Home from Omaha

I arived home from Omaha Sunday afternoon, just in time to visit my aunt one last time before she expired. She was really very fortunate in that she smoked for 50 years and did not get lung cancer until she was 82, unlike her husband who died of a coronary at 58.

I drove my recently acquired F**d truck with 40' trailer to get the last of my stuff from Ken Voigt's in Armour prior to the meet, & then dropped off a '39 Commander in Grandview, Mo on the way home, after the meet. The meet was better attended than I expected with a huge number of Studebakers & a large host of vendors. Being in Sept., rather ithan in summer, the temperatures were much more comfortable, allowing attendees to spend more time outdoors around the cars & outside vendors. I saw many old friends & fellow news groupers Dave, Studeski, Rick, Ebon, Gord, Chuck, and many others, including Bondo & StudeBob. I missed many of you who did not make it & hope to see you at SB.Studebaker folks are the best! I had dinner with Ebon & Milton Jones on Mon., Earl Fontenot & Randy Klundt on Tues, and with Dick Quinn & Kent Haberle on Fri. Over supper on Wed nite, I told fellow vendor, Darrin, that sales were so good that I decided to splurge & buy myself a Whopper! Sales were pretty bad for me at the meet, & rainy Wed. was my worst day. I spent Fri. morning on the ASC tour to old Fort Atkinson, riding with the Logas in their 51 Commander rag top. It was a cool morning and the top stayed up. The folks riding in the rumble seat of Larry Tholen's Rockne looked like they were pretty cool. Awards were passed out at the luncheon, & I got the first one, which was a handful of candy for answering one of Dick's historical questions. The Armacosts got the hard luck award for having the windows on their trailer knocked out one evening. Another vendor had his truck broken into while parked at the Quality Inn, and some of his merchandise was taken. Ken Voigt, who was accompanied by his lovely new gal pal, Carol, got a trophy for his son's stunning '35 Dictator coupe.

The trip was a deja vu experience for me as far as the truck went, because just about all of the problems I have experienced with the old blue truck were repeated with the "new" green one. The first time I pulled the 40' trailer with the blue truck, I had an accident heading into the northern 'burb of Conroe in which a young guy changed lanes in front of me, causing me to strike his left rear qtr. He then demanded that I pay for his damages, which I declined. On my way out of town on this trip, I was hit the same way at the same place I as in '03. The gal who hit me was just SURE it was my fault since she had her signal on, but the officer did not buy her story. I struck her l. r. qtr, turning her 90 deg. & pushing her sideways for 50'. Like the last time, my truck was not damaged, unlike the other vehicles. Before leaving on the trip I replaced my tires & rear brakes in preparation for inspection, & then, the right front caliper & hose, after they heated up on the way home from the inspection station. The left caliper got hot on the way home as I arrived in KC, and I was fortunate to have John McCall's expert help & access to the excellent shop facilities at Don Armacost's museum to get it fixed up. The brakes had started to get weak on my way up, & I bought a rebuilt m/cyl in MO. I installed it in Armour Sat.afternoon with Ken's help, but the brakes were still so weak that I had to stay there until the local garage opened Monday morning. They replaced the booster, which was the last thing I replaced on my other truck, which finally got it stopping again. Because of the booster problem, I missed the whole day of vending on Monday, arriving at the meet at 4:30. As it turned out, Mon. was the best day for vendor sales, according to most of the outdoor vendors I spoke with. After finally getting away from KC, my light switch failed in Joplin about

2 a.m., and as I was turning into a motel pakring lot, the rt. lid of what used to be the nice aluminum tool box behind my cab suddenly popped open, just in time to get caught by the front of my 5th wheel trailer, which shoved it right through the rt. panel of my back window, bringing back not so fond memories of what happened to me on my way home from SB when the king pin broke and put the front of the trailer right in the cab with me. The motel had no vacancies, so I drove on w/ my parking lights on, while pulling back on the turn sig lever, to actuate my high beams.

My hat is off the the Caskey's and the meet committee as well as the Holiday Inn, and the Studebaker Orchestra, which played the best ever in my memory, even though my wife, Pam was unable to attend. Rhonda was the only red-headed flutist this year. George Krem was back, & he and Andy Beckman did a great job on the trombones. All in all, it is a small wonder that Studebaker national meets are so addictive.

Now that I think I have all of the bugs worked out of my truck, I am preparing to head up the Wichita to retreive the trailer & tractor which have already racked up a $560.00 storage bill since my buddy, Jeff had the wreck there 3 weeks ago.

Reply to
Barry
Loading thread data ...

Reply to
Paul Villforth

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.