign.

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Everybody tells me that I'm over-worrying about these things but I've never had the pleasant experiences they've described.

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When are they going to get it through their heads that I'm already opening my mouth as wide as I can?

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The way I envision the dentist office:

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And his drill:

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And his OMG needle!

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And in case he asks me, the answer is "YES! IT'S SAFE!!!!"

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I'm finally starting to get some relief from the misery. Yes!! Pain pills ARE my friends! Now before some of you start speculating that I've gone over to the dark side and am tripping on acid for relief let me reassure you that isn't the case.

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I've not gone down any rabbit hole. I'm not seeing any psychedelic bunnies. (I still say Gophzilla was real) But Vicodin is some pretty sweet stuff!

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The only trippin' I do is Road Trips. When I want to get high I go out to the garage and work on my Mopars. But as I look at a lot of the ads that Chrysler put out in the 60s & 70s I sometimes wonder about the guys that started it all.

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The Wahoo swap meet was sort of a bust. There never is much for Mopar at these things but even less than usual this time. I only saw one vendor with Chrysler stuff. A guy I know out of Milford, Nebraska brought down a crusty '69 Roadrunner along with various '68-'72 B-body parts. I heard that he sold the Roadrunner for $4200.

I purchased a couple of Hot Wheels to set up in the basement next to the drag strip. - A Sox & Martin Super Stock Duster and a Gary Densham Challenger Funnycar. I hadn't mentioned it in this thread before but I have a 30 foot long HO scale drag strip that I've been building. It's got a working Christmas tree and even displays e.t.s on a billboard on the far end.

I started working on it last Winter when the weather got bad. I have a long way to go before I'm finished. There are a few hundred trees that need to be planted. I still haven't installed or wired in the street lights. I'm debating putting in a return lane so that a person doesn't have to run down to the end to retrieve his car. I realize that the strip is longer than what it should be for scale but I wanted the e.t.s to look more realistic. The cars are too fast to accurately mimic the e.t.s they should be running. I did make an animated THUNDER VALLEY billboard which (combined with the street lights) should look awesome for night racing.

I'd also like to set up a camera combined with a 42" screen to give a real time display of the action. I may try to limit the style of tires on the cars to give them less traction. - Then you might be forced to feather it off the line in order to 'hook up'.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=911191155566422&set=vb.100000266389638&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=911192285566309 .

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Sweetness! Did ypu ever get a chance to work with the Tyco four speed controllers? Just damn, it neutralized G -Plus & HP2 Curve Huggers torque advantage,.
 
Sweetness! Did ypu ever get a chance to work with the Tyco four speed controllers? Just damn, it neutralized G -Plus & HP2 Curve Huggers torque advantage,.

The racetrack that I started with was an Aurora Model Motoring setup back around 1960. My brother and I owned it together. I was just a little scrapper back then and probably did more to screw things up than to enhance them.

Those original motors worked on a vibration design that didn't make the cars move very fast. Over time we constantly upgraded with more track, different controllers and faster cars. Most of what we had stayed Aurora, but we did buy a Tyco car now and then.

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It wasn't until I was about 10 years old that I started changing tires, wheels, magnets,etc... I remember when there were hop up kits that we'd buy. They usually included silver weighted pick up shoes, stronger magnets, silver points, fatter tires, longer guide pins, and rewound armatures. As the cars got faster they became harder to control and unless you had very long straightaways it was difficult to open them up without flying off the track. With the advent of things such as Magna-traction cars, AFX, G-Plus and the like it was easier to keep from sending a car clear across the room when you went too fast, but the cars moved so fast that it was a lot harder to really see them in motion. - They were just a blur.

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I even tried some of the slotless tracks that had you reverse polarity to switch lanes. It was a very cool idea but the cars would often stall between lanes.

The original controllers we had were of this steering wheel design. The best thing about it was that when you were by yourself you could set a second car to go at a constant speed to race against without having your hand on the controller. When we updated to the ones with a brake button (sort of a joke) and a reverse switch we felt high tech. LOL. The plunger controllers were better for speed control though.
Ya, I've sure got a lot of fond memories of those times.

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Now with this new drag strip that I'm setting up I think I may have to break the cars up into different classes based on chassis design. I know that they sell some wheelstander kits that I may have to install on a few of them.





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The racetrack that I started with was an Aurora Model Motoring setup back around 1960. My brother and I owned it together. I was just a little scrapper back then and probably did more to screw things up than to enhance them.

Those original motors worked on a vibration design that didn't make the cars move very fast. Over time we constantly upgraded with more track, different controllers and faster cars. Most of what we had stayed Aurora, but we did buy a Tyco car now and then.

