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You are here: Home My Truck Projects The '68 Choptop Page 02
Back to My '68 Choptop Project Index

Page 02
Nebraska to Michigan...and back...in 5 days

This update page is mainly to record the trip to south-central Michigan from eastern Nebraska, and to include pictures of the affair. A majority of this is not specifically truck-related, but still part of the story.

We hit the road at 8:30 PM on Thursday, October 5th. The reason for the late-night departure was to try to get as much of the long trip done at night while our three children (4, 2 and 1) slept, to make things go a little more smoothly for us....and to avoid the inevitable detours that happen when traveling with youngsters. However, we didn't make it quite as far as we'd have liked, mainly due to fatigue. My wife was planning on sleeping all day prior to leaving, so that she'd be alert enough to drive all night, but due to circumstances (life), that didn't happen. Anyway, we didn't get far before our first mishap. We'd driven maybe 30 miles before our son told us he had to stop, and as we were pulling over at a convenience store, a local cop pulled in behind us and told us our trailer had no taillights or brakelights! Turns out the wiring connection for the trailer had vibrated apart and then dropped down onto the highway, grinding away the harness' ground wire connection. Fortunately the ground wire wasn't really needed, as the lights worked again upon reconnecting the harness. However, I wired the two halves together to prevent a further mishap and made a mental note to go ahead and replace the connector at my earliest convenience.

We had one quick stop in eastern Iowa to deliver a suspension and front disc-brake setup and a hood to 'snake', a FORDification forum member. He lived a little north of I-80 and met us at a truckstop so we could make the transfer from our trailer to his. We made the drop at a little after midnight and then continued on, making it as far as the Iowa/Illinois border before deciding to get a motel room in Davenport, Iowa at about 3AM, which was just about the halfway point of the trip.

We got up Friday morning October 6th intending to hit the road early, but by the time everybody got bathed and fed, it was after 1PM before we finally got back on our way. Things were going pretty well...until we hit a short stretch of toll road just south of Chicago at about 4PM. We ended up waiting for about 1-1/2 hours in line...sometimes inching forward, but mostly sitting still. It took us about 90 minutes to move about 5 miles on this stretch of road (Figs. 02 and 03). The toll on this very short stretch of highway was less than $2.00, but I'll bet we used at least $10.00 worth of gas trying to get to the darned gate!
 


Fig. 01 - Just prior to hitting the road again Friday morning from Davenport, IA, we let the boys blow off some energy in the Village Inn parking lot after breakfast...or rather, an early lunch.


Fig. 02
- Here's a shot of the Chicago suburbs' traffic jam in front of us...cars and trucks just sitting without moving, as far as you can see...


Fig. 03
- ...and here's the view behind us. It took us nearly 90 minutes to progress about 5 miles!

Since Vermontville was too small to have a motel, we got a room in nearby Charlotte, MI, arriving there just before midnight. After a good night's sleep and a quick shower and breakfast the next morning, we drove the short distance to the seller's house, a very likeable guy named Dave. After a quick round of introductions, Dave took me out back to his shop and showed me the truck.

Dave fixes up, restores and modifies vintage cars and trucks as a hobby. This F-100 was supposed to be a project for his teenage son, but after Dave had sandblasted/painted the frame, chopped the cab and doors, and roughed in the bodywork, his son decided he'd rather have something else, so this truck got pushed to the back of Dave's shop. After sitting there a few years with nothing being done to it, he finally decided it was time to let it go and he listed it on E-bay. He said he was very relieved that it was going to someone who would finish up what he started.


Fig. 04 - Here's a view of the truck upon entering Dave's shop.


Fig. 05 - Two-year-old Jake checks out his father's new truck project.


Fig. 06 - Parts from this truck and a '67 donor.


Fig. 07 - The obligatory shot of myself and Dave with the truck after pushing it out of the shop.


Fig. 08
- Dave and I worked for about an hour reassembling much of the sheetmetal to make transportation easier. He didn't have a core support so I brought one with me.


Fig. 09 - Here's a shot of the truck after getting it put back together and loaded up on the trailer, just prior to hitting the road. The blue tarp in front covers the Ford 460/C6 combo.


Fig. 10 - Here's one final shot before hitting the Interstate highway, taken at Vermontville's city park. I thought the fall colors made a good backdrop.

Mini Michigan Meet-&-Greet

When I mentioned on the FORDification forums that I'd be heading to Michigan to get this truck, I asked if anyone from the area would be interested in setting up a Meet-&-Greet for Sunday October 7th. Several members responded that they'd like to attend, but due to various circumstances most weren't able to make it. The exception was 'Tim P' and his wife Theresa, who drove down from Grand Rapids in their bumpside. We met up at the city park on a beautiful 75-degree autumn day, where he showed off his truck for the following pictures.


