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Americruise '04Taking the Road Trip in a New Direction From the February, 2009 issue of Rod & Custom By Jim Rizzo, Tim Bernsau Photography by Nick Licata, Tim Bernsau
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Attention, America! If you're dragging your hot rod around in a trailer, you're missing a whole bunch of fun. That's the point we were trying to make in 1993, when we first announced the idea of an R&C-hosted cross-country cruise. Trailering was becoming a trend. We wanted to get back to the tradition of driving, so we organized a series of cruises and a show and named the whole thing Americruise. Every year since then, we've been trying to make Americruise better, tweaking the event we invented to make sure our week on the road was as fun as possible. This year, we had two tours, one leaving from Mooneyes in Southern California and one leaving from Vintage Air in San Antonio, both bound for the Goodguys Hot Rod Nats in Indianapolis. Relying on the old saying about getting there being half the fun, we put all our attention on getting there, and let Goodguys handle the car show part. It was a good move. On June 1, the Mooneyes leg of the tour originated at (where else?) Mooneyes in Santa Fe Springs, California. Tour leader Bob Kriezel from Mooneyes, R&C Editor Jim Rizzo, and a bunch of ambitious Americruisers cruised through the Southwest with a stop in Kingman, Arizona, a hospitality stop at Mild To Wild Classics in Albuquerque, other stops in New Mexico and Amarillo, Texas, and a shop tour of Parr Automotive in Oklahoma City, before ending up in Grand Lake, Oklahoma, at Starbird's National Rod & Custom Car Hall of Fame museum. The Mooneyes gang was already four days on the road when the Vintage Air tour left San Antonio on their way to Painless Performance's huge new facility in Fort Worth. On Saturday, the Texas gang said adios to the interstate and hit the original Route 66 outside of Muskogee, Oklahoma. At Starbird's, both of our Americruise tours melded into one large group of great cars, great trucks, and great people. Starbird opened up the Museum and Hall of Fame, hired a band and some barbecue cooks, and filled his property with hundreds of cars, saving a primo spot for the tour cars. In addition, he invited out all his old-time hot rodding buddies, giving Americruisers a chance to shake hands with some of the living legends of this hobby. On the way to Tulsa, the combined Americruise tours stopped at Hot Rod Garage in Sand Springs. That afternoon we rolled into Tulsa, where we were joined by almost 2,000 Hot Rod Power Tour participants en route to Green Bay, Wisconsin. In West Mineral, Kansas, on Monday, we got to crawl all over Big Brutus, the world's largest electric shovel. A series of scenic two-lanes took us to Odd Rod Creations, the rod shop in Carl Junction, Missouri, owned by the Jackson family, including sons Rusty, Randy, and Ryan (that's Ryan's '35 Chevy on the cover this month). From there we headed to the fairgrounds in Springfield, Missouri, to join Power Tour festivities again. On Tuesday. we got to St. Louis in time for a lunchtime visit to Bigfoot 4x4 headquarters, where they build the biggest hot rods around. We caught up with the Power Tour for the final time at Gateway International Raceway. The destination for Wednesday was Troy Trepanier's shop in Manteno, Illinois. We took the scenic route through Wauconda, Illinois, for an inspection of Heidt's Hot Rod Shop, given by last year's Americruise captain Gary Heidt. Chicago's rush-hour traffic had us longing for the state routes we'd been running most of the trip, and when we got to Rad Rides by Troy, hot rodder George Poteet was already serving up barbecue for Americruisers and hundreds of other folks on hand for the unveiling (yup, there really was a veil) of Troy's just-finished phenomenal flathead '32 roadster. We still had a lot to see on our final day of Americruise, including an amazing collection of cars at the Auburn Cord Duesenburg Museum in Auburn, Indiana. Five minutes from there, at the Dean V. Kruse Foundation, we wandered through the WWII Victory Museum, filled with every type of American and German military vehicle. On the other side of the building, the Kruse Classic Car Museum houses a huge room of historic automobiles, including the Carl Caspar Car & Carriage collection of customs, race cars, antiques, and 19th century vehicles. By Thursday evening, we'd reached Indy and the end of Americruise '04. The journey from Vintage Air was more than 2,000 miles--for the Mooneyes Americruisers, it was more than 3,000. For everybody who made the trip, it was a fun cross-country party that we'll be talking about for a long time. Thanks to Mooneyes and Vintage Air for all the help. Thanks to Rick Love for getting us to Indy. Thanks to everybody who jumped in their rods and customs and made Americruise '04 a blast. We'll see you next year.  Rick Love, behind the wheel...  Rick Love, behind the wheel of his trusty flamed '39 coupe, has led more Americruise expeditions than anybody. This year, as always, he worked hard to plan the routes, organize the stops, and make the trip a success.  Half the cars on Americruise...  Half the cars on Americruise could park in the dipper of Big Brutus, which stands 16 stories tall, weighs 11 million pounds, and has a top speed of 0.22 mph (uncorked). This shovel was used to mine coal in southeast Kansas from 1963 until 1974 and is now a landmark.  George Packard spent the evening...  George Packard spent the evening before the Texas tour helping prepare a couple of rods for the trip and took a couple of days off the job at Vintage Air to cruise with us. His '32 five-window coupe has been on the road about a year now, runs a small-block, and definitely nails the look.  The Mooneyes and Vintage Air...  