Thanksgiving The Way It "Auto" Be
This year I actually was able to obtain Thanksgiving week off. As a firefighter for 25 years we usually have a choice of Christmas off or Thanksgiving off. With choosing Thanksgiving, the Turkey Run in Daytona was the plan. I had two vehicles ready to go, our trusty ‘58 Corvette or my daily driver a ‘66 BelAir wagon. As I stood in the driveway in-between both cars, my wife brought out the luggage and placed it between the two cars, refusing to help with the decision of which car was the car of choice for the Turkey Run. Thinking of the large swap meet at the track, I started loading the wagon. The car is mostly stock, running a 327 with late model 350 heads and original Powerglide and factory A/C.
It needs a headliner, dash pad, light bodywork and paint. It has new rolled and pleated seats though, and is a great road car, comfortable and roomy ... old wagons are an old cars type of guy dream come true. It’s hard to buy a part that won’t fit in the back of a ‘66 Chevy wagon with the seat down.
We left Richmond around noon taking I-95 to Daytona. When you start running over 70 mph with a Powerglide your gas mileage suffers some dropping from the normal 17 mpg to 15 mpg. I suppose a 700R would help, but I have trouble ripping out a transmission that works well. We made Daytona in about 10 1/2 hours with no problems.
Tuesday and Wednesday were spent catching up with old friends and relatives and helping my stepson with his ‘63 Riviera that after 3 years of work is finally on the road.
It’s so great to see someone who has worked on a car that long really get to drive it. I’m not sure who was prouder, his mom and I, or him.
Thursday (Thanksgiving) we went out to the track and checked in (we pre-registered) and walked around ‘til about 2pm, then headed out for a great dinner at my brother-in-laws.
continues…
