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I assume these cameras get only the front plates.  If so what do they do about vehicles from states that omly run a back plate?  Just curoius...

Just wondered if diesel is following gas prices down.  That's what will help prices for everything else we buy.

Lee

Hi Lee,
We follow diesel prices online because we transport cars and we often plan routes according to fuel prices.  It has come down below $3.35 from $4.15 a month ago.  All this crap about it being tied to the election is BS.  It has to do with demand, the commodities market and the strength of the US dollar.  It probably will go up again and it will probably be after the election.  If the economy stays down the fuel prices will probably also stay lower.  I wouldn't count on retailers to pass on the savings unless they get real desperate.

Later...

I saw a "clean design" technique used on a show car once where they did not want any thing on the engine so they put the alternator under the car mounted on the rear differential with a drive pulley on the yoke.  Using a GM one wire type alternator you ought to be able to get that to work in conjunction with your generator or maybe just the shell of one up front for cosmetic purposes.

[Blue Highways]

I have a side business of transporting custom and classic cars, (see www.rides4rides.com ).  Last March I transported a small plane from Ohio to Phoenix AZ to have an engine installed.  We connected with what was once basically the path of the old U.S. Route 66 in Illinois near East St Louis. and followed it to Flagstaff, AZ.  I said "what was", because you can't actually travel the old original path of the route.  It is an officially decommisioned U.S. route.  Much of the path has been occupied by either an East or West bound side of several different Interstate highways.  Sometimes there are pieces of the old highway parallel to the Interstates still being used as intermittant service roads that all too often come to abrupt dead ends.  You will see abandoned and burnt out remains of businesses that once flourished along the old route.  My point here is, that if you really want to see the old Route 66, you should research the history of the old route and list the small towns that served basically the same function as did the old stage coach ststions of the Old West.  Make a list of these places as well as mapping exits to get to these places.  If you do this your trip will take a lot longer but you will learn about and see a lot more of what was once the old Route 66.

I recommend that you first check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_66
to learn some basic facts about the old route.  There you will find links to other sites that delve deeper into the history of the road.  I would also recommend you get one of the GPS navigation devices like Garmin or Tom Tom.  You can also buy GPS antennas and map nav programs for laptops which is what I use on the road.

As for licensing and driving your car here in the U.S., I recommend you go to the U.S. embasy or one of their consulates in Australia.  If there is not one near you I'm sure you could call, write. or e-mail them.  We had a foreign exchange student live with us about twenty some years ago and he was able to purchase a temporary U.S. driving license for use while he was here.  That may have changed now because I recently worked with a lot of guys from the UK here and they didn't need to do anything so long as they had a valid UK license.  It may depend on treaty agreements between individual countries.

I also noted that others on this thread have mentioned taking a Northern route.  As for Route 66, there is only one route.  Perhaps they are refering to taking an alternate return route to avoid covering the same track on your return route to the West Coast..  Be that the case, there are a lot of variations you can choose from.  If you can find a copy, I strongly suggest you read a book titled Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon.  It is a story of a trip around the Continental U.S. that he made by deliberately following the old secondary highways.  This should give you an informed approach to planning a complete round trip itenerary.

I hope that this helps you in your trip planning process.

Later Man...

PS     Here is a link to the book mentioned above.
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Highways-Journey-into-America/dp/0316353299/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223220080&sr=1-1

Hi Everyone,
I thought I'd post this just in case there is any interest. as a sideline business I transport custom and classic cars. I have a run from here in SE Ohio going to Atlanta, GA. I will be going down loaded but returning empty. I intend to make it a quick turnaround with as little as possible delays and stop overs. I have a driver going with me so we can keep rolling. I will be returning to Ohio by way of I-85 and I-77 but I could take the alternate route of I-75, I- 64 and I-77. Even that route can be modified a bit on the Northern end.

If anyone has anything that needs moved in this direction I am in a position to help. Being as I am covering deadhead, I can make a good deal.

If I don't pick up a run back, I am going to keep an eye out for something to bring back for myself. I am interested in anything I can use for my '53 F-100 project.

If anyone knows of any good places to stop and look, like junkyards, I'd like to know about it. I need some rear fenders and maybe some doors if they aren't in too bad of shape.

Later...

Can anyone I.D. this hot rod lady?

Looks like a good job of Photoshop because she is actually standing.

[uPay]

Ebay claims to have the protection of the buyer in mind but in reality it's all BS.  So far the measures I have seen them take are purely in their own best interest.  Their dispute resolution feature is pretty much all smoke and mirrors.  It is primarily designed to wear both side out with endless rounds of he said-she said stuff.

I believe Phat mentioned Craig's list.  I have had far more success with that than uPay on large items and vehicles.  You can immediately establish direct communications with the seller and if you use common sense from that point on it will work out.

I think one of the big problems is that when people see something on uPay they want so bad to believe it is just what they are looking for that they sometimes fool themselves.  Just remember, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is just that.

There are a few things you can do to protect yourself if you feel you have to use uPay.  Start keeping a list of sellers that frequent that sort of stuff and check their feedback carefully.  I keep a list and sometimes I am able to get phone numbers and e-mail addresses by watching their auctions and communications.  If I see them selling something I am interested in, I do an end run on uPay and go direct.  From there on it's just like Craig's List.  Do I feel bad about that???  HELL NO!  uPay is out to get my money and I'm out to get a good deal.  All is fair in this game.