Fig. 11

Fig. 12

Tim's truck is a '72 F-250 Camper Special (with a 9/72 build date). The 390 is .030-over and has been decked, squared and balanced. It's equipped with forged pistons with plasma  moly rings, 428 rods, stainless steel valves, a Comp Cams 260H bumpstick, tru-roller timing chain, and a factory 390 GT intake with a 625 Demon carb. His truck also features power steering, power brakes and HD cooling. A shift kit has been installed in the C6 and the Dana 60 limited-slip rearend has 4:10 gears.

Future plans: "new cab and a monster 428 with the juice, 3.55 gears and some tranny mods."


Fig. 13

Fig. 14

Fig. 15

Fig. 16

After talking trucks for a while, we decided to get something to eat. This establishment had a very definite 'road house' decor, including a large chainsaw and block-and-tackle collection hanging from the rafters. Considering that the town is too small to have it's own police force, I can only imagine what the night life here is like:


Fig. 18

Fig. 19

Fig. 20

I'm glad Mary and I got the chance to kill a little time with Tim and Theresa...they're both the nicest people you could ever expect to meet...and I'm not saying that just because Tim picked up the lunch tab or gave me some spare truck parts. Thanks Tim, I hope we can do this again some time!


Fig. 20 - Had to get a pose next to this gorgeous sunset!


Fig. 21
- ...and we also had to get our feet wet in Lake Michigan, though 1-year-old Brianna wasn't sure she liked that cold water!


Fig. 22 - Our Ottawa, IL motel room had a breath-taking view! LOL


Fig. 23
- In following my tradition (or so it seems) whenever I bring home a truck, here's a shot out on the interstate.

After saying goodbye to Tim and Theresa, we hopped back on I-69 and headed south. Since we'd allotted ourselves more time for the return trip, and since we'd be driving right by the southern part of Lake Michigan, we decided to go check it out, since we both figured we'd probably not be in the neighborhood again. We pulled up to the shoreline right at sunset and got several great shots of the sunset over the lake, and then had to kick off our shoes and go get our feet wet....just so we could say we did. We let the boys burn off some energy by running around and playing in the sand for a while, since we knew that once we got back into the truck, we were in for a while. We stayed until it was almost too dark to see before finally heading out again.

We drove for several more hours on Sunday night, making it as far as Ottawa, IL before deciding to call it a night. The next morning, by the time we got everyone cleaned up and fed, it was about noon. The rest of the trip home to eastern Nebraska was pretty uneventful, and we arrived home just before midnite on Monday (Oct. 9). We unloaded all our personal gear but decided to leave the truck on the trailer until the next day (detailed on the next page).

One thing I want to mention was the incredible amount of attention the sight of this truck got! Whenever we stopped, we had folks coming over to ask questions, most wondering what it was. At our first gas stop (still inside Michigan), a group of Harley riders pulled in right behind us and one of them came over to check it out, and then pulled out some pictures of his '40 Ford pickup that he'd just finished restoring. We got to talking trucks and the others in his party had to holler at him that they were ready to leave. As he walked back up to his party, I overhead him say "Wow...those guys are from Nebraska!" We stopped at a small-town Dairy Queen for a quick bite, and one of the employees came over and said one of the customers wanted to know what it was. At one interstate rest area where we pulled over to let the kids run around and stretch their legs, a truck-driver pulled his rig in and then stopped right beside it for several minutes looking it over. After he parked and headed inside, he kept turning around to look at the truck as he walked away. And all along the highways, folks were craning their necks as they drove by, trying to get a better look, many giving us the thumbs-up or an approving nod. I even caught one passer-by taking a picture of it on his camera-phone.

Old Cars on the Hill

As we were driving down I-80 coming through Iowa, I spotted a bunch of old cars up on a hill along the interstate. Since we'd been driving for a while, I told Mary that this would be a good place to get out and stretch our legs and see if we could go check them out. As we pulled off at the next exit, wondering how we were going to find out way back to that spot, we discovered that it was actually going to be easy to find...since they had the way marked with signs with the name of the place, which was called (ironically enough) 'Old Cars on the Hill', and they even had a simple website. The owner was just leaving for work but said we could walk around and look them over.


Fig. 23

Fig. 24

Fig. 25


Fig. 26

The only Ford truck in this collection was this uni-body,
which apparently was the target of thieves,
as evidenced by a missing tailgate
and a sign in the window.


Fig. 27


Fig. 28

Fig. 29

Fig. 30
How about an old Galaxie mounted on a 2-1/2 ton military chassis...and yet still Ford V8-powered!
 

You are here: Home My Truck Projects The '68 Choptop Page 02


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