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Americruise Hits Starbirds (Among Other Stops) - Hall Of Fame
National Rod & Custom Car Museum
By Nick Licata
Photography: The CRM Staff
Custom Rodder Magazine, January 2005
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Looking back on Americruise 2003, I realize what a total "rookie" I was. That trip alone may have forever changed the way I look at life in a roadster. Seriously, do you really want to bring along a cumbersome bop top out on the road when you could practically, wait...literally, have all four seasons hit you smack dab in the face in one glorious afternoon? I think not! Last year on Americruise I brought along more foul-weather gear than most REI stores stock in the whole snow-mountain-climbing section. What a difference a year makes. This year my Americruise duffel bag consisted of your basic necessities: one pair of shoes, a few shirts, one pair of shorts, seven days' worth of socks and underwear (I know, too much information), one laptop computer, and a couple of cameras. But the most important bring-along item this trip was the ever-popular, light-blue Smart & Final 13-gallon plastic trash bag. This item will get you through any torrential summer rainstorm the Midwest has to offer, not to mention how nicely it fits behind the seat.
After our first left turn, things got a little confusing, so I referred to our handy-dandy itinerary complete with driving directions. The typed instruction sheet seemed to have come straight from MapQuest or some similar Web site. If you've ever tried to follow these often-too-detailed instructions, you know what can happen. Let's just say, without a cell phone we might still have been making a series of left turns, participating in our own little Oklahoma 500. After a quick call to Vintage Air's Rick Love who was driving the lead car, we were finally set straight and headed in the right direction. To avoid embarrassment, we told the rest of the group we wanted to check out some other sites for photography purposes. I'm not sure they bought it though.
On Day Two we were off to Darryl Starbird's Museum in Afton, Oklahoma. Right off the bat we encountered our first big rainfall. This time Street Rodder's Ron Ceridono and I had to cut out arm and head holes in the trash bags for their big premiere. They were a smashing success to say the least. Starbird's was featuring their annual car show, which included over 200 mostly local entries on the gorgeous museum's lakefront property. This is where the Mooneyes Americruise tour joined together with the Vintage Air group. Here we added about 12 more cars to the cruise. Starbird's treated us to a buffalo burger barbeque, as well as live entertainment by Darrell Cole's Country rock band. Any group that has a song titled "Tailgate Party in Wal-Mart Parking Lot" is cool with me.
Our first stop on Day Three had us heading over to the Hot Rod Garage in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, for some hospitality of coffee and donuts. During our quick visit, we witnessed work in progress on everything from early Ford roadsters to a mid-'80s El Camino. There was a large concentration of vintage street-machine muscle cars as well. In your travels through Oklahoma, this is a must-stop for the hot rod enthusiast.
Once in Tulsa, we joined up with the Hot Rod Power Tour at the City Plex Center. With over 2,500 vehicles and what looked to be about 2,300 parking spots, the weather wasn't the only thing boiling. I think EZ Ups took most of the valuable hot rod real estate in this case.
Day Four may have been the coolest of all. Our first stop was to West Mineral, Kansas, where we made a visit to "Big Brutus." Ron was looking forward to Brutus for reasons I couldn't understand until I saw it for myself. If you have no idea of what this is, you're not alone. Turns out "Big Brutus," although no longer in service, is the second-largest electric shovel in the world. Weighing in at over 11 million tons and with a top speed of .22 mph, this isn't exactly what you would call a "hot rod," but it is a must-see for the mechanically inclined.
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