Hello Sponsors

I thought I'd write a little piece to acknowledge you, who have stepped up and put out your money, time, and/or equipment to help sponsor us. When we started this project, I think we sent out about 300 letters, not all that many in the big scheme of things, but enough to get a feel for whats happening.We got back about dozen responses, and only one of those was a sure thing. I thought some Chevrolet dealer would take up our cause and slip us a little som'thin, som'thin, but that was not to be, we've had to depend on the kindness of strangers, as Blanche Dubois once said. So who are these sponsors, let's start with the major corporates:


First of all we have Redwood Auto Body in Healdsburg. Dennis Parrish and his crew took our Chevelle and turned it into a gorgeous red beauty. Without them, we'd probably taken it to Earl Scheib for a $29.95 special. If nothing else, our car is beautiful.

Our friends at Selby and Sons Engine and Machine made it possible for us to have an engine, something other than an old 283 ci with 500 billion miles on it. They did all the machining, donated a lot of time and parts. Thanks to both Everett and James Selby.

Here in Santa Rosa we have an auto parts house by the name of Smothers Auto Parts, my pardner Rick has been doing business with them for 20 plus years. They have been generous enough to sell us parts at a much discounted rate, and... they deliver! Rubin with Pioneer Tire of Santa Rosa was able to hook us up with Hankook Tires, and they donated two set of their Venrus R-S2 tires, which worked fantastic in the Chihuahua Express race. Thank you Rubin.
Dean Oshiro at Hot Rods USA was huge help with our brake set-up. When the folks at Wilwood told us the set they had would be "inadequate" for what we needed, Dean took over and made us a set that are exceptional. Thanks Dean.
And then there's Jeff at Nology, they make ignition wires, coils, spark plugs, and a few other things. These guys were the only ones to ask what we needed and then sent them to us. That's what I call real sponsorship, thank you Jeff.

Now for the Donors who pulled out their checkbooks and gave us hard earned cash. My pals Kenny@ http://www.towngreenvillage.com/, Dave@ http://www.terratrees.com/, Larry @http://www.encoreproductions.net/, Chris@ http://www.cafealtura.com/, Les @http://www.lesclaypool.com/, Max@ http://www.zep.com/, and Doc Allyn of Rock Springs, Wyoming were all very generous, and I thank you one and all.
And of course there is North Bay Bavarian@ http://www.bmwnbb.com/, it all starts here.
There's Matthew, Rick's son, Logan and Tom who without them, there would be no car, they did the lions share of the work. All my thanks to you guys. There's Rick's wife Claudia, who's let him go at this project for over a year, add another ten days in Chihuahua and now about 3 weeks on the road. I've heard no complaints, at least not to me. Thanks Claudia! My friend Jami helped me from the start, with our original letter, which I thought was pretty good, and addressing many envelopes. Thank you darlin. And there's Harvey@http://www.minimotors.com/, where I take up space blogging away.
And let's not forget my pals George and Jenny, at Sunshine Pool and Spa for letting me day dream many hours about the up coming adventure. And finally my pardner and friend Rick, who said "yes" to this idea way back when, and here we are.
To all our other family, friends, and well wishers who have stopped in or called, thank you so much, it means everything to us.
The time has come for us to get the car loaded on the trailer, get the bags packed and hit the long road to ol' Mexico. Vaya con Dios, mi amigos.

Next Time: Here We Go!

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The Race

I don't think since the first one of these blogs I have said much about the actual race. I guess this is as good a time as any to give a very short history lesson.

The first year of the Carrera was 1950, and the basic premise was to show that the Panamerican Highway was open and that the family sedan could travel to Mexico City and beyond. Most of the entrants were from the U.S. and Mexico, and almost all the cars were Detroit iron. The Europeans were limited to two Alfa-Romeo's from Italy which both happened to finish in the top ten. The rules were pretty simple, stock cars with no modifications, except for a extra fuel tank. The winner in 1950 was Hershel McGriff from Oregon, driving a Oldsmobile right off the showroom floor. That first year the race went from Ciudad Juarez to just south of Tuxtla Gutierrez at El Ocotal on the Guatemala border. After that, it was reversed to go from South to North.

After the first year, the rules were slightly changed to allow more modifications to the engines and the cars themselves. But they still wanted to see a four seater and no convertibles. The Italians had always had an eye on the race, both Lancia and Ferrari had entries in 1951. The second year, the Ferrari's finished first and second. After this, they separated cars into two classes, stock cars and sports cars. The third year 1952, Mercedes Benz entered and beat both Ferrari and Lancia. The American stock car side saw almost every manufacturer represented, Ford, GM, Chrysler, Hudson, Nash and Studebaker all had different models entered.

By 1953 this was a big time race, on the same level as LeMans, Sebring, and the Mille Migila. To borrow from an article in Motor Trend Magazine, "The Panamericana 1953 had everything a world-class race should have: big money, factory teams, famous drivers, rule-pushing, cheating, backbiting and manipulation". This year the race car categories were again split, this time to large and small sports cars and large and small stock cars. In the small sports car class, Porsche was the car to beat, this race is where the "Carrera" name that's still used today came from. The Lincoln was number one in the big stock class. The last year of the race was again dominated by Ferrari in the large sports class, Porsche in the small class. The Lincolns were challenged by Cadillacs, but not beaten. Some of the drivers who participated in the early race were champions from NASCAR, Formula 1, and the Indy 500. These included Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, Richie Ginther, Juan Manuel Fanigo, Johnny Mantz, Tony Bettenhausen, Roger Ward and Mickey Thompson to name a few.