Later...

I think it could work. There was a shop in Pontiac MI that did only finished cars. Called Southern Motors. He was doing brisk business for a while until the economy took a crap. If you look in the Auto RV trader there is a guy in London, OH (IIRC) near Dayton that ALWAYS has project cars for $3500 or so. I can guarantee that he didn't pay half that for them but they are always southern or western cars with nearly no rust.  Selling one of those would probably pay for the gas to do it a time or two.

I bought a '49 chevy pick up down below Atlanta that my son located for me.  I paid $500.00 for it and sold it about four months later for $1,000.00.  It was a real rust bucket.  I picked it up on a deadhead back from Phoenix.  I also bought a truck for myself the trip before that one on a return trip.  It was these two trips that started me thinking about doing this.

Space for these things to wait on a buyer was my main concern, but recently a friend of mine with the secure space, has decide he would work with me on this.  I'll be going down to visit with my son for the month of October and we plan to do a lot of scouting around for stuff then.  If I find anything I'll buy it and cut a deal to leave it set until I can get a good U-ship run to cover the cost of retrieval.

Later Man...

Link's not working, at least for me....

Fixed it, they apparently don't like spaces in the link.

Hi Folks,
Found a '48 Dodge with a title nearby.  I haven't looked at it yet but I was curious what it might be worth.  It does not run but that's all I know.



http://www.pvpmedia.com/48DODGE.jpg

I'd heard about U-ship but never looked into it. Wish I had as I passed on a bunch of Ford stuff just a couple of weeks ago out in Mt because of the gas cost. It's too late now as the guy just emailed me this past week-end that he'd sold it. So I'll surely remember this for another time.

Yeah, so far I have mainly used U-ship to finance the trips for getting stuff back here with exception of taking a plane to Phoenix.  We did that one just for the trip.  We had never been there before and I think once was enough.  I have a large enclosed trailer but I need to also get an open trailer because everything doesn't need to go in the enclosed trailer and it is really a lot harder on fuel because of the wind resistance.  I had it custom built higher to accomodate trucks and vans.  It's a real air catcher even with the V nose.  If you look at U-ship, my username is r4r.  I also have my own site which is www.rides4rides.com where I have posted a few pictures of stuff I have moved plus pictures of the equipment.  I need to get a picture of that plane on there.  I have it but I haven't gotten around to posting it.  Maybe I'll go do that now.

Later Man...

I do some of that myself. But I don't have the luxury of having someone else pay for one leg of the trip. Last year I had a 5500 mi trip and this year 4500 mi one. Both payed for themselves and a profit. Last years trip also produced a 26/27 T roadster which I kept for myself. As Frank said it can get time consuming selling it. In the first 24 hrs I had this years load listed I had to answer over 50 emails and pm's,  but I had my investment back within 2/3 weeks. I also don't buy the finished stuff, just someones future project and parts.

If youn are interested in getting paid for that trip check out U-ship.  You can google it.  I have picked up three trips this year that made it possible for me to deliver one vehicle to my son near Atlanta and two made it possible for me to bring home trucks that were both down in GA.  I was bale to stay over at my sons on all those trips.  Now that I have about everything done that I need moved I think I'd like to go for picking up some diamonds in the rough on the deadheads.  

Later Man...

There is a guy near me that does just that, and makes a good living at it. At any one time, he usually had 15 to 20 cars. He buys cars that will move fast, highly collectible. He has indoor storage. It does take a lot of time, and a lot of traveling. He averages about 80,000 miles a year on his truck, plus a lot of airline miles. He also has a network of buyers in the west and south.

Thanks Enjenjo,
I doubt that I'll be so dilligent at it as your neighbor, but it is nice to know there might be a market.  I doubt I'll be buying really nice stuff.  Mostly saving stuff from the crusher.  I'm rather low budget and I pretty much deal in near death stuff.

Later Man...

Hi Folks,
I do quite a bit of transporting of custom and classic vehicles.  In my travels I have passed up more than a few interesting vehicles due to space limitations and the fact that I can't really find the time to do anything with them myself.  It really bugs me to know this stuff is probably headed to the crusher if someone doesn't save them.  Also there is the fact that I am often dead heading back with an empty trailer.

I am not interested in going into the junkyard business, but I would like to do some buying and selling of this stuff, whole and/or in parts on a limited basis to support my hobby interests.

Here's an idea I had that I would like to throw out there for the purposes of a sort of market test.  I have a friend who has a secure place for storage and has agreed to acommodate me.  If I start collecting a few odf these old vehicles on my travels, and create a website to display and catalog the the inventory of vehicles ans parts, does anyone think it would be an attractive source for people interested in these things?

I have delivery and shipping capabilities as well as the time to devote to this.  I make frequent trips to the South, and South West and I often have the space on deadheads to bring stuff back.

Back in the late '50s and early '60s my relatives on my mother's side were into old gas and oil well leases.  They were all folks who had learned to do things with what they had durring the depression and even though things were better they followed their old ways.  They used to buy older cars that still would run and take every thing off of them but the dash a front body parts.  then they would set them up on a fixed base of some sort and take power from the rear end to drive one or more pump jacks on the old wells.  They would make their own natural gas carbs and power the engines with well head gas.  The last one I remember them using was a '53 Studebaker.