Americruise 2004: I Got Shotgun! Page 2

The crew at The Hot Rod Garage plan to have the Rollin' Stone '32 roadster ready to make exhibition passes at the 50t U.S. Nationals in Indy this September. The original car won the Street Eliminator class at the 1957 NHRA Nationals in Oklahoma City.

Lined up in front of the Hot Rod Garage.

Danny Zoeller (no relation to Fuzzy) makes regular Americruise appearances in his Ford Woody.

Junior Cardona finished stuffing a big-block in his '69 Camaro just in time for the cruise.

The Hot Rod Power Tour showed a huge variety of cars, including some sweet customs.

Yep, that's none other than Big Brutus. The name is quite fitting since the people in the photo look like ants.

Even the Ron Ceridono can't believe the size of Big Brutus' scoop.

Only a freight train could stop Americruise... and it looks like it did, temporarily anyway.

Jim Shelton recently finished his '32 highboy and decided to make Americruise its maiden voyage. Although sporting a traditional look, it's got quite a bit of spunk.

The fine people at Odd Rod Creations have connections to bakery world. A family friend did a great job of cake decorating. I have to say they tasted great too.

Rusty Jackson (holding the plaque) and his family did a great job of making the Americruisers feel welcome. Not only did they feed fifty or so hot rodders, after lunch and a quick shop tour they joined us in the cruise into Springfield, Missouri.

We're betting Rusty's shop won't look this clean a year from now.

Randy Jackson took his blown six-cylinder '26 on one leg of the cruise.

Gordon O'Steen is a regular on the Power Tour and Americruise.

Ray Lark and Tom Virden are hardcore when it comes to roddin'. They've got more miles between them than most rodders will see in a lifetiime.

Bigfoot 4x4 is where it all started. If you like monster trucks, this is the place to be.

Jennie Schmidts, Rick Love, and Jack Chisenhall present Jim Kramer with the Americruse plaque.

Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis was the site of one of the Hot Rod Power Tour stops. The heat didn't have much affect on attendance as the place was literally packed with participants and spectators alike.

We can't thank Flowmaster enough for their sponsorship on Americruise. That is unless a T-shirt and a plaque will do it.

We spotted some really cool cars in St. Louis, including this '60 Impala.

Web guy saves the day! That's me in the red hat directing Ron Ceridono on how we should make the necessary repairs on the '33 while Danny Zoeller and Rick Love take a little break under the car.

Apparently for a fan to work properly, it needs blades all the way around, not just on one side.

Lee Good shows off his '56 Bel Air from Texas to Indy.

Sam Chiswell hooked up with us along the way and finished up in Indy.

The whole group was present while Gary Heidt received his plaque in front of the Hiedt's Inc. building in Wauconda, Illinois.

Part of Heidt's work force helped out with some quick fabrication work on our brake system.

Any shop that has a Kent Fuller dragster hanging from the ceiling has got to be a cool place.

There was plenty of work to be done at Heidt's. Danny Zoeller had to replace two broken lowering blocks, and Ron Ceridono works on getting the brakes put back together on the Road Tour car. I would have helped, but I had to take this photo.

A few trucks joined Americruise about the halfway point.

This was the scene at one of the tollbooths outside Chicago.

This is what happens when you don't help wash the car. It's called payback.

The more Mercs, the merrier I always say.

I took some time out of the '33 to get a couple of photos of it going down the road.

Here is a little preview of what is to come out of Troy Trepanier's shop.

That's Posy's new "rat-rod" influenced model A truck along side the McMullen Clone outside Rad Rides by Troy in Manteno, Illinois.

Troy Trepanier debuted his latest creation in fine, dramatic style.

After the smoke cleared, a beautiful '32 Highboy appeared.

Another rain day brought out the Smart & Final blue trash bags.

Dave Ahokis drove an awesome Willys last year on Americruise, so this year he showed off his Willys sedan. This bad boy features a blown big-block.

Arlyn Campbell made it through the rain; in fact the '39 was a long-hauler on Americruise.

We stopped at the Auburn Cord Deusenberg museum on our way to Indy.

Sam lost a headlight bezel on the way to Indy. Thanks to Jack, John, and Landis Chisenhall for their quick reaction as they pulled off the freeway to pick it up and deliver it to its rightful owner.

What else is there to do with a sweet '55 Chevy? Join up with Americruise even if it's just for the day.

Although it wasn't on our itinerary, we just had to stop by the Brickyard to soak up all Indy had to offer.

Primedia Street Rod Group Publisher Del Austin gave me some excellent direction on how to look important while watching the drags from the suite in Indy.

The Goodguys Indy Nationals had no problem attracting a huge crowed even though it rained off and on throughout the weekend.

The Goodguys VRA puts on some of the best drag races in the country.

Here is what our Americruise itinerary looked like after over 2,000 miles of wind, rain, and coffee spills.

Looks like the '33 made it through another cross-country trip, and got a few new parts along the way.

See you guys next year...