MEMORY LANE NEXT EXIT
At the bottom of this blog we have posted links to a variety of automotive clubs, sites that provide technical information to keep your vintage car on the road as well as to classic roadside attractions and numerous historic highway associations. In addition, to help plan your trip along the real life memory lane that is Route 66 we have also added a wide array of information about Kingman, the Heart of Historic Route 66.
While your here stop by the gift shop, The Guess What Shop, and the various book stores along the way. In addition to select Route 66 titles you will find biographies, restoration guides, maps, and lots of surprises.
No shopping experience on Memory Lane is complete without a stop by Hinckley's Garage filled with a wide array of products to keep your car on the road and looking like new.
Before you leave meet the proprietor and learn about forthcoming projects by this award winning author.
Please take a moment to give your impressions, thoughts and suggestions as to how we may make your visit more enjoyable.
Thank you - the Route 66 Chronicles team
*All book reviews reprinted permission of Cars & parts unless othewise noted
ITS HERE!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
HALF WAY THERE
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Labels: HALF WAY THERE
Friday, May 16, 2008
FRONT WHEEL DRIVE - IN THE BEGINNING
These cars were built in a number of configurations including two cylinder, four cylinder and four wheel drive with an engine at each of the car. Additional front wheel drive applications developed by Walter Christie included a motorized conversion for horse drawn fire equipment.
A surprising number of companies and innovators worked with front wheel drive, four wheel drive, and even four wheel steering, during the first decades of the 20th century.
The Cord is recognized as the first commercially viable American built front wheel drive automobile though it sold in limited numbers. Financial issues as well as internal problems resulted in the early demise of Ruxton, a contemporary of Cord.
One of the more intriguing "what if" stories pertaining to the development of front wheel drive in the prewar years stems from several experimental projects conducted by Checker. In addition to a prototype front wheel drive taxi, the company also tried a rear wheel drive with rear mounted engine configuration and a four wheel steering, four wheel drive Jeep type vehicle.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
ROUTE 66 WHERE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE MEET
I suppose the lesson, if there is one, to be derived from the fun run is one of encouragement. As long as there are automobiles and gasoline to make them go, as long as there are open roads and
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Labels: MORE FROM THE MOTHER ROAD
Sunday, May 4, 2008
MORE FROM THE RUN TO FUN ON 66
I left Kingman early Sunday morning to stake out a good location for watching the cars twist and turn up the steep grades into the mountains. As it turned out I had the pull out at Fish Bowl Springs, a stop for boiling radiators years ago, to myself.
After an hour at the springs I drove over the hill and stopped at the bottom of the curve into the old town of Goldroad. This is the sharpest curve found anywhere on Route 66.
Now, it is time to focus on the next project as there are but a few months before deadline. As the search begins in earnest for ghost towns of the southwest I will take you along through photos so stay tuned.
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Labels: ROUTE 66 FUN CONTINUED
Saturday, May 3, 2008
FUN RUN '08
The intention was to finish out the weekend, compose my thoughts and put together a professional overview of the Route 66 Fun Fun Weekend. Professionalism be damned!
This was hands down the most amazing automotive event I have ever attended. I will take that a step further and say the distance between this event and my next favorite is about the overall length of this rally/block party - 180
miles.
This event has always been interesting as it combines the best of southwestern scenery with the romance of Route 66. This year, however, the truly awe inspiring array of vehicles participating made this one for the record books.
I talked with a young man from Cold Spring Harbor, New York, that was celebrating the completion of college with a road trip that included stops in Key West, Port Arthur, Texas, and San Francisco, California. He was driving an original, mostly unrestored 1938 Dodge coupe!
One vendor sold home made ice cream. The kicker was the churns were being turned by a vintage "make 'n break" engine.
On the drive to Kingman from Seligman I passed a couple of daring senior ladies with big smiles cruising in a 1913 Ford Model T, a couple of elderly gentlemen in a 1912 Cadillac, and a fellow with long beard and overalls piloting the original rat rod - a T model Ford truck with missing front fenders and doors but an original engine clicking off the miles.
Street rods and custom cars ran the gamut from "original" 1950s built deuce coupes to a 1950s Jeep station wagon transformed into a close coupled, eight wheel drive mechanical wonder.
Original, unrestored vehicles were overwhelming in number as well as variety. I saw a 24,000 original mile Studebaker Lark and a 1971 Ford Ranchero with just 9,000 miles on the odometer. However, my favorite in this category had to be a 1952 Ford F-3, sun baked but straight as an arrow, with a mere 42,000 miles on the clock.
If foreign cars are more to your liking there were a wide array of Alfa Romeo products as well as a 1970 Datsun sedan, a herd of VW built vehicles, a couple of Rolls Royce sedans as well as Jags, Triumphs and MGs.
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Labels: ROUTE 66 ALIVE AND WELL
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
SOMEWHERE SOUTHWEST OF LARAMIE & NORTH OF ROUTE 66
With the high price of fuel Barney is in a state of semi retirement. Still, when there is work to done or adventure to be had Barny is a willing and faithful partner.
Saturday was the first morning the day started without the need for a light jacket. I gave Barney a few minutes to warm up and then backed the old truck to the gate. By the time the sun was cresting over the distant mountains I had the brush and assorted junk that accumulated over the months of winter piled high above the bed sides.
Next came a hearty breakfast of oatmeal with wheat germ and flax seed, toast with a touch of butter and strawberry preserves, and a cup of hot mint tea. After a quick shower, shave, and a hug and smooch from my wife it was off to the office. On the way I stopped by the rodeo grounds, the site for the city clean up collection point. Trustees from the local jail had Barney emptied in half the time it took me to load it so I made it to the office with ten minutes to spare.
Saturday is a short one so by 12:30, after lunch, we were on the road. I worked in the yard cutting the brush (they were weeds when my wife cut them a few weeks ago) with a hoe and Barney was again put to work.
By 3:30, after a fuel stop, $20.00, we were ready for the next project. This time it was back to the office and moving trailers to the back of the lot.
Supper at five and then it was light duty for Barney. My wife and I made a trip to Walmart for a weeks worth of supplies so the really challenging part for the old truck was to get us back alive, not an easy task with heavy traffic.
The next morning there was church, a quick check of Barney's vitals (oil, water, etc.), and then off into the Cerbat Mountains to experiment with the camera before the Fun Run this coming weekend.
These mountains present the quintessential portrait of an Arizona landscape. As such they give the golf course in Kingman a unique setting.
Since my last trip into this section of the mountains a gate has been added along with paved streets, curbs, and bladed lots. It is times like these that I struggle with depression as some of the finest real estate on Earth is used for growing houses.
After wandering back toward Beale Springs, Johnson Canyon, and a few other favorite spots, it became obvious these to were not longer havens and oases from the urban desert.
So, I wandered back to town, followed the new road along the golf course into the canyons near the old Stockton Hill Road, broke out the camera and the tripod.
These are the results. Barney in all his glory - mud spattered and worn. As you can see this old truck is not in danger of being lost in a crowded parking lot.
Until next week -
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Monday, April 28, 2008
ADIOS APRIL
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Saturday, April 26, 2008
A LOOK BACK AT CHANGING TIMES
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Labels: A TIME OF TRANSITION




