The Car Next Door - 5/31/11

What I hope will be a daily feature on this blog.   I will post pictures and information on a car parked next to us on the Power Tour.

Tonight the feature is another car that stopped by Strokr's garage.

Owner: Ryan Stoiber
Hometown: Toledo, OH
Vehicle: 1935 Chevy Cabriolet Pick-up;  Stretched Crew Cab
Features:  4 seats, no doors,  '67 283 V8, 700R4, S-10 rear end,
Built by: Russ and Ryan Stoiber, 2011

Final Preparation - HRPT 2011

Strokr pulls his Vette into his garage for a final look over before we leave tomorrow on the first leg of our road trip to join the Hot Rod Power Tour at Cocoa Beach, FL.

A change of the speedometer gear for the new trans should allow us to to see how fast we are actually traveling.  Before the change the speedometer was reading about 10 mph lower than actual speed.   Now we have a better chance of keeping our $$$ in our pockets and points off of our licenses when we run thru Smokey's radar traps.

Ayce got checked out for driving the Vette tonight.  If I can learn to get off of the clutch quicker, I will be able to keep Strokr from chewing off my right ear with instructions.   I have never driven a car with as much torque and horsepower as this 383 c.i. powered Vette.    Quite a change from the econoboxes I usually drive.

Hot Rod Power Tour - Comming to a city near you.

A couple of days from now, Stokr n' Ayce will be heading south to join the largest and longest rolling hot rod show in the nation.  This will the fourth Hot Rod Power Tour long haul for Strokr and the first for Ayce.

The Hot Rod Power Tour kicks off this year on June 4th at  Cocoa Beach, FL and ends 7 days and 1584 miles later at Detroit, MI.   In past years as many as 1500  cars made the entire trip and were designated as Long Haulers.  Another  3000+ cars are expected to join the Tour for a few days or just to meet the Tour at one of the stops.

The Hot Rod Power Tour is coming to a city near you , if you live in one of these communities...

Saturday June 4
Cocoa Beach, FL Port Canaveral
Sunday June 5
Valdosta, GA South Georgia Motorsports Park
Monday June 6
Montgomery, AL Montgomery Motorsports Park
Tuesday June 7
Nashville, TN LP Field
Wednesday June 8
Indianapolis, IN Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Thursday June 9
Muskegon, MI Downtown Muskegon
Friday June 10
Detroit, MI Metro Beach Metropark
Saturday June 11
Detroit, MI Long Haulers Ceremony
Read more: http://www.hotrod.com/2011/powertour/index.html#ixzz1NnPz0I00

Leave the suitcase at home.

 Chevrolet claims 6.8 cubic feet of luggage space in the 1989 Corvette convertible.  That may be true if you count a couple of hidden cubby-holes, the glove box and the space under the seats.  As seen in these photos, the usable luggage space is much smaller and not easy to get to.


Doing the math, calculates to 3.8 cubic feet of space behind the seats on the '89 Vette soft top.  Equal to two airline carry-on bags .  If  --  big if --if you could manage to get the carry-on bags behind the seat. So, Strokr n' Ayce  will be packing light for our Hot Rod Power Tour trip.

 Think backpacking, but with 400 horsepower.  

The order of the day is bring few clothes, and fit them in a small duffel bag.  We still need to have room for a tool box, our electronic gear and a snack or two.

Picking up any HRPT swag at the events or souvenirs along the way will mean a trip to the post office to mail them home, rather than taking them with us.

Maybe we will try to befriend the guy in the 1969 Buick Electra 225...he has a trunk you could put a few bodies into and still have room for a case of beer.