Hello folks, Friday was spent walking around the swapmeet checking out all the goodies for sale. There was the usual domestic stuff but overall plenty of car parts and memorabilia to choose from except that some of the prices seemed to be a bit on the high side – like old number plates for $40US each. There were also lots of things that were real cheap – a complete set of American Racing wheels for $329US including caps and nuts!!The complete cars for sale section was broken into two halves, with the cheaper everyday ‘classics’ outside in the car park and the high dollar show cars inside the stadium. Great variety and definitely something for everyone, depending on the size of your wallet!
Each of the major casinos have a evening car show in their carpark so we went to one of them on Thursday night. It was full of all sorts of cars again from Rat Rods to Show cars, Classics to daily drivers and all those in between. Each night there is also a night cruise and our hotel is right on the street that is used for the cruising so last night was spent standing on the side of the road watching the cars roll by. Most enjoyable.

Thursday today and unfortunately we’ve had to cancel the Hot Rod build project. We’ve had trouble catching up the preparation time that we lost with delayed flights and vehicle issues before leaving LA and the drive up here. There have been issues with getting to the swapmeets, enough parts and equipment ready along with the plans in Craigs bag being lost by the airline. We gave it everything we had right up to the point of realizing it just wasn’t going to happen. We got the car mostly mocked up, chassis, front end was almost complete, engine was in place and body had been cut ready for mounting. We ran into issues that just couldn’t be sorted in time, so a team decision was made to stop before we all got too stressed out.
The promoters of the Hot August Nights event have been brilliant and have shown us endless support and understanding through this time and are happy that we remain in Reno for the rest of the shows. We have been greatly blessed by meeting some incredible people who have helped us along the way. Chris Prince of Kiwi Fabrication offered the use of his workshop and resources and was encouraging us along the way to keep going right up till the point we realized it wasn’t achievable. Jim Eagle and his wife of Rod Bods have also been incredibly patient with us using their resources etc.
Our plan now is to enjoy the Hot August Nights events, still go to Bonneville speed week and check out the other car events along the way as planned. This blog will still be updated as we go so check back in and see what’s happening.

Cheers, Rob.

Hello folks – been a couple of days of action here in the US with this the first chance to get to an internet connection. Today is Tuesday and we have finally made it to Reno after a few dramas along the way. Monday we aimed for an early start and did get away at a reasonable time, however the battery in the navman went flat and the cigarette lighter in the Oldsmobile isn’t working so it was a visit to the local Pep Boys (Repco on steroids) where we got an auxiliary lighter and wired that into the car so at least we could find our way around this town. We then headed to Grant Downings workshop where he makes the drag car chassis for his Funny Car and those for Del Worsham as well – this place is amazing with about 4 drag cars in the workshop, all the chassis making gear, a bar complete with 2 land bowling alley upstairs for after work drinks and a methanol burning V8 powered ex drag race motor mounted to a couple of mixing bowls to mix marguaritas with!! Grant kindly bent up a roll cage for us as this is a requirement of running on the salt in our class.Next was to head out of town for Bakersfield where we were to meet Dwayne Jones (Kiwi Konnection) and pick up some stuff that he had stored for us – unfortunately heading out of town the Olds had a blowout on the freeway, in 4 lanes of traffic, so we rolled along the edge of the road till the next off ramp where there was enough room to park and change the tyre. The spare didn’t fit, neither did the jack nor wheel brace so we borrowed one from a local then Craig and Noddy headed off with the rim to get another tyre. A couple of hours behind schedule we finally got going again which of course meant we didn’t get to Bakersfield until late. Check into a motel and try for some sleep – except it is damn hot, around 90-95F which I think is low thirties.Tuesday was another early start with a visit to Dwaynes to collect our bits and pieces. Then hit the road heading for Reno where all the will be taking place. It was an all day drive to cover the miles to get here, including a stop for another blowout on the Olds – this time we replaced all 3 remaining tyres which of course cost us another couple of hours travel time but the good thing was while we were waiting we headed across the road to a bar called the Doghouse Saloon, owned by Tom Kimble who thought what we were trying to do was so cool he gave us the sign of his bar off the wall to mount somehwere in the car!!

Once back on the road we got to Reno with only one further incident coming off the freeway, running out of gas - luckily there was a station close and it was only a short push to get some more. Now we are in the hotel – Club Cal Neva, who are supplying the rooms as sponsorship – for the rest of the week and the first thing on most of our minds is food and sleep ready for tomorrows thrash getting ourselves setup to start the build on Thursday.

Saturday was unfortunately a pretty unproductive day as we had a few issues with the pickup truck that we had to get sorted out so didn’t get a chance to do some of the things we had planned.

Saturday night was a visit to The Cowboy Bar which is a famous C&W and line dancing bar in LA (apparently), an entertaining night was had including meeting some more people who are going up to Bonneville. Day three (Sunday) has seen us spend another day in LA. First stop was Dagels Street Rods where we met Gary and Michelle Dagel and picked up some parts and had a look around. Gary showed us around the workshop and explained how the chassis are made and what he is up to at Dagels Street Rods.
Next stop was to pick up a 1960 Oldsmobile, Super Eighty Eight that has been bought for a buyer back home. A real nice tidy original condition car which was good as it meant we could now uncram the pickup and 4 of us started riding in the olds.This afternoon we went to the National Hot Rod Association museum in Pomona and as we walked in the door ‘Ala Kart’ was sitting on display. Great place to visit with lots of historic drag and race cars on display along with some classic customs as well.