Big Trip To Pick Up My 71 Cuda Project

[AARuFAST]

And all the bodies are lying inside of bus.  Never miss a good photo shot. 
You can share when u get home and have memories...........
Wonder if they disconnected the speedometer on the pulling truck.

[tony 73]

Hi AARuFAST,  hadn't crossed my mind where the bicycle owners were, glad I didn't get too close to the bus.

Part 2 of Summit Racing,

Approached the counter with all the right codes and references , guy looked puzzled , another person comes over for 2nd opinion , I getting stressed . Guy says " sorry your order was sent to Ohio ". I say " I am only here for 2 hrs".  Now I am stressed  .   Guy says " we should be able to fill order from what is in the warehouse ", I got my fingers crossed.   Guy punched in the codes and they got everything except an exhaust  system for my Roadrunner. Because of the mistake they willing to pay the 2 day freight cost to get one delivered to my LA address. I now back in my happy space.
 Asked the staff member who helped cart the parts to the truck " where should we stay in Reno", he said don't go downtown if you you want to keep your car. I getting stressed again. We headed away  to nearest motel  where we were greeted with more bad news,  Burning Man festival about to start and 50,000 people looking for accommodation    .
 Running out of options, front desk guy was very helpful , we did what he said, phoned ahead to Auburn, ( 100 miles further on) made a booking and got in truck and drove.  Got to bed around midnight, what a day.

[AARuFAST]

Burning Man is a wild event.  Considering your schedule the motel manager sent you on the right direction.......

[tony 73]

Yea you not wrong the AARuFAST.

We ahead of schedule  and got 3 places to visit on a working day so we decided to stay put in our motel . Spend Sunday eating, sleeping , do some washing, and plan our final 5 days. Just what we needed.

[tony 73]

All refreshed and ready for our final few days in the great USA.

Our first destination is Sacramento Ford, a large parts business for Vintage Fords. My mate is building a cool 29 model A truck. Bit of town driving required so better watch my speed and mirrors .  Navman behaved and we found the place. Looked quiet , but we were early, too quiet, notice on the door saying " We will be closed for a week due to moving to new premises  , have to go for plan B, there is a guy in Bakersfield  who can supply 70% of the parts.
 Back to the highway and heading towards Fesno , looking for the Mopar Shop. Brought parts from him before and mate and I got a list each. I have visions of a small warehouse shop.
Navman leading into the countryside, tried to make us drive through a field of peach trees. Phone for help, Ed(Mopar shop owner) gives us directions and we pull up outside his house. Temp is 100 plus, not a green blade of grass anywhere. Big shed  behind house and we meet Ed, real nice guy. Didn't head into the shed straight away as he had plenty of cool molar project sitting outside under covers, even a 340  71 Cuda on a hoist. Plenty of AMD panels required. Even more projects inside 3 challengers and a 69 charger. Forgot to take photos sorry.                 
  Ed has a great inventory of new and used parts, got a rear bumper for the cuda, some trim and hood bump stops for the challenger, sunvissor , rear window trim, radio knob and engine fan for the roadrunner. My Visa card getting another workout. Where did 3 hrs go ?
  Time to find motel for night.  Stoped at Herndon ,found a place with a pool , so I very happy.

[AARuFAST]

Enjoy a cold one at the pool............ 

[tony 73]

It is hard to believe how much fluid the human body can absorb when the temps get above 100 F.

My mate and I have been looking forward to todays adventure the whole trip. Both wanted to visit an American car junkyard. We both fans of the Road Kill series and in one episode  they visited Turners Wreakers just south of Fresno. Well here we are , got our fingers crossed that we can walk around the yard. We didn't know where to look first when we pulled up , cars everywhere. Went into the office and meet Jerry the owner . They said go explore but just don't touch, If we find something come get them and they will grab it. They had 2 large yard dogs, one a very big Great Dane, he was keen for a walk so joined us. 75 + acres and it 100 F again, took water but not enough, dog had the right idea, he had a swim in canal that ran through the yard. Where did the hours go, not many mopars, the grandson said Jerry not a big fan. We had so much fun, suffered a bit of heatstroke but who cares.

