Before I begin this post, I must take a minute to thank a very good family friend, Faye, for the time she spent with me getting this blog up and running.  Without her, you would be reading this as an email.  That I knew how to do!  I'm not very computer savvy, and she patiently helped me get to this point.  Thank you again Faye. You are the BEST!!!

 

The Car of Choice

 

After making the decision to actually be on the 100th anniversary tour, which by the way took exactly 5 seconds!, we then needed to think about what car we would drive.  Now most of you know that a few years ago we restored an old family car, a 1930 Ford Model A. 

 

 

 



Now, we actually thought about driving this one, and even mentioned it to the men we were talking to in Canton.  Needless to say, they " sort of thought"  that would be cool.  Obviously, they knew more than we did.  They told us that they had been on this tour before, and one of the cars that was on it was the same one as this....they also told us that the man driving it would leave early in the morning before anyone else, and was the last car to arrive in the evening.  They also told us that we would have a good time driving this car as we would be counting every rock, piece of gum, and any other garbage along the side of the road, as the top speed is about 45 - 50 mph.  So, both of us had this vision in our minds of what it would be like, since we take this car for a "Sunday Drive", almost every Sunday in the summer when the weather is good, which means, no rain in sight!  Let me tell you, people in the 1930's were a lot smaller than we are.  There is not very much room in the front seat of this car.  Even less in the rumble seat!!!  And where would we put our luggage, and all the treasures I'm going to be collecting at various hot spots (ie: antique stores, quilt shops, etc.) along the way?? 

  It only took us a few minutes to decide maybe we needed to leave the Model A in the garage, and focus on something else.  And we had the perfect car in mind.

 

 

 



 

 

Now, I know what you are all thinking....what in the world??? This car is a 1967 Pontiac GTO.  Now Vaughn is fond of GTO's, and when we got married way back in 1974, he was driving a 1968 GTO.  We loved that car, and drove it until we totaled it by hitting a rock in Silver Creek Canyon, in the spring of '75.  He had dreamed of getting another one, and in the fall of 2011, his good friend Steve from Vernal, called him up and said, "Vaughn, I have this car I'm loading on a trailer and bringing to you.  I have had it for years with the intention of restoring it and I'm never going to get to it.  I figure if anyone will restore it, you will."  So a few days later it was delivered.  Everything under the hood was just sitting there, not connected, not hooked up, just sitting there.  Wow what a project. 

Our youngest son, Wade, took the engine apart, took it to a place in Salt Lake, who does machine work, then he and Dwayne Sargent, a good friend put it together.  They also had the transmission rebuilt.  Then the fun began.  Vaughn and Wade started taking it apart piece by piece. Then as things progressed, all the boys have been involved, from actual work, to listening to problems with it, to  giving pep talks. Thank goodness for a family of mechanics!  We took the frame to the same guy who restored the Model A and had it sandblasted and powder coated.  Then they started putting it back together again.

 

 

 

While all this was taking place, Vaughn had been on the phone daily, sometimes several times a day, ordering parts for the car, (our poor visa!).  In fact most of the past year the family room in the basement has affectionately been called the "GTO Room", since it was filled to the top with boxes upon boxes of parts.  The UPS and FedEx delivery guys have come to be best friends of the family.  At one point, the FedEx man started going straight to the shop, walking in to deliver the daily boxes, and checking out the progress of the car.  Needless to say, they know our address very well.

 

Before long, actually it seemed like a long, long time, the car was ready to head to the body shop.  And another long series of work began.

 

In case you are interested, you can go to the website of the Lincoln Highway Association, and read more about the tour, and see photos of the cars who will be on it.  It is interesting to see how far away the people are from.  I was amazed.  Here's the link: www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org     Enjoy!