It's always fun to get out and drive your hot rod, and when you can't, make sure you know someone who can. Road trips are an especially joyous occasion, and when it is to an event like the NSRA Street Rod Nats in Louisville, Kentucky, well, that's akin to traveling to the Promised Land (with proper apologies to Bonneville and the dry lakes).
My opportunity arose this past summer when I got a call from Steve Coonan of The Rodder's Journal and we began talking about his newly acquired Deuce highboy roadster. Conversations like this eventually lead to, "Well, how does it drive, where have you taken it, and what's next?" Steve answered, "Do you want to drive back to the Nats?" Two weeks before the Nats and I'm changing my plans, 'cause driving always beats flying. What better way to personally celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Deuce than from behind the wheel of a '32 highboy roadster on a road trip to the Nats?
Steve's highboy was originally built by Roy Brizio Street Rods and was featured in the August 2000 issue of Street Rodder. As with any Brizio hot rod, you get in, turn the key, and drive. And such would be the case for our drive to "Loooville"-well, almost.
Plans called for Steve to drop down from the Bay Area to SoCal and pick me up at California Street Rods in Huntington Beach, where we could give the car a once-over. Chuck Lombardo Jr. was on hand to help with the standard checklist: adjust the carburetor, check the fluids, and, with wrench in hand, go about tightening all the visible nuts and bolts. Chuck Sr. eventually showed up, but was more cheerleader and less helper. (Sorry, Senior!) The only real problem was luggage space. Apparently Steve's idea of traveling light is different than mine.
Fortunately, Steve began his road tour preparations several weeks earlier at Brizio's shop by implementing a handful of modifications. The most worthwhile alteration was the moving of the gas tank out of the trunk and dropping it between the 'rails, as in stock form. Sid Chavers performed the initial stitchwork and was again called upon to make the current mods. He cut down the roadster seat so we sat "deeper," placing us below the top of the windshield. He also refit the trunk, giving us as much usable space as possible. Having made this drive (my 12th cross-country hot rod trip), I am well aware of trunk space issues and had already UPS'd my Nats clothing and gear. So, there I stood with camera, toothbrush, and a change of underwear in hand, ready for whatever the road would throw at us. Steve looked like he was prepping for an assault on Mt. Everest and would need a Sherpa. He'll learn and future drives will be much less stressful when it comes to packing.
I should mention that the most we paid for gas on the trip was $4 a gallon in Desert Center, California. Located on Interstate 10, it's 48 miles west of Blyth, California, a border town leading into Arizona and the turnoff that takes you to another popular site for Californians-Parker, Arizona, some 85 miles to the north. We were running low on gas, opted not to take our chances, and rummaged through our pockets for 20 bucks. (Desert Center is 68 miles east of Palm Springs, California, and is [has been] a last-chance gas-up site since 1921 when Stephen A. Ragsdale founded the town, which the family still owns to this day.)
We stopped by Hot Rods by Dean in Phoenix, Arizona, and spent some time with Dean Livermore. Given the lateness of the day, and Dean looking like he needed some sleep, we made it a short stop. We did check out the latest rides soon to be in the John Mumford stable of hot rods-a pair of '34s, one a five-window and the other a three-window.