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It wasn't until I was about 10 years old that I started changing tires, wheels, magnets,etc... I remember when there were hop up kits that we'd buy. They usually included silver weighted pick up shoes, stronger magnets, silver points, fatter tires, longer guide pins, and rewound armatures. As the cars got faster they became harder to control and unless you had very long straightaways it was difficult to open them up without flying off the track. With the advent of things such as Magna-traction cars, AFX, G-Plus and the like it was easier to keep from sending a car clear across the room when you went too fast, but the cars moved so fast that it was a lot harder to really see them in motion. - They were just a blur.

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I even tried some of the slotless tracks that had you reverse polarity to switch lanes. It was a very cool idea but the cars would often stall between lanes.

The original controllers we had were of this steering wheel design. The best thing about it was that when you were by yourself you could set a second car to go at a constant speed to race against without having your hand on the controller. When we updated to the ones with a brake button (sort of a joke) and a reverse switch we felt high tech. LOL. The plunger controllers were better for speed control though.
Ya, I've sure got a lot of fond memories of those times.

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Now with this new drag strip that I'm setting up I think I may have to break the cars up into different classes based on chassis design. I know that they sell some wheelstander kits that I may have to install on a few of them.




In the early 80"s slot car racing was part of he growing manhood /kid thing brfore BMX...( in my day....... A guy named Steve Carlson had the most well prepped slot car, I have ever seen. Ted Carlson( a member here. and a damn good one at that} was two doors down. I don't believe in coindeceses...... I miss my H,O slot cars...
 
The racetrack that I started with was an Aurora Model Motoring setup back around 1960. My brother and I owned it together. I was just a little scrapper back then and probably did more to screw things up than to enhance them.

Those original motors worked on a vibration design that didn't make the cars move very fast. Over time we constantly upgraded with more track, different controllers and faster cars. Most of what we had stayed Aurora, but we did buy a Tyco car now and then.

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It wasn't until I was about 10 years old that I started changing tires, wheels, magnets,etc... I remember when there were hop up kits that we'd buy. They usually included silver weighted pick up shoes, stronger magnets, silver points, fatter tires, longer guide pins, and rewound armatures. As the cars got faster they became harder to control and unless you had very long straightaways it was difficult to open them up without flying off the track. With the advent of things such as Magna-traction cars, AFX, G-Plus and the like it was easier to keep from sending a car clear across the room when you went too fast, but the cars moved so fast that it was a lot harder to really see them in motion. - They were just a blur.

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I even tried some of the slotless tracks that had you reverse polarity to switch lanes. It was a very cool idea but the cars would often stall between lanes.

The original controllers we had were of this steering wheel design. The best thing about it was that when you were by yourself you could set a second car to go at a constant speed to race against without having your hand on the controller. When we updated to the ones with a brake button (sort of a joke) and a reverse switch we felt high tech. LOL. The plunger controllers were better for speed control though.
Ya, I've sure got a lot of fond memories of those times.

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Now with this new drag strip that I'm setting up I think I may have to break the cars up into different classes based on chassis design. I know that they sell some wheelstander kits that I may have to install on a few of them.




I would kill, to have that wagon.....
 
Unfortunately most of our early slot cars were stolen from the farm. We had Ford Galaxies, Falcons, Cougars, Chargers, Camaros, El Caminos, Willys, early Mustangs, AMXs, Torinos, Superbirds, Daytonas, old wagons, T-birds, VW Bugs, etc, etc...
 
In between the bouts of tooth misery I have gotten a bit done on the basement drag strip. I still have to plant another 300 trees and mount 50 more street lights. I've got a chain link fence that I need to construct and put up to keep the little plastic people away from the track. There are more outhouses too. After I get all of the holes drilled to mount the trees and lights into, I'll have to flip everything upside down in order to wire things up. I've constructed this setup so it will (hopefully) stay modular. If I can keep it in detachable 8 foot sections I should be able to move it later.

The HEMI UNDER GLASS and MOPAR MISSILE are actually diecast car bodies that were modified to be attached to the slot car chassis's.

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Most of the vehicles that I'll have around the track will be diecast that I'll use to fill in the scene. I need to get some haulers and pickups and trailers yet. Not all of the diecast cars were stolen from the farm. Several bins full of them were. I had several more front engine rails out there but they're gone now.

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I think I may have to paint the sections of guard rail. They look too 'plastic' the way they are now. - Maybe silver with tan/brown supports?

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You might not have noticed but I've printed my own signs and banners. If you look closely you'll even see a banner for MRL Performance on the back of one of the bleachers.


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So far - only two outhouses in place. - But the lines are already forming. Must be those chili dogs.

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When it's done you should see a line of street lights on both sides of the track. - Each spaced about a foot apart.

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Almost all of the vehicles that I'm planning on displaying will be from the muscle car era. I am going to try to reproduce each one of our own cars as well. Some of the ones that I'd already made fell victim to those thieves at the farm so I'll have to replace those.

