Studes in the Hot Rod Power Tower

[plwindish]

A purple Bullet-nose convertible pulling a teardrop trailer, a Turquoise M-5, a gray 79 Avanti, 84 Black Avanti and my 76 Avanti were the Stude contingent in the Hot Rod Power Tour that started in Milford MI @ the GM Proving Grounds and is finishing up at Arlington TX on Friday. There were a huge number of cars Saturday at GM. All types and sizes. I was surprised to see at least 30 wagons at the various stops on the tours. The biggest sleeper was a 53 Buick complete with rust finish, a wooden handled mop was holding up the hood. Under the hood... a V-10 Viper motor. It was really neat to see the variety of the cars and the imaginations of the car owners to put some of the cars together.

[studegary]

Thanks for the info.
That must be a record where the post-Studebaker Avantis outnumber the (modified) Studebakers.

[Pat Dilling]

One of these years. I'm curious how everyone finds lodging on those trips.

[Studedude]

The tour stops in Stillwater, OK tomorrow. Our car club is assisting in checking in the cars as they arrive. They were going to meet at the Kicker complex, but the venue has changed due to rain.

I'm waiting for a call to be told where is has been moved to... I suspect it will be in a parking lot near the OSU football stadium.

Pat, every motel room within miles is booked. I expect some will check in at the Stillwater venue, and drive to OKC or other points south, since the tour will head out in that direction.

[00RACER]

Lodging? They treat every stop like it is Woodstock!

[3rdGenStude]

They stopped in Muskegon, but I wasn't able to get away to see anything until they were pulling out.

My son was able to get away from his NAPA booth long enough to see a guy reinstalling some Studebaker heads on an engine somewhere on the grounds. He wasn't able to hang around and talk to the guy. Too bad. My son is my mechanic!

Paul

[Marie Mac]

Love that purple bullet-nose!

[clonelark]

Just for the record the Buick is a 1951-52. If it had chrome tail fins it was a 52, Port holes were the giveaway.

[52-fan]

Love that purple bullet-nose!

The purple car with trailer was at the International Meet in Springfield. I really liked the little trailer. That combo looks right for traveling.

BTW What's the Power Tower?

[JRoberts]

Another entry on my Bucket List.

[plwindish]

The Hot Rod Staff have these events pretty well planned out. I registered online back in April. Their site had a link to the hotel reservations and pulled up every motel in about a 20 mile radius. I had a problem getting reservations online for Muskegan(117 motels and everyone was fully booked), so I called the hotel hotline and they had a room for me within 20 seconds in Allendale, about 25 miles out from Muskegan. If you like cars, it is an event you need to participate in at least once. You can drive anything in the tour, though they do state they don't want rental cars in the tour. Looking at the cars, you quickly find out out that there are no limits to some people's creativity. In Champaign, one driver was "crab-walking" a vehicle he had made from a fighter plane fuseloge, open cockpit, 4 wheel drive with all wheel steering and a diesel engine. It was impractical as all get out, but he probably had fun making it. The ride did get a lot of attention. Some of the rat rods were outrageous, but very spartan with creature comforts. I know that I could not last the 1447 miles of the official tour driving in one of those things. Variety? International pick-ups, Ramblers (10 -15), Corvairs (at least 3, 2 had blown LS motors up front), old Ford and Chevy pick-ups, about 30 station wagons, 2 or 3 old woodie types also, lots of Camaros, Chevelles, Impalas, Novas includingthe Canadian Beaumont version Acadia,new and old Corvettes, a few Cobras, Fairlanes, Galaxy's, old panel delivery trucks, Suburbans, 32 coupes and roadsters. as well a newer Camaros, Chargers, Challengers and Vettes. I'm sure i missed something, but the variety was overwhelming. The last day is for the "long haulers" that made the entire trip and from what I hear, get some extra "swag" for the effort. The 1447 miles of this year's tour is just part of the miles, depending on where you live, you have to drive to the starting point and back from the ending point. I traveled almost 1400 miles just going to Detroit, Muskegan, Champaign and then back home. If you want more information, go to hotrod.com and click on the Power Tour button.

[Studedude]

Just spent a long day registering cars in. Things got confused because of the venue change, so we were dealing with some very frustrated folks, but we got 'er done.

Didn't get to spend a lot of time looking around, but did come up with a few favorites. The variety of cars is simply overwhelming. It is great that Stillwater got to be a part of such a neat event.

A few of my favorites I saw today, in no particular order (although I think I might like to trade my Stude for that Buick <G>:

http://s142.photobucket.com/albums/r...0Power%20Tour/

(I did not actually see the bullet nose w/trailer, but a friend sent the photo to me. He took the shot as the car was passing through Perkins, OK.)

[plwindish]

Thanks for the pix Dave. That was a neat looking Conaco Gas truck. I think there are quite a few people that jump in and out of the tour at the various stops. Some of your car pix did not look familiar to me from what I saw in Milton, Muskegan, and Champaign.

[Studedude]

Thanks for the pix Dave. That was a neat looking Conaco Gas truck. I think there are quite a few people that jump in and out of the tour at the various stops. Some of your car pix did not look familiar to me from what I saw in Milton, Muskegan, and Champaign.

My pleasure, Paul!

You are correct, the cars come and go, and drop in and out. Makes a fellow wonder if he saw what he thought he might have seen. <G>

It's funny how we can look at different pieces of art, and see something different.

For example, I would have sworn the gas truck I saw was a Texaco truck. <G>

Just kidding... there is a "overload" effect when taking so much in during such a short period of time.

The visual impact of that truck was only part of what it had to offer... the air horn on that thing would make most 18 wheelers envious, and a make a freight train think it was a brother!

[64 Challenger]

The purple car with trailer was at the International Meet in Springfield. I really liked the little trailer. That combo looks right for traveling.

BTW What's the Power Tower?

52-fan: Road trip sponsored by Hot Rod Magazine, muscle cars, classics, street rods. They plan different things to do along the route-shows, racing, etc.

http://www.hotrod.com/2012/powertour/