I covered some pretty desolate highways while heading out to my vacation at Lake Powell. Lake Powell is located on the Utah/Nevada border, about three hours from the nearest interstate. This picture shows the stretch of Arizona Highway 389 where I unexpectedly spotted some brass-era Classics– not some old hulks sitting in the sagebrush, but actually rolling down the highway.
This stretch of road dips into Arizona between Hurricane and Kanab, Utah, and runs through about 60 miles of open country. Despite the conditions, two brass-era cars were traveling down the road at about 45 MPH. As I overtook them, I wondered if I’d ever be so brave as to drive such a car–with no safety equipment–on a highway with vehicles going 20 or 30 MPH faster.
After I’d passed them, I decided to stop at a roadside pullout and take pictures of both cars as they came by. The lead car was a right-hand drive Buick; the other was the ubiquitous Model T.
I didn’t get a chance to talk to their drivers, but it’s great to see these cars on the open road instead of ensconced in some museum.
Hear hear! Always better out on the road.
I get a kick out of the really old stuff like this. Such simple, elemental machinery. I would have loved to have seen this in person and gotten an earful of those old engines doing their thing.
I wonder if their drivers have AAA?
And what do you do if you break down in an area with no cell phone coverage?
Unless you have repair parts on board, there doesn’t seem to be a good Plan B.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great – I’ll have to share the story about breaking down out in the middle of nowhere in eastern NV during college in my 1969 Cadillac ambulance sometime . . . but I have gained much wisdom since then!
Why do you think the guy in the Buick called his friend in the Model T to be his chase car? 🙂
Hate to break your illusion, but when it comes to reliability, I’ll put my money on the Buick any day. Yes, the Model T was a paragon of reliability – for it’s price. Back then, something that cost a lot more was a lot better car.
I learned the answer to that from my 1930 Indian 101 Scout – despite the year, motorcycles in the early 1930’s had a lot in common with automobiles 10-15 years older. The bottom line is that you know that vehicle. You know every shake, rattle, noise, hum, and chirp that the vehicle makes when it’s running right. And as soon as you hear a variation in any of the above, you start figuring out where its coming from, and running thru the possibilities of what could be causing it. And, of course, you’ve learned what spare parts to carry with you.
Besides, most people would be surprised just how reliable a post-WWI, pre-WWII car can be. They didn’t build a national industry by building junk back then.
Something that’s working in your favor is that the tolerances of these vehicles, in modern terms, is so loose that certain noises that would immediately shut a 25 year old car down for a total engine rebuild are only the first sign of something going wrong on an 80-100 year old vehicle.
The best example I can think of: My Indian had a total loss oil system (just what it says, oil goes from the tank into the crankcase and stays there until its burned, used up or leaks out). There’s an automatic oil pump that drips fresh oil to keep the level up, but once you’re running over 40mph it can’t keep up. There’s a hand pump to shove oil in at a higher rate to periodically top up the level.
So, what was the proper rate? My late father-in-law (the previous owner) was no help, his answer was, “You’ll know it when you need it.” Of course it was second nature to him, he came from a time when they were new bikes in the showroom. It took another Indian owner about my age to quantify the tolerances. And no, he wasn’t kidding:
“If your exhaust is throwing smoke like a WWII destroyer on convoy duty, stop pumping. The smoke will clear shortly once the excess burns off. If you start to hear the main bearings rattle, you’ve got about 30 seconds to get some oil back in there before you’re talking doing damage.”
As much as I enjoyed riding that bike (it wasn’t a cruiser, it was a floorboard scraping sport bike), I sold it three years ago because I just couldn’t get comfortable with something that mechanically simple. My mind is set for a bottom line of a 50’s or 60’s British twin with automatic spark advance, recirculating dry sump oiling and a few other modern features.
TEEHEE- English- dry anything!? HAWHAW!!!
While cars of this era are a reasonably regular thing round here out of town not so muchas for parts a tow rope would be mandatory to carry.
My first thought was “how hot was it?” The last couple months have been 100+. Nowadays we don’t think about the heat outside of our mobile cocoons. Radiators overheating seems to be a rarity now. There wasn’t a single car on the side of the road on a recent drive to Yuma from San Diego. Through the mountains we didn’t even turn off the A/C.
We haven’t seen obscene high temperatures here in the west- The high in Kanab that day was 80° F. As the locals say, “It was a dry heat.”
Dave S
That is too cool for words.
Shucks, wifey and I drove near that road on our way from Lake Powell to Bryce Canyon back in 2002 on our 25th anniversary trip and we didn’t see anything old like that running around.
We did have a brand-new rental Cavalier, though, Geozinger-approved!
Probably ghosts…
Primed for a photo shoot in a ghost town whether ghosts or not.
Wow, just wow. Great shots! That is just awesome.
I love how people always say “What if it breaks down? What will you do?”
You carry tools and spare parts like people used to do in that era. Chances are, you can fix it on the road side.
What will you do if your modern car conks out? You’ll call and wait for a tow truck.
Unless you have an automotive computer program that is.
I bet a lot of people would pull over & offer assistance if one of those machines was disabled on the side of the road.
I would, and have. I saw a nice 1940 Chevy get sideswiped in traffic, the lady that hit it pulled off, and I pulled off, gave my info, to both drivers involved, and helped the Chevy driver pull the front fender back out enough to clear the front wheel. I later saw it in a parade.
This is just awesome. It’s nice to see classics like this being driven. I think it’s special when I see a Model A driving around. Cars this old are just a sight to see on the road.
Well, these cars got the Okies to California OK in the Dust Bowl days. And also the ‘Kicks on Rt 66’ era of travelers did fine, too.
It’s not as if these cars were Hyundai Excels or Chevy Vegas.