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The background wallpaper was the closest thing I could find that resembled the type of scenery you'd expect to see around Marion, South Dakota. This is not even close to an accurate depiction of what the track looks like but I wanted to pay tribute to that track because of fond personal memories there when I was young.

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This animated sign really cracks me up. The little blue lights flash in sequence to the arrow and the billboard portions go on and off as well. To start out I opted to use the rolls of grass paper for the ground. It's OK but a little too pristine. I think that I will add some additional ground cover such as fine wet/dry sandpaper to give the appearance of asphalt and possible try some paint to mimic dirt in areas after I get everything in place.

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I realize that the christmas tree is oversized. I don't think that I'll be able to scale it down because it's a special unit tied into the timing tower at the other end. - But I'll probably drill a hole in the center of the track so I can mount it between the lanes.

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The animated sign that I started with was one of these. It had optional overlays for the lettering. I made my own lettering with my printer so it would be the entry sign at the track. If you click on these next links you'll see examples of them in motion. It's amazes me the things you can get nowadays. Keep in mind that these are made in scales for model railroading dioramas.





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I played around a bit more with the Halloween decorations. I'm working on a welcome mat that will trigger some of the animated zombies when it's stepped on. Teresa told me that her brother-in-law Manuel is starting to suspect that we're devil worshipers now. I'd try to reassure him otherwise by describing how often I've prayed to God that I wouldn't get caught when I'm out raising hell in one of the cars - but I think it would give him a mixed message.
 
I played around a bit more with the Halloween decorations. I'm working on a welcome mat that will trigger some of the animated zombies when it's stepped on. Teresa told me that her brother-in-law Manuel is starting to suspect that we're devil worshipers now. I'd try to reassure him otherwise by describing how often I've prayed to God that I wouldn't get caught when I'm out raising hell in one of the cars - but I think it would give him a mixed message.

Give you credit, active mind is hard de suppress. And you are an active guy,,,
 
I used to think I would look back and feel that I wasted my time with these old cars. I sold off most of what I originally had.

When my youngest son joined the Army right out of high school I became acutely aware that the day could come when he'd be gone forever. Cars were the last thing on my mind.

After he graduated basic training down in Georgia he had a sudden urge to buy a muscle car. So when he returned to Nebraska, he and I searched for a Chevelle. It was his first preference. I didn't mind that it wasn't a Chrysler product. It was just a lot of fun helping him with the search.

After scouring the paper and the internet we were able to find about a half dozen close enough to check out. When we test drove a '68 SS clone my son was hooked. Silver with black stripes. It had a built big block in it that idled rough - sounded great. It came from a car lot in Ashland, Nebraska. The dealership didn't know much about the car's history. The only things that we were fairly certain of were the 750 Holley had no choke, the camshaft profile seemed fairly radical, and it sounded sweet.

My son's plan was to drive the car back to Fort Stewart, Georgia.

It was the middle of winter and it wasn't until we were bringing the car home that we realized it didn't have a heater. Maybe it was because my son was anxious to get it. Maybe it was because it'd been so many years since I'd been behind the wheel of a muscle car that I was too anxious. The Chevelle had been in a heated garage when we took it out for a test drive so it was warm inside it and we hadn't bothered to check the accessories.

I was never the type of guy that cared for the term 'father'. I was Dad. Fathers were too formal. Too 'by the book'. Too perfect. But I always tried to be the best 'Dad' I could be. The only suit and tie I owned were 20 years old. - And hadn't been worn outside of weddings and funerals. I worked in fields and factories. Sometimes working two jobs at a time. I was accustomed to t-shirts and Levis. With all my flaws I'd remained a kid at heart. - Every bit as apt to screw stuff up as my kids.

So when the opportunity came to trek across half of the U.S. in the middle of January in some souped up muscle car that we had just bought, had no heater, and knew little about - I was in. Any sensible father would have probably told his son that it was a bad idea to drive it and made plans to have it shipped. So what if it was January and the car had no heater. There wasn't enough time to install one before my son had to be back to his base. I'm not sure if I was a part of Spencer's original plan for the journey. But somewhere along the line he figured he wanted a co-pilot.

The maiden voyage for the Chevelle was also our first real road trip together. It would be close to 1200 miles if we didn't get sidetracked.

Destination: Fort Stewart, Georgia.
Our plan was to drive straight through and we figured that we could make it in less than a day. Or so we hoped.

It was really frickin' cold. We took along a few blankets to wrap ourselves up in during the trip. Because the car lacked all of the heater components it didn't have a defroster either. It seemed as though every time we exhaled frost would form on the windows. We picked up a small 12 volt ceramic heater to set on the dash and tried to breathe through the covers that we held up over our noses. When our hands got too cold on the steering wheel we'd try to warm them a bit with that dash heater.

Keep in mind that this is the middle of winter and we're driving a 40 year old car that we'd just bought a few days earlier.


 
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