Reliability Run! You missed out!

Another Rusty Nut event in the books. Yesterday morning several of us gathered at the Park and Ride just South of Eureka, ate a few donuts, and decided where we should go for the day. Eventually it was decided we would just head South on the Avenue of the Giants until we found sunshine.

We meandered through Fortuna, made a coffee pit stop in Rio Dell, stopping to stretch legs in Myers Flat. Then we continued on to Garberville to get some lunch supplies and headed to Redwood State Park Headquarters near Weott for lunch.

The park Headquarters has a neat museum with a Nash Quad turned into the first 4wd camper made from a hollowed out redwood log and a short movie about the big Humboldt County flood of 1964.

In all, it was about 120 miles 'o smiles. The more I go to car shows, the more I feel like the best part is getting there.

Although I had a great time, I missed the more remote, challenging route we took last year. After some discussion, next year you may be invited to two different Reliability Runs. One leisurely, easy fun run and a more hard core, remote exploration of Humboldt County. Here is a virtual car show of yesterdays cast of characters.

Hope you can join us next year!

My daily

Rod Anderson's beautiful '32 Ford

Rick Lermo's street/strip '39 Ford

Ken Suiker's '57 Ford 300

George Scott's '37 Ford

Larry Medez's '4? Dodge

And our chase vehicle, Tres O'Brian's '68 Ford Flatbed

Reliability Run!

Finally! My crazy life is slightly less crazy these days and The annual Rusty Nuts reliability Run will be October 2nd @ 9am. We are meeting at the Park and Ride at Hwy 101 and Herrick Ave, on the South end of Eureka.

Plan for having a great time driving your old heap and don't forget to bring a picnic lunch.

Last year was a ton of fun. We logged over 100 miles of back roads through the redwoods and along the lost coast of Humboldt County. I was the only one to have car trouble, and I still had a great time.

Call me with any questions you come up with. 707-599-2315

Matt

Hot Rod Happenings

We are getting settled into the new house. Unfortunatly, their is no shop space to speak of yet. I have just enough room to park the Model A inside with some of my tools. The rest is in storage until we get a new shop built.
This month I'll be going to Cruzn Eureka and selling some parts and inherited model cars at the swap meet. Stop by and say hi or better yet, buy something so I don't have to take it back home with me.
The Reliability Run the Rusty Nuts were hoping to organise in August didn't happen due to various reasons, however I still want to put something together. I will keep you all posted.

Last weekend I drove up to Crescent City with a couple fellow Rusty Nuts, Ken Suiker and Larry Mendez and their hot rods and went to the Northern Knights Car Show at the harbor. It was a fun time with about 90 cars in attendance. I got a couple rides in some friends hot rods, gave a few rides in my car and was given a shop tour of a friend who lives up there. He is building a Model A Tudor. The chassis is done and he is moving on the body work.

Thats all for now. Rock on.

Hey, a shop update!

Life has been crazy lately what with all the new house remodeling, packing, and so on. But I have a shop update. After my recent trip to a car show in Lakeport I crawled underneath the car to check something out. On the trip I had 2 other adults with me. Usually, it is just me and Carlos or if I'm really lucky it is me, Carlos, and Tamara.

Well, carting around 2 other dudes illustrated that my rear tires were rubbing a touch on the inner fenders. I was going to just add another inch to the ride height, but when I went investigating I fond some disturbing things.

A couple key components of the rear suspension were starting to bend. This turned into a full on repair instead of just a simple upgrade.

I needed to pull the whole back of the car apart.

Here is a picture of some of the damage. It is kinda hard to make out, but the plate that bolts to the rear end is a little twisted.

So, I reinforced the attachment plates on both the trailing arms and the rear axle. I added 1/4" plate all around and welded it all up nice and strong.

While I had the car apart I went ahead and put in some spring liner in between all the leaf springs to improve the spring action. And back to what started it all, I also put an additional 1" in ride height in the rear suspension so I can give lard asses rides.

True to my typical M.O., I fixed all the parts, painted everything up nice and put the car back together.....without taking any more pictures. But, it looks just like it did before, only now it is approved for use with a whole car load of adults.

Matt

Rusty Nuts Reliability Run 2010

Update:

Yesterday while laying in the grass at a car show in Lake County it was determined the 2010 Reliability Run will be held on August 21st. Mark your calenders and stay tuned for more info. If you don't have an old car but want to join in the fun, I'm sure we can find you a seat.

I know I promised you show coverage on this new blog, so here it is:

Kulture Shock in Lakeport, Ca was a bitchin show with lots of great cars, live music all day, and cheap beer. I will be back and maybe, just maybe, next time I'll take a camera to provide you all with some better show coverage.

Welcome to the new blog!

Hi everyone, I'm new to the blogging world but I'm jumping in with both feet. My plan is to update it with the goings on of my hot rod universe. You will find things like show coverage, Rusty Nut's car club stuff, and of course lots of updates from what I'm working on in the shop. *Shop posts might be a little lean the next couple months though since we are in the process of moving and I need to build a new shop.

The Rusty Nuts are planning a Reliability Run again this Summer so stay tuned for more details. Everyone who came last year has been asking for more, and they will get it!

Thanks for looking and because it wouldn't be a hot rod blog without a hot rod, here's a picture of my car to tide you over.