Adventures in Hot Rodding

Car shows, car club, breakdowns, wrench nights, possible near death experiences, getting things fixed, and as always adventuring in the hot rod world – these things and more are what’ve been goin’ on for the past month as I’ve neglected my writing.

The month started with a car club meeting (I haven’t told ya’ll too much about them yet…I’ll have to remedy that soon!) The following day was Bedlam Ball Car Show in San Pedro. Me and the other Gasoline Girls had fun hanging out together and seeing our buddies the Throttle Kings along with some other cool cars down in the port town of Los Angeles.

The next week included ongoing wrench nights to get Lori’s truck finished, a 1948 Ford F1, as well as some work to be done to get Rosa’s 1965 Ford Falcon working correctly again. In the meantime, Stude was tellin’ me her front suspension was gone, really gone. After months of driving her knowing that her bushing were on their way out and then completely gone. With rain falling in LA and a nearly bald tire… I decided to park her so as to avoid losing her completely in a tire blow out or other accident.

A week later I’d collected parts and advice and Tommy from the Studebaker Shop helped me to rebuild the front suspension. This meant missing the Hot Rod Reunion I was planning to attend… but after driving a new Stude by the end of a day wrenching, I knew it was worth it!

Just as I thought I had Stude in good running order and was ready to start planning my next job on her, the brakes… what would happen??? That’s right, the brakes went out! Losing 100% of my brakes (without an emergency brake to use) was one of the scariest things that’s ever happened to me. The culprit was the rear rubber line running between the steel line and back tire. A simple $8.50 part. I’ll tell you more about the brakes in a later story – but thankfully I and the Stude got through that with no harm done.

The next day I spent fixing the brake issue instead of attending the Southwest Studebaker Meet… but a girl has got to have brakes! By Saturday morning Stude was back on the road, along with the other Gasoline Girls, to join the Mojave Mile heading up to Winfield’s place for the yearly Winfield & Watson Custom Car Show.

Meeting up with 100+ cars on our journey up to Mojave was very fun! Our adventures weren’t over yet! This was Lori’s F1’s maiden voyage… as fate would have it she didn’t quite make it. The Gasoline Girls had to pull out of the Mojave Mile (along with a couple of very nice fellow’s from the Coachmen’s Car Club) to take care of a fuel issue. We eventually made it up to Winfield’s with the F1 on a trailer. The weekend was spent enjoying the people and cars at the show, as well as fixing the fuel issue (you can read all about it on the Gasoline Girl’s blog post!)

By the end of Sunday us and our cars all made it home safe and sound. I won’t be getting too much rest though… It’s time to plan a brake overhaul with a dual-reservoir master cylinder, braided lines, and an E-brake, no more losing brakes for me! Stay tuned as I catch up on writing, attend SEMA, and continue on my hot-rodding adventures!

Until next time,
Happy Trails!