Next stop was a NZ'ers house/ workshop where my mate was getting his Ford parts from. Was a tough find but Navman did well. Was meant to be a quick stop but when the guy turned up towing a massive trailer with a Coronet on it , hell we had to stay for a beer and chat. Story was , he got ph call from a guy who was towing the Coronet from Canada using a Dolly ? trailer, rear tire on coronet blew, had no money to fix so was selling. Wanted 5K but had to take what the Kiwi offered as he out of options.  Great project car, **** we were temped to buy it .
 Was 114 F in the shade, cold drink went down well. This guy travels to LA all the time delivering cars that Kiwi's buy. We asked what our best plan would be if we wanted a super quite trip. Said , head to top of Grapevine and stay the night at Frazer Park, get up at 4.30 and get on the road. Mate and I agreed to the plan, said goodbye and headed to Frazer Park. WOW that Grapevine, never seen so many trucks going so slow, we keep ours in 2nd and  kept out of trouble.  Stayed at Motel6 which was brilliant, super clean. Hit the hay at 10 ready for our last day towing the Cuda.

[1 Wild R/T]

Turners is a good way to burn 8+ hours easily....  Did you find the airplane?  The Tank Engine out front? The Firetrucks? I could post hundreds of photos but it's your thread & I don't need to clutter it up.... 

[RusTy/SE]

Seriously resilient planning tony 73, what an absolute well.. Big Trip!

Hope you can savor the two or three quiet moments along the way

Cheers mate

[1ownr]

Been following your journey, thanks for bringing us all along with the pics and narrative.

Safe travels

Judy & Charlie

[tony 73]

Thanks for the input guys, we having a blast.

Normally an alarm clock going off at 4.15 would have been a real shock, but I was excited and nervous so was half awake ready for the big trip into LA.  Knew there would be traffic at that time but wow so many trucks. All flowed great, traffic slowed as we got close but no jams or accidents. My mate was a great navigator and by 7.30 we had made it to a friends shop in Torrence.  3400 miles in 9 1/2 days 
 Friend turned up and we went and had breakfast. Returned to his shop where we changed the wheels and fitted the dash frame.Put the old wheels and the passenger seat in the engine bay. We then strapped the 2 extra hoods on top of the hood on the car.   NZ customs needs to see the car VIN tag to verify it matches the title. I also repacked the new parts from Summit so they looked old . Keep looking at my watch as I hoping my exhaust will turn up from Summit via 2 day freight .  Arrived just after lunch so I really    happy.
 Friends mate called in to show us his beautiful Coronet,  immaculate .

Rang Kiwi Shipping to say we bringing the car over to unload. Friend towed it as he more confident with LA driving. Got to shippers about 2pm, unloaded the car and removed all loose parts from truck . Hoping to get as many parts inside car as possible as this will reduce my freight costs. Had to count and label everything. Unbelievablely  we got it all in, had to strap the front glass to the roof.
  Time was 4.30 and I starting to stress as we had to get car inside warehouse as well as get the 4 pallets out of the truck. Warehouse staff we great and got job done with 5 min to spare

Massive day over, real sense of relief. Massive thanks to my mate Bryce and friend Phil.  We jumped in the truck and took it and trailer to U-Haul depot, Phil picked us up and dropped us at our Motel6. Cleaned ourselves up and went out for a meal to celebrate   .

[tony 73]

2 days of well earned rest coming up.

Thursday
 Friend Phil picked us mid morning  up in his 55 Dodge truck and we heading to a car show put on for a very large electronic company.  150 cars  and largest burger truck I have ever seen. Giant company picnic. Had a great time.
 Went for a tour of south LA in the afternoon, stopped at couple of his buddies houses to check out their cars.  So nice not having to drive.

Friday
  Last day in USA , fly out 9pm.
 Phil pick us up again,  went to his friends Ferrari shop,  very cool. Bit more sightseeing before heading to Ruby"s car show, told it runs every Friday for 29 weeks. So many cool cars. Camera got a real workout. Time flys when you having fun and before I knew it we were heading to the airport to catch flight back to NZ.

Had a fantastic time in the USA, meet so many great people , made new friends, saw a lot of the country and would do it again in a heartbeat. 

Arnie says it best,   " I'LL BE BACK"
 

[tony 73]

more photos. 

[tony 73]

 Advance in time to the 9th of October.   Coastal ship sails into Nelson with my Cuda aboard     Will be another week before car emerges from the container, has to be fumigated . 

[69ChargerRT]

wow that looks like you had an amazing trip!  so many cool cars to see!  hope the cuda makes it home safe