The Mooneyes and Vintage Air tours met at Darryl Starbird's National Rod & Custom Car Hall of Fame Museum in Oklahoma. Also on hand was a whole team of famous rodders. Here you see Mike and Larry Alexander, Frank Livingston, Jerry Titus, Starbird, and Rod Powell. Dick "Magoo" Megugorac, Steve Moal, Andy Brizio, Gene Winfield, Ken "Posies" Fenical, and several others were also there.  In the 11 years he's owned...  In the 11 years he's owned this '39 Chevy, Nick Sfetku from Burbank, CA, has redone all the mechanical components, adding a 350/350 running gear combination. He and Bill Manger (both members of the Burbank Road Kings) decided to make the trip, their first Americruise, on a whim.  Spencer Murray, R&C's first...  Spencer Murray, R&C's first editor, was at the Starbird Museum to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Spence drove in behind the wheel of the Dream Truck, the famous project truck he built in these pages almost 50 years ago.  Jim Kramer, VP of operations...  Jim Kramer, VP of operations at Bigfoot 4x4, gave us a guided tour of the facility. The very first Bigfoot was built in 1975. The most recent is number 17, which makes the original look tiny.  R&C Editor Riz spent a lot...  R&C Editor Riz spent a lot of long nights getting his Budget Beater T roadster pickup running in time for Americruise and drew tons of attention every mile of the way.  Of course, some of that attention...  Of course, some of that attention came from the crew at Mild To Wild Classics in Albuquerque, who helped Jim fix a broken drag link during a scheduled stop at the shop.  Cruising's more fun with a...  Cruising's more fun with a co-pilot. Bob Rohlf and his 9-year-old son Douglas traveled together in Bob's '34 coupe, powered by a '70 Boss 302 engine fed by a tunnel-ram intake with dual Holleys. Ray Lark and Tom Virden, members of the Lake Havasu Over the Hill Gang, drive on Americruise every summer, and always in a roadster. This year, it's Tom's Deuce, packed with a small-block Chevy.  On Sunday the newly combined...  On Sunday the newly combined tours hung out at the Hot Rod Garage, a custom fabrication shop in Sand Springs, OK.  First stop on the Vintage...  First stop on the Vintage Air tour was a visit to Painless Performance in Fort Worth. This computerized testing board is capable of testing more than 300 wiring harness functions in less than 10 seconds.  Shawn Johnstun had just finished...  Shawn Johnstun had just finished doing some upholstery work on artist Dennis McPhail's '52 Chevy and was delivering the sleek six-cylinder sled back to Kansas. He decided to hook up with Americruise for part of the trip.  Danny Zoeller was back on...  Danny Zoeller was back on the Texas tour with his '51 Country Squire wagon. The woodie retains almost all of the original wood, inside and out. Danny lowered it, added a Mustang II frontend, and stuffed it with a 5.0L Ford engine.  The East Coast was represented...  The East Coast was represented by Bill and Catherine Mitchell from Long Island, driving this chopped and channeled '34 coupe with a small-block Chevy 454 developed by Bill at his shop, Bill Mitchell Hardcore Racing Products. The car sits on a stretched-wheelbase and narrowed frame and rides like a sports car more than a hot rod.  Vintage Air owner Jack Chisenhall's...  Vintage Air owner Jack Chisenhall's black '39 sedan has covered a lot of A-Cruise miles over the years. Here he tails Sam Criswell's '57 Thunderbird.  Rick Reed drove his screamin'...  Rick Reed drove his screamin' yellow '47 Chevy coupe from Oklahoma to the West Coast, made a U-turn, and headed back home with the Mooneyes tour.  Several cruisers took advantage...  Several cruisers took advantage of Gary Heidt's hospitality to make repairs in his shop. Kevin Jones, a refugee from the Power Tour, welds up the lower shock mounts in his '57 Chevy pickup (with a '55 frontend). The 406 in Kevin's truck runs an old Edelbrock cross-ram manifold which was dropped in just a few days before the trip.  This was the fourth or fifth...  This was the fourth or fifth Americruise for David Ahokas, but the first for his '40 Willys phantom sedan delivery, which was once a four-door sedan. Some valvetrain problems with the blown big-block kept Dave busy during his free time.  At our tour stop at Odd Rod...  At our tour stop at Odd Rod Creations, the Jacksons surprised us with this tasty ROD & CUSTOM cake. It seemed a shame to slice into such a beautiful cake, but somehow we managed.  The cleanest car on the trip...  The cleanest car on the trip must have been Kevin and Cyd Hunter's Chromallusion blue and purple '33 coupe. Kevin and Cyd, from Terre Haute, IN, met up with us in Oklahoma and never ran out of energy or enthusiasm.  The introduction of Troy Trepanier's...  The introduction of Troy Trepanier's '32 roadster was surrounded in all the fanfare of a big Hollywood premier. Rightfully so. As expected, this is a stunning hot rod. We'll have more to show you in a future issue.  Arlyn and Laura Jean Campbell...  Arlyn and Laura Jean Campbell are now building a sedan to go along with their gray and black Coast To Coast '39 cabriolet. The car is powered by an LS1 engine from Street & Performance and pulls that cool little matching trailer.  Sam Criswell attended the...  Sam Criswell attended the first Americruise back in 1993 and cruised his '57 Thunderbird convertible (running a Tri-power 312 Y-block) in 1994. Sam lost his headlight rim on Thursday heading into Indy. Luckily, Jack Chisenhall was behind him and retrieved the scuffed up piece.  In Kansas, Red Nevins and...  In Kansas, Red Nevins and his nephew Phil Matthes from Clovis, NM, broke away from the Power Tour to see what Americruise is all about. Red's red 502-powered '51 Chevy was an NHRA Division 4 points champion back in the mid-'60s. It is all owner-built except for one seat.
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