By 1954 the Carrera was starting to come apart at the seams. The fatality list was growing of drivers and spectators, with the world press calling it "the death race". Cars were now going 170 mph on small two lane, winding highways. The crowds were bigger than ever just outside the cities, forming human walls opening just wide enough for a car traveling 125 mph to pass through. In the government and the race organization, things also looked shaky, with politics and greed taking its toll. Finally the President of Mexico declared the race had proven its point, about driving the Pan American Highway, and was terminated.

In 1988 Eduardo Leon and some partners from the US and Mexico got permission from the Mexican Government to celebrate the original race with a parade of old cars. Certainly Mexico and their racing community had not forgotten the original race and with the support of the Department of Tourism and the Mexican Highway Patrol, who has the power to close the roads, the event was off and running again. Instead of a caravan, it emerged as a stage rally--full speed runs on closed roads--sanctioned by the Federation of Mexican Auto Sports (FMAD). This year is the 20th anniversary of the resurrected race and will have somewhere around 100 cars competing in nine different classes.
So there you have it, we will be running with some big dogs in Mexico, and when we finish, I'll be looking forward to somebody handing me a tall cool one.

Next Time: Hello Sponsors!
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The Road to La Carrera Panamericana

I thought I'd give a little itinerary of what's happening once we leave Sonoma County. Our valiant crew will consist of, you probably guessed it, just Rick and myself. We have a third crew member who will join us in Oaxaca, but we couldn't find anyone to help with the long drive down. We're not sure if we will be meeting up with any other of the teams from Northern California, there are at least three, and I know there's a Volvo going from here in Santa Rosa. If all goes well, our journey will take us down through California to our first overnight stop in Phoenix. The next day will be a long hop to beautiful Fort Stockton, Texas. My time in Texas has been limited to crossing the border in El Paso, so seeing some of the central part of the state should be interesting, right.? Everybody say "right", and quit rolling your eyes! Then on to Laredo Texas, where we will meet with about twenty-some trailers for the border crossing. Being that we already have our tourist cards and car permits, we have one less thing to worry about, I hope, but you never know about border crossings.

The next part of the journey will take us across the border through Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey, Saltillo, San Luis Potosi and finally to San Miguel Allende. That's one long day of driving! We'll take a break here for a couple of days, participate in a car show benefit, and rest up for the final leg. That one will take us around Mexico City, to Puebla and down across the mountains to the city of Oaxaca.
Oaxaca is one of my favorite cities in Mexico, or anywhere else for that matter. It's probably grown some since I was there last, about 6 or 7 years ago, and it has lots of things to discover, if you have the time. The town itself is great to just walk around, cobblestone streets and Colonial architecture, it has the real feel of old Mexico. The Zocalo or main plaza is a spot for people watching and the Cathedrals near by are awesome. The Zapotec ruins of Monte Alban and the Mixtec's Mitla are really spectacular. They have one of the great "mercados" or big open markets anywhere in Mexico, there's a little bit of everything there. And being from a wine producing county, I've seen a few tasting rooms, and Oaxaca is loaded with small family owned makers of Mescal, Tequila's first cousin. If you want to get messed up, Mescal is for you! And don't forget the food, Mole sauce is one of the specialities and if a place called "Taco Roy's "is still around, YUM! There's just all kind of stuff to see and do, it's a place not to miss if you come to Mexico.

From here, we will start the Carrera and in 7 days, make our way back to the Texas border.

Next Time: The Race

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It's Getting Close

Tick, tick, tick..... the clock is ticking towards our leaving for Texas and on to Mexico. Our lists tend fluctuate, they grow longer, some things get done, things get crossed out, and then it starts over with a new list. This will be a busy week getting all the last bits and pieces ready to go. It's time to start finding all the spare parts, tools, fluids and oils, and everything else that we'll load down the truck with. These are scattered all over the shop at the moment, and need to become one big pile. There's a short list of things left to do to the car, like a thorough nut and bolt tighting, and a wax job to make it all pretty for the car show in San Miguel Allende, among others. I'll tell you more about the car show later. I'm all worn out just thinking about this, a little nap and I'll be all better.

Next Time: The Road to La Carrera Panamericana

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I Got Mine!

As one of the great philosophers of the 20th century once said, "I got mine, don't worry bout his". Of course you all know that was said by the late, great Godfather of soul, James Brown. I'll borrow it to tell you we made a trip to the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento to secure our tourist cards and car permits. On our last trip for the Chihuahua Express, because of a new trailer, it became a mini-marathon to get our paperwork. We had everything in order, but the Mexicans aren't too keen on temporary registrations, they want to see some good ol' metal license plates! This time we decided to try for the permits here, the upside being that they speak English.

We got up early and gassed it to be there by 8am when they opened. First thing is the tourist card, all good, no lines, I'd even made copys of our drivers licenses and credit cards like they wanted. Unfortunately, at 5:45 am, I wasn't at my sharpest, and left Rick's VISA in the copier! D'OH, you idiot!! For the car permits, the bond has to be in the name of the registered owner. Kindly, our clerk let this pass, mostly because we had to wait an extra three hours for her supervisor to call back about the Chevy's VIN number not being long enough. That was almost a fumble but, all's well that ends well and we came home with the goods.

Next Time: It's Getting Close

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Gremlins

We are about 14 days until SS El Platillo Volador sets sail for a 3 week cruise of Mexico. The gremlins are creeping around these days, causing us to unexpectedly have starter problems. I've been putting miles on the car, just so we can try and discover any last minute frets. This one popped up suddenly when Matt drove the car home, and then on me in a parking lot. It was not going to start, even after beating mercilessly on the starter and finally had AAA on the phone ordering up a flatbed. One last try, while waiting for the operator to come back on, and it fires right up. Needless to say, a new starter is on the way here. We are on the virtual to keep the gremlins in check.

Next Time: I Got Mine!

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