As we told you yesterday, Freiburger and Finnegan were heading to Colorado Springs, Colorado to pick up a car that they had purchased sight unseen. The boys did not reveal the car until they went to pick it up. It turns out they bought a classic 1955 Chevy that looks tough (in the good way). There are a couple of carbs hanging out in the breeze above the hood and radiused rear wheel wells, and plenty of grey primer, giving this shoebox a definite Two Lane Blacktop feel. In typical fashion for this trip, there was also some mechanical breakage, slowing progress up.
The mechanical problem was the failure of a new axle bearing. We’re not sure what eats a brand new bearing up in a couple thousand miles, but if we had to guess it was doomed from the start. Logically, the only thing we keep coming back to is a defective bearing and not some other outside factor that killed it. After taking a couple hours to fix the bearing at the shop where they bought the car, the guys welded on a tow bar and hitched the ’55 to the back of Raunchy the Ranchero and headed to get some sleep for the night.
Today they start heading for home, which is a little over 1100 miles and lots of mountains away. Will Finnegan spend his day in the ’55 as the rear brakeman? Will the Ranchero’s stoppers get worked into lava? Will the guys find a way to break more junk on the Ranchero? As usual, follow along on the Hot Rod Magazine Facebook page by hitting the link below.
LINK: Hot Rod Magazine’s Facebook page
Wonder if that snatch-it strap will go the distance 🙂
At least the trip wasn’t a complete waste of time.
Is there a rigid bar between the vehicles, or are they relying on Finnegan’s reflexes to keep from rear-ending the Raunchero?
You know, I love “Hot Rod” and most everything they do, but why is it that grown men (physically, anyway…) that purport to know enough that they can publish a monthly mag. with how-to’s and such, can’t find enough sense among them to figure out that using an historic vehicle and a real, honest-to-goodness tow bar to flat-tow a vehicle 1100 miles might NOT be such a great idea?!
Is it any wonder that a large percentage of their attempted projects go south, fast? Or are they simply showing us how NOT to do it so that we can learn from their stupidity?!
Just another s@%tbox that will never get finished properly and break something on the dragstrip
(If it gets that far)
I did this once when I was 20 back in 1967 . Pulled my 65 Malibu SS with a broken trans from Pasadena to San Diego behind a GTO with a log chain. I was the rear brakes. Not the best way but it was all we had. I doubt the cops would allow it these days. And those mountains…yikes!
During college my bug quit halfway home, about 60 miles from either place. I hitched home and went for it the next day with my father, his car and a rope. My Dad was not a car guy. When we got there he insisted on a short tow rope. Hellride for an hour, me afraid to say anything, him so pissed. I learned not to ask Dad for car help.