chief goes to work

If you didn't know already,
my '29 roadster pickup is nicknamed chief...

Last friday I actually drove the thing more than just around the block.
It's taken this long!
Holy Chit!

I went over the hill to the gas station,
and it wanted to stay there.
For a moment I thought it was the battery,
but noticed the unmounted water temperature gauge sparked out the fuel pump switch.
Fortunately I had some fuses,
so it was a relief as I had no tools.

I decided to drive it to work.

chief goes to work

A hot rod brings people out of the woodwork
that you wouldn't talk to otherwise.
I forgot that part about driving it.
It's one of the tests of owning a car like this.

Sometimes I don't mind chatting,
but if I'm burnt,  I try not be too rude,
and say "man I'd love to talk but I'm in a rush/working or ..."

I've realized that its best not to act like a dick.
People are genuinely interested,
and I've gotten parts, leads on parts,
 work and stories from just being civil.

george and chief

This salty dude, George, had a '28 or '29 roadster in 1948.
His was a typical postwar kids car,
flathead with bolt on speed parts, mechanical brakes, channeled 6"...

He had a story of going through La Jolla (san diego beach town) around sunset
and seeing a police blockade up ahead,
so he flipped around and drove down an alley.
A motorcycle cop chased him but he drove up a secluded driveway and coasted.
And sat there til he didn't hear the motorcycle circling around!
I love those stories.

Another guy I talked to had pics of his Dad's hot rod.

restless III - Art Maynard '51

He went back to his boat and dug out these photos.
His dad was Art Maynard,
the second guy to surpass 100 mph in this class boat.

loud pipes

Check out the exhaust in that thing!
The v8-60's were the smaller class (135?),
and these inline-6's were the next class up (265?).
I never knew the flat sixes were competitive,
but this was 1950-52, and this was a top boat on the circuit.

Art Maynard

I found this pic online from the above link.
He flipped another boat at about 70mph or so.
Can you imagine?

restless III at work

So throughout the day Chief was had its share of visitors.
It was crazy.
When it was in the garage,
I had coated all the nickel plate with thick grease.

There were hand prints all over the car.

Seriously,

there were handprints on the bed rails, the cowl, the door tops, the steering arm.

Like they were touching it to see if it was real or something.

Trippy.

I am glad it's just rattlecan black!

chief gets a massage

I've got to spend a chunk of time tuning it though.

The carbs are out of adjustment,

there's a good size oil leak from the stock fuel pump location,

and some shakes and shimmies to get squared away.

-probably from the tire pressure,

these are LT truck tires, made for heavy duty trucks.

Typically I'd run almost 15 PSI in the back, 20 PSI in front for the smoothest ride!

I checked when I got home they were all over 30.

Hopefully I can get up to the Father's day show in Pomona,

 or the Antique Nationals in Irwindale.

We'll see.

TP