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Seems only right that I send my condolences to C9's family here on the RRT where I first 'met' him. Never got the chance in person, but he was one of the originals.

RIP

Hey bm, sounds like a great trip. We did Route 66 during our honeymoon, in a rental sadly, but it was still very cool.

You HAVE to travel it from East to West (Chicago to LA) because that's how the song goes!

That way when you're driving through all those towns, you can sing along to make sure you're going the right way.

Chicago, St Louis, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Gallup... well, that's as far as we got before heading up through Utah to meet 1FATGMC and go to Bonneville.

We also did the PCH for a while which is also stunning.

I found a bunch of stuff on the net with maps and directions, but it's still a struggle to keep on the old highway some of the time and almost pointless as you end up on an access road running right alongside the Interstate, but with a much lower speed limit.

You do get to go through the old towns though, which is always cool, but adds a lot of time to the trip.

If you're going to do it, make sure you're not in a rush, otherwise you'll end up just jumping on the Interstate.

How the hell do you remember all this stuff, Frank?

Remeasured the length I needed, and came up with 55 1/2" this time.  

Sounds like a case of - I cut it twice and it's still too short!  

Nice work Frank Sr. That was some scary stuff that was going on before!  

So does it go faster now?

bucketmouth is nothing but trouble. I would run the other way if I saw him coming.  

High ground clearance vehicle?

Uh-Oh...  

Sue and I still assume the foetal position when we reminisce about our 'sight seeing' tour with you. Seeing the sight of that 300-foot drop off the edge of that muddy road sure was memorable.

Still the highlight of your honeymoon (with clothes on obviously).  

You want to try our Australian sun on for size. You can feel it deep frying your skin when you go outside!  

We've got great weather here in Perth, Western Australia, but in summer it's too * hot to drive around without a roof, you get roasted. But when the sun goes down and you've got one of those balmy summer nights, it's just perfect roadster weather!

Of course... all I need now is a roadster.  

We also have some gorgeous winter days where there isn't a cloud in the sky and it's a 25 degrees Celsius (I think around 70F?). Also perfect roadster weather.

That's a good looking top, but I've seen the price of them and they would want to be good!  

Just one simple question, I'm pretty sure these things come apart and pack away into a small bag that you can then stow in your 'storage challenged' hot rod. Do they also fold down like a 'normal' roadster top?

If so, what do they look like when folded down?

Great info, guys.

Of course, my first question was going to be... "Was it around in the 50s (bro)?

C9 answered that pretty much. Early 60s is OK with me.

Well... it's an excuse for the last nine months I guess.

Last week (27th Feb) Sue and I welcomed our second child into the world. We named her Liljana Rose and she is a wonderful healthy little girl... well she was eight pounds and 20 inches, slightly bigger than her brother when he was born. We put that down to her spending an extra week in the 'oven'.

She arrived at 4:50am and the labour was just over an hour long. We figured she didn't want to miss the wonderful sunrise, which apparently made the news that night it was so spectacular.



Anyway, here's a handful of pics from her first few days, her big brother Luka, and her trip home in the Rambler.





With her wonderful mum.







What a dude.



Yes, she does open her eyes.



Some of the loot!

Hey Carps! Get back to work ya slack bastard!

Good to see you finally got away. Don't have too much fun, you gotta get back in time for the big *-up in Castlemaine in early September.

It's your shout.

I'll be around in a week or so for a Rod Ride(tm).

Don was one of the first hot rodders I met in the US. We were in Vegas during part of our three month honeymoon and had gone into town to check out what was going on. Noticed a bunch of hot rods parked and had to go check it out.

Headed straight to this REALLY nice black '34 coupe. I asked a bunch of guys if any of them owned it, and some big guy with a white moustache calls out: "You must be Brootal!"



The next day a bunch of us caught up at Carl's place and then headed out for breakfast and the Fuel & Gas Finals. It was an absolute highlight of my honeymoon (except for the 'other' stuff).



I had heard that Don was unwell and tried to send a couple of PMs, but never got replies and didn't see him around here much.

RIP, mate. You'll be missed by a lot of people.

I was asked today if there were any other motors that had a vertical front-mounted distributor OTHER THAN the Ford small-blocks.

I couldn't think of any off hand and I can't seem to find my Chilton's manual which might have the info.

Anyone (enjenjo?) got any idea?