That evening, under the parking lot lights, we pulled the '33 apart. It turned out to be the social event of the evening. We had lots of help, plenty of supervisors, and even a truck full of locals who just wanted to see what was going on. It was well after midnight by the time the car was back together, but despite the hour we decided to run to the local car wash as the '33 was looking pretty bad. We jumped in, I hit the switch, and there was silence-nothing happened. Of course everyone had packed up their tools and left by now, but after checking the battery cables and jiggling a few wires the roadster came to life, so off we went to the car wash (we did leave it running as a precaution). On the way back to the motel the car made a new noise when I hit the brakes, but by the time we pulled back into the parking lot we were both beat and figured we'd take a look at it in the morning.
That next morning the car started right up, the noise was gone (we attributed that to getting the brakes wet while washing the wheels), and since this was one of the long driving days (331 miles) with several stops, we convinced ourselves the roadster cured itself-we should have known better.
On the way to Gary Heidt's, Nick hitched a ride with Jim Shelton, so I was on my own. As I pulled into a tollbooth behind Danny Zoeller's '51 Ford woodie, I noticed it had a decided list. As he left, things went from bad to worse and it looked as though the back of the wagon was going to hit the ground. A roadside inspection showed that the aluminum lowering blocks had broken, and Danny was parked.
About this time the Chisenhalls pulled up and we all decided that they would stay with Danny to wait for a rollback while I journeyed on to Heidt's. That was a dumb move. It seems the instruction sheet I had was wrong, so I ended up heading the wrong way (to Chicago!) at warp speed. When it dawned on me something wasn't right I made the mistake of pulling into a gas station and asking someone who was evidently more lost than I was for directions. Of course, when I went to leave, the electrical problem returned and the '33 wouldn't start. After some vigorous wire jiggling I found the battery connection at the starter was loose, and the reason was because the plastic on the solenoid had melted. With no way to fix it properly, I found that if the wiring harness was pulled and hooked around a protruding bolt a connection was made and the roadster would start. In the meantime, the rollback driver knew a short cut to Heidt's, so by the time I finished touring the state and rigging a repair, they had beaten me there. To add insult to injury our brake noise was back, but diagnosing that was easy. We could see the caliper moving on the mounting bracket; one of the mounting bolts had fallen out.
While Gary gave everyone a tour of his beautiful new facility, various and sundry repairs were being made-a new set of steel lowering blocks for Danny, and steel inserts to repair the stripped threads in our caliper bracket. So, bringing up the rear again, we headed to our next stop, Rad Rods by Troy in Manteno, Illinois, where we would again meet up with the Power Tour. One of the highlights of the visit was the unveiling of a new traditionally styled '32 Ford roadster with the full Trepanier treatment (watch for more on this car soon).
At this point it should be noted that our hosts along the way had been gracious enough to feed us. There were some great barbeques provided for us at the stops, including this one. Unfortunately, that meant my non-red-meat-eating companion was munching on hamburger buns and condiments again. But this time there were no complaints, as Nick discovered the almost endless supply of homemade chocolate chip cookies at Troy's. With his pockets bulging suspiciously, day six drew to a close.